J. Tagala, 17, stuns / Y. Menuhin debuts at 11

After last year’s recital of Beethoven and Katchaturian concertos, violinist Jimmy Tagala, 17, stunned his Philamlife audience once more with a formidable, forbidding program the other week.

Bach’s Chaconne (from Sonata No. 4 in D Minor), described as “sublimely built, as varied, as perfect, and as lifting as a great Gothic cathedral,” was rendered without a score — as were the other works except those of Beethoven, Bruch and Sarasate — with Jimmy exhibiting supreme confidence and aplomb.

Then followed Beethoven’s Sonata No. 1 in D Major, the lyrical passages glowing. Jimmy hardly looked at the score, actually a token one used merely as a courtesy to distinguished pianist Corazon Pineda Kabayao whose brilliant assistance was impeccable.

Ysaye’s unaccompanied Sonata No. 4 Op. 27 was interpreted on the viola instead, the movements — Alemanda, Sarabande, Finale: Presto ma non Troppo — stylistically distinguished from each other, the violinist evincing his characteristic composure. Brisk, strong and sure, his bowing was equally so in Paganini’s unaccompanied Caprices, No.23 in E Flat Major and No. 15 in E Minor.

Audiences in Paganini’s time, awed by his phenomenal virtuosity, thought him possessed by the devil. From this, one can conclude the daunting challenges the Caprices offered, composed as they were to conform to Paganini’s own awesome, fiendish dexterity. Jimmy may not have matched this but he showed far greater skill than many older confreres would have.

The transcribed arias from Carmen in Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasie, and Bruch’s Scotch Fantasy demonstrated Jimmy’s lyrical gifts which conveyed the beautiful melodic content of the compositions in refined, expressive tones with Pineda-Kabayao as the utterly sensitive assisting artist.

As the concert progressed, the audience grew increasingly convinced of Jimmy’s virtuosity.

Instead of giving an encore, Jimmy joined his four brothers — a flutist, a cellist, a violist and a violinist — in pieces by Chopin and Bach. Applause grew even lustier.

The Tagalas’ musical genes are obviously profuse with Jimmy having the giant share. Congratulations to violin virtuoso Gilopez Kabayao for persistently nurturing his protégé’s tremendous talent.

Jimmy started taking violin lessons at the relatively late age of 12. Herewith are Irving Kolodin’s review of Yehudi Menuhin’s debut recital at age 11 in NY’s Carnegie Hall wherein he played the Beethoven concerto with the NY Symphony under Fritz Busch. The excerpts are not meant to compare one violinist with the other but to suggest Jimmy’s immense potential.

“Master Menuhin has a technique that is not only brilliant but finely tempered, solidly established, and governed by innate sensitiveness and taste. It seems ridiculous to say that he showed a mature conception of Beethoven’s concerto, but that is the fact. Few violinists of years and experience have played Beethoven with as true a feeling for his form and content, with such healthy, noble, but unexaggerated sentiment, with such poetic feeling in the slow movement and unforced humor in the finale.

“His tone is surprisingly sonorous, refined, and rich in color. This was the case even though a boy whose small hands made it difficult for him to tune his instrument, which he frequently passed to the concertmaster for the purpose, was playing on a Grancino fiddle, three-quarters size. This violin had limited capacities, yet the tone carried to the utmost limits of the hall.

 “For the cadenza of the first movement Menuhin played the one by Joachim, which is very difficult. His fluency, confidence, and aplomb might well have been envied by older players. It was at the end of the cadenza that the audience first threatened to ‘hold up’ the performance. But it was in the two last movements — in the slow movement, which is the great test of a musician’s sincerity and depth of feeling, and in the finale, so surely and delightfully performed — that a boy of eleven proved conclusively his right to be ranked, irrespective of his years, with outstanding interpreters of this music.”

Menuhin, a pupil of Enesco, started his career at eight.