UST Singers, organist, trumpetist in Festival / The Ultimate Pianist

After the welcome remarks of director Fr. Pedro G. Galende, the brilliant 24-year old Spanish organist Juan de la Rubia opened the 8th San Agustin International Music Festival with Cabezon’s Tiento de Quinto Tono and Diferencias sobre el canto del caballero, followed by Pablo Bruna’s Tiento sobre la Letania de la Virgen and Juan Bautista Cabanilles’ Pasacalles II (de primer tono).

De la Rubia infused spontaneity and sparkle to the ornate baroque pieces, making them sound fresh, exciting and almost contemporary. Further, he conveyed consummate technical skill and agility on the 18th-century pipe organ – the cultural treasure of San Agustin Church which edifice NCCA executive director Cecile Guidote Alvarez describes in the printed program as a "world heritage site".

De la Rubia and our own Fredline Parin, principal PPO trumpet player who has had excellent training abroad, jointly interpreted Joseph Ximenez Batalla de sexto tono, the organ tones deep, massive, intense, impressively sonorous and resonant. Parin’s clear, sharp and incisive playing sounded the alarums along with that of De la Rubia, while both injected urgency into the piece. The number was followed by the crisp Fuga en Do Mayor by Dietrich Buxtehude, the period/style nowhere put in doubt by the execution, with the two instrumentalists hewing closely to stylistic matters.

The eagerly awaited and highly celebrated UST Singers under Conductor Fidel G. Calalang Jr. performed for the rest of the concert, verily "the choir of the world", the title being one of the five top prizes the vocal ensemble won in the 49th Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales.

The Lord’s Prayer (Our Father) by A. Malotte already signified the magnificent manner the UST Singers would be interpreting the other numbers of the long, formidable program – without scores – with Calalang wielding absolute control and discipline over the 32-member mixed choir. The audience grew increasingly amazed at the incomparably long pianissimos imperceptibly building up to stirring, electrifying fortissimos which would have shaken the rafters were the church not massively built. These fortissimos awesomely sustained, would, at the wave of Calalang’s hand, incredibly stop on the instant.

The religious songs – R. Thompson’s Alleluia, A. Bruckner’s Virga Jesu, Lukas’ Dies Irae, and excerpts from Jenkins’ Requiem conveyed a personality and character all their own, inspiring reverential awe.

The contemporary numbers, free-wheeling and expansive – most of them fiery and exuberant – were accompanied by hand-clapping, finger-snapping, shouts and groans, and the manipulation of bamboo tubes that suggested the onrush of waters, all these likewise absolutely controlled and disciplined to achieve perfect unison.

Certain songs were accompanied on the piano by Conductor Calalang himself, with his playing providing the cue for the subtlest nuances of expression, increase or decrease of volume, acceleration or slackening of tempo.

Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, accompanied by organist and trumpet player, was the evening’s glorious climax, with Calalang, De la Rubia and Parin acknowledging the lusty applause.

I missed the two following evenings with the Kilyawan Boys Choir under Mark Anthony Carpio and the UP Singing Ambassadors under Ed Manguiat, respectively. De la Rubia, who is also a composer, played improvisations at the second concert. Both nights featured contemporary pieces: Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise arranged for organ and trumpet, and Saint-Saens’ Le Cygne (The Swan) arranged for organ and trumpet for the final evening.

As in the opening night, both concerts were likewise climaxed by Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.

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After rigorous competitions under the auspices of the Camerata dell ’Arte Foundation headed by eminent concertist Jiovanney Emmanuel Cruz, four young pianists vied for the title "The Ultimate Pianist" at the Philamlife auditorium, with the Metro Manila Community Orchestra under Josefino "Chino" Toledo assisting.

From an original 16 pianists, the following four were declared winners: Luci Magalit, Bartok Concerto No. 3 (first), Geraldine Gonzales, Ravel Concerto in G Major (second), the Korean Somang Lim, Liszt’s Concerto in E Flat Major (third) and Michelle Nicolasora, Beethoven’s Concerto in C Minor (fourth). Judges were Gila Goldstein of Israel/USA, Yuan Sheng of China, David Johnson of USA, with Jozef Stompel of Poland as chairman.

One presumes the judges had some difficulty arriving at a decision. The finalists were very good but the pieces they played differed widely in period and style from each other. Imaginably, judging would have been easier had each finalist played a romantic piece, or an impressionist piece or a contemporary piece because there would have been a common standard in matters of style and execution.

In any case, the Lourdes L. Villanueva Cruz memorial award, plus P100,000 went to the first prize winner.

At the actual concert, the MMCO under Toledo did a marvelous task in playing such a widely varied program and in establishing rapport with each pianist.

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Judging in the Piano Teachers’ Guild 2006 Haydn and Mozart Competition may have been simpler because the contestants played pieces by the same composers.

The winsome eight-year old Hannah Frances Hua rendered Mozart’s Concerto No. 1 in F Major as first-prize winner, Category A. Ma. Regina P. Montesclaros, 14, played Mozart’s Concerto No. 19 in F Major as first-prize winner, Category B. The older Heliodoro B. Fiel II interpreted Mozart’s Concerto No. 9 in E-Flat Major. All concertos were splendidly accompanied by the UST Symphony Orchestra under Herminigildo G. Ranera.

The three first-prize winners performed with remarkable fluency and assurance. Fiel’s playing bordered on the virtuosic.