Nena R. Villanueva: An awesome ‘legend’

Shortly after the war, Nena del Rosario, then a child of ten, played Mozart’s Concerto in A Major with the MSO under Herbert Zipper. Nena had only two weeks to learn the concerto.

At 11, she entered Curtis and studied under Isabelle Vengerova, a pupil of Theodor Leschetitzky who had trained under Liszt. After special lessons under V. Horowitz (who rarely ever gave lessons), Nena reputedly became his favorite student.

For her most recent performance – a private recital given early this month for a select audience at the Makati residence of music patron Dr. Meding Suntay – Nena R. Villanueva chose for her program some of the most technically challenging pieces from her uncommonly wide repertoire.

In interpreting them, she demonstrated a brilliant, flawless technique, unfailing sonority and tonal clarity, never missing a note nor playing a wrong one even in the most dauntingly labyrinthine passages. Just as significantly, she conveyed a consistently firm grasp of the stylistic nuances of each piece, whether classic, romantic, impressionistic, Spanish.

Musicologists regard Beethoven’s overlong Sonata Op. 109 among his most serious and profoundly thought-out works for the piano, describing it a "symphony for a solo instrument". Nena’s tempo, zest and spirit were unflagging. She sensitively delineated the melody as well as the composer’s far-in-advance devices which, interestingly enough, made certain passages, midway through the composition, sound atonal. Without "banging" or "pounding" the piano, Nena sustained the momentum, rendering the concluding portions positively virtuosic in transition.

Through Schumann’s Carnaval, the diverse themes and moods were artistically conveyed, and the complexities tossed off with ease and effortless grace, thus stressing the pianist’s characteristic lack of mannerisms or exhibitionism. Except for her arms, hands and fingers, her torso hardly moved.

Stamina, strength, finger dexterity and again, stylistic nuances, i.e., pulsating rhythms marked Albeniz’s Triana from the Iberia Suite, the rhythms evoking the fiery Spanish (specifically Moorish) spirit. The precise yet swift, fluid runs through the length of the keyboard "painted" the elusive creature of the sea in Ravel’s Ondine.

The essential aim underlying a composition for the left hand alone is to give listeners the impression that two hands are at work, the left providing the standard chordal accompaniment; the right, the melodic lines. Nena’s rendition of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lamermoor (a transcription of the opera’s sextet for the left hand alone) suggested with tremendous eloquence that two hands were playing and, further, that both appendages were in admirable form. Presumably, the seasoned pianists present would have wished that the fingers of their right hand were as powerful and as nimble as those of Nena’s left! Further, her incredible left hand heightened enjoyment with the realization that it was play – the score for six voices in the original opera of Donizetti.

In Liszt’s Transcendental Etude, the finale, Nena’s brio and bravura unleashed a storm of tonalities which, in turn, elicited a storm of applause from the select audience of pianists and the cognoscenti.

Since Nena played that Mozart Concerto when she was only ten, she hasn’t stopped peaking; now she is on her way to becoming a legend. Indeed, to most pianists, young or old, she is a legend. After Nena’s previous concert at the CCP Little Theater, the fast-rising Jonathan Coo, thoroughly awe-struck, went backstage and asked her: "May I kiss your hand?"

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After performing at Dr. Suntay’s residence, Nena graciously announced that she had dedicated the recital to Ms. Imelda Katigbak Dayrit, one of the first graduates of Sr. Baptista Battig, the Benedictine nun who had introduced formal education in Western music at St. Scholastica’s College in 1908.