Castillo was awesome, Santamaria sparkled / Spanish duo fascinated

With absolute command over the orchestral sections – the cohesive, sonorous strings, the disciplined woodwinds and brasses and the precise percussions – Eugene Castillo wielded the baton over the program titled "When Worlds Collide" at the CCP main theater.

In a prefatory talk, the conductor-music director explained that the program was titled thus for several reasons, one being the collision of Western and Eastern music, another being the collision of the planets, the stars and other heavenly bodies in the opening number, Toru Takemitsu’s Star Isle, which was receiving its Philippine premiere that night.

The remarks generated great expectations from the Japanese composition which began with the strings shimmering. The percussions "exploded" in bursts of sound, interrupting the strings every now and then, the crashing cymbals startling listeners. The piece was brief, and I tend to agree with the observation quoted in the program notes that "when the work finishes, there is a definite implication that more was to come: one was left with a curiously ‘unsatisfied feeling’ ".

Pianist Ingrid Santamaria is sought-after as a concert soloist not only because she is a lovely sight to behold but more importantly, because she is a marvelous performer. She proved her mettle, which is considerable, in Edward MacDowell’s Piano Concerto in D Minor, her tones resonant, with richly contrasting colors, her manner sparkling and vibrant, with touches of virtuosity.

The opening Larghetto Calmato was given majestic treatment, the chords firm and solid, the runs swift, sure and crystal clear. The Presto Giocoso (the second movement) had the pianist wholly entering into its infectiously playful spirit, the orchestra reflecting the mood with gay abandon. The playfulness asserted itself in the mid-section of the third movement Largo, Molto Allegro, the crisp piano devices accented zestfully by the orchestra. It was remarkable music-making and ensemble-playing.

Castillo’s command of the orchestra became even more evident in Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. The work is built around the composer’s lady love, an idée fixe, which appears and re-appears throughout the composition. Berlioz himself annotates his work thus: "A young musician of morbid sensibility and fiery imagination, frustrated in love, tries to kill himself with opium. The dose is too weak to kill him and, instead of death, he has powerful hallucinations and strange nightmares, and these constitute the five movements of the symphony."

Berlioz’s best-known composition, it is great music containing exciting effects (novel at that time) evoking overpowering emotions and passions expressed in music Berlioz himself aptly described as "now gloomy and wild, now brilliant and grand," and one might add, alternately lyrical and dramatic.

Castillo, with agitated intensity and exuberance, led the orchestra through the five movements: Dreams and Passions; a ball and its dazzling waltz; a scene in the country, thunder and silence commingled; a march to the scaffold wherein the composer witnesses his own execution; dream of a Sabbath, with orgy and a funeral knell. Through these strange and often weird scenarios, the image of the beloved appears.

All the movements, each in its fashion, came enthrallingly, compellingly alive. The tutti passages built up to towering climaxes, the drums thundering. The fourth movement seemingly reached the peak but the fifth proved even more devastating. In bringing out the immensity of the work, Castillo was, in truth, overwhelming. Superb.

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Never was an audience more fascinated and delighted than it was by "En Dos Palabras (In Two Words), Sounds of Spain", the performance of guitarist Armando Orbon and jazz pianist Isaac Turienzo at the RCBC auditorium as part of Spanish Fiesta 2005.

Their charming and engaging stage manner captivated the listeners at once, with Turienzo showing a decidedly comic flair. Iberian music, predominantly Spanish, was thoroughly enchanting as interpreted by the duo.

An Asturian number, Gaita, quickly established extraordinary rapport between them. Chatting with the audience informally, Turienzo confessed they were not following the printed sequence but actually making their own as they played together or separately in alternate fashion.

Orbon interpreted Farruca by De Falla and Sevillanas Flamencas by Joaquin Rodrigo as a master of his instrument, drawing from the guitar widely ranging tonalities, the music haunting, passionate or ecstatic.

Fiery and tempestuous, the increasingly rapid beat was an irresistible temptation for the audience to dance the Farruca.

Turienzo took his turn to displaying his own mastery while interpreting his composition Fado por Bulerias (which might have been inspired by a Portuguese dance). He turned it into jazz, his incredibly nimble fingers creating marvelous ripples of sound. He accompanied his piano performance with rapid, brisk footwork and constant movement of the torso; except for his fingers, gliding over the keyboard, he was virtually dancing! The audience had not seen nor heard anything like it.

His style, gentle and mellow, kept producing fantastic rippling sounds while conveying ambiance and mood. The talented pianist- composer then rendered his own Alegrias de la Plata (Happiness), a piece dedicated to his partner. Again his fingers mincingly cavorted over the entire range of the keyboard.

The duo played an exquisite, extended, hauntingly melodious Brazilian song, the tones of the piano strikingly accented by those of the guitar and vice versa. Capricho Español by Baldomero Fernandez closed the recital with the imitable duo electrifying the audience.

After each number, the pair would hold hands and embrace to show mutual affection, their personal bond adding the closest rapport imaginable in performance.

Turienzo kept blowing kisses while Orbon kept waving a fond adieu to their adoring listeners who clamored for an encore which they got.

Instituto Cervantes director Javier Galvan fittingly said: "Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat."