Nena, Rey blaze trail in music programming / Mariel amazes ‘fans’

Nena del Rosario Villanueva – fresh from her triumphant Paris engagement at the historic-Musée de l’Armée (she and soprano Margarita Gomez, in fact, were the first Filipino artists ever to perform there) – blazed a trail in music programming with Reynaldo Reyes in a duo piano recital at St. Cecilia’s Hall.

Departing from the standard classic fare of Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy, etc., the daring duo rendered "Symphonic Dances from West Side Story for Two Pianos" which, in tempo, structure and content Brahms and company never conceived of in their wildest dreams.

Today, music lovers are thoroughly conversant with the Broadway musical comedy. American composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein turned his own musical West Side Story (based on the Bard’s Romeo and Juliet) into a "jazzified symphonic form" for the dances which he himself arranged for two pianos. The program notes explain that the elements were derived not only from the American but also from the European musical stage traditions. What Nena and Reynaldo interpreted, therefore, were "neither opera nor musical comedy". What the audience heard were recognizable melodies of such songs as "Maria" and dances which, while tracing the storyline – e.g., the gang wars between the Capulets and the Montagues – created rich, dense tonalities, as also pulsating, driving syncopated, jazzified rhythms occasionally accented by finger-snapping (Reynaldo’s).

It was a compelling yet effortless shifting of gears, so to speak, for Nena and Reynaldo who were obviously enjoying themselves immensely. The inevitable result was that the audience enjoyed itself, likewise, as it felt the propulsive, bracing, throbbing beat of the dances.

The second half of the program offered dances once more, namely, Astor Piazzola’s Three Tangos. These, however, were not the popular kind of a Argentine tango the DI’s teach – bored society matrons wishing to while the evening away. Piazzolla’s pieces are "classics of the modern tango", uniquely and distinctively his own – a fusion of classic, jazz and tango with experiments in sound – clusters, pizzicatos, multiple glissandos – as musicologists point out.

Take the virtuosic piece "Adios Nonino" (Goodbye, Grandpa) written in memory of a loved one. It is described by Piazzolla himself as a "tango-rhapsody" – "espresivo, sad, full of chromatic moments and ornaments while fluctuating between arresting, tense, rhythmical sections and lyric, tender and emotive ones." The Hungarian dances, the French minuets, the Italian tarantellas, the Spanish fandangos certainly bear no resemblance whatsoever to Piazzolla’s tangos.

In interpreting the latter with flawless rapport, impeccable technique expressive of both style and spirit, Nena and Reynaldo further proved how brilliantly they had blazed a trail in music programming, as remarkable in its fashion as Raul Sunico’s when he played, sans score, the 200-page work of Busoni with orchestra.

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The duo recitalists responded to the fund-raising event for the purchase of an acoustical-shell by graciously waiving their talent fees. The hall, however may also require a mechanism that will keep outside noises from intruding. The torrential rain that night sounded like a strange obligato through some long piano passages.

Carmen D. Padilla, president of the SSC Alumni Association, Mindy B. Perez Rubio and Josephine G. Knox were in-charge of arrangements along with Sr. Mary Placid, moderator.

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The young, attractive Hannover-based Mariel Ilusorio highly impressed her audience at the Santiago Hall with a full-length piano recital. This consisted of Mozart’s Sonata in C Major, Chopin’s Barcarolle, Debussy’s Preludes 1-5 and 6-12 Book 1, Liszt-Paganin’s Etudes No. 2 in E Flat Major and No. 3 in G Sharp Minor, the latter also known as "La Campanella."

What was to be noted and admired throughout the performance was Mariel’s tonal clarity. This marked even the fastest finger runs, chords, and the most complex configurations and curlicues, with each note sounding as clear as a bell.

Further, the pianist demonstrated a dignified graceful manner: she would slowly raise her hands or fingers, her playing unaccompanied by quirky movements or tossing of the head in self-conscious attempts to call attention.

Her rendition of Mozart was thoroughly competent and technically correct but it was rather wanting in the light, playful spirit characteristic of the composer. The Chopin interpretation was stylistically beyond reproach but again, it did not seem to convey any distinctive quality to remember it by.

Doubtless, Mariel excelled in Debussy. She was so outstanding in her eloquent delineation of the composer’s descriptive music she could perhaps become a Debussy specialist someday. In amazement and admiration, the audience "saw" and "heard" the marvelous sights and sounds Mariel recreated. How diligently she must have studied the composer’s musical devices for his evocative impressionism!

It was in the finale that Mariel showed her virtuosic side. Tonal clarity again predominated through the most challenging passages and the most rapid tempi. Then, too there was no slackening of pace in La Campanella, Paderewski’s signature piece no less. What might be noted here, as well as in the rest of the program, was a certain lack of power and force which prevented more graduated nuances.

This granted, Mariel continues to look forward to an exciting future in the international circuit. The evening’s encore pieces, after a standing ovation, were a movement each from two Scarlatti sonatas.

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Letty R. Shahani, presidential adviser on culture, and Armando Baltazar, MCO Foundation chairman, prefaced the recital with brief remarks.