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| Percussionist/marimbist Aimee Mina-dela Cruz |
Featuring:
Aimee
Mina-dela Cruz, marimba/percussion
Fe
Marsha V. Nicolas, piano
Mikaela
Natasha Janelle Ley, marimba
Leodivino
Roque, percussion
Gomer
Giron, percussion
Joy
Allan dela Cruz, viola
Programme:
Pablo
de Sarasate Carmen Fantasy
Johann
Sebastian Bach Concerto for Two
Violins in D minor BWV 1043, I. Vivace
Nebojsa
Zivkovic Trio per Uno, I. Meccanico
Eugene
Levitas Concerto for Percussion
Willy
Cruz Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas
Eric
Ewazen Concerto for Marimba
Music
lovers had to wait a lot longer for the next installment of the Special Concert
Series at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’
Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino. The postponement of Raymond De Leon’s concert to
January 2014 meant that marimbist/percussionist Aimee Mina-dela Cruz’
performance eventually became the second, instead of the third and last of the
series.
One
of the percussionists of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, Aimee Mina-dela
Cruz is seen regularly during the orchestra’s subscription concert series
playing whatever percussion instruments the concert pieces require. She also
gets featured playing the marimba during PhilBanda events. But this was the
first time, as far as I can recall, that she headlined a concert. I initially
thought that she would just be performing with only the marimba. But in a
pleasant surprise, she brought out almost the whole percussion arsenal for this
concert.
She
started out with a familiar show piece, Pablo de Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy,
arranged for marimba and piano, wherein she was accompanied by pianist Fe
Marsha Nicolas. The next number was the Vivace
from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor BWV 1043
that was transcribed for two marimbas this time with young Mikaela Natasha
Janelle Ley joining Aimee on stage. The stagehands then got busy to remove the
marimba and arrange the drums, cymbals and other percussion instruments for the
next piece, the Meccanico of Nebojsa
Zivkovic Trio per Uno. Aimee was joined by Leodivino Roque and Gomer Giron
for this dynamic and crowd pleasing number. This piece I think could probably
sway a lot of youngsters to try out percussion much to the dismay of their
parents who want peace and quiet. The stagehands got even busier as they set up
almost all percussion instruments with the exception of a tam-tam (gong) for Eugene
Levitas’ Concerto for Percussion. This piece was indeed a discovery for me
for I’ve never seen nor heard something like this. Not only was it a delight to
hear the various textures (especially during the combinations) brought about by
the various instruments, but it was amazing to see the percussionist go through
them with complete awareness of the instruments’ placement. I for sure would be
scrambling trying to figure out where each instrument was and would possibly
miss a few measures due to confusion.
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| Aimee Mine-dela Cruz and violist Joy Allan dela Cruz |
The
second half started with a familiar, mainstream piece which was Willy Cruz’
Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas. Aimee, now back at the marimba, was joined by her
husband, violist Joy Allan dela Cruz in this romantic duet that even had some
members of the audience wishing for some on stage display of affection at the
end. The last piece for the night was Eric Ewazen’s Concerto for Marimba
that showed Aimee’s mastery of the marimba. There was a brief tense moment
during the third movement when her mallets broke right after a passage that
required striking the marimba keys with the handles of the mallets instead of
the heads. Fortunately, she had some spares nearby and she was able to grab a couple
of them and resumed playing without missing a beat. For her encore, she
performed Vittorio Monti’s Csárdás which
is one of her regularly played solo pieces and always a crowd favorite.
Aimee
then had a percussion workshop held at the CCP Main Theater Lobby a few days
after the concert but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to check that one out. Percussionists
have always received a lot of flak that what they’re playing isn’t really music
but just noise. But Aimee Mina-dela Cruz proved otherwise with this concert that
gave me an earful of the various percussion instruments out there and also
showed me how exciting a marimba is as a solo instrument.
