Licad triumphs anew in California

MANILA, Philippines - Pianist Cecile Licad triumphed once more on the concert stage as soloist of the Santa Rosa Symphony in Ravel’s Concerto in G Major under the baton of Bruno Ferrandis. Sandwiched between a Wagner work and an Oliver Messiaen’s symphony, Licad easily became the highlight of the evening with the audience cheering her as early as the first movement.

Reported Steve Osborn from the California Classical Voice: “The Ravel which begins with a snap of a whip, marked an abrupt shift. Licad leaped into her treacherous lines with tremendous drive and energy, mouthing the key phrases as she started at the keys. She generated considerable volume and sculpted her phrases flawlessly, even under the onslaught of Ravel’s continuous tremolos. When the jazz-inspired first movement ended, a sizable portion of the audience erupted into applause. The same unconventional enthusiasm greeted Licad’s playing of the second movement. In the last movement, Licad’s unflagging intensity was matched by the orchestra, in particular by a wonderful bassoon solo. Sadly, the standing ovation didn’t produce an encore.”

Licad’s inability to give an encore was understandable. The night before her latest US concert, she had two concerts in Switzerland with totally new and contrasting repertoire and arrived in California just in time for the first and last rehearsal for a different program that included a solo program after her orchestral engagement.

Back in Manhattan, she is at work on yet another new Manila program that included a cello program with Alban Gerhardt and a new orchestral assignment in her piano repertoire —Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major right after Gerhardt’s first Manila cello recital.

Licad told a California music critic that she allows herself to get nervous about a month before a performance, careful not to injure her hands, or become too obsessed. “I’d rather enjoy what I am doing,” she said. “Otherwise the audience is not going to enjoy it.”

In a latest development, the pianist has extended her condolences to the Aquino family on the demise of the late President Cory Aquino. She met President Aquino when she was given the Presidential Medal of Merit in Malacañang in the early ‘90s. “She was so unassuming and so warm she even found time to greet my son Otavio, then about six years old. I will never forget her warm presence. I will certainly dedicate a piece to her when I perform at the CCP on Sept. 15.”

Licad is back in Manila this month as CCP’s top attraction on its 40th anniversary gala concert. She granted CCP’s request for a solo number (Chopin’s Scherzo No. 3) in her recital with Alban Gerhardt who will also do a solo number (a Ligetti Sonata) in their first Manila team up on Sept. 15 at the CCP. The first part after their solo numbers will end with Beethoven’s A Major Sonata to be followed in the second part with Janacek’s Fairy Tales (1923 version) and a Prokofiev sonata.

For details, call 900-7023 or 0906-5104270.