PPO V: The Four Seasons

Violinists Ruth and Jondee Livioco

Featuring:

Joanna Ruth Livioco, violin

Jonathan David Livioco, violin

Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

Olivier Ochanine, conductor

Programme:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Overture from Die Zauberflöte, K.620

Antonio Vivaldi Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons)

                      Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, La primavera (Spring)

                      Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV 315, L'estate (Summer)

                      Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, L'autunno (Autumn)

                      Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8, RV 297, L'inverno (Winter)

Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, B. 178, From the New World

For one night, the Meralco Theater resonated with some of the most popular works in classical music during The Four Seasons concert by the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra led by its principal conductor and music director Olivier Ochanine. Siblings Joanna Ruth Livioco and Jonathan David Livioco were the night’s featured soloists for Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons which is the orchestra’s most requested piece.

But first, the orchestra played Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Overture from Die Zauberflöte, K.620, which was a late addition to the concert lineup. This short piece gave me enough time to assess the acoustics of the Meralco Theater before getting into the night’s main draws. And I found the hall dry sounding and got a bit worried since it was difficult for me to hear most of the winds.

Conductor Olivier Ochanine

With the Mozart piece out of the way, it was time for the main piece for many in the audience, The Four Seasons. Ruth and Jondee split soloist duties with the Ruth doing Spring and Summer, while Jondee did Autumn and Winter. And right off the bat, a lot in the audience responded positively once they recognized the very familiar opening of this piece. There were times when both struggled a bit with intonation and some tricky passages but it looked like most of the audience didn’t notice the slips at all. Even if I’m not too keen about this piece, one thing that I liked about the performance was the inclusion of the harpsichord played by Dingdong Fiel. This gave this particular Four Seasons added color and texture setting it apart from the previous times I’ve seen this piece performed.

Up next, during the second half of the concert was the orchestra’s rendition of another popular piece,  Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, B. 178, which is also known as From the New World. My worries about the winds getting drowned was justified during this part. Despite the best efforts of the conductor and the rest of the orchestra, the acoustics of the hall weren’t able to let the winds penetrate through clearly especially during the orchestral tutti parts. Thankfully, the English horn didn’t have to compete with the rest of the orchestra to be heard during the exquisite and very popular second movement.

I can imagine that most of the audience had a relaxing and enjoyable night listening to the popular and familiar pieces at the concert. But for me, it was the opposite. I think that one of the perils in having extremely popular pieces performed live is that some people, myself included, tend to have very high expectations and most importantly, have a preferred version of the pieces already etched in their heads. It meant that every deviation from my preferred version, like a slower tempo or not doing a repeat, could possibly have a jarring and distracting effect on me. My brain, overly familiar with the tunes, could in turn, deconstruct the performance instead of just letting the music sink in. I guess that I got so used to hearing the PPO at the Cultural Center of the Philippines that a sudden change in venue, an inferior sounding hall at that, coupled with very familiar music, resulted in a more critical and more challenging concert viewing experience for me.