Barbieri's finest moment/Foundations to remember

Having watched Ruggiero Barbieri conduct the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra through the years, and now watching him as its visiting conductor in various venues, I believe he was at his best in the latest PPO concert at the CCP main theater.

The full auditorium, to begin with, must have served him as added inspiration and incentive.

The muted strings were fully controlled in Corelli’s Concerto Grosso in G Minor (Christmas Concerto), the finely graduated pianissimos conveying the quiet gathering of shepherds in the manger. Characterized by subtle nuances, the rendition ended in a vibrant allegro.

Fredelin Parin, PPO’s principal trumpet player, and soloist in Haydn’s Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra, demonstrated consummate, astonishing technical mastery while executing, without a score, rapid trills and labyrinthine passages. How his virtuosity hurdled every imaginable challenge the score presented! Dialogue between orchestra and soloist was flawless in themes played together or separately; the soloist’s cadenza sparkled stunningly.

In the final movement, as the program notes indicate, “the trumpet is treated with virtuosic fanfare and grand bravura; the spirited combination of technical brilliance and musical élan ends in a gleaming, celebratory coda.” The evening’s actual performance eloquently reflected all this.

The Sta. Teresita Parish and St. John Bosco Chorales joined forces in Handel’s Messiah, the traditional oratorio for Advent. A musicologist observes: “Messiah is Handel’s masterpiece, and among the unquestioned masterpieces of music, it towers like a mighty alp. From the foursquare orchestral introduction to the great concluding chorus ‘Worthy is the Lamb’ (not sung in the concert) the oratorio is sustained on the loftiest level of musical invention and spiritual nobility. Messiah is like a palace in which wonderment grows at every step. That outburst of tremendous joy, the Hallelujah Chorus has lost none of its overpowering vitality in two centuries. Handel believed it was divinely inspired: ‘I did think I did see all Heaven before me and the great God Himself.’”

There was no vision of the heavens opening as one listened to the chorus. In the fairly close blending of voices, the female choir occasionally emitted a certain shrillness, but clear articulation suggested ardent, zestful adoration of the Messiah. For its part, the orchestra, under Barbieri’s highly charged and bracing baton, vibrantly projected the musical structure as well as the magisterial essence and spirit of Handel’s work of genius.

The audience remained standing for the Hallelujah in the tradition set by King George II.

Barbieri’s podium manner employed bits of clap-trap devices, but these touches of showmanship hardly detracted from the intrinsic value and worth of his brilliant baton-wielding.

The Christmas carols, being light and familiar songs, charmed, delighted and enthralled the listeners.

Barbieri’s conducting intensified in the finale, “The Triumphal March and Ballet Music” from Verdi’s opera Aida. A blaring of trumpets, with three players on each side of the loge, dramatically presaged the towering climax at the end. Barbieri sustained the stirring intensity of the music, with the joint choirs joining the robust orchestral effusions.

It may have been Barbieri’s finest performance. Grand opera was treated in the grand manner for which audience applause was deafening. For encores, Barbieri played one of the carols and the Hallelujah again, after which thunderous appreciation erupted once more.

Foundations to remember

In or out of season, checks will be specially welcomed by the following:

The Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, Inc. at G/F Unit 13, Crismor Bldg., 29 G. Araneta Ave., Santol, 1113 QC, tel. 4942323. A set of cards costs P395. Sales will help the artists to support themselves.

UNICEF cards and gifts are available at 31st F1., Yuchengco Tower, RCBC Plaza, 6819 Ayala Ave., tel. 9010160.

The EVA Charity Foundation (Entrepreneur Volunteer Assistance) founded by Jennifer Wallum, MBE, assists Aetas; send checks to 17 Ecology Village, San Lorenzo Village, 1230 Makati City, tel. 8172621.