Dr Andrew Warburton celebrates his 60th birthday next month and will mark the occasion by giving two recitals of piano music that is dear to his heart: an all-Schubert recital at Friends of Music at the Durban Jewish Centre in KE Masinga Road tomorrow at 3pm and a Baroque programme in the UKZN Howard College Theatre next Sunday, October 22, at 11am.
The Schubert programme will include the composer’s last Sonata in B flat, written a few months before his untimely death at age of 31 The last year of his life saw so many masterpieces flow from his pen that it is tempting to wonder whether he knew that his time was short. The music is sublime, often revealed in the most intimate and understated way, using extremely soft dynamics and much exquisite lyrical phrasing.
As a huge contrast Warburton will present a work written six years earlier, the titanic “Wanderer’ Fantasy, based on the theme of one of his songs “Der Wanderer.” Schubert said of this work that “the devil may play it” referring to his inability to do so.
In recent decades the famous Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter said that it was among the two or three most difficult ever composed for the instrument. The four movements are played without a break, and each one of them is a variation on the original theme of the song. The piece concludes with a mighty fugal finale with builds up to a thrilling conclusion.
Tickets for tomorrow’s recital are R120 (members) R140 (non-members). Bookings at millark.millar@gmail.com or bernicemanicom@gmail.com or phone Keith at 0715051021. Payments can be made at the door.
Entry is free at the UKZN recital and guests are asked to use the back entrance of the building. Picture: Shelley Kjonstad African News Agency ANA