Classical Music: Coenraad Visser
MAIN interest in Johannesburg this week was in two symphony concerts featuring Laura Mikkola, the young Finnish winner of last year’s Unisa/Transnet Piano Competition and recently silver medallist in the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels.
Her performance of Schumann’s piano concerto, with the Transvaal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Christopher Dowdeswell, confirmed that she is one of the most exciting young talents now before the public.
In this warhorse Mikkola showed a marvellous feel for romanticism, her steely fingers always at the service of the music. Most extraordinary in such a young performer was her complete knowledge of the score, so that her continuing dialogue with the orchestra was a constant delight.
With the National Symphony Orchestra, she played Mozart’s Piano Concerto in E flat K271 (The Jeunnehomme). Again, this was a carefully considered reading, nimble and vigorous, yet perfectly within the stylistic contraints of the work’s period. If the performance overall was less satisfactory than the Schumann, most of the blame should go to conductor Christopher Adey, who seemingly did little more than keep up with the metronome ticking away in his head.
Of passing interest was Henry Lissant-Collins’ Fuquoi in the Sugar Cane. This tone poem based on African songs is only mildly inventive. Most impressive, though, was the richness of the NSO strings and the dexterity of the woodwind principals.
The NSO has, of course, recorded this work with Peter Marchbank for the Marco Polo label. How long will we have to wait for a live performance of Gideon Fagan’s Karoo Symphony, by far the most impressive work on this disc?
Gerard Korsten conducts the NSO in works by Weber, Beethoven and Richard Strauss at 8pm on Wednesday and Thursday