SYMPHONY CONCERT. At The Cape Town City Hall, on 8 June 2023. CPO conducted by Arjan Tien. Soloists Emanuil Ivanov and Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi; Rachmaninov: Scherzo in D minor; Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, Op 43; Mahler: Symphony No 4 in G. DEON IRISH reviews
What an absolutely splendid concert season this has turned out to be! Masterpieces given fine readings by accomplished artists, with not a seat to be had – not even for ready money.
I had never actually heard Rachmaninov’s earliest work, a very attractive Scherzo for orchestra, dating from 1887 but only published in 1947, prior to this concert. He wrote it whilst a young student in Moscow, studying piano with Nikolay Zverev. Despite his teacher having no interest in composition, Rachmaninov felt a compulsion to compose – a compulsion that led to his eventual break-up with the teacher (with whom he also lodged) and his dismissal from the household.
Grove describes the piece as being “Mendelssohnian” and there is indeed a similarity to the delicate writing of that composer. But I detect rather more the Saint-Saëns of the 2nd piano concerto – a work dating from just 10 years earlier and one that the young pianist might well have studied with Zverev. The piece is short and pithy, well-crafted and a significant achievement for a 14 year-old. Tien treated it with care and affection.
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
We then heard an artist who I could listen to repeatedly with the greatest enjoyment: Emanuil Ivanov, a young Bulgarian pianist who is at present studying at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and who already has a string of competition prizes to his name.
He has a fully-stocked pianist’s armoury. Firstly, his disposition at the piano, whilst always elegant to watch, is that of a craftsman. There is an absorption in the task at hand and an ergonomic efficiency in execution that eschews the theatrical in favour of the effective. Then, his technique is seemingly flawless.
This essay on Paganini’s celebrated theme might be “rhapsodic”, but there is nothing lax or forgiving in the writing which, through the twenty-four variations, calls upon almost every facet of pianistic skill. One was not overly surprised at the tremendous power and extraordinary rapidity of his tumultuous octave and chordal passages, hands bounding over the keyboard with blurred rapidity and heady exhilaration – it seems almost as though every second young pianist these days can achieve something similar.
What was truly rare, however, was the sensitivity of the gentler and more intimate moments, in which Ivanov created measured tonal effects that seemed to reflect a dozen precisely weighted grades of soft sound, from mezzo-piano to pianissimo.
He couples this with remarkable weight application to keys, through finely controlled muscular attack, which gives precise rhythmic impetus to even the softest of passages – well demonstrated in the piu vivo 4th variation.
Some of these accomplishments might have to do with having generously long fingers – always a plus when playing works by this composer. But long fingers do not translate to the musicality which this young artist radiates.
A triumphant account
The ghostly business of the 6th variation; the rather Brahmsian staccato chords of the 8th; the winsome elegance of the 11th; the solo rhapsody in the 15th; THAT famous 18th (beautifully pedalled and mercifully avoiding schmalz), and a triumphant account of the huge final 24th variation – with its wickedly demanding final two bars! – all shone with an alluring musical insight.
Tien and the orchestra accompanied in convincing fashion. True, the orchestration is often almost minimalist (this being, quite a lot of the time, almost a set of piano variations with added orchestral colouration); but there were a couple of indifferent moments: oboe/bassoon octaves not quite in tune; some horn entries not quite as they would have wished. No matter – a wonderful account of an always listenable work.
After interval, we were treated to Mahler’s delightful 4th Symphony – certainly one of the most easily listenable of his conceptions. Commenced during a summer holiday in 1899 in Aussee in Styria, a town of archetypal Austrian beauty at the confluence of three rivers that combine to form the Traun, it is the fourth of his symphonies inspired by the anthology of poems called “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”.
In this case it is a child’s vision of heaven in the last movement – all hung about with violins and featuring unlimited delicacies prepared by no less than St Martha, whilst St Cecilia (naturally) provides the entertainment.
Sang with sheer happiness
Tien had a whale of a time with this symphony. He quite obviously knows and loves this work (what is it with the Dutch and Mahler?) and brought all of that to bear in a performance by the orchestra that sang with sheer happiness.
Percussionists made the most of an outing that gave them relatively rare prominence (sleigh bells are not often heard in Cape Town, current temperatures notwithstanding); horns redeemed their indifferent moments from before interval with some evocative contributions; the sharp-tuned solo violin of concert master Philip Martens sang with village barn intensity; and, in the slow movement, the tombs of the departed rested in serene expectation.
The final movement employs a solo soprano to recite the poem in three sections, broken by orchestral interludes. On this occasion we had the joy of listening to Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi. I need to offer a disclaimer at this point: Ms Mhwanazi is the resident soprano soloist at St Michael’s, where I have the considerable joy of working with her regularly. So, I confess to a hopeless bias.
Her voice is ideally suited to this writing. She has a very pure lyric soprano, with a refined sense of intonation and a beautifully controlled vibrato that can take her from opera diva to teenage chorister. Her range is impressive, and she can float top notes with the best of them. She has exemplary breath control and a lovely sense of line.
All of this was on display in a performance that clearly enthralled the packed house and led, ultimately, to a rapturous ovation for her, for Tien and for the orchestra. It was, as I said, a splendid concert.
What: CPO conducted by Arjan Tien, soloists Emanuil Ivanov, Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi
Reviewer: Deon Irish
WS
