Joseph Esmilla’s Sentimyento released - SOUNDS FAMILIAR by Baby A. Gil

The album Sentimyento by Joseph Esmilla recalls those bygone days of tertulias where family members eagerly displayed their performing talents and strains of Estrellita or the Tango of Albeniz wafted through airy living rooms with shiny narra floors. They sang. They danced. They played the piano or like Joseph they played the violin. The only difference is that not many of them played on a J.F. Pressenda of Turin violin from 1833 and could make the instrument sound with the same depth of feeling as Joseph does.

Local record producers rarely come out with classical music releases and it is to Bookmark’s credit that it has chosen to put on disc the wonderful collection that fills up Sentimyento. This album is made up of short pieces arranged for the violin, all of them beautiful in a plaintive, melancholy way that hews closely to the title. Most of them, like Ponce’s Estrellita and Tchaikovsky’s Nur, wer dei Sehnsucht Kennt (None But the Lonely Heart), are instantly familiar. Others like Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14 are rarely heard gems for listeners to discover.

Esmilla is one of the best violinists in the Philippines today. He started violin lessons at the age of five with his father, Sergio Z. Esmilla Jr., and also took lessons with Oscar C. Yatco and Basilio Manalo. He earned his Bachelor of Music and Masters in Music degrees at The Julliard School in the US of A, which he entered when he was only 14 years old on a scholarship.

Esmilla was the 1995 winner of the Mannes Concerto Competition and has studied under Dorothy Delay, Masao Kawasaki, Jens Ellerman, Felix Galimir, Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley of the Guarneri Quartet and violist Roberto Diaz. He has served on the faculties of various universities and at present maintains an active performing career all over the world. He is currently violinist of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and plays in a piano trio based in New York City.
Performing on the piano with Esmilla is Albert Tiu, who studied at the University of the Philippines, the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, the Boston Conservatory and The Julliard School. He has won numerous awards from all over the world and has performed in many countries. He now resides in New York.

Other cuts in the album are Slavonic Dance in E minor, Op. 46, No. 2 by Dvorak; La plus que lente by Debussy; Salut d’amour/Liebesgruss, Op. 12 by Elgar; Sicilienne by Paradis; Liebesleid and Melodie/Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo ed Euridice by Kreisler; Apres un reve by Faure; Romance 2nd Movement, Concerto No. 2 in D Minor by Wieniawski; Cantabile in D by Paganini; Madrigale by Simonetti; Meditation from Thais by Massenet; and Cavatina in D Minor, Op. 85 No. 3 by Raff.

Goodbyes: Tito Arevalo, father of actor Robert and a member of the famous Ylagan clan of noted artists, died last Dec. 4 after a long illness. He was the son of zarzuela writer and director Hermogenes Ylagan and of singer-actress Casiana de Leon. The famous film directors Gerry de Leon and Conrado Conde were his brothers as well as actor Angel Esmeralda. He was a musical director for films with Igorota, Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo, Huwag Mo Akong Limutin and Sawa Sa Lumang Simboryo among his memorable works. He also acted in the movies and was last seen in Curacha. As a songwriter, he was responsible for such immortal tunes as Irog Ako ay Mahalin, Minamahal, Sinasamba, Ikaw ang Mahal Ko, Hinahanap Kita, Magandang Bituin and many others.

Composer, pianist and arranger Gerry Paraiso also succumbed to a long illness last Dec. 12. Gerry started his music career as a member of the Circus Band. He is best known for the song You, which his boyhood friend and fellow Circus member Basil Valdez popularized. He also composed Mr. Kupido for Rachel Alejandro, Over and Over for Joey Albert and other songs. Gerry is survived by his wife, the former Evelyn Romualdez and their six children.

Now let me end this piece with a cheery hello to Simone Francesca Emmanuelle who was born to Sharon and Francis Pangilinan by Caesarian section last Saturday, Dec. 16. The baby, who will be nicknamed Frankie, weighed a whopping 8.11 pounds. All the better as it gives her Ate Kristina more of her to hug. Congratulations.