German cellist at SSC / What Bolipata gave up

The eminent German cellist Claus Kanngiesser, 57, will give a concert on April 10 at the St. Cecilia’s Hall of St. Scholastica’s College, with the Manila Symphony Orchestra assisting. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

Kanngiesser started his musical career in 1971 playing Brahms’s Double Concerto with Yehudi Menuhin. He was a member of the Stuttgart Piano Trio and the Trio Paidela (clarinet, cello and piano), and has served as artistic director of the oldest German Chamber Music Festival — the Sommerliche Musikstage Witzacker.

Last year, he was appointed deputy director of Cologne’s Musikhochschule.

He has performed with leading orchestras in Europe, America and Asia, and has served as juror of international competitions in Moscow, Munich, Geneva, Leipzig, Paris, etc. Many of his students now concretize as soloists or chamber music players, teach as professors or win in world competitions.

On April 10, the eminent cellist will perform Piotr Moss’s Ragtime for 8 Cellos, De Falla’s Premiere Danse Espagnole for 12 Cellos, J. Klengel’s Hymns for 12 Cellos, and Haydn’s Concerto in C for Cello and Orchestra.

Except for the last number by Haydn, it is not likely that Manila music lovers have heard the other pieces mentioned. Mr. Kanngiesser will give master classes on April 4 and 8 (both at 2 p.m.) in St. Scholastica’s College School of Music, and cellists who will have taken the master classes will be the one performing in the aforementioned selections – six from the SSC, ten from the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra, some from the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and a few from the UST Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Kanngiesser will of course be the soloist for the Haydn Concerto.

Sr. Mary Placid Abejo, SSC Dean of Music, and the rest of us music lovers hope both Mr. Kanngiesser’s master classes and performance will generate greater interest in the cello, and thus augment the number of cellists who are sorely needed by our symphony orchestras. Better still, the master classes will hopefully rekindle a desire in our already-made cellists to aim for a concert career abroad or join a world ensemble.

In this regard, it is a pity that Ramon "Chino" Bolipata decided to come home. At the rate he was drawing raves in the US, he would have been the first Filipino and the first Asian cellist to have gained international game.

In 1976, after Ramon played Tchaivkosky’s Rococo Variations as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Daniel Webster, chief critic of the Philadelphia Inquirer, raved about Ramon’s rendition yet he had played as a mere student at Curtis. Later, he joined international festivals and became principal cellist of both the NY String Orchestra and the Brandenburg Ensemble under Alexander Schneider, the latter group subsequently touring the US and Japan.

In recognition of his stature, Ramon was featured as special performer in Menotti’s 60th birthday gala in the Brooklyn Academy, and in Samuel Barber’s funeral ceremony — "two milestones in contemporary music history". In 1982, Ramon co-founded the Ridge Quartet which won two first prizes in the US and was voted "Quartet of the Year" by a consortium of critics in California. Wrote the NY Times: "The Ridge is already entitled to the claims of musical elevation implied by its name." During its engagements, Ramon was often singled out with superlatives by the critics.

In view of the foregoing, wouldn’t you agree that Ramon, beyond doubt, was at that time a Mtislav Rostropovich in-the-making?