The unusual duo partnership of mother and son attracted a sizeable audience to this Friends of Music recital at the Durban Jewish Centre, this in spite of the cold and windy weather.

Jenny Stern, who was born in Durban, is a pianist who now performs in Europe and is a visiting teacher at Eton College and at the Royal College of Music in London. Her son Emmanuel Bach (an auspicious name for a young musician) is a violinist who is studying in England and has performed extensively as a soloist and orchestra player.

They played a widely varied programme of 12 items ranging from Mozart to Kabalevsky. These seem to have been chosen largely for popular appeal and to demonstrate the accomplishment of the young violinist. And the audience obviously much enjoyed the performance of one of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances (arranged by Fritz Kreisler), two pieces by Wieniawski, arrangements of two famous orchestral numbers from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and some equally celebrated Hebrew music by Ernest Bloch and Joseph Achron.

The two performers made an interesting and rather improbable contrast. Jenny Stern has an impressive keyboard technique, as was well displayed in two solo items, transcriptions by Liszt of songs by Schubert (Aufenthalt, Resting Place) and Schumann (Widmung, Devotion). She succeeded very well in these difficult and challenging arrangements, but elsewhere she seemed to play with a certain diffidence, compared with the confidence and assurance of her 13-year-old son. For example, there were times in the Mozart C major sonata, K. 303, which opened the programme, when the melodic line on the piano became subservient to the bold playing of accompanying figures on the violin.

Be that as it may, this recital gave much pleasure and it was particularly rewarding to hear a promising young violinist (and try to make mental comparisons with some of our own talented South African performers who have played for the Friends of Music). From a distance we will watch with interest the progress of Emmanuel Bach. He may well become a significant figure in the larger performing world in Europe and America.

Other young people took the stage as the evening’s prelude performers, funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund. These were 12 recorder players, aged eight to eleven and taught by Sandra Breschi of Durban. In four brief items they displayed skill, enthusiasm and musicality. One of the pieces was Somewhere over the Rainbow, arranged by Sandra Breschi. Anybody remember The Wizard of Oz, nearly 70 years ago? - Michael Green