PPO’s Eugene Castillo /Klasik Kayumanggi

With impressive credentials, he’s determined to make our country and the rest of the world proud of the PPO./The program highlighted our composers’ rich melodic vein.

The main event at the press conference held on the CCP’s 35th anniversary was to introduce Eugene Castillo, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra’s new music director and conductor.

Castillo’s credentials are impressive. He earned an MA degree in conducting with highest distinction at California State U. His conducting debut was with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. He has wielded the patron over the Orquestra International do Cadaques, Spain, the National Symphony (Washington, DC), the Orquesta Sinfonica de Carlos Chavez, among many others.

After his European debut in Cadaques he became assistant to his mentor Leonard Slatkin with the BBC Symphony Orchestra during the 2002 "Proms" concerts in London’s Royal Albert Hall, and during six concerts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam.

Before he met the press that morning, Castillo had rehearsed the PPO so intensely that he fainted. He looked wan as he spoke, his remarks brief but deep and meaningful. Paraphrasing Kennedy, he said: "Man’s achievement is not measured by victories in battle but by grace and beauty," adding: "The best contributions ever made are to the human spirit."

He is determined to make not only the Philippines but also the rest of the world proud of the PPO.

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In Klasik Kayumanggi, the title of the recent CCP concert, the "c" in classic was changed to "k" to conform to kayumanggi, the presumption being that the audience would be hearing classic Filipino songs.

Ryan Cayabyab arranged most of those performed. A skilled arranger with a firm grasp of orchestration, he introduced varied innovations, making the sounds richer, novel, more imaginative. For instance, he used the harp which, as one of the oldest instruments in the history of music, added "stature" – not to mention tonal color – to the orchestra.

A more specific innovation was the exquisite interplay between violin and cello, and between oboe and harp in Josefino Cenizal’s Hindi Kita Malimot. Cayabyab’s "jazzed up" version of Mike Velarde’s Dahil sa Iyo caused the double-bass to be extremely busy with a double-time beat which seemed to depart from the intrinsic intent and rhythm of the song. Mid-way, the tempo slowed down as the woodwind played the principal melody, but reverted to the accelerated rhythm in the end portion. Clever passages for the brasswinds were fittingly hilarious in Ernani Cuenco’s comic Kalesa.

Does an innovative, enriching arrangement make a song a classic? If I may use myself as a gauge, I have been hearing these songs for a long time, and enjoying them immensely. With Cayabyab’s new arrangements, exceptions granted, I enjoyed the songs even more, and assume they will endure, thus becoming classics in due time. Or more properly, light popular classics, these to be differentiated from the more formal, extended compositions of Filipino composers who have used Western symphonies, chamber and operatic works as patterns or standard models, while infusing their creations with native elements.

Some of their works, even now, among them by Angel Peña, A. Buenaventura and R. Tapales might be regarded classics.

The contemporary songs played that night were not particularly challenging. At any rate, they were rendered by the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra under Conductor Arnel Feliciano with aplomb and vibrancy, and with a spirit that distinguishes the poignant sweetness of Filipino music from any other.

What instantly struck the listeners was the consistently and inexhaustibly rich melodic vein of our composers: De Guzman, Cenizal, Velarde, Cuenco. Tin Pan Alley songs can’t compare with theirs. The 40-member mixed San Miguel Master Chorale under Eudenice Palaruan was in its element, its glorious fortissimos, alternating with controlled pianissimos, impressing the audience as also its clarity of diction; e.g., in Cayabyab’s ribtickling Da Coconut Nut, more especially as enunciated by the soloist. In Tsismis, the chorus eloquently expressed the common human weakness called gossiping through articulation of text and stage movement.

Ballader Basil Valdez and Regine Velasquez belted in robust manner while assisted by the SM Master Chorale. Valdez interpreted the George Canseco medley Hanggang sa Dulo ng Walang Hanggan, Kastilyong Buhangin, and Ngayon at Kailanman. Also Salamin ng Buhay and Ngayon – all replete with beautiful melodies. Velasquez rendered Willy Cruz’s less lyrical Bituing Walang Ningning and Sana’y Wala ng Wakas.

The presence of both composers was acknowledged and applauded.

While Cayabyab wielded the baton for the third part, he held listeners in the palm of his hand as the program increasingly catered to popular taste. The energetic, vigorous and infectious beat of Otso-Otso had the audience lustily clamoring for similar works.

For the finale, Cayabyab presented his composition-in-progress – music to Rizal’s Ultimo Adios, with the fervent, forceful singing of the chorale. Intimations of power and grandeur surfaced, with the percussions ominously foretelling Rizal’s tragic end.

Versatile in the extreme, Cayabyab served as composer, arranger and conductor. (In some numbers, he conducted and played the piano at the same time.) His more formal works, Mass included, will very likely become classics.

On the whole, the rather over-blown program was ambivalent, one which largely conveyed mass appeal. If the audience had its way, judging from its tremendous response, Cayabyab, the ochestra and the chorale would have been performing all night.