FLUTE RECITAL
Liesl Stoltz and Albie van Schalkwyk (piano) play for the Cape Town Concert Series. In the Baxter concert hall.
It is not every day that a local lass has the talent, perseverance and opportunities to make a name for herself with art music. The young Cape flautist Liesl Stoltz is well on her way to achieving this – also in France where she now studies. We will follow her progress closely.
Her programme for Saturday evening in the Baxter, together with our country’s foremost accompanist, Albie van Schalkwyk, varied from Bach, Kuhlau and Prokofiev to the present-day French composer Henri Dutilleux and our own Stefans Grové. An adaptation of themes from Carmen by Francois Bornéy that ended the programme was clever and a spectacular virtuoso performance, but the thinnish tones of a flute can hardly reflect the passionate character of Carmen.
There were two unaccompanied works: Bach’s Partita in A minor and Grové’s Pan and the Nightingale. Bach’s demandingly long phrases often led to audible breathing, which did not disturb me but were described by a colleague as “gasping”. What is noteworthy is that this was never heard in the striking, although short (three minutes) work of Stefans Grové. The exceptional empathy in Grové’s writing for the flute is too strong for it. Stoltz’s deep musicality, stylish approach and great technical ability enabled her to provide interpretations of high quality throughout. A few high notes in fortissimo passages and intonations that sometimes verged on the questionable are aspects needing further attention.
Profundity: Kuhlau’s Grande Sonate Concertante opus 85 is ingenious and very melodious, but without much depth. Prokofiev’s masterly Sonata No. 2 in D major (better known in its version as a violin sonata) is just as melodious, but it has more heartfelt charm and profundity.
Here, and also in Dutilleux’s Sonatine, Albie van Schalkwyk’s outstanding piano playing was indispensable.
Pieter Kooij