CLASSICAL MUSIC: Coenraad Visser=20
GAUTENG audiences were presented with two of the=20 centrepieces of the classical religious repertoire=20 recently. Unfortunately, neither performance was an=20 unqualified success.=20
The Standard Bank Arena was packed with an audience=20 eager to hear Yehudi Menuhin conduct Handel’s Messiah.=20 He brought with him the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and=20 three soloists. They combined with our own Sibongile=20 Khumalo, the Bonisudomo Choristers and the kwaThema=20 Youth Choir.=20
The outstanding virtues of this performance were=20 Menuhin’s conducting and the orchestral playing.=20 Menuhin’s reading is inspired and resilient. It draws=20 heavily on contemporary practices born out of the=20 authentic performance movement. Above all, Menuhin=20 succeeded in weaving the often discrete strands of this=20 work together into a tonal picture full of colour and=20 texture. In this he was ably partnered by the orchestra,=20 always alert to his indications.=20
The soloists were a mixed bunch. Susan Roberts was=20 radiant and affecting in the soprano part, and Khumalo=20 simply stunning, full of warmth and quiet dignity in her=20 recitatives and arias. By contrast, baritone Benno=20 Schollum was often inaudible in the lower register while=20 Algirdas Janutas, at times rather heroic in style,=20 barked away in the upper register.=20
The choirs were too small for the venue, especially in=20 softer passages. One often felt that they suffered from=20 insufficient preparation time. A pity, though, when one=20 knows what they can do.=20
With the National Symphony Orchestra and the SABC Choir=20 Alfred Walter gave a curious performance of Haydn’s The=20 Creation. The first problem was the imbalance of the=20 slender solo voices set against the massive, unwieldy=20
Sanet Allen sang sweetly enough, despite some unexpected=20 problems of intonation in Part One. Hilton Marlton was=20 quite a find in this repertoire, marvellously secure and=20 stylish. Andre Howard, although splendidly sympathetic,=20 lacked the required resonant low register.=20
The choir simply did not attain its usual high standard.=20 Voices were uneven, and its attack was sluggish and=20 unfocused. Much the same can be said of the pedestrian=20 NSO strings, again so sadly overshadowed by the=20 excellent wind and brass sections.=20
But, then, what more can one expect when the performance=20 is conducted by someone stuck in a performance tradition=20 that has been discredited for so long? Walter clearly=20 has learnt nothing from the authentic performance=20 movement. Only the size of the orchestra approached the=20 ideal, but in matters of tempi, ornamentation and=20 balance he showed poor judgment indeed. All in all, it=20 was a rather poor Victorian performance of this=20