A soprano who has a magnificent facility in her voice, as well as to be able to embody a piece of music, is extremely rare.
A soprano who has a magnificent facility in her voice, as well as to be able to embody a piece of music, is extremely rare.
But Runette Botha, the 2013 Standard Bank Young Artist for Music, did both on Monday night in the Rhodes Chapel.
Botha’s diverse programme truly tested her technique, as well as her musicality, and she met the challenge beautifully with a maturity and vibrancy that engaged the audience in the very heart of the music.
Each of the works, from Handel to Leonard Bernstein, risked a different vocal quality to match the mood, composer, style, region – and even the texts themselves.
While she had superb technique, intonation and diction, her voice was not just one sound, but many – and this is what made this performance infinitely compelling.
Her acting ability also matched her singing, but even when this reviewer closed his eyes at times, her voice had not diverged or dulled from being immediately present to the music itself.
Her confident presence, combined with an unassuming charm, was delightfully disarming, and she was always aware of bringing the audience into the character of each song by explanations and translations by her and accompanist Audrey Hyland.
Hyland laid an excellent foundation for Botha’s performance and helped to provide some of the drama of the performance.
Her playing on Richard Strauss’s Morgen was particularly sensitive to a mood of still and even suspenseful peace, drawing out each phrase and expression.
It was unfortunate that the Rhodes Chapel was around half-full for this recital. It means many festival-goers missed two outstanding artists at work: artists who care about their audiences and, more important, about the music.
It was a privilege to witness not only a great virtuoso talent, but to be engaged also in a great drama unfolding of which the audience seemed to be part.
