Cecile Licad: Amazing

Each time Cecile Licad performs, she alternately startles, delights, amazes, fascinates and intrigues her listeners. Her recent concert for C.R.I.B.S. at the CCP main auditorium was no exception, and although she had rendered some of the compositions in previous programs, there was always something new added to them.

With mind, heart and soul focused – as one possessed – she played every piece as though her life depended on it.

In the first movement of the opening number, Schumann’s Sonata in G Minor, which, as indicated, was to be rendered "as fast as possible", Licad conveyed such dazzle and panache that the ensuing movement (andantino) was, by contrast, exquisitely, ineffably lyrical.

The same transpired in Beethoven’s Sonata in E Flat Major. Again, the adagio-allegro bristled with such flair and élan, the succeeding movement was all that it was expected to be: andante espresivo, with melodic lines flowing in a fluid manner.

The Prayer Bell Sketch for Piano by the contemporary composer Oliver Knussen stood out among the old and tested classics, eliciting widely ranging bell sounds interspersed with eloquent silences and striking atonalities.

Liszt’s Au Bord D’Une Source, which was not characterized by the composer’s typical bombast, was highly descriptive as Licad evoked panoramic sights and land views with feeling and passion.

Chopin’s two sets of Etudes were written to help the pianist surmount particular obstacles, and thus enlarge and perfect his technique. It is to the unique and inestimable credit of Chopin, who was privy to all the secrets of the piano, that he created poetic masterpieces out of the studies (études).

Licad demonstrated not only absolute mastery of the specific problems the études presented – studies for the left hand, staccato octaves, thirds, double octaves, runs, arpeggios, etc. which she executed with fury and ferocity – but also her tremendous capacity to interpret the études as works of intrinsic merit – all twelve of them!

Evidently, Licad is still peaking, and will continue to astound us for many more years with her audacious spirit and superior technique. To the repeated standing ovation and rousing applause, the pianist responded generously with six encores: a piece by Rachmaninoff, two works by Gottschalk, one by Chopin, a native composition and a special work Licad dedicated to C.R.I.B.S.

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Cecile B. Garrucho, C.R.I.B.S. president, delivered prefatory remarks on a stage which that night "bloomed" with a floral decoration created with incomparable artistry by Rachy Cuna.