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| Violinists Ruth and Jondee Livioco |
Featuring:
Joanna
Ruth Livioco, violin
Jonathan
David Livioco, violin
Philippine
Philharmonic Orchestra
Olivier
Ochanine, conductor
Programme:
Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart Overture from Die
Zauberflöte, K.620
Antonio
Vivaldi Le Quattro Stagioni (The
Four Seasons)
Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV
269, La primavera (Spring)
Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV
315, L'estate (Summer)
Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV
293, L'autunno (Autumn)
Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8, RV
297, L'inverno (Winter)
Antonín
Dvořák Symphony No. 9 in
E minor, Op. 95, B. 178, From the New World
For
one night, the Meralco Theater resonated with some of the most popular works in
classical music during The Four Seasons
concert by the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra led by its principal conductor
and music director Olivier Ochanine. Siblings Joanna Ruth Livioco and Jonathan
David Livioco were the night’s featured soloists for Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four
Seasons which is the orchestra’s most requested piece.
But
first, the orchestra played Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Overture from Die
Zauberflöte, K.620, which was a late addition to the concert lineup. This short
piece gave me enough time to assess the acoustics of the Meralco Theater before
getting into the night’s main draws. And I found the hall dry sounding and got
a bit worried since it was difficult for me to hear most of the winds.
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| Conductor Olivier Ochanine |
With
the Mozart piece out of the way, it was time for the main piece for many in the
audience, The Four Seasons. Ruth and Jondee split soloist duties with the
Ruth doing Spring and Summer, while Jondee did Autumn and Winter. And right off
the bat, a lot in the audience responded positively once they recognized the
very familiar opening of this piece. There were times when both struggled a bit with intonation and some tricky passages but it looked like
most of the audience didn’t notice the slips at all. Even if I’m not too keen
about this piece, one thing that I liked about the performance was the
inclusion of the harpsichord played by Dingdong Fiel. This gave this particular
Four Seasons added color and texture setting it apart from the previous times I’ve
seen this piece performed.
Up
next, during the second half of the concert was the orchestra’s rendition of
another popular piece, Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in
E minor, Op. 95, B. 178, which is also known as From the New World. My
worries about the winds getting drowned was justified during this part. Despite
the best efforts of the conductor and the rest of the orchestra, the acoustics
of the hall weren’t able to let the winds penetrate through clearly especially
during the orchestral tutti parts. Thankfully, the English horn didn’t have to
compete with the rest of the orchestra to be heard during the exquisite and
very popular second movement.
I
can imagine that most of the audience had a relaxing and enjoyable night
listening to the popular and familiar pieces at the concert. But for me, it was
the opposite. I think that one of the perils in having extremely popular pieces
performed live is that some people, myself included, tend to have very high
expectations and most importantly, have a preferred version of the pieces
already etched in their heads. It meant that every deviation from my preferred
version, like a slower tempo or not doing a repeat, could possibly have a jarring
and distracting effect on me. My brain, overly familiar with the tunes, could in
turn, deconstruct the performance instead of just letting the music sink in. I
guess that I got so used to hearing the PPO at the Cultural Center of the Philippines
that a sudden change in venue, an inferior sounding hall at that, coupled with
very familiar music, resulted in a more critical and more challenging concert
viewing experience for me.
