Music on a Monday

Oliver Salonga in concert last night at the Ayala Museum lobby. He began with something very modern or 20th century (it had atonal and dissonant qualities), Samuel Barber's Piano Sonata in E-flat Minor, Op. 26, then moved without a break to Rachmaninoff's Etude Tableaux, Op. 33 and ended with the more traditional sounds of Franz Liszt's Reminiscences de Norma du Bellini. The Scarlatti sonata that he played as an encore really gripped my heart. It's the sort of music I like to cry along with, but it was a happy night so no tears, except for the thunderstorm that raged outside. Photo by Anna Leah Sarabia

From boy to big man of the piano, we've watched him grow to even teach us how the Rachmaninoff etudes "are not like Chopin etudes that target a specific technique for each etude. The etudes teach you to apply different techniques based on what's written with emphasis on the actual application rather than a mastery of a certain technical device." Photo by Anna Leah Sarabia

Oli triumphant. His friends from his Makiling years still like to call him "Berong," short for Keroberong or a Filipinized version of "Care Bear" because of his chubbiness. He's a graduate of the Philippine High School for the Arts in Laguna. He's winding up his Ph.D. studies in piano performance at the University of Southern California under Norman Krieger. Photo by Anna Leah Sarabia

At almost any recital in any venue, an appreciative audience that includes neurosurgeon and art patron Joven Cuanang and sculptor Julie Lluch likes to have a moment with the musical artist to hold his hand or hug him. As an aside, Julie is teaching herself to play the piano after she had her upright at home tuned up. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

"Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul." - Unknown

"...(M)usicians are willing to give their entire lives to a moment - to that melody, that lyric, that chord, or that interpretation that will stir the audience's soul. Musicians are beings who have tasted life's nectar in that crystal moment when they poured out their creative spirit and touched another's heart. In that instant, they were as close to magic, God, and perfection as anyone could ever be. And in their own hearts, they know that to dedicate oneself to that moment is worth a thousand lifetimes."-David Ackert, Los Angeles Times

The unknown author of that quote and Mr. Ackert I must thank profusely and publicly for giving me a good shove so I can recall in a semi-tranquil mood the times the musical "guns of August" fired and caused a pleasurable trembling in my soul. I've used an Ackert quote in a past blog about pianist Cecile Licad, but I keep coming back to it.

There's almost a "near-suicidal" quality to a true musician's playing. It's in the way they give their all to an elusive moment that will quickly become a memory for the listener unless everything, every nuance of a note or a gesture, is caught in an audio-video recording. Otherwise, there is nothing more exciting, more electrifying than being present in a live performance. Especially if it is someone like Oliver who I first watched at his farewell recital at the then PCIBank's Francisco Santiago Hall in Makati before he first left for his undergrad music studies in the States.

I've seen him at a tertulia at Odette Alcantara's Heritage House in Blue Ridge, Quezon City, where he attempted to do the folk ditty "Pamulinawen" as his encore piece. After repeated mistakes, he apologized and instead played a longer and more difficult Chopin piece. This has led to my impression that Oliver doesn't take the easier path. Gusto niya talagang pahirapan ang kanyang sarili.

And it's good for him. We, the audience, also benefit. I've also watched him play at the Baguio Country Club ballroom, at the former Kiss the Cook Gourmet at UP Village to kick off the Pablo Tariman-initiated Intimate Concert Series, at Abelardo Hall last year and then last night at a museum. Oliver is a life force, indeed, like the backdrop of paintings by Jana Benitez. Unsolicited advice from a concerned tita: Lose some of the weight. It may keep your stamina up.

The pictures tell of my latest experience of him better.

Thanks for putting this recital together, Ray Sison of ROS Music Center, Pablo Tariman of Music News and the Ayala Museum for opening up the lobby space on a Monday and a holiday (yesterday was the advanced celebration of National Heroes Day). Don't ever be discouraged by slight weather disturbances or the challenge of producing and marketing a recital.

When I think of contemporary heroes, politicians never cross my consciousness or my radar. It's always the authentic artists and tireless cultural workers who do. They are the ones who take the greater risks and make a nation truly proud and great. And people like me, a mere music fan, are grateful. Once again, Oliver, bravo!

Belgium’s magic flutist visits Manila | Vera Files

Belgium’s magic flutist visits Manila | Vera Files

Marc Grauwels charms Manila music lovers

Alma Miclat and her smart phone caught my old pal Al Vicente, retired ambassador, me and other members of the audience at the Ayala Museum in rapt attention at what's going on in front of us...

...Listening to and watching one of Belgium's best exports, the virtuoso flutist Marc Grauwels, lecture with such wit and play with such an entrancing style where he and his instrument dance to the music of the spheres. Thank you, Ray Sison and ROS Music Center, for bringing The Magic Flutist over. Thank you, Corazon Pineda Kabayao, accompanying artist, for adding more chemistry to that Wednesday evening. Photo by Anna Leah Sarabia

Great pianists need a piano to match their gifts

Ray Sison with Cecile Licad

When Cecile Licad blows into town for concert engagements, it is not egoism on her part when she asks for a piano that will enable her to give her best on concert night.

No one appreciates this more than Ray Sison, principal flutist of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, local producer of some Licad concerts since 2010.

Sison also produced Philippine concerts  of Germany’s Rolf-Dieter Arens, France’s Pascal Roge and Laure Favre Kahn, Russia’s Sofya Gulyak, among others.

He says, “Every time we have a concert we learn something new about the preferences of each pianist.”

Sison, who’s behind ROS Music Center that specializes in music development for orchestra and symphonic brands, classical concert productions, acoustic construction and repairs and maintenance, calls pianists  ”the most disadvantaged of all instrumentalists because they have to contend with an instrument that is always new to them.”

He says,”Except for Vladimir Horowitz who could bring his own piano and technician with him, most pianists adjust to a piano’s idiosyncrasies. The piano has many adjustments that can be made to it so a high-caliber pianist is used to these adjustments being near perfect. Their music is near perfect. The piano must follow suit.”

To show how important the right piano is, Sison says, “When you tune a guitar, you use an electronic tuner and tune each string perfectly in about two minutes. A piano is more complicated because the higher notes have to be stretched up a bit ever so slightly and the bass notes stretched down. This is because the harmonics of the bass note has to be in tune with the fundamental of the treble note. Sounds complicated?  It is.”

The University of the Philippines College of Music plans to introduce piano technology as a subject. He welcomes this, saying, “Pianists can benefit tremendously. They can do first aid themselves to ailing pianos or communicate with their technician on to how to bring out a certain sound they like to have.”

A well-trained piano tuner and technician can make a huge difference.

Sison says, “So crucial is this that the likes of Vladimir Ashkenazy and Horowitz bring their own technician with them. Technicians can bring out the X factor of the piano. A good tuner must not only be in perfect tune, he must keep the piano in tune for a whole night of pounding. He must land the tuning pins so that they are stable. The idea is to tune a little sharper than the target. Let the pin settle into place by making light taps at the tuning hammer.”

It is an openly known that cultural centers depend on the government for funds. They follow the bureaucracy rule of awarding piano purchase or repair to the lowest bidder.
Sison considers this still all right and a necessity in public offices. He says, “The crucial thing is to determine how far you want to fix the piano. Do you want it okay, slightly okay, very okay, good as new? All over the world the standard is good as new.”

He cited the konzerthaus in Vienna that will start to replace ten-year-old pianos, even if in perfect condition.

There are ways to be able to get more concert-level pianos here. He recommends that “we be frank with our sponsors and communicate privately and politely about the state of the pianos every time a pianist plays there.”

Sison said the Cultural Center needs to hear from the pianists adding that there are  donors willing to donate a piano or willing to take on the full restoration of the pianos guided by the factory specifications of the brand of the piano.

At the Holy Angel University auditorium in Angeles City, Pampanga, Licad will be heard there for the first time on March 22. The concert is special to Sison. His company built the auditorium.

He says, “The auditorium is very quiet inside. The only thing you will hear is the music. You can try to talk to someone at the back of the hall while you are on stage and understand each other. That’s 20 rows away.”

He has produced concerts with 20 people in the house and jam-packed ones, too, saying, “Fulfillment comes from seeing the pianist smile after and during the concert because the piano was a help, not a liability, from seeing the audience elevated to a certain high after hearing an inspiring concert, and from hearing for myself beautiful music backed by mechanical success brought about by the technician.”

Licad’s other provincial engagements are on March 25 at 5 p.m. at Island Cove Hotel and Leisure Park in Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite, and March 27 at 7:30 p.m. at Marco Polo Plaza Hotel in Cebu City.

May there be pianos worthy of her in all those places. -- Elizabeth Lolarga

Originally published in Vera Files/Yahoo Philippines, March 19, 2011
Photo courtesy of Joshua Ignacio and Elnora Halili