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