28th Sampung Mga Daliri, Atbp.

Lech Napierała 

Sampung Mga Daliri is an annual concert presented by the University of Sto. Tomas Conservatory of Music that has been ongoing for 28 years now. The main draw for this concert has always been the 10 grand pianos on stage that are played simultaneously by 10 (sometimes even 20) pianists composed of faculty, alumni and students from UST. And more often than not, the pianists are accompanied by various music groups from the Conservatory guaranteeing a diverse and entertaining program that the general public can enjoy. This is not like most concerts at the Cultural Center of the Philippines wherein more serious and sometimes inaccessible pieces are performed. In Sampung Mga Daliri, one just needs to show up, relax and just enjoy the music.

This year’s edition offered something different through the guest appearance of Polish pianist Lech Napierała. For someone like me, his performance was the one that I was really looking forward to since I’ve yet to see a Polish pianist perform live. And since he is Polish, I expected him to play Chopin. It would be very interesting to see and hear his pieces played from that perspective. For so many years, I’ve seen and heard French pianists play Chopin. Yet, if one recalls the composer’s history, Chopin left Poland for France early one but his latter works like the Polonaises composed while he was on French soil spoke much of Polish nationalism.

I learned that Napierała only managed to squeeze a trip to Manila and subsequent appearance in this event while in the middle of an Asian tour. For a moment, it felt strange to have just one pianist amidst the many pianos on stage inside the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater). He performed just two pieces by Frédéric Chopin namely Impromptu No. 2 in F sharp major, Op. 36 and Polonaise in F sharp minor, Op. 44. The pieces were contrasting enough to provide variety in this otherwise short set lasting for only 15 minutes or so. And for someone like me, this was clearly not enough. But a little of something is better than nothing at all. I do hope that he will be able to find time to perform a full concert here soon.

Lech Napierała  being interviewed

Going back to the ten grand pianos, the UST pianists and other performing groups like the UST Symphony Orchestra, Rondalla Ensemble, UST Jazz Band, UST Wind Orchestra, UST Guitar Ensemble, USTeMundo and Voice Faculty delivered a crowd pleasing repertoire ranging from the classic The Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss II, Pomp and Circumstance, March No. 1, Op. 39 by Edward Elgar to folk tunes like Katakataka and Ahay! Tuburan and jazz standards like Begin the Beguine by Cole Porter. One of the highlights and the most applauded number of the evening was the 1812 Overture, Op. 49 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. This piece is famous because of the use of finale with the cannons, chimes and brass fanfare but for this performance, bass drums and tam-tams were used to play the cannon part. And at one point, a mallet from one of the drums broke and flew across the stage making it seem like an actual cannonball got fired from the cannons. This piece closed the first half of the concert and people did talk about the “cannonball” during the interval. The grand finale of this concert always featured the ten pianos with the UST Symphony Orchestra backed up with a choir made up of members from the Liturgikon Vocal Ensemble, Coro Tomasino and Conservatory Chorus Classes. They performed a selection of songs that included an ABBA medley that was probably influenced by the recent staging of Mamma Mia! earlier this year. Also performed during the finale was a medley of Filipino folk songs and Alleluia and Sing Unto Him from “Judas Maccabeus” by George Frideric Handel.