Cecile Alvarez, kudos! / Mozart’s genius glowed / Radulovic overwhelmed

Kudos to Cecile Guidote Alvarez, Presidential Adviser on Culture and NCCA Executive Director, for the resounding success of the just-concluded ITI-UNESCO International World Congress and Theater Olympics of the Nations. "Theater powers" converged here for countless workshops and performances not only in Manila but also in the provinces as far out as Zamboanga.

Through Cecile, the Philippines became the first SE Asian country to host the Congress, and the vast enterprise put us on the world’s cultural map. The opening presentation was Cecile’s own compelling zarzuela based on the award-winning collection of short stories on cockfighting by National Artist Alejandro R. Roces. With the reprise of Leonor Orosa Goquingco’s cockfighting dance, two national artists were thus featured.

Thanks are due the many who assisted Cecile in her unprecedented endeavor, among them Isagani Cruz, Nick Lizaso, Marilou Jacob, Frank Rivera, Anton Juan, Nes Jardin and Gardy Labad.

* * *

Several factors worked for the exceedingly successful concert "An Evening with Mozart" at the Santuario de San Antonio presented under the joint auspices of the Santuario, the Johann Strauss Society and the Mandarin Oriental.

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, which has been assiduously training and performing under Conductor Eugene Castillo these past two years, was in top form, and visiting Austrian Conductor Ernest Hoetzl admirably maximized the ensemble’s capacities to the limit for the Overture to the Magic Flute. The piece encapsulates many musical styles and cleverly suggests the opera’s broad, helter-skelter variety of characters. Hoetzl thoroughly conveyed the feverish, lively air of fantasy and make believe.

In the Concerts for Flute and Harp, flutist Marianne Hoetzl (the conductor’s wife) and harpist Lourdes L. Gregorio had a marvelous interplay. Despite Mozart’s dislike for the flute and harp as solo instruments, he improvised delightful themes which the soloists skillfully brought to life, the sharp, acute flute sounds complementing the suave, gentle timber of the harp.

As interpreted by the brilliant organist Alejandro Consolacion, three church sonatas displayed Mozart’s wealth of musical ideas, his fertile mind, his inventiveness. Consolacion’s fingers running nimbly over the keyboard, produced remarkable tonalities which the two violins, cello and bass enriched. If the sonatas were visual, they would have created a riot of color and design. The cadenza Consolacion himself wrote proved his uncommon talent both as composer and organist.

Soloists in the stunning "Coronation Mass" were soprano Camille Lopez-Molina, alto Minette D. Padilla, tenor Ronan Ferrer and bass Nonon Baang. The voice of Camille, who sang the major part, soared gloriously and expressively. The fused voices of the Coro de San Antonio (trained by Amelita D. Guevarra) and the UST Liturgikon Vocal Ensemble (trained by Eugene de los Santos) hewed to Hoetzl’s refreshingly innovative phrasing and accentuation, these heightening the drama of each section, with the orchestra assuredly rising to the challenge.

The encore, Laudate Dominum from Vesperas Solemnes like the other numbers eloquently justified the claim that Mozart is the greatest musical technician of all-time though he died way before reaching the summit of his powers. Indeed, throughout the concert, Mozart’s genius glowed. Applause was prolonged and thunderous. Attendance exceeded all expectations – seats had to be added – owing to the dedicated efforts of chairperson Letty Syquia and her committee.

Austrian Ambassador Herbert Jaegor and Mandarin Oriental GM Helmut Gaisberger gave opening remarks; parish priest Fr. Tony Rosales delivered the invocation.

* * *

Perhaps at no other time had the cultural calendar been more crowded than when French Spring violinist Nemanja Rudolovic played at the Philamlife theater. Thus he had a virtual sprinkling of listeners. What a pity! At 21 Rudolovic is a terrific artist who is following the footsteps of the world’s great violinists.

At his recital, each number was more diabolically demanding than the previous one, and the audience made up for its size by its lusty, deafening applause. The youthful Rudolovic already infused the opening, Vitali’s Chiaccona, with utmost fire and intensity, his tones strikingly robust and luminous.

The urgency – the passion – grew in Wieniawsky’s Legende, with its dizzying cadenza of pyrotechnical feats. Looking over the program, one realized that the numbers had been interpreted and continue to be interpreted by some of the most celebrated violinists.

Regarding Tartini’s Devil’s Trill which followed, a story has it that the devil, appearing to the composer in a dream, rendered the piece. When Tartini woke up, he readily wrote it down but much of it had escaped him. Nevertheless, what remained was still formidable, and Radulovic rendered it with terrifying bravura, a bravura which characterized his interpretation of the rest of the program: Kreisler’s Prelude et Allegro, Tchaikovsky’s Souvenirs and Sarasate’s Carmen. The notes alternated from firm, exciting thrusts and trills to evanescent, whispery, extended pianissimo lines. Along the fiery way, in fact, Rudolovic had broken two violin strings!

Adding to the dramatic impact of the violinist’s performance was his uninhibited, unself-conscious, exuberant manner, his nimbus of long, dark, curly hair flying wildly about and often covering his eyes while his head, bobbing up and down, punctuated the music.

The encore pieces were Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 2 and Bartok’s Romanian Dance, this with its throbbing, vigorous rhythms, stark mood contrasts and sweeping folk melodies that sent the overwhelmed rapturously applauding and giving the violinist a standing ovation.

Assisting pianist was the equally young Dominique Planade who anticipated every note of Radulovic with uncanny exactitude and played with utterly sensitive musicianship.