Musical Moments, A Benefit Concert

Pianist Dingdong Fiel

Featuring:

Heliodoro “Dingdong” Fiel II, piano

Programme:

Franz Schubert

     Moments Musicaux No. 1 in C major, D 780 (Op. 94)

     Moments Musicaux No. 2 in A flat major, D 780 (Op. 94)

     Moments Musicaux No. 3 in F minor, D 780 (Op. 94)

Frédéric Chopin

     Prelude No. 10 in C sharp minor, Op. 28 The Moth

     Prelude No. 15 in D flat major, Op. 28 Raindrop

     Prelude No. 18 in F minor, Op. 28 Suicide

Domenico Scarlatti

     Sonata in C major, K. 159

     Sonata in G major, K. 13

Sergei Rachmaninoff

     Moment Musicaux No. 3 in B minor, Op. 16

     Moment Musicaux No. 4 in E minor, Op. 16

Claude Debussy

     Préludes Book 2 No. 6 General Lavine, L 123

     Préludes Book 2 No. 12 Feux d'artifice, L 123

Pianist Heliodoro “Dingdong” Fiel II recently held a concert at the Grand Hall of the UST Museum for the benefit of the victims of the recent flood brought by the nonstop monsoon rains that plagued parts of the country in early August. This concert titled Musical Moments marked Dingdong’s return to his classical roots after a stint at Upstart Productions’ repeat performance of Forbidden Broadway.

Well, I wouldn’t call it completely a return since Dingdong chose a programme featuring pieces that were a departure from his usual, expected repertoire. Playing a handful of Moments Musicaux by Franz Schubert and Rachmaninoff, Dingdong showed a more introvert, introspective and somber side to his playing. There were few attempts to showcase pyrotechnics and virtuosic brilliance but they were contained and always drawn back to the relatively sedate mood that he had set out for this concert.

I’ve been to numerous solo piano performances, recitals and concerts and it was surprising that all of the pieces for this evening, except for the Preludes by Chopin were unfamiliar to me. I may have had the opportunity to listen to them some time ago but I never took notice.  If the pieces by Schubert, a composer whose music I always find hard to relate to, were played on the radio, I would've switched to a different station already. The same also applies to the Scarlatti Sonatas that were performed that evening. But a concert performance forces the audience to sit through the performance and listen to the pieces being played and this is an opportunity that I always welcome. And because of this, my knowledge and experience with various pieces in the piano repertoire has widened.

Dingdong Fiel being interviewed after the concert

The two Preludes by Debussy were a surprise for me especially the very humorously irreverent General Lavine, since they showed another side of the French composer more known for his impressionistic style. Also interesting was the way the pieces were sequenced at the concert. Normally, the pieces are played chronologically with the oldest one composed played first. But this time, Dingdong had the oldest pieces, the two Scarlatti sonatas, open the second half of the concert setting the mood for the subsequent Rachmaninoff pieces.

I missed Dingdong when he was the music act during last year’s International Silent Film Festival. But for his encore, he performed an excerpt from the music he composed for Greek Miracle, the film from Greece (obviously) that he scored during the festival. The evening was an eye and ear opener for me not just in terms of how Dingdong played but also by how he programmed the concert. It reminded me a lot of French pianist Pascal Rogé’s concert here in the country back in 2010.