A joyous Beethoven, Hiyas Hila's elegant Schumann give PPO a promising start

Pianist Hiyas Hila and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

The 2019 performance season is off to a promising start as a noticeably larger number of audience members attended the resumption of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra’s subscription concert series at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

It looked like people, myself included, were eager to go back to the symphony after the holiday season. I, for one, was eager to see the PPO’s Music Director/Principal Conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura at the podium once again since the last time he led the orchestra back in October 2018 felt like ages ago.

Pianist Hiyas Hila

The opener, Richard Wagner’s Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, had the orchestra sounding crisp very much helped by the clear structure of the piece. Pianist Hiyas Hila gave an elegant and bright rendition of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54. This piece gave her more range and depth compared to the Mozart she performed during her previous collaboration with the orchestra. But the intricate weaving of the piano and the orchestra especially during the first movement caused for some slight timing hiccups. For an encore, Hila delivered Frederic Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 15 No. 1 in F major, eloquently highlighting the contrasts between tranquil outer sections and the fiery middle part of this piece.

Yoshikazu Fukumura and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

The symphony for that night, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, is a favorite and I was kept on the edge of my seat to hear if the tempo would be to my liking. The joyous piece, made popular over a decade ago by the drama series Nodame Cantabile, could be performed at blistering pace especially when excitement takes over. Thankfully, Fukumura took control of the reigns never letting the tempo go haywire. It was almost a moment of pure joy had I not been jolted by the horn section’s wild moments a handful of times. Also, there were parts when I struggled to hear clearly the middle strings especially during the build-up before the finale of the symphony.

This concert, my first for 2019, was still a promising start to the year despite the slight stumbles which may be due to some dulling brought about by the long holiday break. I hope that the PPO will be at their sharpest in future concerts and one, touted to be a major music event, is just around the corner.