PREDIS Young Artists Recital Series Rey Casey Concepcion

It’s been quite a while since I’ve updated this blog. There weren’t any notable concerts for the past two weeks since there was this Holy Week/Easter weekend which meant that people were on a break. And I am glad that there was this break since I need to recharge from all the concerts that I’ve seen the previous month. And there were also a handful of student recitals that I’ve watched last month but I purposely didn’t write about them.

But this entry is about a student recital and yet I made an exception with the PREDIS Young Artists Recital Series. I wouldn’t normally write about student recitals whether they are junior or graduation recitals but this recital series staged at St. Cecilia’s Hall at Scholastica’s College had quite an impressive promotion for just a student recital. And this recital is a PREDIS 25th Anniversary Presentation so it’s a milestone to be celebrated. By the way, PREDIS actually stands for Philippine Research for Developing Instrumental Soloists.

So the first recitalist in this series was violist, Rey Casey Concepcion. He is currently the principal violist of the Manila Symphony Orchestra. I’ve seen this orchestra perform before but I haven’t seen him play before as a soloist. But he’s the 2008 First Prize Winner of the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA) for Viola and aside from that; he was also a delegate of the Asian Youth Orchestra back in 2009.

Yet despite these achievements, I was still at a loss when I watched this recital because I am totally ignorant of the usual viola repertoire. The programme consisted of Suite No. 2 in C Major, BWV 1009 by Johann Sebastian Bach, Märchenbilder, Op. 113 by Robert Schumman, Romanze in F Major, Op. 85 by Max Bruch and Der Schwanendreher by Paul Hindemith. I recognize all these composers but the pieces were unknown to me. And I’m still quite mystified with the viola and its appeal. But as I’ve said before when I started this blog, I’ll be open to new things and I should just be grateful that I’ve had this opportunity to see a viola recital.

Concepcion started the recital by playing the Bach piece unaccompanied and then he was joined by Greg Zuniega at the piano for the Schumann and Bruch pieces. And right from the start, I noticed that he had a presence on stage. He may have displayed a few signs of nervousness as he entered the stage but when he started playing, he seemed like he was in a world of his own and went into a performance mode. It didn’t feel like a junior recital at all since he performed like someone who has done this for years. I can’t say much about the pieces played since it’s no secret that I’m not the biggest fan of Bach’s music and it was my first time to ever listen to the other two pieces.

For the last piece which was played after the intermission, Concepcion was now accompanied by members of the Manila Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Molina. I know Hindemith but his pieces aren’t the most accessible for me. And Der Schwanendreher was no exception. It was quite interesting though to have neither violins nor violas in the orchestra for this piece but it did make the viola stand out. But one instrument also did stand out for me although for the wrong reasons. It felt odd hearing an electronic keyboard play the part of the harp. I know that it’s not that easy to procure a harp in here and having the keyboard play its part was quite distracting and I never got used to it throughout the performance.

Despite the pieces being strange to me coupled with my lack of knowledge with the viola itself, I enjoyed watching this recital. Concepcion performed with heart and he never made me feel anxious and nervous like some of the student recitals that I’ve seen recently. And if this recital sets the tone for the entire series, then it’s extremely unfortunate that I have to miss the next two recitals due to conflict of schedule.

Violist Rey Casey Concepcion

Chopin Manille 2010 Bicentenaire Dana Ciocarlie

As I’ve said before, I always liked Frédéric Chopin’s music. And to have the Chopin Manille 2010 Bicentenaire series of concerts devoted to his music, it’s like being a kid again during Christmas time. I’ve already been to the first concert and I went back to the Philamlife Auditorium for the second concert of the series to see pianist French-Romanian Dana Ciocarlie perform this time.

But aside from the concert, there was also the opening of the Chopin in Paris exhibit as well. This event was sponsored by the French Embassy and Alliance Française so I was a bit uncomfortable whenever I found myself surrounded with French speaking people since I don’t know the language at all. So I just viewed the exhibit with a glass of wine in hand since there plenty was of it at the event. And since I’m a Chopin fan, I already knew a lot of the information that accompanied the photos at the exhibit. But it was still a good way for me to get psyched for the concert.

So the concert started with Dana Ciocarlie talking a bit about the pieces she was going to play for the first half. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. I do like this setup because not only does it prepare the audience for the music performance but it also shows a bit of the personality of the pianist. And she was very charming, cheerful and came off as very warm and gentle like a nice cup of English breakfast tea. So for the first part, Ciocarlie played Rondo à la Mazur in F Major, Op. 5, the 3 Mazurkas, Op. 59 and Polonaise Fantaisie in A Flat Major, Op. 61. These pieces reflected more of the Polish side of Chopin since the Mazurka and the Polonaise are dances of Polish nature.

The Rondo is a very early work of Chopin and it’s not one of the most well known and I admit that I am not really familiar with it. But the mazurkas that followed are very familiar to me. They were among the first Chopin piano pieces that I’ve listened to. And it is always a delight for me to see them played by a competent pianist.

And my most awaited piece of the night finally arrived. The Polonaise Fantaisie is my favorite Chopin piece for the solo piano. When she played the first couple of chords followed by the ascending notes, I was already mesmerized. She had a natural, unforced manner in which she played this piece. After this, I felt that I could go home satisfied but there was still more to come after the interval.

Fortunately, I wisely stayed on for the second half since Ciocarlie had a surprise for everyone. She played a piece that wasn’t on the programme for the night and it was something that she just learned. The audience was very much delighted when she announced that this piece was Fantasie-Impromptu; not the one by Chopin but by Filipino composer Nicanor Abelardo. And this further endeared her to the audience since she took an effort to learn this piece.

She then returned to the Chopin programme and continued with two Nocturnes. The first one she played was the Nocturne in E minor, Op. post followed by the popular Nocturne No. 2. in D Flat Major, Op. 27 The first Nocturne isn’t one of my favorites but the second is definitely one of mine. Sometimes, my patience is tested whenever a piece I’m not too fond of precedes the one that I prefer more.

The next piece she played was the Ballade No. 2 in F, Op. 38 which started calmly not unlike the previous pieces that she played. Thankfully, this Ballade has a second part that sounded destructive and violent. And if any of the audience fell asleep during the Nocturnes, this Ballade would’ve woken them up.

She then had a handful of waltzes to end the programme. She first played the popular Waltz No. 1 in D Flat Major, Op. 64. And next were the 3 Waltzes from Op. 34 Trois grandes valses brillantes. She sounded very cheerful with her spiels when introducing the works and she was able to bring some of that cheerfulness and playfulness with some of these waltzes.

For her encore, she played something by Shumann but I failed to get the title of the piece. But I recognized her second encore as being the Etude No. 10 in A Flat Major, Op. 10. The audience wanted more from her and she obliged but reminding the audience that it was already her “last” encore. This last encore was something by Schubert and again, I failed to get the title of this piece.

Pianist Dana Ciocarlie

There were more people who watched this concert than the previous one featuring Rudolf Golez. It took me quite sometime in order to have my programme signed since Ciocarlie was busy entertaining some members of the audience after the show. It was a bit intimidating since most of these people were talking to her in French. And when it was finally my turn, I told her that I was very glad that she played my favorite Chopin piece. She then asked what it was, and when I told her that it was the Polonaise Fantaisie, she told me that it was also her favorite and that this piece is indeed a masterpiece.

There are still a few concerts left in this Chopin Manille 2010 Bicentenaire series and I am already geared for the next performance date.

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