Journey: A Classical Concert

Pianist Dingdong Fiel

Featuring:

Heliodoro “Dingdong” Fiel II, piano

Manila Philharmonic Orchestra

Rodel Colmenar, conductor

Programme:

Redentor Romero Philippine Portraits

Sergei Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 34

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36

The Manila Philharmonic Orchestra led by Rodel Colmenar presented a one night concert entitled Journey: A Classical Concert at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater) in preparation for their trip to Japan as the Philippine representative to the 2013 Asia Orchestra Week.

This send off concert featured the same program with works by Redentor Romero, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky that they would play in Japan in which the orchestra, was the one chosen by the Association of Japanese Symphony Orchestras to represent the Philippines.

The evening started with Philippine Portraits by Redentor Romero which I think was a good choice to showcase Filipino orchestral music to a Japanese/foreign audience. This piece incorporated some popular folk tunes which I think is pretty typical in orchestral works by Filipino composers.

Also featured in this concert was pianist Heliodoro “Dingdong” Fiel II who performed the very popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 34 by Sergei Rachmaninoff. It was difficult for me to appreciate his performance due to the unsatisfactory Bösendorfer concert grand Dingdong was saddled with. I struggled to hear the softer and elegant passages especially during the much awaited Variation 18, probably owing to a piano that couldn’t project well without resorting to violently pounding the keys. I’ve seen and heard Dingdong play before and I can only imagine how frustrating it is to be at the mercy of an unresponsive instrument.

Conductor Rodel Colmenar

The concert ended with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, a piece that had already been performed twice by other orchestras in the past two months. I guess that it was a blessing in disguise that I wasn’t able to watch those performances for this enabled me to listen to the MPO’s rendition with fresh ears. Under Colmenar’s baton, the fate theme of the first movement constantly tormented, while the second movement conveyed sinking into the melancholy of the past. The third, with the pizzicato strings offered a respite, a hazy wandering of the mind before being dragged down into the fate that awaits the tortured soul at the fourth movement. I guess that I wouldn’t have reveled into such thoughts had this been my third time in two months to experience this symphony. On the other hand, I would’ve been pretty much sick and tired of it already.

Despite the melodrama of this symphony, the audience gave a hearty applause as the orchestra gave their bows. For an encore, Colmenar introduced the MPO’s new concertmaster, the Italian Giovanni Bobisse who gave the audience goosebumps as he did an exquisite violin solo with Meditation from Thaïs by Jules Massenet. I was momentarily distracted when I heard brass (and a bit spotty at that) which I didn’t expect from a full orchestral version of this piece.

With a successful concert that was well attended, the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra had great momentum as they headed to Japan. The 2013 Asia Orchestra Week has already come and gone and as of now, the MPO can be heard accompanying Resorts World Manila’s production of Cinderella happening at the Newport Performing Arts Theater.