Monday, July 30, 2007 Some enchanted night of music By Stephen Capillas
AGAIN, I had to apologize to the Liceo de Cagayan University's Office of Cultural and Public Affairs for coming up late with this article on the recent piano recital featuring Reynaldo Reyes held at the school's Rodelsa Hall which incidentally forms part of the "Soloists Series" they are sponsoring from July to December this year.
Anyway I hope this article does justice to the event, a laudable effort by the school to introduce classical piano music here in Cagayan de Oro not only to the cogniscenti--I hope I spelled that right--but also to the general public in hopes of developing a better appreciation of the medium which, while not exactly relegated to obscure classical music halls in Manila or Cebu, are nevertheless being ignored by a lot of Filipinos in favor of popular music.
I managed to secure a ticket from Lorraine Neri, a rep from the Office of Cultural and Public Affairs of Liceo de Cagayan for the evening event which started out with barely a handful 30 minutes into the show but steadily grew to a crowd by the time the national and school anthems were about to be played.
As the crowd applauded Reyes's entry, the pianist gave some background on the pieces he was about to play most of which are known only to the cultural types. Me, I had to keep up with the large screen that showed the program proper and the list of the songs to be played by Reyes. Some of the songs were from the largely obscure but no less talented Jewish-French pianist and composer Charles-Valentin Alkan and the more famed Frederick Chopin.
Though Chopin's works were greatly appreciated by the crowd, it was Alkan's pieces that Reyes somehow emphasized through most of the program with the Filipino pianist saying the latter's compositions being among the most difficult to perform.
Some of these pieces are preludes that include "In the Ancient Style,", "Teaching Piano", "Like The Wind" and religious pieces like "Evening Prayer" and "Psalm 150" which are said to reflect his deep devotion to his Jewish roots and affinity for the Christian religion.
Other pieces played during the concert that consisted of preludes, polonaisse and Etudes--hey, I'm no classical music expert so bear with me and look it up in Wikipedia or some online encylopedia--are works by Claude Debussy, Frank Lizt and even Niccolo Paganini, the latter more known as a violinist and composer.
Interesting thought: While Reyes said Alkan was a Christian devotee of sorts, Paganini was rumored to have "sold his soul" to the devil in order to become a famed and talented violinist. Weird huh?
Anyway, what did grab my attention was the rather energetic, sometimes frenzied manner with which Reyes played the pieces, sometimes starting off slow and giving the impression of languid serenity only to be jolted by his banging of the piano keys upon approaching a crescendo of sorts, to be greeted by applause from the crowd.
There were times, though that I feared his enthusiasm at playing the pieces may have gotten the better of him stamina-wise, as he was seen gulping mineral water and wiping the sweat of his brow, making him appear human and somehow reflecting his seniority as he talked in between gasps of breath to the crowd while discussing the background of the pieces he was about to play.
Thankfully Reyes---a winner of many international piano competitions like the International Piano Competition in Italy who also performed three concerts during the country's 1998 centennial celebrations--managed to perform all his pieces in "one piece" so to speak and even personally thanked a lot of those who attended the concert amid a rainy Saturday evening.
I did enjoy the concert, cultural Philistine that I am, even with some kids seated nearby restlessly moving about and some apparently college kids who kept whispering to each other on when to join the crowd for applause during breaks in the concert. At least I knew then that I wasn't alone in my ignorance.
Though there was one piece that did soothe, specifically Chopin's "No Other Love" that was listed as "Etude No. 3" in the program since it was the piece being played by mother at our CD player at home. So I guess I am not such a hopeless case after all.
And before I end this piece, I have to insert the announcement that Reyes's performance is part of the Soloists Series with upcoming performances by Mr. Raul Sunico scheduled on September 1, Rudolf Golez on October 6 and Russell Brandon on December 1, all of this year.
This corner is joining the school and others in inviting you to attend the "soloists series" if only to add some spice in your musical preferences and broaden our horizons every once in a great while. That's a wrap for now. (For questions and comments, please send to sunspot12002@yahoo.com and warpath1232@yahoo.com.)
