2012 Philippine International Guitar Festival and Competition: Tomonori Arai and Gen Matsuda

Featuring:

Tomonori Arai, guitar

Gen Matsuda, guitar

Programme:

Jacques Ibert

     Paraboles 1 and 2

     Bajo la mesa

Enrique Granados 6 Spanish Dances

Joe Hisaishi Summer

Teiichi Okano Furusato Fantasy Hometown

Kazufumi Miyazawa Shima Uta Island Song

Fernando Sor Fantasy Op. 54 bis

Toru Takemitsu To the Island

Sergio Assad Invitation

The 2012 Philippine International Guitar Festival and Competition’s schedule was a case of  bad timing for me since this festival always fall under the same weekend as the fiesta in my neighborhood. Getting out of the neighborhood is almost impossible at around this time. So just being to see a single concert is already an achievement for me. And that was just I did during this year’s edition when I caught the performance of Japanese guitarists Tomonori Arai and Gen Matsuda at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater) on the first night of the festival.

The pair prepared a programme consisting of pieces by western and Japanese composers that were specially arranged by Tomonori Arai for a guitar duo. The concert started with Jacques Ibert’s Paraboles 1 and 2 and Bajo la mesa (Under the Table), and 6 Spanish Dances by Enrique Granados. This kind of pieces are the ones I now come to expect whenever I watch classical guitar concerts. However on the second half of the concert, the duo played pieces by Japanese composers which are more contemporary since it included Joe Hisaishi’s Summer which is the popular theme from the movie Kikujiro. The piece, with its memorable theme done originally with pizzicato strings, sounded well with just two guitars since it guitar strings are plucked in the first place. Another Japanese composition that the duo played was Furusato Fantasy by Teiichi Okano which is a very popular tune in Japan. It was refreshing to hear these Japanese tunes which are so familiar to me but done in an unfamiliar arrangement for two guitars. It made me appreciate the tone and the texture that the classical guitar can actually produce. Another piece that was performed was Shima Uta or Island Song by Kazufumi Miyazawa which is actually a popular song in Japan by the band The Boom. Fernando Sor’s Fantasy Op. 54 bis was also played which was a last minute addition to the programme. The pair also played To the Island by Toru Takemitsu and Invitation by Sergio Assad as their final pieces.

Guitarist Tomonori Arai

The concert was a nice mix of the traditional and the modern. While the duo played with classical guitars, they still did some pretty nifty moves like tapping the body of the guitar and slapping when playing some bass notes. The duo seemed to be suffering from colds (as did so a lot of the members of the audience as well) but this didn’t seem to affect their performance. The turnout wasn’t as spectacular as I thought it would be but it was a weekday and just the first day of the festival. I would’ve wanted to come back during the succeeding days but it was not possible for me to travel all the way to CCP because of the fiesta in our neighborhood. But I’m still glad to catch at least one concert during the festival’s entire run.

Guitarist Gen Matsuda

The 2012 Philippine International Guitar Festival and Competition did have a competition which I unfortunately missed. But here are the ones who came out on top after two intense days of competing:

Franco Maigue, Takashi Endo, Worrapat Yansupap and Roneil Santos

1st Place: Franco Raymundo Maigue (Philippines) 

2nd Place: Takashi Endo (Japan)

3rd Place: Worrapat Yansupap (Thailand) 

Special Prize: Roneil Santos, Best Filipino Guitarist