Coenraad Visser
Never before have classical music lovers in Gauteng been offered a feast like they have this week. On Sunday, tenor sensation Johan Botha returned home for his first appearance on a professional stage since he left for Europe 10 years ago. And on Monday, the Orchestre National de France, with musical director Charles Dutoit, arrives for a week- long visit to major centres in the country.
Still in his early thirties, Botha regularly sings to critical acclaim in all the major houses of the world, and with leading conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim and James Levine.
For his triumphant homecoming, he chose eight taxing but brilliant showpieces, which he tossed off with the ease which sets the true stars apart from the greats. Whether in Vesti la giubba (I Pagliacci), E lucevan le stelle (Tosca), or Un di, all’ azzuro spazio (Andrea Chnier), he showed a voice seamless in production and without any limits. Add to that convincing powers of characterisation, and the result was an operatic recital of a standard never before heard in the State Theatre.
Now in its seventh decade, the French National Orchestra has a proud tradition of being the leading orchestra in France. It regularly tours the music capitals of the world and appears at the leading festivals.
Among its principal conductors have counted Charles Munch, Jean Martinon and Lorin Maazel. With the appointment of Dutoit as music director in January 1991, the orchestra is again controlled by French hands.
With Dutoit it has already recorded works by Dutilleux, Poulenc, Respighi and Saint-Sans for the Decca label. He has also taken the orchestra on tour through Europe, and to Japan and the United States.
Its status as one of the world’s leading orchestras is confirmed by the list of major works of this century first performed by the orchestra. They include Pierre Boulez’ Soleil des eaux (1949), Olivier Messaien’s massive Turangalila Symphony, Henri Dutilleux’s first symphony (1951) and violin concerto L’Arbre des songes (1985), Edgar Varese’s Dserts (1950-54) (the cause of much scandal at the time with its hard-edged electronic interludes), and Iannis Xenakis’s Jonchaies (1977).
The orchestra’s two recordings of the Dutilleux violin concerto (one with Isaac Stern and conductor Lorin Maazel (Sony), the other recently with Pierre Amoyal and Dutoit (Decca)) remain the standards by which all performances and recordings will be judged. It also features Rostropovich’s incomparable recording of Prokofiev’s epic War and Peace (Erato).
Since 1980, Dutoit has been associated with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montral, which he has turned into what many critics have called the best French orchestra in the world. Few South Africans probably remember that in the Sixties he visited Cape Town to conduct the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, at the start of what later became one of the most illustrious conducting careers of his generation.
Next week, the orchestra will perform Debussy’s Petite suite, Saint-Sans’ third violin concerto (with the brilliant Olivier Charlier as soloist), Roussel’s Bacchus et Ariane Suite No 2, and Ravel’s Daphnis et Clo Suite No 2. As a celebration of French music, these concerts in Pretoria (March 8), Johannesburg (March 9), Durban (March 10) and Cape Town (March 12) should not be missed at any cost.