Classical Music: Coenraad Visser
AFTER the drought, the deluge. For too long was it rare for overseas string quartets to visit South Africa. Then, within a space of three days, two of the leading United Kingdom-based quartets appeared in the Wits Great Hall in Johannesburg. Interestingly, their performing styles could not have contrasted more sharply.
The Brodsky Quartet is best known for their recordings of the Shostakovich string quartets, their collaboration with Elvis Costello and their wardrobe designed by Issey Miyake. Unusually, they play standing up (except for the cellist, who is seated on a raised dais) in the interests of a freer, more open sound.
But this pursuit of freedom detracted more from a programme of safe choices (Haydn’s unusual Quartet in C Op 54 No 2, Shostakovich’s Eighth and Dvorak’s American) than it added to it. Intonation, especially that of leader Michael Thomas in the upper register, was often wayward; Ian Belton (second violin) was too reticent, and Paul Cassidy (viola) too constantly frenetic. Add to this the fact that their readings rarely failed to search beneath the surface, and theirs was hardly a object lesson in the rare art of chamber music performance. (Admittedly, they could hardly have been inspired by the tiny audience.)
The concert of the Chilingirian Quartet two days later was a different story. Their enterprising programme bracketed Tippett’s fifth quartet with Schubert’s Quartetsatz and Beethoven’s last quartet Op 132, consciously echoed in the Tippett.
The Chilingirian Quartet is in a different league from the Brodsky. They produce a perfectly blended sound, led by Levon Chilingirian’s violin tone, sweet enough to melt an igloo, and anchored by Philip De Groote’s warmly responsive cello tone.
Perhaps more importantly, they have a perfect command of the works’ architecture, which ensures that their readings have perfect weight and expressive detail within the styles of their periods and without any cultivation of surface polish.
This was by far the most memorable chamber music concert heard in Johannesburg this year. May it not be another 16 years before they find their way to our concert stages again.
Steering SA towards Milan
THE Milan Triennale can be added to the roll of international cultural events calling for South African participation.
The Triennale is a thematic exhibition of contemporary design and architecture; this year, international participants have been asked to respond to a programme entitled “Identity and Difference: Integration and Plurality in Today’s Shapes”.
The show, which opens in Milan on February 1 1996, will document the design of both “Living Private Spaces” and “The Quality of Public Space”, and proposals from other countries range from an exhibition of African churches to the creation of virtual spaces.
A local steering committee has been formed to facilitate participation, and to ensure that the public is allowed an opportunity to participate in the formulation and content of the South African submission.
Interested individuals and organisations have been asked to come forward with suggestions as to how the selection process can be constituted, or to submit proposals for the show. Volunteers to serve on the steering committee, based in Pretoria, would also be welcomed.
For information, phone (012) 43-4075.