A fitting tribute to a patriarch

Robert Coyiuto, an insurance trailblazer and a passionate patron of culture and the arts, was honored with a concert at the Meralco Theater. Preceded by cocktails and a reception after, the concert was a celebration of the honoree’s 85th birth anniversary. For sure, the concert promises to be the musical event of the year, not only for its artistic merits but also for its humanistic dimension of keeping filial piety alive as a dynamic part of the living tradition. 

The SRO audience was treated to an early afternoon concert that featured two generations of the Coyiuto family, pianist Cristine and her daughter Caitlin, a flutist. Both were soloists of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) eloquently conducted by the phenomenal lady conductor, Helen Quach.

Also noted was the newly installed shell that the theater sported, undoubtedly done to ensure better acoustical quality. At the right side of the theater was the state-of-the-art seven-foot sleek Bosendorfer piano exclusively flown in from Vienna for the occasion.

Smartly hosted by David Celdran, the concert treated the audience to   a delightful listening. Performance energy was high and intense throughout. Wagner’s Prelude to Die Meistersingers sounded gloriously. The march and fanfare, and the climactic restatement of the processional, perked with abandon, enough to assure the listeners of a momentous listening. Rightly, this opener set the festive mood of the occasion.

Caitlin awed the audience with her masterful rendition of Poulenc’s Flute Sonata orchestrated by Sir Lennox Berkeley. She essayed arresting warm, elegant tones, perfect intonation, and articulate phrasing that unmistakably disclosed a virtuoso’s feat- both technically, and musically. Expectedly, she played the three-movement sonata sans score. She etched well-crafted lines, singing and legate. She played with obvious flair, caressing her tones to exude a velvety texture. On the podium, conductor Helen Quach wielded the baton confidently, assured by the telling capability of a juvenile soloist who played exceedingly well, indeed, as if there was no tomorrow. At the end, the audience burst into hearty applause, punctuated by crisp shouts of “Bravo!” Definitely, Caitlin is young flutist to watch.

Cristine, on the other hand, rhapsodized Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op.54, rapturously weaving it with the orchestra. The concerto is not a bravura piece but one that calls for the mature collaborative fusion of the pianist as well as the conductor and the orchestra. One cannot appreciate the piano without the other component, the orchestra. Engage an insensitive conductor, or a dilettante pianist, and the concerto loses its appeal.

Needless to say, Cristine was in her best elements. She showed a sensitively mature disposition in essaying Schumann especially in delineating the piece’s diverse moods. She displayed sagacious dramatic flair in vividly etching Schumann’s schizophrenic sweep to fully engage listening to the hilt. This is where Schumann departed from the other romantic piano composers. He invested a new meaning to the term “bravura,” to connote the piano’s oneness with the orchestra, beyond its literal meaning, which is to dazzle, as in the Liztian manner of treating the piano.

From beginning to end, the piano and orchestra engaged a demure conversation. Immediately at the start, the repartee between the orchestra and the piano commenced. The orchestra’s oboe soloist intoned a wistful tune (whose four notes spell the Italian version of Cara’s name), which Cristine elegantly echoed. Later the repartee was tossed between the clarinet soloist and the piano, now in a different key. Then came the sweeping cadenza, which Cristine fired off with a well-tempered Bachian propensity, animatedly spelling out clear recitative and polyphonic lines. A quick march followed, gloriously ending the movement.

In the second movement, there were more tender and intimate dialogues between her and the orchestra. The finale was robust and buoyant. Both Cristine and orchestra emerged triumphant. Conductor Helen Quach showed her might here in the final movement, unperturbed by syncopations and displaced accents that could easily prey on the baton of a weak conductor. The tandem was built on a thorough understanding of approach, direction and execution of the piece.

Mother and daughter teamed up next, and Caitlin all the more impressed her listeners with the sterling rendition of bravura pieces by Benjamin Goddard, Allegretto. Op. 116 No. 1 and Claude Bolling, Veloce. Cristine also played from memory — an unusual stance for a collaborative pianist, who by tradition plays with a score. All the more the audience was stunned at the end, applauding heartily. 

A highlight of the concert was a short visual presentation of the honoree’s journey to success from his humble origins in Fujian, China to his becoming a taipan, a successful entrepreneur and industrialist. The Coyiuto siblings ascended the stage after the presentation and unveiled the taipan’s bust done by sculptor Rafael del Casal and an oil portrait by Romulo Galicano. The siblings were Elisa Lim, Robert, Jr., James, Samuel, Peter, Emeline Ocampo Tan, Jane Cuyegkeng, Miguel and Carolyn Sy. 

 Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op.36 dubbed “Fate” capped the concert. Here, conductor Helen Quach proved her métier as a seasoned conductor. The PPO sounded as glorious as ever, with the musicians displaying their soloist caliber as well. Ms. Quach rendered the piece with a solid dispatch. She was a delight to behold wielding her baton, not as a cold metronome, but with well-defined down beats, and appropriate bodily gestures.

From the tick of her baton, one easily followed the flow of the music and the rich dynamics that went through it. The lines were clear; symphonic sound robust and majestic, and ensemble playing superbly voiced, to give the ultimate in truly appreciating this rarely performed work of the Russian composer. In short, Ms. Quach breathed life into the piece.

 At the reception, copies of Robert Coyiuto, Filipino Mandarin, a biographical account handsomely written by Charlson Ong, were distributed.