A catholicity of taste included ethnic, classic, popular South American, Broadway and the West End, Filipino and avant-garde, thus encompassing widely ranging types and schools of music.
Renato Lucas, PPO’s principal cellist, conducted the UST Symphony Orchestra in a smooth, fluid and fluent rendition of the Gypsy song from Bizet’s Carmen, underscoring at once the strength of the woodwinds and brasses.
With the baton changing hands, Arnel Feliciano waved it over the orchestra in Mozart’s Don Giovanni Finale and San Pedro’s Sa Mahal Kong Bayan, the faculty singing both. An intriguing contrast surfaced between the avant-garde Suite Polymorphe by Roland Dyens as played by the Guitar Ensemble under Ruben Reyes, and the native Sarung Banggi (arranged by R. Cayabyab) and Himig ng Lahi rendered by the Rondalla under Ricardo Calubayan. All the foregoing conveyed flair, spirit and precision.
What made the performance of ten pianists (whether alumni or students) on ten pianos remarkable – the alumni in Pandangguhan (arr. by A. Espino) and Jamaican Rhumba by F. Benjamin, the students in Lecuona’s Gitanerias and Milhaud’s Braziliera from Scaramouche – was their consistent playing as one. Their singular rapport was almost uncanny in the runs, chords and, above all, in the glissandos.
An electrifying climax was R. Cayabyab’s Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika (arr. by A. Feliciano) which incorporated native songs to prove how beautiful indeed is our music. It was executed by ethnic and orchestral percussions, with ten alumni pianists augmenting the Percussion Ensemble under conductor Arnel Feliciano, the thunderous effect drawing thunderous applause. More auditory surprises were to come. The Jazz Band played Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez (second movement, transcribed by J. Ptolado and arranged by H. Ranera). This featured admirable soloist Roger J. Llado on the flueglehorn, and was conducted by Romy Jose.
The Jazz Band projected a compelling, propulsive beat in You Go to My Head by Dizzy Gillespie, with Roger Llado on the podium. Again the strength of the woodwinds and brasses was obvious in R. Smith’s Ascension from the Divine Comedy, with Herminigildo Ranera directing the Symphony Band.
Listeners revelled (again) in the total rapport of ten alumni pianists in selections from Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical, and of ten student pianists in F. Buencamino’s Mayon – Fantasia di Concerto without anyone missing a beat at the delineation of the volcano’s eruption.
The 32-member UST Singers once dubbed "the choir of the world" in an international tilt, lived up to expectations when, under the masterful direction of Fidel Calalang Jr. it reached the rafters in mighty cohesion for E. Whitacre’s Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine and S. Flaherty’s Wheels of a Dream from Ragtime, this latter arranged by Calalang who provided the piano accompaniment. The singers conjured the heavens opening, their voices powerfully melded in explosive accents.
As though there had not been enough auditory pleasures, the 114-member UST Conservatory of Music Chorus formed a solid mass at the rear of the stage to sing with the full UST Symphony Orchestra and 20 pianists on ten pianos. How often one wondered whether the stage would collapse under the collective weight!
The hall reverberated with the robust volume from choir, orchestra and pianists in the Pilgrim’s Chorus from Wagner’s Tanhauser and the Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s Il Trovatore, with Noel Azcona as soloist, Ricardo Mazo as choirmaster and H. Ranera as conductor.
The spectacular presentation was witnessed by guest of honor DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo and diplomats, among them Japanese Ambassador Ryuichiro Yamazaki (who earlier delivered his welcome remarks in impeccable and fluent English for another program), Romanian Ambassador Radu Homescu and Brazilian Ambassador Claudio Lyra. Mr. Romulo proved prophetic when he said the audience would be in for splendid music making.
With polish, refinement and keen musicianship, the trio marvelously essayed Beethoven’s Piano Trio in C Minor, Martin Wettstein’s avant-garde Mystical Dances and Dvorak’s Piano Trio in F Minor.
Appropriately named The Swiss Piano Trio, the group had the piano predominating by its very nature and make, with Staub compelling attention more often. The Trio gave a highly charged reading of Beethoven’s work, etching out each movement with utmost clarity, precision and smoothness while showing the closest ensemble playing that was to characterize the entire performance. In the finale-prestissimo, sparkling tones exuded from the piano and lush timber from the strings. In fortissimos, a tonal balance was struck, with all three instrumentalists displaying tension and force.
It seemed rather odd that the contemporary composer Wettstein (b. 1970) had sought inspiration for "Mystical Dances" – written expressly for the Trio – from the 13th century mystic Mechthild von Magdeburg. To sustain the mystery and mysticism, the movements Flowing Light, Dew on the Flower, Inebriate and The Dove, atonal and bereft of melodic lines, were haunting and "weird". The first movement already suggested the challenging and innovative pyrotechnics the entire work would involve, and thus create an absolutely new range of musical experience and thought. The piece demanded mastery of each instrument.
Dvorak’s composition was infused with vigor and dynamism. The flashes of melody in the Poco Adagio were most sensitively rendered; the rhythmic urgency, fully captured. The Trio concluded with intensity and fire that awed the listeners.
Lusty clamor drew two encores that further illustrated the Trio’s versatility: a lyrical piece by Nicanor Abelardo which was relatively simple compared to Astor Piazzola’s.
Hearty congratulations to Ambassador Lise Favre for having brought the excellent Trio to us.