ArtSpoken & Reviews
Third symphony season offers interesting workMoira de Swardt07/27/2010 10:41:26 
Moira de Swardt: On the programme for the first symphony concert of the season is a new and exciting South African work for piano and orchestra. Malcolm Nay is one of South Africa's foremost pianists. Not only does he do "grand concert" works such as the one he is performing for the first week of Season 3 of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, but he is also one of the top chamber musicians in the country, performing intimate and often unusual works seldom heard and little known. Zaidel-Rudolph is that rare thing, a woman composer. Born in Pretoria in 1948 she became the first woman in the country to obtain a doctorate in composition from the University of Pretoria. She is herself a pianist and the work being performed by Malcolm Nay is "Pendulum for Piano and Orchestra". Zaidel-Rudolph's compositional output also includes many devotional choral works for the male choir of the synagogue where she worships, as well as a large number of prestigious commissions for important socio-political events in South Africa's history. Zaidel-Rudolph has been working at the School of Music of the University of the Witwatersrand since 1975, where she is a Professor of Composition. This is one of the links between the composer and the pianist, for Nay has fairly recently been appointed Associate Professor of Piano at the same illustrious academic institution. This concert is the international premiere for the "Pendulum for Piano and Orchestra", and Nay says of it is an extremely challenging work for both pianist and orchestra, because of its effective integration of the piano and the orchestra, particularly the percussion section. Tubular bells set the theme for the three movements, where the slow second movement mimics Bartok while the third movement is asymmetrically rhythmic. Nay promises that this new and exciting work has an African feel and an unusual harmonic bite while being totally accessible to typical audiences. Other works on the programme will be Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin" and Beethoven's Symphony number 1, op 21, C Major. Conducting the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra is Walter Attanasi. These concerts will take place on Wednesday 28 July and Thursday 29 July at the Linder Auditorium and at the Pretoria State Theatre on Saturday 31 July 2010. Moira de Swardt Freelance Journalist moirads@wol.co.za 011 482 7320 082 553 2457 |
Previous
Most Read
