MSO III: Re-formation

Diomedes Saraza Jr. with the Manila Symphony Orchestra

Featuring:

Diomedes Saraza Jr., violin

Manila Symphony Orchestra

Arturo Molina, conductor

Programme:

Felix Mendelssohn Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 107 Reformation

Antonino Buenaventura By the Hillside

Aram Khachaturian Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 46

The Manila Symphony Orchestra has been having a remarkable season so far with their past two concerts enjoying great attendance and positive feedback. And the momentum continued with their third concert of the season to the point that they even mounted a matinee concert which is an interactive one catered to students and newcomers. But I wasn’t able to see that one since it was the evening concert that I had planned to watch.

Despite the lousy weather and a slight fever, I still managed to arrive at the Philam Life Auditorium to see this concert since I couldn’t afford to miss a live performance of the Aram Khachaturian’s violin concerto which I haven’t seen before. And having Diomedes Saraza Jr. as the soloist just made it more difficult to pass this up and I didn’t mind getting more sick the day after by attending this concert.

After having guest conductor Thanos Adamopoulos during the MSO’s previous concert, Arturo Molina resumes conducting duties for this one. Normally, a symphony would not be the ideal concert opener but they stuck to the reformation theme and started the evening with Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 107 also known as Reformation which is in line with the orchestra’s 10^th year anniversary since its rebirth. This piece is one of Mendelssohn’s works that I’m not really familiar and as always, I’m open to the idea of knowing more in the world of classical music.

The next piece that was played was Antonino Buenaventura’s By the Hillside and this is one Filipino piece that is regularly played. This may be a short piece compared to the Mendelssohn symphony but it sounds more epic which was how the orchestra played it this evening due to the excellent acoustics of the Philam Life Auditorium. I remember that they played this piece before and I wasn’t able to appreciate it back then because of the less than ideal acoustics.

Diomedes Saraza Jr. greets the audience after the concert

I had to admit that the real reason why I risked getting sicker to attend this performance was Diomedes Saraza Jr.’s take on Aram Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 46. I’ve been very much interested on seeing live performances of Khachaturian’s concertos and I’ve recently seen pianist Rene Dalandan perform the piano concerto. That’s one ticked off the list and I couldn’t be happier that the violin concerto would just come a few weeks later.

This piece had a more exotic flavor to it compared to other concertos and Saraza, wearing an equally unusual white suit with black shirt underneath, played with like he owned the piece. Whoever would perform this next would have a hard time matching the high standard that Saraza Jr, the MSO and conductor Molina have set with this performance. The audience wouldn’t let Saraza Jr. perform just the concerto so they demanded encores from him and he obliged with a piece from tango legend Carlos Gardel entitled Por una Cabeza which he played with the Orchestra. And then he showed why he is one of the most promising young violinists in the country with an effortless rendition of Eugène Ysaÿe’s Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. 27.

Violinists Diomedes Saraza Jr. and Gilopez Kabayao

This evening was one of those moments when I go into a concert feeling not so well, but for a couple of hours, the music and the atmosphere inside the hall gave me an extra dose of strength and I forget that I was actually a bit sick. As expected, I felt worse the day after and was unable to go to any events scheduled for that day. But that’s just a small price for me to pay considering what I’ve witnessed the night before.