An Evening of Russian Masters

A pianist friend of mine has been telling me about her close friend, pianist Oliver Salonga. She has told me how good he is and that I should watch him if ever he performs. So when it was announced that Oliver Salonga would be having his solo piano concert entitled An Evening of Russian Masters at the Philamlife Auditorium, I knew that I had to watch it. And when Mr. Ray Sison of ROS Music Center and the principal flutist of the Manila Symphony Orchestra gave me a few free tickets, then it would only mean the end of the world if I failed to watch this performance.

It wasn't the end of the world but a sudden pouring of heavy rain before the concert resulting in heavy traffic that prevented a lot of people from either arriving on time or even making it to the concert at all. All throughout the concert, people arrived in small numbers and indeed a lot weren't able to see the whole concert which was very unfortunate because my friend was right in praising Salonga.

He started by playing a couple of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart pieces: The Twelve Variations on Ah! vous diria je maman, K. 265 and Piano Sonata No. 10 in C Major, K. 330. The performance was indeed how I expected Mozart to be: light, playful and seemingly effortless. It was in direct contrast to the bad weather outside. I am not usually drawn to this happy type of music but I knew that the serious pieces would be coming up next.

And the serious pieces that I like were performed next starting with Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Flat Minor, Op. 36. And despite the constant arrival of late comers, I paid them no attention since I was absolutely floored by Salonga's interpretation of the piece. I was amazed on how he was able to switch gears from the Mozart and then to the Rachmaninoff.

During intermission, my friend who told me about Oliver Salonga finally arrived since she was one of the many who got delayed by the bad weather. And I heard some accounts of people deciding to go back to where they came from and not attend the concert at all when they got stuck at traffic.

Going back to the concert, Salonga resumed with Maurice Ravel's Poeme Choreographique: La Valse. And for his last piece, he played Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 7 in B Flat Major, Op. 83. I can't imagine how one could have a solo piano concert with three piano sonatas and other such heavyweight pieces. I was absolutely floored on how he was able to perform the tumultuous last movement of the Prokofiev sonata with such ease.

Despite the less than ideal audience attendance, those present still showered him with very generous applause since he absolutely deserved it. And a lot demanded that he played an encore since they probably missed the earlier parts of the concert. And Salonga did oblige by playing a couple of encores but I completely missed getting the titles of this pieces.

It's been quite a while since I've been to a piano concert and I was glad to be able to have the chance to watch one such concert again. The last ones that I've been to was dominated by music by Chopin and this night was completely devoid of Chopin. I love Chopin but it was nice to have a change of pace once in a while. The concert was entitled An Evening of Russian Masters but there were only two pieces by Russians. Earlier programme lists featured more Russian works but changes were made so only two were left.

It was indeed a masterful performance by Salonga and I am still in awe of how he played those heavyweight pieces. I am now hoping that he performs again and probably play a piano concerto by a Russian composer soon. By then, it will be another evening of Russian masters once again.

Thank you once again to Mr. Ray Sison for the tickets to this concert!

Pianist Oliver Salonga

Concert for a Culture of Peace

I’ve known about this event for some months now and there was no way that I was going to miss this. And it seemed that a lot of people felt the same way I did since a good mix of young and old people, expatriates and locals flocked to the CCP Main Theater to witness the performance of legendary pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy with his sons, clarinetist, Dimitri Ashkenazy and pianist, Vovka Ashkenazy.

It’s quite rare for the Philippines to have an opportunity such as this but this was made possible by the International Peace Foundation. And this concert was part of the 3rd ASEAN event series Bridges-Dialogues Towards a Culture of Peace which was facilitated by the International Peace Foundation.

In my excitement for this concert, I did something or rather did not do something which I would normally do. I failed to familiarize myself with the concert programme for that night. So I went there barely knowing some of the pieces while the others were something that I’ve never heard before.

Fortunately, the first piece that was played Robert Schumann’s Three Romances, Op. 94 was quite familiar to me. But what wasn’t familiar to me was having the oboe part being played by the clarinet. Obviously, it was Dimitri who played and he was accompanied by the elder Ashkenazy which was the setup for the entire first half of the concert. It was odd hearing this piece with the clarinet and it took me a while to get used to it. I’ve always associated the tone of the clarinet more suited to jolly, humorous, and impish tunes.

Well, the next two pieces just managed to show just that. I am totally unfamiliar with Witold Lutoslawki’s Dance Preludes for Clarinet and Piano but I enjoyed this more than the first piece since the five short movements had more variety especially in tempo and I always enjoy it when the clarinet is played in a faster pace. And this variety was also shown in the last piece for the first half which was Francis Poulec’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano.

I purchased a clarinet a few years ago just because I got interested in it. I initially wanted an oboe but upon realizing how diffiicult it was to play and also how expensive it was, I settled for the clarinet. I play the clarinet badly and seeing Dimitri play it with such ease especially when taking wide leaps from the chalumeau register then up to the altissimo register. His performance just basically told me that it would take a miracle for me to become half as good as him.

The second half of the concert featured piano duets with Vovka now joining his father on stage. They first played Franz Schubert’s Divertissement a l’hongroise in G minor, Op. 54 D. 818. But I missed much of the first movement since during that time, people from my section of the audience were moved to better seats. So as I watched the entire first half of the concert seated at the top among the balconies, I got fortunate to be seated at the third row at the left side of the orchestra section during the second half. It was a bit too near the stage for my taste but this was much better than the balcony.

So it was still with disbelief that I listened to the next two movements of the piece. I wasn’t able to settle down, relax and really focus on the performance since I still couldn’t believe that I was seated that close to the stage.

Fortunately, I got settled down by the time they started the final piece which was La Valse by Maurice Ravel. And I truly enjoyed this one although I am more familiar with this piece played by the orchestra. As I’ve said earlier, I prefer the bright and somewhat lively tunes for the clarinet. But with the piano, I prefer the dark and more disturbing tunes and this one really fit the bill.

While I was able to see Vladimir’s fingers in action a lot better, I wasn’t able to see his face. It would’ve been very interesting to see how he interacted with his son since I was able to see Vovka’s face clearly. And how the pianists communicate and interact while playing their own parts is one of the things I really look forward to whenever I watch piano duets.

The audience gave them a resounding applause with majority giving them a standing ovation. And it was very refreshing when the three of them seemed to be joking around while enjoying the audience’s appreciation for their performance. And the humor didn’t stop at that. For an encore, the three of them played something composed by Nikolai Morozov. Dimitri explained that this piece was derived from a Russian fairy tale about a goat that was taken care of by a lady. And this goat wandered around and ultimately got eaten by wolves. It sounds crazy but that’s how the fairy tale goes, according to Dimitri. I tried getting the title of this piece from him but he himself didn’t know the title of the fairy tale.

Despite knowing the tragic outcome of the goat in the end, I truly enjoyed this encore especially since this was the first time I was able to see Dimitri playing up close. I was able to savor and hear the sound a lot better, heck I could even hear the sound of the keypads! I really like it when things loosen up at concerts like this and it eliminates a lot of the stiffness that a lot of people think is prevalent in classical music performances.

Right after the concert, the three graciously signed whatever stuff that the fans had with them. It was indeed an unforgettable night for all those who were able to attend this rare event.

Pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy

Clarinetist Dimitri Ashkenazy

Pianist Vovka Ashkenazy