PPO VII: The Maestro’s Maestro

Violinist Gao Can and conductor Mark Gibson
with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra 

Featuring:

Gao Can, violin

Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

Mark Gibson, conductor

Programme:

Georges Bizet Petit Suite from Jeux d’enfants, Op. 22

Camille Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61

Maurice Ravel Daphnis et Chloé

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra welcomed guest conductor Mark Gibson at their latest performance which was also the penultimate concert of their 30^th Concert Season entitled Milestones. The orchestra’s principal conductor and music director Olivier Ochanine considers Mark Gibson as his mentor; hence this concert was dubbed as The Maestro’s Maestro. This performance held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater) also featured violinist Gao Can as the guest soloist.

The concert was purely a French affair as works by Georges Bizet, Camille Saint-Saëns and Maurice Ravel (all from France) were performed during that night. The PPO started with Bizet’s Petit Suite from Jeux d’enfants, Op. 22 which is a very light, accessible piece that even a non concertgoer could easily appreciate. This appetizer set the mood for my main course for that night: Gao Can’s performance of Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61. Gao Can delivered a very polished and precise rendition of this popular violin concerto. It almost bordered on being a clinical performance because of surgeon like precision, but thankfully not on the expense of artistry. He further gave a display of this remarkable skill when he played the Allemanda from Eugène Ysaÿe’s Violin Sonata No. 4 in E minor, Op. 27 Fritz Kreisler.

I was already satisfied with the concert but there was still a whole another entrée during the second half which was Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. At first I thought that Mark Gibson would have the PPO play the two concert suites from this ballet. But it looked like that they played entire piece which clocked for almost an hour. I admit that I found this piece very exhausting to listen to. While passionate and with rich and lush orchestrations, it was too long and complex for me without much to hook and bind all the parts together. I also found it difficult to imagine who the choreography to this music would look like. I think that this boils down to my difficulty in grasping French music compared to Russian, Spanish and German. Too bad that I never got the chance but I would’ve loved to ask Mark Gibson why he chose the Ravel piece for this concert. I would probably gain more insight about the piece and could’ve appreciated it even more.

Text by RAd
Photo by Orly Daquipil