Japanese ventriloquist / Yatco-Gutierrez concert: Reprising a review

At the embassy residence, Ambassador Ryuichiro Yamazaki presented illusion artist Ikkoku Tamaki, a young, brilliant Japanese ventriloquist who has performed in Las Vegas, and other major US cities with immense success, and won numerous awards.

Ikkoku amazed and amused by turns. He opened his act by attempting to turn his viewers into ventriloquists, asking each to put a forefinger between his lips, then talk. The method produced some funny sounds but no ventriloquists. Then he began to speak to the audience without opening his mouth. Incredible! Later, he mingled with the viewers while holding a doll which spoke to them, thus endearing himself and the doll, to the audience.

Afterwards, he held two dolls simultaneously while creating a funny dialogue with one and the other, and speaking in three different voices. Fantastic!

In another equally hilarious act, he personified a driver arguing with smart-alecky car navigation systems. All this time, Ikkoku spoke in Tagalog – how did he learn it so quickly? – in Japanese and in English, his lines leaving his listeners roaring with laughter.

For a final act, Ikkoku asked for a volunteer. Choosing Goethe Institut director Volker Avenmarg, he put a mouthpiece in front of Mr. A’s lips, manipulating the mouthpiece in a manner which made Mr. A. appear to be lustily singing Sta. Lucia. The absolutely-rib-tickling act sent the audience rolling in the aisles. Ms. Hiroko Taniguchi served as annotator.

* * *

Inexplicably, a page was missing from my review of the Yatco-Gutierrez concert. I am thus reproducing the critique in its entirety to give readers an overview of their performance.

The concert "Ode to the Maestro, a Celebration of Life and Music" at the Philamlife auditorium last Oct. 22 marked the 75th birthday of Oscar C. Yatco. As explained in the printed notes, the orchestra was a "joint collaboration of musicians who have worked with the Maestro and in one way or another were inspired by his achievements and passion to his craft".

There were in fact familiar figures from the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra of which Yatco is the conductor laureate.

Igorot Rhapsody by Angel Peña opened the program, and Yatco’s interpretation was thus far the best I had heard with its clear and sharp delineation of the ethnic elements converted into symphonic form, its sweeping Igorot melodies, its abrupt rhythms and changes in dynamics. I described Peña’s Rhapsody in a recent review, and I shall just add that Yatco made the piece come to throbbing, pulsating life in all its color and vibrancy.

The joint performance of Yatco and Joaquin "Chino" Gutierrez in Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E Minor was a unique case of noblesse oblige, Yatco having extended considerable assistance to Chino through his and his parents’ stay in Germany.

The E Minor is the most familiar and best-loved of Mendelssohn’s concertos, and there could not have been a more ideal conductor assisting 15-year old violin prodigy and virtuoso Gutierrez than Yatco who himself, a former prodigy and a continuing violin virtuoso, had played the same piece at about the same age or perhaps even earlier than Chino did, and who knows the work as well as the palm of his hand.

Although conductor and soloist are two generations apart, the concerto united them in mind, heart and spirit as they performed in wondrous rapport, note for note, phrase for phrase.

The fluid and fluent, smooth and seamless manner Chino rendered the Concerto was astonishing, particularly because it was so effortless. The audience became deeply absorbed in the ineffably exquisite melodies made luminous through Chino’s secure bowing.

The cadenza was brilliant, manifesting an expressivity and sensitivity well beyond the soloist’s tender years. The most intricate and rapid configurations were hurdled with agility and pizzazz. In brief with virtuosity.

For its part, the orchestra under the Maestro gave effulgent support, creating with Chino a tremendous, triumphant climax.

Tempestuous applause brought on three encores from Chino who made a considerable impact with his amazing talent, and charmed with his unself-consciousness which suggested total unawareness of his extraordinary gifts. The following encore pieces for unaccompanied violin were presumably a further indication of the heights he would scale in the future: Bach’s Partita No. 2 in E Minor, Paganini’s Caprice No. 13 in F Flat Major and Caprice No. 10 in G Minor also by Paganini.

Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 in E Minor from the New World, is the most successful and the most frequently played of the composer’s symphonies. Also one of the most famous in music literature. As the towering conclusion to the concert, it evoked impressions of Dvorak’s visit to various parts of America, to its glittering cities and vast prairies.

Maestro Yatco’s rendition beckoned to a shimmering, brave new world, his ebullient and vigorous thrusts tracing the marvelous form and symmetry of the work. His interpretation gave expression to singularly fresh, spontaneous and fascinating ideas. The constant shifting of rhythms, the perennial returning to the original themes compelled attention throughout. Never had the Maestro’s cueing exuded more vitality, exuberance and expansiveness.

Cultural events

Carlos Ibay, the blind singer-pianist whom cultural entrepreneur Martin Lopez presented here two years ago, gave a highly successful debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall Oct. 1.

Isagani R. Cruz’s adaptation of E. Ionesco’s "The Bald Soprano" under the direction of Frank Rivera is on its last day today, 10:45 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. at the FEU auditorium. FEU Theater Guild members will enact the play.