Philippine Festival

Finally, the 2010 Season of the Manila Symphony Orchestra has begun. And I absolutely made sure to come to the Philamlife Auditorium to see their season opener entitled Philippine Festival. I went there still carrying with me the buzz and excitement of the Uto Ughi performance that happened just a few days before this. And I really had to comment the dedication of this orchestra, under the music direction of Prof. Arturo Molina, since they opted to rehearse instead of seeing Ughi which was very tempting indeed.

As the title states, the programme for this night consisted of works by Filipino composers. So after attending a few concerts made possible by foreign companies, it was nice to hear something very close to home and that embodies the Filipino spirit.

The night started with a performance of the Philippine Festival Overture by Angel M. Peña. I tried to listen closely to this piece since I've never heard this before but I failed with this. And I had violinist Gina Medina to blame for not remembering much of this piece. Medina was the featured soloist for the second piece of the night which was Lucino Sacramento's Violin Concerto No. 2. Medina played her part with suchy beauty that I was completely mesmerized especially by the dreamy second theme of the first movement. And it was this piece that got stuck in my mind at the expense of the opening overture. I just hope that this never happens again in future concerts.

But Peña should not fret since I do remember what happened when the orchestra performed Trinity, which was another piece that he wrote. The addition of a few theatrics like the lights out at the beginning of the piece and the solo flute who played at the back of the concert hall made sure that this performance would not be easily forgotten.

At the beginning of the second part of the concert, the audience was treated by a performance of the PREDIS kids who performed Dugtung-Dugtungan which was basically a medley of popular folk tunes. I can only imagine how excited these kids were performing at an evening concert and some of these kids were so young that it was possibly past their bedtime when they got to perform on stage. Despite their young age, I was impressed by this piece that was arranged by Jeffrey Solares.

Then it was time for the Nicanor Abelardo composed Piano Concerto performed by Virginia Laico-Villanueva. I admit that I've never seen her play before this so I had no idea what to expect. Alas, I found it difficult to connect with her probably because I was more drawn with the violin concerto that was performed earlier. It felt odd because I play the piano so a piano concerto should be easier for me to connect with. But not all was lost since I liked Laico-Villanueva's encore piece a lot more than the piano concerto.

The last piece for the night was Lahing Kayumanggi by Lucio San Pedro. I've heard this piece played a few months before and the Bahay Kubo theme was still on my mind. Having heard this piece quite recently enabled me to appreciate the performance a lot more this time. And I was able to notice that the orchestra seemed very comfortable with this piece.

The only gripe I had with this concert was that there was a keyboard used to play the parts of instruments that weren't available that night like the harp. As I've said before, this really distracted me from the overall performance and I do hope that the orchestra manages to get the actual instruments in future concerts. The electronic sound really felt out of place with the impressive overall sound of the orchestra.

But I really do appreciate the theme of the concert that really celebrated the Filipino spirit. Not only does the country celebrate their Independence Day during this month, but they also usher in a new era with the new administration that is set to take office. So it was really a poignant choice of music for their season opener and it renewed my sense of pride and nationalism. Well done, Manila Symphony Orchestra and Prof. Arturo Molina and see you at the next concert!

Violinist Gina Medina

PREDIS Young Artists Recital Series Giancarlo Gonzales & Joseph Brian Cimafranca

To escape the scorching summer heat in Metro Manila, I went to catch the third and final day of the PREDIS (Philippine Research for Developing Instrumental Soloists) Young Artists Recital Series at St. Cecilia’s Hall, St. Scholastica’s College. On this day, the featured soloists were cellist Giancarlo Gonzales and violinist Joseph Brian Cimafranca. Unfortunately, as I’ve said before, I missed the second day of this recital series that featured violinist Sara Maria Gonzales and cellist Gerry Graham Gonzales due to a convention that had to attend to that day.

These two artists boast a nice set of achievements between them. Gonzales was the 2008 First Prize winner of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA) Cello Category. And he was also a delegate of the Asian Youth Orchestra back in 2007 and 2008. Cimafranca on the other hand is a 2002 and 2005 Prize Winner of the NAMCYA Violin Category. And he was a delegate for the Southeast Asian Youth Orchestra and also the concertmaster.

The first recital of that day featured Giancarlo Gonzales and he played a familiar piece to start the show: Habanera Filipina No. 2 by Ernesto Vallejo. He was accompanied on the piano by Mary Anne Espina. I’ve heard this piece before played on the violin but Gonzales is a cellist so this piece was transcribed for his instrument. And it felt a bit odd hearing this piece in much a lower pitch more suited to the range of the cello. But he played it with enough command needed for this show piece.

The next piece was Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19. Again, Espina accompanied Gonzales with this piece and I admit that I had my attention more on the pianist since she had a difficult piece to play. And like the previous PREDIS recital of Rey Casey Concepcion that I was able to see, Gonzales didn’t play like he was in a junior recital at all.

After an intermission, the recital resumed with Gonzales playing the Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major, Hob. VIIb/2 by Joseph Haydn. For this piece, he was accompanied by the Manila Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Arturo Molina. I’ve said before that Haydn pieces are a bit too happy for my taste but for this recital, it was okay since there was the Rachmaninoff piece to balance it with. Obviously, the highlight of the recital for me was the Cello Sonata.

Cellist Giancarlo Gonzales

After an hour or so, it was the turn of violinist Joseph Brian Cimafranca to have his graduation recital. He had Greg Zuniega accompanying him on the piano and the recital started with the Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 by Ludwig van Beethoven. I admit that despite being familiar with a handful of Beethoven piano pieces, I am not familiar with most of his work for other instruments. Again, it’s embarrassing to say that I can’t remember much about this performance except that he was the one who looked the most nervous compared to the previous two recitalists that I’ve seen.

But he settled when he played the next piece which was Mutya ng Pasig (arranged by Kabayao) composed by Nicanor Abelardo. He no longer looked nervous which made me feel more relaxed and I really enjoyed this piece which wasn’t really a technically demanding piece but was able to tug into my emotions.

And if I felt that fireworks were needed to show impeccable mastery of technique, Cimafranca supplied them in abundance when he played Theme Original Varié, Op. 15 by Henryk Wieniawski. Oh dear, I found myself holding my breath when I began to imagine how on earth one plays some of the passages of that piece. I enjoyed this piece and so did the other members of the audience.

The second half of the recital as expected was a work accompanied by an orchestra. And it’s no longer a surprise that the Manila Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Molina joined Cimafranca for the performance of Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto Op. 14. I admit that except for the wildly popular Adagio for Strings, I know nothing else of Barber’s work which is quite a shame.

But Cimafranca, carried on the momentum that he had from the first half of the recital and did an excellent job on this piece. It was my first time to hear this and a mark of a good performance of an unfamiliar work is if it made me want to hear a recording of it so that I could be more familiar with it. And he certainly did that.

Overall, I was glad to catch three recitals and regret missing two especially when I heard nice things about the performances that I’ve missed.