MSO IV: Facets of Romanticism

Rudolf Golez and the Manila Symphony Orchestra

Featuring:

Rudolf Golez, piano

Manila Symphony Orchestra

Arturo Molina, conductor

Programme:

Richard Strauss Waltz from Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59

Franz Liszt Hungarian Fantasy

Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

When it comes to orchestral music, an overwhelming majority of my favorite pieces come from the Romantic era. Some people might be overwhelmed by a whole concert featuring this kind of music but I welcome them in fact. And I couldn’t be happier that the Manila Symphony Orchestra presented Facets of Romanticism during the fourth concert of their current season celebrating the orchestra’s 85^th anniversary. For this concert, the orchestra, along with their principal conductor/music director Arturo Molina was joined by pianist Rudolf Golez.

The evening started with the Waltz from Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59 by Richard Strauss which I think was an excellent way to set the mood for the evening. This piece was taken from the comic opera Der Rosenkavalier or The Knight of the Rose with libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera premiered back in 1911 meaning that it’s been a century since this piece was first heard publicly. Back then, some felt that the waltz was already outdated to be included in the opera. But a hundred years later, this waltz has become a popular piece and the MSO performed it with such elegance and ease that it evoked an image of an opulent grand ballroom with dancers twirling around to the familiar one-two-three beat.

Then, Rudolf Golez took to the stage and joined the orchestra for the next piece which was Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Fantasy. If the previous Strauss piece had a centenary significance, then this piece also had one as well, and make it a bicentenary at that. All around the world, pianists have been paying tribute to Franz Liszt’s 200^th birth anniversary this year by playing his pieces a lot. Thankfully, Rudolf opted to play something else besides Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S.124 which I’ve already seen three times already this year. So I didn’t mind at all that he played a piece that was not familiar to me. But it wasn’t that hard to get into the piece since it was very accessible right from the introduction of the memorable march-like theme. And while the first piece was limited to the steady undulating rhythm of the waltz (but with the well placed rubato in some parts making it more expressive), this Liszt piece was freer in form and had some brilliant cadenzas that showcased Rudolf’s virtuosity. He displayed more of this during his encore which was another serving of Liszt with Rigoletto Paraphrase de Concert, S.434. As the audience clamored for more from him, he gave another encore and joked before playing that he would play something soft instead and he did exactly that with the very somber Liszt composition Consolation No. 3 in D flat major, S. 172.

But the main highlight of the evening for me has got to be Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98. As stated in the introduction in the programme, one cannot go wrong with a Brahms Symphony. And they did everything right since this is my current favorite among the four. And among the four movements, the second one is my favorite, beginning from the horn calls at the introduction ushering the main theme played by the clarinets to be repeated later by the horns and the strings. And the fourth, which was drawn from the Passacaglia form, is something that set this piece apart from other symphonies. An ancient musical form was used in a new way through a symphony which might’ve left its initial audience a bit stumped since this was a very new idea at that time.

The orchestra, while having a few stumbles with the horns (which has plagued local orchestras) and noticeably missing a few key members, was spot on all throughout the evening. And to cap the night, the orchestra played the crowd pleaser which was Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Brahms again. I would’ve wished for them to play something else since I’ve just heard the USTSO play this for their encore during their last concert. And in an amusing turn, the MSO was forced to have another encore due to the urging of the audience but they didn’t have another piece prepared. So they turned full circle and played the Waltz from Der Rosenkavalier, the first piece of the evening once again.

There were three other events happening at the same time that evening: a play, a concert featuring a soprano and a ballet and yet the Philam Life Auditorium had a respectable sized audience that night. I know some who opted to go to the earlier matinee performance of the MSO and later went to one of the three shows. So it was a very eventful evening for the arts and culture scene and I hoped that the other people had a great time watching the others shows because I know that I did enjoy mine.