Improved Metropolitan Theater acoustics at PPO concert

Conductor Shizuo Kuwahara and pianist Albert Tiu

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra greeted 2023 with the resumption of its subscription concert series at the Metropolitan Theater, the orchestra's home for the foreseeable future while the Cultural Center of the Philippines' main building is undergoing major rehabilitation.

The orchestra's performance at the Met back in November exposed the theater's lackluster acoustics that had the PPO and CCP regulars wondering if these deficiencies would be remedied by the next concert at the venue. Thankfully, ceiling panels were installed and this made a significant improvement with the sound.

Led by Shizuo Kuwahara, the fourth of the five shortlisted conductors gunning for the position of the orchestra's next music director/principal conductor, the PPO were in top form making the audience enjoy the mostly Russian program that contain easily recognizable melodies and tunes.

With the theater's acoustics now less of a concern, the music was able to shine. Kuwahara highlighted the contrasts of tempo and rhythm in Alexander Borodin's Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor. This made the piece's most popular melody, mostly known in the mainstream as Strangers in Paradise, a lot sweeter.

Pianist Albert Tiu, conductor Shizuo Kuwahara,
and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra 

In Igor Sravinsky's Firebird Suite, hearing muted strings as intended was a delight since the November concert sounded as if the strings were muted during the entire concert due to the Met's poor acoustics. Finally, there was now a sense of dynamic range that one struggled to hear back then at the previous Met performance.

Earlier in the week, there were hushed talks about pianist Albert Tiu who was the featured soloist at the concert. A couple of days before, Tiu had a scare when he fell off stage after a run through with the orchestra. Good thing that he wasn't hurt that bad and was still able to squeeze in a masterclass within the week. Tiu showed what a trooper he is as he practically didn't miss a beat in the rhythmically charged Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat Major, Op. 10 on the night of the concert.

Although there was a significant improvement with the Met's acoustics, it is still far from perfect. The depth of sound is still a bit off and the clapping from Antonino Buenaventura's Mindanao Sketches sounded as if the hands were gloved. But this is already nitpicking and not that much of a deal breaker.

Overall, the Kuwahara led PPO showed an invigorated unit showing none of the fatigue from the orchestra's Dinagyang Festival series of performances a couple of weeks prior. And so far in the series, this has been the most satisfying concerto with both the orchestra and soloist in equal footing.