26th Sampung Mga Daliri, Atbp

The 26th Sampung Mga Daliri, Atbp concert by the UST Conservatory of Music held at the CCP Main Theater was my first concert after taking a short break to deal with important family matters. The main draw for this long running concert is the use of ten pianos all throughout the show and it is a chance for the piano majors, alumni and faculty to shine. Each number will feature different pianists and a different group from the Conservatory.

Honestly, I wasn’t too thrilled with this setup being more of a purist. But like what was said in the souvenir programme, this show was meant to be accessible. And it indeed needed to be accessible since most of the audiences were family members and friends of the participants of the show. And I also reminded myself that I vowed to keep an open mind even in formats that don’t usually appeal to me. In order for me to enjoy the experience more, I decided to observe the people seated around me and to see which of the numbers they would appreciate more.

After the obligatory National Anthem and UST Hymn, the show started with the first number which was the Poet and Peasant Overture by Franz von Suppé. The ten pianists were accompanied by the UST Rondalla Ensemble. This piece was arranged differently to suit the instruments so it sounded very different from what I was used to. And the combination of the pianos and the rondalla ensemble was something I wasn’t really accustomed to. They got just a polite applause from the audience which is perfectly understandable since the people haven’t settled into the show just yet.

The next couple of pieces were Larawan by Francisco Buencamino and Pamulinawen from “Pahilaga” by Ryan Cayabyab. These were my favorites of the night. The pianists were all by themselves and with this setup, I was able to appreciate the rich, textured, varied and unusual harmonics. There were no other instruments to distract me from the tone of the piano. And this was when I heard some people beside me marvel at the skill of the pianists.

It was the UST Guitar Ensemble’s turn to join a different set of pianists to perform Sevilla from “Suite Española” by Isaac Albéniz. This is another familiar piece for me that was played with an unfamiliar arrangement. The same could be said for the next piece which was Les Preludes by Franz Liszt. One thing unique about this number was that it had two pianists per piano. But one of the pianists inexplicably lost his partner and performed alone. For this piece, the UST Wind Orchestra accompanied the supposed to be twenty pianists.

The next set was one of the crowd pleasers of the night and it was made possible by the inclusion of the UST Percussion Ensemble. The two pieces played were a smoldering Adios Nonino by Astor Piazolla and the delightful Sabre Dance by Aram Khatchaturian. Unfortunately, the people around me were more amused by the variety of the percussion instruments onstage. This set was a fitting end to the first part which made the audience excited for what was coming next.

The second part started with Pop’era Breakers featuring the UST Pop’era Chorus. But let’s not forget that there was yet another set of pianists playing the ten pianos. This was the most applauded number since this featured the ubiquitous song Nobody along with Lady Marmalade and Umbrella. And it was also a visual treat since there was choreography, costume and props which added to the delight of the audience.

The next set of pianists knew that they had to follow what was the most popular performance of the night. But they held their own since they played popular tunes as well: Nais Ko by Ryan Cayabyab and Saranggola ni Pepe by Nonong Pedero. And having the UST Percussion Ensemble (although they were down to a few members this time) accompanying them sure helped a lot. Their performance of Saranggola ni Pepe is one of my favorites of the night since the arrangement really brought out the rich sounds of the pianos and the percussions weren’t too distracting.

The second half was on a roll this time especially when the next set of performers (another set of pianists along with the UST Jazz Band) entered. Some members of the audience were amused when they noticed that the set’s conductor also held an instrument which was a trumpet. They were definitely pleased with their performance of Summertime and My Favorite Things. I liked the first number a lot better since it was sultry with nice and smooth solos from some of the band members.

It was the UST Symphony Orchestra’s turn to accompany the next set of pianists for their performance of Night and Day, a standard written by Cole Porter. This number felt a bit old fashioned for me perhaps suffering a bit from my enjoyment of the Summertime piece.

Finally, it was time for the finale which was the Les Miserables Medley but the audience had to wait a lot longer since the humungous choir had to position themselves at the rear of the stage. I was quite surprised when the choir sounded underwhelming despite their overwhelming numbers. The soloists also weren’t the strongest vocalists. They were adequate but still not enough power and emotion to send chills up my spine. And I felt that the tempo at the end was too fast and it felt that the choir had to catch up. I didn’t really like the material from the UST Pop’era Chorus but they were far stronger vocally. So unfortunately, the concert ended a bit flat for me.

But that was not the case for the families and friends of those who were part of the choir. One mother was particularly proud of her daughter despite having difficulty of finding where she was positioned in the choir. She hoped that her daughter would one day have a more prominent role in the subsequent productions of the Conservatory. And because of that, the concert absolutely ended on a high note.

Before I forgot, the night actually ended with a birthday song for Mr. Raul Sunico who is the Dean of the Conservatory of Music. And amazingly, the choir did a much better job with this than the finale.

UST Conservatory of Music Dean Raul Sunico