The Strad
As emotionally wide-ranging
as one could hope for

The Pretoria News

Virtuoso Performance
By Paul Boekkooi
Pretoria, South Africa – Wolfgang David (violin); Francois du Toit (piano), Unisa Conference Hall, August 24, 2002
Gauteng audiences were lucky that soon after the great disappointment of Maxim Vengerov’s cancellation, they could hear an inspiring violin recital by Austrian Wolfgang David.
He played with Francois du Toit, bringing us a wide range of gems for the violin that are not often heard. Opening with Mozart’s Sonata in G, K 301 and aided throughout by a superb Guarnerius violin, it was soon clear that David produced a very sweet and appealing tone quality and much of what he does is very individual indeed.
The marvellous opening of K301 was played beautifully, while the repeat on the piano had great impact. The playing was impassioned, but the duo also realised how effective restraint can be in certain passages. This last element was especially enlightening in the G minor section of the second movement where the violinist’s graceful notes were both stylish and musical.
In Franck’s Violin Sonata in A power of expression was combined with unerring poise. The lavish, silvery tone of the violin only became astringent in a couple of passages when fervour and energy levels aimed too high instead of reflecting emotional weight and intensity.
The performance was at ist best when David could achieve a bountiful fluidity, like in the Recitativo-Fantasia and the Finale where at the point where the theme returns in canon, both players were at their best, echoing one another with characteristic warmth and sensitivity.
The second half of their recital with music by Bloch, Gluck, Saint-Saens, Kreisler. And Wieniawski, was even more enticing. The violinist’s strong interpretative qualities were centre stage in Bloch’s Nigun: heartfelt and impassioned, while Gluck’s wellknown Melody was spun with ist essential ethereal quality in tact.
Technical brio and ravishing accuracy were hallmarks of the Havanaise by Saint-Saens, but most stunning of all was David’s playing of the Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta, an extended work by Fritz Kreisler. Here it obviously is only a native of Vienna, like the violinist himself, who can feel the interpretative inflections one needs to creep under the work’s skin. He also makes it sound disarmingly easy. This is one Kreisler work that is all but a concert encore!
Finally the Polonaise Brillante, Opus 21 by Wieniawski, gave us dashing playing, but also had lyrically persuasive qualities. No wonder two encores just had to follow to keep the memory of a very distinguished concert alive as long as possible.