Quartetto Espressivo

I admit that I'm not really familiar with string quartets. I don't listen to recordings of it and I can't recall if I ever watched a live performance before. But since then, I've gotten acquainted with the members of the Quartetto Espressivo composed of Joseph Brian Cimafranca (violin 1), Sara Maria Gonzales (violin 2), Rey Casey Concepcion (viola) and Gerry Graham Gonzales (cello). And when they invited me to come over the GSIS Museum to watch their concert, I did so without any second thoughts.

The weather during that afternoon seemed ominous but the opening piece of the concert, Franz Joseph Haydn's Quartet No. 43 in G Major, Op. 54 No. 1, somewhat provided some cheer to block the thoughts of the threatening rain outside. I'm not a huge fan of Haydn's happy music but I'd take anything to counter the gloomy weather outside.

The next piece they performed was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Adagio and Fugue K. 546. I was very much pleasantly surprised by this piece since the Adagio sounded very dark which I didn't expect from Mozart. I never liked fugues before but the introduction made me like the fugue part that followed it.

The last piece they played was Ludwig van Beethoven's Quartet No. 3, Op. 59 "Razumovsky". I've never heard this piece before as well as the other pieces that they played but this was the one that brought me through many different moods. But the one thing that stood out during this performance was the way that Sara Gonzales' face lit up during the final bars of this piece. It was such a delight seeing her face in triumph as she savored the last moments of the performance. She knew that they performed well and the audience did so too.

For an encore, the quartet played a Cebuano medley and it was then when they appeared to be relaxed and just focused on enjoying playing this encore. This piece was quite fitting since with the exception of Concepcion, the other three members all hail from Cebu.

One thing that I really liked about this concert was the spiels done by Jeffrey Solares who hosted the event. He provided some background information regarding the pieces to be performed which really sparked my interest. And he even commented on an Amorsolo painting that was displayed at the gallery to provide some insight on how western music has been embraced by the Filipino people. And proof of that is the Quartetto Espressivo and the much improved audience attendance at the GSIS Museum that night.

Quartetto Espressivo

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.