CLASSICAL MUSIC: Coenraad Visser
A STRING of world-class performances — what a rare treat for Gauteng classical music
With the National Symphony Orchestra, Swedish cellist Torlief Thedeen confirmed that he is one of the most exciting and proficient cellists on world stages today. His compelling and passionate performance of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 1 was nothing but spectacular: ardent and outgoing in the first movement, gently introspective in the second, almost eerie in the third, and recklessly breathless in the fourth. One constantly marvelled at the range of tone colours he coaxed from his cello, hardly noticing the effortless ease with which he dealt with the work’s fiendish technical demands.
Visiting conductor Jac van Steen is a real find, most impressive here in a tough but atmospheric reading of Rachmaninov’s The Isle of the Dead. In Debussy’s La Mer, too, he had good intentions. But they could not be realized by the uneven string sound produced by the NSO, now mercifully without quietly departed leader Richard Stamper.
With the Transvaal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gerd Meditz, Denise Sutton (violin) and Jeanne-Louise Moolman (viola) gave a flawless performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat. Their inspired reading was striking for its carefully judged dimensions, which placed the work firmly in the classical tradition with only the barest of glances forward to romanticism. Only sporadically did Moolman’s bigger sound threaten to outbalance Sutton’s leaner one. Altogether this performance was in a special class.
The Pact Opera Chorus, again painstakingly coached by Rachelle Jonck, then joined the TPO for an exhilarating performance of Haydn’s Mass No 11 in D minor (Nelson). The luminous sound was matched by the soloists, gloriously led by a radiant and pure Hanli Stapela. Ann-Jeanette Benson, Jannie Moolman and Rouel Beukes were as stylish and characterful as one could have hoped. This was a performance to remember for a very long