Culture Vultures (I)

Jun and I immersed ourselves in “high-brow” culture over the week-end, starting last Friday night with a Symphonic and Piano Concert at the Francisco Santiago Hall along Makati Avenue. I wanted to hear for myself, for the first time, Nicanor Abelardo’s Piano Concerto in B-flat Minor and so for some reason, I managed to convince Jun to come with me to watch the concert (he agreed immediately!). As the concert progressed, I tried to look for signs of “nose-bleeding”. There was none. Apparently, he got through the concert unscathed. Perhaps, my classically-biased musical sensibilities may have started to rub off on him already.

The concert opened with a Prelude from Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite Op. 40. Very brief, sprightly and jocular, it set the mood of the entire concert (well at least for the next number). The main offering really consisted of Haydn’s Symphony no. 94 in G Major and the Abelardo piano concerto.

For a student orchestra trying to make its mark on the Philippine’s cultural calendar, I think the UP Orchestra under Prof. Martinez did a pretty good job. Haydn’s symphonies, belonging to the early symphonies of the classical repertoire, are generally simpler and less complicated. The performance failed to engage me because I got too distracted in trying to wish the first violins to please, please play in sync.

The fortissimo sections were wonderful, with full, vibrant sounds; only in rapid passages did I detect problems with the violins and occasionally the wind instruments. The second movement is familiar to everybody who went through day-care centers: the melody and its ensuing variations are in fact similar to “Baa baa black sheep...” note-for-note.

The orchestra really came to its own when Regalado Jose played the Abelardo concerto. Prof. Jose looks 60 or even 70 years old, although his playing remained clean and crisp, he clearly eschews a highly-romantic and bombastic interpretation. He kept a tight lid on sentimentality. Bravo! A younger pianist may have treated the piece with more passion and emotion a la maniere de Chopin or Rachmaninoff.

The first movement reminded me of Grieg’s lone Piano Concerto in A, maybe that is the reason why they chose to open the concert with a Grieg Prelude. The lyricism, melodic configurations and the harmonic treatment clearly owes a lot to the Norwegian, and the sense of calm and tranquility evoked in the rapid passages were unmistakable.

The final movement, however, clearly shows the strong and pervasive influence of Johannes Brahms. Fiery outbursts tempered by overly-romantic themes dominated the last movement and ended in a spectacular close.

But what I believe really makes the concerto special is the second movement, the Adagio section. The slow and languid passages showed why Abelardo is the master of kundiman form: it is the most Filipino of all movements. Jun said it reminded him of 1950’s movies. Any Filipino worth his musical salt will instantly recognize this unique appeal. In fact, during the encore, Prof. Jose played the second movement all over again, so that the audience will have the music of our National Artist to bring home with them.