Johannesburg Philharmonic does city proud with bravura performances

12 Aug 2024

The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra has flourished since its relaunch in 2017 — the only complaint is that it doesn’t play often enough.

The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) has had an exciting roster in the first half of 2024: two subscription concert series, a Valentine’s Day gala, an outdoor Mother’s Day concert for thousands featuring Lira and other soloists, a Jonathan Roxmouth-led tribute concert to Liberace, and collaborations on full-scale productions with Joburg Ballet and Cape Town Opera.

The musicians do their city proud.

To this writer’s ears, the playing gets better and better each season. Those lucky (and wise) enough to get tickets in time for each concert come away often beaming and buoyed by the excellence on show. Not only do the orchestra members play well, but the selection of guest soloists has been a nearly unfailingly bright roll of brilliance.

What can one complain about? One thing: that there isn’t more. Before the Covid pandemic, the JPO had two concerts a week, on Wednesdays and Thursdays. There were even times when they had three concerts a week. However, after returning from lockdown, the JPO has been performing only one night a week.

One show might seem precious little payoff for the work that the players put in week after week in rehearsals, and seems a skimp for Joburg music lovers, too. Many of the concerts are sold out and aspirant attendees who didn’t snatch up tickets long in advance can only pine about the great performances they miss.

When Bongani Tembe, the CEO, gave his customary address on the last night of the Winter Season, in June, he alluded to new endeavours by the orchestra. One bold audience member called out, “Bring back Wednesday night concerts!”

The cry was heartily endorsed not only by other audience members but by many of the musicians on stage as well.

When listening to the music performed, one has to work hard to find grievances though. The playing of the soloist in Mendelssohn’s Second Piano Concerto may have been forgettable, but it was flanked by two of the most resounding works played yet: Bizet’s Second L’Arlésienne Suite, and Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

A great highlight

The Enigma Variations, in particular, were a great highlight of the season. Elgar wrote the work in his 40s, after years of toil as an undervalued composer. At the end of one long and tiring day of teaching, he sat down at the piano and played a little melody, which yielded some fruitful improvisation and variations. He expanded and orchestrated these into the work we know today, and playfully named each variation after people he knew personally, aiming to capture something of their character and essence.

Conrad van Alphen, who conducted the JPO in this work, brought deft grace and powerful empathy to the music. As the musicians played, I could hear Elgar’s fond memories of the people he cherished. Most famous of all is the plangent ninth variation, Nimrod, for which all the tumbling playfulness stands back for a moment.

Nimrod is often used at solemn occasions, like war memorial services. But, to me, it resonates even more touchingly as Elgar’s intimate tribute to a beloved friend. The melody is inspired by the Pathétique Sonata, by Beethoven, another composer who faced a great artistic crisis, and the result is a poignant hymn to resilience.

Another highlight was a visit from the Durban-born soprano Bronwen Forbay who now leads a successful career in North America; she began with Micaëla’s Act III aria from Carmen, keeping her resources for her flourishing finale: the Jewel aria from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Adele’s Laughing aria from Die Fledermaus showed off Forbay’s shimmering high notes, which lit up the stage as if with fireworks.

In classical music, some of the greatest pleasures can come from very familiar music.

Mozart’s very last symphony, No 41 in C major, or the Jupiter as it’s nicknamed, is, together with No 40, his best-known one. Daniel Boico, a frequent guest at the JPO and the conductor for this symphony, re-illuminated the joyous spectacle that Mozart surely meant it to be.

Boico conducts with great wit and verve. He brought out multiple little motifs that musicians play in the middle of textures or as echoes of louder themes. The final movement was a great triumph, a wondrous marriage of emotional and intellectual radiance: as the musicians passed the themes around, it almost felt as if one could see the structure of the music, as if interlocking geometric shapes were rising out of the stage. An irrepressible wave of elation washed over the audience at the close, who rose to meet it with a warm ovation.

As enriching as it may be to revisit a rightful classic, though, the animating spirit of art comes from exploring the new. For orchestras, this means music with which their audiences may not be familiar.

Recent JPO seasons have been relatively gratifying in this regard, with treats like Strauss’s Oboe Concerto, songs by SJ Khosa, and an introduction to the little-known Swedish composer Elfrida Andrée.

Still, this writer glances at programmes from, say, the Cape Town Philharmonic, with envy: programmes that regularly feature Copland, Florence Price, Bartók, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Corigliano, and other composers you’ve never heard of, and a showcase of South African music just about every season.

A look ahead to the JPO’s upcoming Early Spring Season engenders some hope: we can eagerly anticipate not one but two saxophone concertos, as well as two bona fide rare treasures: Barber’s exquisite Violin Concerto, Ravel’s Mother Goose suite and Holst’s Second St Paul Suite. Success begets success, and for every warm ray the JPO emits, we grow more optimistic for a brighter lustre. DM

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A great highlight