Impressive though Graham Johnson’s recent appearance with the Municipal Orchestra was, his farewell recital given last night for the Bulawayo Music Club, sponsored by the local body of the Arts Council, was in many respects a more satisfying demonstration of his talent.
Visitors just right
Much of Beethoven’s late music has a private character so marked that the listener feels like an intruder upon some secret ceremony of communion. Thus the explosive opening of the D minor Sonata Op. 102, No. 2 for cello and piano, plunges into the musical drama without regard for the performers’ need to warm up or to have time to cajole the audience into participation.
Sensitive and Devoted Song
The Bulawayo Music Club’s meeting last night featured performances by Bulawayo Choral Society under Hugh Fenn with organist Leslie Owen of Faure’s Requiem and the Gloria of Vivaldi. Given at St. John’s Cathedral, the performances are to be repeated on Sunday evening.
Rigorous Mastery of Detail
The Beethoven concert (First and Sixth Symphonies) under the baton of Pierino Gamba at Bulawayo City Hall last night constituted an important point in the maturity of the Municipal Orchestra.
City orchestra in striking form
Even if one had not been told by the programme that the Kehr String Trio were formed in 1948, one could guess from their rhythmic subtleties, their unforced sense of rubato and their nearly faultless ensemble, that they have been playing together a long time.
An almost faultless ensemble
The Rhodesian Academy of Music began their lunch-hour concert series for 1967 with a recital at Bulawayo City Hall yesterday by Robert Sibson (flute) and Hugh Fenn (pianoforte).
Outstanding recital in City
Shura Cherkassky’s meld of technique and temperament almost guarantees that he will deliver compelling performances of the Romantics.
“Messiah” rewarding for two reasons
This year’s performance of Handel’s Messiah by the Bulawayo Municipal Orchestra is rewarding because of the adoption of the Watkins-Shaw edition of the score and because of some fine solo singing. The Watkins-Shaw edition restores the orchestra to the modest size Handel himself would have expected. The gain in textural clarity is substantial and the music moves with a buoyant purposefulness much closer to Handel’s muse than the foggy re-scorings we are accustomed to.
City orchestra in striking form
A.R. Sibson wrote his First Symphony, in A minor, in 1948 in memory of his son Maxell. It was written with the resources of the Bulawayo Municipal Orchestra specifically in mind. In a time of grief it was a courageous undertaking, the more so because the Symphony rises to a final mood of triumph and affirmation. Despite some lapses of discipline, the performance last night by the Orchestra with Mr. Sibson conducting, was both striking and moving.
Spanish Pianist Excels
The first season of the Bulawayo Celebrity Concerts closed on Saturday evening with a consummately accomplished recital by the Spanish pianist, Alicia de Larrocha.