PPO's Rite of Spring, a strong finish to 45th Anniversary Season

Guitarist Kiyoshi Shomura and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

Coming off the heels of a performance that has been considered as one of the best in recent years, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, along with Music Director/Principal Conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura, wrapped up its 45th Anniversary Season at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Expectations for this evening were really high not just because of the previous PPO outing but also due to the inclusion of the fiendishly difficult Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky that closed out the concert and the season. 

Conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

The evening started off with a breezy Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 “Italian” by Felix Mendelssohn. Had the closing piece been different, the tarantella at the finale would've sounded more frantic. This was how highly anticipated the Stravinsky was.

Preconcert talk by PPO Director Eugene de los Santos

The evening saw Japanese guitarist Kiyoshi Shomura as the guest artist in Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Guitar Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 99. The Mediterranean images evoked in this piece served as the calm before the storm. But there was a bit of hesitation and lack of command with his performance of the concerto. Shomura's encores, Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tárrega and Sons de carrilhões by João Pernambuco, treated the audience with popular staples of the guitar repertoire.

The much awaited Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky saw the orchestra (fortified with a number of guest musicians) tackle the piece with an intensity and an attack that truly made the tarantella at the Mendelssohn feel like a walk in the park. There were moments of brilliance, but there were times when they teetered close to the edge. The Rite was a competent one but clearly not the homerun that the Tchaikovsky's fifth was the previous month.

Overall, it was still a triumphant end to the season with the PPO under Fukumura getting stronger with each performance since the series resumed at the start of the year. The bar has been set high and they have to be golden next season as the CCP celebrates a milestone 50 years.