Kid Gloves

I decided at the last minute not to watch the Licad concert last Friday night at the CCP. Her program originally included Maurice Ravel's Concerto in G Minor. I was surprised she switched the Ravel with a Beethoven no. 3, along with the Poulenc double concerto with his son, Ottavio.

I wish she'd stop treating the Filipino audience with kid gloves. I know we may not be musically sophisticated but some of us can appreciate an honest-to-goodness Shostakovich, even a Bartok. Abroad, she performs difficult repertoire consisting of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Rachmaninoff. Here she gives us an early Beethoven? What gives?

I want to hear the Ravel. Everybody's familiar with the Beethoven, for crying out loud.