PPO I: Opening Night: Guzman & The Pathétique

Flutist Viviana Guzman

Featuring:

Viviana Guzman, flute

Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

Olivier Ochanine, conductor

Programme:

Paul Dukas Fanfare from La Péri

Franz Liszt Les Préludes

Antonio Vivaldi  Flute Concerto in D major, Op. 10, No. 3, RV 428  Il Gardellino

Viviana Guzman Flutes of the World

Vittorio Monti Czardas

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, Pathétique

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra’s 31st season, dubbed as Classic Blend, formally opened with a concert held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater). The concert, billed as Opening Night: Guzman & The Pathétique featured a nice blend of music performed by the orchestra led by its music director and principal conductor Olivier Ochanine and various flutes as well courtesy of the evening’s guest artist Viviana Guzman.

The concert started with Paul Dukas’ Fanfare from La Péri, which is a one act ballet. This piece only featured the brass section which had me a bit nervous considering how spotty this section had been in previous performances. But in a pleasant surprise, they managed to get through this short piece quite well. The PPO then performed Franz Liszt’s Les Préludes, a piece that I’ve heard twice before but then forgotten soon after. I fear that the PPO’s performance of this piece would be relegated to that department as well. I think that I’ve yet to figure out how to appreciate Liszt’s symphonic poems a lot more. And it didn’t help that around this time, I was already looking forward for Viviana Guzman to come on stage and finally perform.

Conductor Olivier Ochanine

Viviana started with the Flute Concerto in D major, Op. 10, No. 3, RV 428, Il Gardellino by Antonio Vivaldi. I am not usually too keen on Vivaldi’s music (or Baroque music for that matter) but having an actual harpsichord for this performance had me glued throughout the performance. It was nice hearing the duets between the flute and solo strings which was done delicately.

It was during the Flutes of the World section when things got really interesting. In this portion, Viviana introduced various flutes (Native American Indian flute, Swiss Gemshorn, Hungarian Fuvola, Chinese Ditzi, Chilean Zampona, Irish Tin Whistle and the Philippine Nose Flute) that she has acquired through her numerous travels and played short pieces with them while being accompanied by members of the PPO’s percussion section. Her winning personality shone through and by the end of this section, she already had the audience at the palm of her hand. This bode very well for her last piece, Vittorio Monti’s Czardas which was the showcase that everybody was waiting for. But the audience couldn’t get enough of her so she had to perform two encores. First was the short tango Milonga de Mis Amores by Pedro Laurenz. And her second encore that brought down the house was the third movement of Three Beats for Beatbox Flute by Greg Pattillo. Like what the title said, Viviana did some beatboxing while playing the flute. It still amazes me up to this day to think about the range and variety of her repertoire, from Vivaldi to beatboxing, that she presented during the concert.

Olivier Ochanine, Viviana Guzman and Chilean Ambassador Roberto Mayorga

The second half of the concert consisted of the hauntingly beautiful Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, Pathétique by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. A highly personal work for Tchaikovsky, this symphony is more somber in mood, often exploring the depths of despair mirroring the torment that the composer has endured in his life. He titled this piece a Program Symphony but never wrote whatever this program was and took it with him in his grave. This piece also had an unusual quiet ending. One might think that the triumphant march of the third movement sounded like the more proper finale but Tchaikovsky thought otherwise. Adding more to the mystery surrounding this piece was Tchaikovsky’s death just a few weeks after this premiered. One suggested that this symphony was actually his suicide note and that his cause of death was not cholera but by poisoning himself. Even without these stories surrounding the piece, the symphony is still a masterpiece despite not being immediately acclaimed during Tchaikovsky’s time. There had been attempts to play this symphony with the last two movements flipped so that it would have the typical climactic end. I am so pleased that Olivier Ochanine and the PPO stuck with the original order which is essential in retaining the character of the work.