 |
| Conductor Olivier Ochanine |
Featuring:
Ariel
Sta. Ana, clarinet
Philippine
Philharmonic Orchestra
Olivier
Ochanine, conductor
Programme:
Silverstre
Revueltas Sensemayá
Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622
Angel
Peña Igorot Rhapsody
Ottorino
Respighi Feste Romane
The
epic evenings with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra went on a journey
through various Musical Landscapes during the second concert of its 29th
Season that was held at the Cultural Centerof the Philippines. For this concert, principal conductor and music director Olivier Ochanine chose very interesting
and highly textured pieces in terms of timbre, color and rhythm. And the orchestra's principal clarinetist, Ariel Sta. Ana was featured as well as the soloist in one of the pieces. Despite having an opening of a
play and a ballet happening at the same time and just within the CCP Complex,
coupled with the finals week of many students, a respectable sized audience
still managed to turn out for this concert. Only a few were on hand for the pre-concert lecture held at the lobby by associate conductor Herminigildo Ranera but right after that, more people started arriving.
The
first piece of the evening was Sensemayá by Mexican Silvestre Revueltas. And the
programme notes said that it was based on a poem about a ritual chant sung while
killing a snake. But the music didn’t evoke any of that in me since I associate
this piece more with the crime film Sin
City which was based on the
comicbook series of the same name. I first heard the piece in the film’s
soundtrack, so instead of some snake getting killed, I thought of
the Yellow Bastard (who is a character in the film) instead. I’ve been a huge comicbook fan for years and it was rather strange for me to realize that I heard this music first
through a movie adaptation of a comicbook than a recording or a concert
performance. I am not sure if anyone else in the audience felt the same way as
I did when this piece was played. My only complaint was that I was seated right
on the first row so I wasn’t able to see the various percussion instruments
used in this piece. And it wouldn't be the last time that I would wish that I was seated somewhere else.
But
I didn’t complain at all regarding my seat during the next piece which
was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622
with Ariel Sta. Ana as the featured soloist. I’ve owned a clarinet for some
years now yet I haven’t learned anything decent on the instrument at all. I
was hoping that seeing the Sta. Ana perform this concerto would somehow inspire me to learn the instrument
seriously. I had to admit that this piece was very different from the previous one that it almost
seemed jarring. The Revueltas piece was rhythmically complicated while the
Mozart piece was a prime example of the Classical era which was clean, structured and devoid of any surprises commonly found in latter eras. I really wanted to be inspired by this concerto but it only made me realize that it was already too late for me to be really good at the clarinet and play this piece in the future. Sta. Ana's fingers were deft and the
breathing was effortless while mine is usually pathetic and laborious. Don’t get me
wrong since I will not throw away my clarinet in frustration but I already
admitted that I will never go far with the instrument. This realization
will not in any way hinder my enjoyment of watching clarinet performances in the future.
And I didn’t have to wait that long since Sta. Ana and the orchestra played Milonga
del ángel by Argentinean Astor Piazzolla for an encore. This piece, a soft yet sultry tango, was more to my liking
and more fitting to the evening’s theme than the Mozart piece.
After
the interval, I was prepared to hear the opening passages of Feste Romane by Ottorino Respighi but I heard something else. For a moment, I panicked since I wondered if what I studied and listened to before in preparation for this evening was not really Feste Romane but one
of the other two pieces from the Roman Trilogy. A quick look at the programme made me calm down since it was actually the
Igorot Rhapsody by Angel Peña that was being played. I still don’t know
how spaced out I was in order to forget that this was also included in the
lineup all along. Nonetheless, it’s always amazing to hear a local composition with native tunes played by an orchestra. For the second time, I wished that I was seated somewhere else since I really wanted to see the percussionists since it was their instruments that gave the piece its native sound.
After
this, I was absolutely sure that Feste Romane was going to be played next. And hearing
the familiar opening with the trumpets blaring confirmed everything and all that's left for me to do was to me
relax and savor the music and let the orchestra do the hard work. Just
before the concert, I was told by a PPO violinist that this
piece and also the Revueltas were the difficult ones for that night. I was only able to see the mandolin player partially and I wasn't able to see at all the organ, piano and other percussion instruments that were used in this piece. I feel that Feste Romane, evoking
scenes from ancient Rome (a
gladiator fight, a procession towards a church, a harvest and a drunken revelry)
is pastoral music on steroids. Pastoral music and I don’t go well together but
this music with more edge and bite to it appealed to me. The
orchestra looked spent and tired after the piece and from where I was sitting,
I could see sweat dripping from Ochanine. Jokingly, Ochanine said that the
orchestra didn’t seem so tired yet which meant that they had some energy left for
an encore. They played Huapango by Jose Pablo Moncayo who is also Mexican, just like Revueltas. In this piece, Ochanine was
very animated and was almost dancing while conducting and it made me wonder why one music columnist keeps on calling him frail.
The concert had a very diverse and nationalistic program with tunes reflecting the various composers' countries of origin. So I felt that the Mozart
clarinet concerto no matter how well it was played, was too bland compared to the rest of
the pieces, including the encores. Still, some members
of the audience might have felt the other way around, that it was only the Mozart piece
that held their interest and that they weren't able to connect with the other pieces. As for me, whether I connect with the pieces or not, I always think that watching classical music concerts is an evening well spent. And I'm looking forward to more nights like this one.
