Three concerts

To celebrate the Francophonie Festival which honors all French-speaking peoples, Canadian Ambassador Robert Collette presented Fil-Canadian mezzo-soprano Grace Chan in a French song recital at F. Santiago Hall. To point up Phil-Canadian friendship, Grace also sang Cayabyab’s Nais Ko and M. Velarde’s Minamahal Kita, and elevated the spirit with such inspirational pieces as You’ll Never Walk Alone and Climb Every Mountain.

Many of the French songs were familiar: Fauré’s Chanson d’amour, Apres un rève, Martin’s Plaisir d’amour and Edith Piaf’s famous La vie en rose. (The French-speaking Mr. Collette must have commended Grace’s clear diction and fluent delivery.)

Supremely poised, assured and relaxed, Grace established immediate contact with the audience, her charming, beguiling manner compelling attention, her rich, dark-hued, powerful voice eliciting admiration. Grace did not always sustain the top notes as might have been expected, but her finely nuanced, sensitively expressive renditions enthralled.

With her marvelous operatic voice, everyone waited for an aria which finally came as an encore, the Habanera from Carmen. Here, Grace employed every known theatrical device e.g., "flirting" with targeted male listeners to some of whom she threw flowers. How the audience roared!

The Madrigals’ interpretation of Il est belle bon (Passareu), La Guerre (C. Jannequin) and Bituing Walang Ningning (Willy Cruz) affirmed Phil-Canadian friendship. How exquisite were their gradations of volume, cohesiveness and unique tonalities!

Grace returned with her inimitable renditions which, distinctly her own, drew thunderous applause. She pointed to pianist Najib Ismail for his excellent support – having conveyed as he did the spirit and mood of each song to enrich her own vocal artistry.

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The 34-year-old pianist Aries Caces devoted his latest concert to Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor.

Composer and conductor, Rachmaninoff was a titan in either capacity. He shaped his piano works around his own attributes: Power (his fingers were long and steely; his hands, large) and virtuosity. Further, he was the greatest pianist of his day. How might a titan, such as he was, regard the rendition of his compositions by present-day pianists?

Caces’s solid training, experience, and technical skill enabled him to weather the "stormy", rapid, complex passages of the Concerto, doing so smoothly and fluidly. But his rendition seemed rather wanting in brio, sparkle, spirit and power – characteristics which would have produced the tremendous impact expected.

On the other hand, the encore pieces, Schumann’s Widmung (Dedication) and Schubert’s Serenade displayed the pianist’s strong lyrical vein and obvious temperament for the romantic and the melodious. Indeed, he made those pieces sing.

For this reason, the melodic passages of the Rhapsody admirably surfaced, thus appealing to this reviewer even more than the rest of the particular selection. San Pedro’s Ang Buwan sa Kabundukan opened the concert.

Soloist Caces and PPO Conductor Ruggero Barbieri kept pointing to each other during the curtain calls at the CCP theater, thus signifying mutual gratification. The standing ovation which followed brought on the aforementioned encores and a brief, delightfully whimsical piece.

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Through consistently polished, refined and spirited performances, the Clarion Chamber Ensemble, founded by flutist David Johnson, keeps adding to chamber music enthusiasts. Its latest concert at F. Santiago Hall, titled Kings’ Courts, Peasant Scenes and Cozy Salons opened with Haydn’s Concerto in C for violins (Reginald Pineda and Olga Pineda), violas (Donald Kidd and Michie Martinez), flutes (Johnson and Francisco Candelaria), French horns (Nepthalie Villanueva and Apol Dismulacion), double bass (Antonio Rodriguez) and cello (Arnold Josue).

Incredibly, Haydn was treated like a menial in Prince Esterhazy’s palace where he was the director and composer-in-residence, despite the kind of music he wrote for the nobleman. The beauty of his Concerto, as proven by the vibrant, spirited interpretation, bears witness to his immense gifts. The Concerto began and ended in agitated fashion, while conveying varying moods inbetween. With the flutes harmonizing in thirds, the strings inter-acting, the French horns complementing them with contrasting tonal qualities, the result was rivettingly fascinating. Just a bit more zest, zeal, intensity and passion would have set the house on fire!

Rhythm is the basic element of any dance, and the ensemble kept this consistently in mind for the gentle, yet unmistakable beat in the Renaissance Scottish Dances by contemporary composer Peter Maxwell Davis who brilliantly recreates the music of the 1500s.

One followed the rhythms of the Allemande (an old, medieval dance of German origin), and the Courante (a favorite from 1550 to 1750) among other dances, with the percussion (Francis L. Miranda) infusing a new, quaint flavor to the strains of the violin (O. Pineda), cello (Alvin Salenga), flute (D. Johnson) and Clarinet (Ariel Sta. Ana).

In Schubert’s well-loved Trout Quintet, the ensemble stressed the melodic lines, the sparkling spirit of the piano (Hyun Joo Lee) pointing up the deep, resonant, luminous tones of the cello (Renato Lucas), and the vigorous thrusts of the violin (R. Pineda) and double bass (A. Rodriguez). The highest moment of listening pleasure was reached when the instruments, including the double bass, played singly, or in combination, the singer’s portion, the infinitely rich variations ensuing.

The deafening applause led to a repetition of the scherzo, thus ending a wonderfully rewarding program of chamber music.