Piano Peace

I first got aware of this event when I picked up a flyer for the Filfest 2010 Season that was available during the Chopin concert series. I admit that I wasn’t at all interested with the contents of the flyer at first because the concert venue, the Insular Life Theatre at Alabang, was too far south from where I live. So I just told myself why bother since it would be difficult for me to go and see concerts there.

But I still read what was inside the flyer while I was waiting for the show to start and the concert entitled Piano Peace got me curious. It’s no secret that concerts featuring pianists are what I really prefer compared to those that feature other instruments. And the distinction that the pianists featured in this concert were an interesting pair further fueled my interest. The pianists for the concert were Bishara Harouni and Yaron Kohlberg; the former is an Arab while the latter is a Jew. A pair like that performing in one concert is very rare so I told myself that I must get my gears turning so that I could catch this performance.

So I was glad that I was able to make it to the theatre to see this interesting pair. And right from the start they made a very good impression upon the audience when they appeared on stage wearing the Barong Tagalog. And the good impression continued as they played Dmitri Shostakovich’s Concertino for 2 Pianos in A Minor, Op. 94. I really like this piece since it’s a joy to hear and it has some passages reminiscent of some themes in Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 which is my favorite piece as of this moment. I knew that the show had just started but at the back of my mind, I felt the urge to practice at the soonest time possible.

Then it was Yaron’s turn to play. And he did please me since he played music by Frédéric Chopin. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I never grow tired of watching pianists play Chopin especially good pianists who can do his exquisite work justice. I can forgive Yaron for playing five out of the 24 Preludes from Op. 28 which is not my favorite Chopin piece to hear. But he made up for it by playing three etudes that are among my favorites: Etude Op. 10, No. 12, Etudes Op. 25, No. 5 and No. 11. I was absolutely glad that it somehow felt that this was a little extension of the Chopin concert series that I’ve enjoyed a month before this.

For the next piece, they played Franz Schubert’s Fantasia in F Minor for Four Hands, Op. 103. Since it’s a piece for four hands, they played side by side on just one piano and it was remarkable to see how well they work together. And it was during this piece when I was reminded that Yaron is Jewish and Bishara is Arab and there they were, playing side by side. It was very unlike what I normally see in the news and I hoped at that moment that this was how things should be in real life. And this was also the piece where I noticed how different their style and their personalities as they were playing. Yaron was more animated and grinned a lot at Bishara. And Bishara was more passive and reserved but he wasn’t overwhelmed at all by Yaron’s extroverted demeanor.

After this, it was Bishara’s time to do his solos and he started with Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52. It was a bit odd seeing him play this piece seated not on the usual piano bench, but on the typical chair with back support. But aside from that interesting choice of seat, Bishara’s Chopin was quite mesmerizing. He is a tall guy who might come of as intimidating at first glance but there was this tenderness and depth in his Chopin. And then he showed his intensity and power at the end of this piece. Then he changed the pace with his next piece: Franz Liszt’s La Campanella which is the more popular name for Etude No. 3 in G Sharp Minor from the Grandes etudes de Paganini. I normally associate music by Liszt as just fireworks showpieces but Bishara had a way of making it more than just that. Again, there was this delicate artistry which is beyond just showing technique.

For the last piece, the duo played Darius Milhaud’s Scaramouche which is a piece that is just plain fun for me. And the two of them definitely looked like they were having fun especially Yaron who dealt with humor the snags that he encountered with his piano and his inexperienced page turner who was one of the usherettes that night. Despite these minor problems, the duo played with such joy that left everybody in such high spirits. Proof of this was the wild applause from the audience who demanded an encore and the duo granted them with a reprise of the first movement of this piece.

Pianist Bishara Harouni

Pianist Yaron Kohlberg

Honestly, I thought that the programme for the night was a bit short and I was disappointed a bit that they didn’t give another encore performance. But in an amazing turn of events, my experience with these two pianists extended beyond the night of the concert. And what I experienced after was one of the most memorable moments that I’ve had recently. But this story merits a blog entry of its own.

PPO Signature Series Concert VIII

Finally, the long wait is over and the inaugural concert of Olivier Ochanine, the new music director/principal conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, has arrived. And as expected, I went to the Cultural Center of the Philippines and watched this concert which was the eighth and the last of the 27th concert season.

This concert had a very interesting programme. The first played was Dmitri Shostakovich’s Festive Overture in A Major, Op. 96. I am very familiar with this piece and it does sound like what the title suggests. And it’s a really feel good piece of music. And during the performance, I was a bit thrown off by how slow the brass fanfare was at the beginning. It made me quite anxious for it to finish so the piece could go on to the delightful clarinet solo. The slower fanfare did make the main theme sound a lot livelier in my opinion. By the way, Ochanine told me later on that the fanfare actually has been played a lot faster than how it was supposed to be by others and that was why I thought that his was a lot slower. Nonetheless, it was a nice and exciting start to the concert.

The next piece the orchestra played was Le Cid, Suite for Orchestra by Jules Massenet. I’m not really familiar with this piece but it was quite accessible. And I always get amused on how some French composers managed to write music that is inspired by Spain. The suite featured melodies that are easy to like, familiar rhythms and most important of all, a variety of percussion instruments which never fails to please the audience.

From the unfamiliar to a very familiar one was how the concert progressed. The orchestra then closed the first half of the programme with Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. As the title suggests, only the strings played in this piece and it’s a very sad tune usually used in funerals/memorials. I am quite puzzled as to why this was the closing piece for the first half since I felt a bit drained during the intermission. This piece is definitely not one to listen to if one wants to get energized. But the audience gave a rather energetic applause after the piece was played.

So I tried to energize myself during the intermission by drinking wine and I knew that I needed a lot of energy since the second half featured a piece that made me exhausted whenever I listen to it actively: Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 57 by Dmitri Shostakovich. The concert started with a Shostakovich piece that I could just relax and enjoy listening to it and it ended with a piece by the same composer in which listening to it is not a walk in the park. Remarkably, watching it live for the first time didn’t exhaust me at all. It was a very different experience from just listening to a recording of it. And the menacing timpani during the last movement which is my favorite really got my heart pounding.

The audience really welcomed Ochanine when they gave him a nice applause that could’ve rivaled the intensity of the timpani during the last moments of the Shostakovich Symphony. And as expected, Ochanine and the orchestra did a trio of encores. And it’s quite embarassing that I failed to get the titles and the composers of these pieces. All I know is that the first was Edward Elgar's Nimrod from Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra, Op. 36 or Enigma Variations. The second encore was a medley of popular Philippine songs. As always, foreigners who make an effort to learn a Filipino piece instantly endear themselves to the local audience. The final encore was a lively number and unfortunately, that’s the only thing that I could say about this since it was the first time that I heard that piece.

So now that the 27th season is over, I must wait a few months until the next season begins. I already have a copy of what the PPO has lined up and while some pieces are unfamiliar, the ones that I know especially the piano concertos happen to be some of my favorites. I wish Ochanine well in his stint with the PPO and he can count on my support as I continue watching my national orchestra.

Conductor Olivier Ochanine