Santamaria, Rassoulova: Two distinctive styles

The Intramuros Administration headed by Bambi Harper presented a concert at Fort Santiago’s historic Spanish fortress featuring eminent pianist Ingrid S. Santamaria and the Peace Philharmonic Philippines. A string quartet established under Santamaria’s auspices, it consists of Joseph Brian Cimafranca, Violin 1, Sara Maria Gonzalez, Violin 2, Jeffrey Solares, Viola, and Gerry Graham Gonzalez, Cello.

The concerto was not Chopin’s forte; his capacities were not quite up to its orchestral demands. But his typically exquisite melodies, adornments and diverse (rubato) rhythms in Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, as eloquently etched by Santamaria, were to be admired. That Chopin’s talents did not specially lie in orchestration was welcome, in a sense, because the PPP members gave a new, unique, more intimate dimension to the Concerto their robust, spirited, cohesive assistance having a distinct tonal quality.

Through their Romantic Music Journey, Santamaria and Reynaldo Reyes have been repeatedly rendering romantic concertos, with Santamaria as soloist, Reyes as orchestra. Accordingly, Santamaria has achieved near perfection in them.

Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor — the composer’s first masterpiece — is definitely for the virtuoso, and Santamaria showed she was one in the technically daunting composition with its tremendous opening chords covering the entire keyboard, its torrential swift runs, arpeggios and massive chords throughout. Further, her deepened artistry conveyed richer tonal hues with even more subtle nuances.

Soloist and quartet were in total consonance. What immense pleasure it was to hear them, particularly as soloist played with such dazzling brio and flair! The quartet rendered Abelardo’s Cavatina and the Cebuano Medley arranged by E. Palaruan with smooth, engaging charm. The thunderous applause led to the first movement of a Mendelssohn Concerto played with similar élan.

The concert of Russian pianist Valida Rassoulova at the Philamlife was not preceded by fanfare or an avalanche of notices, yet the theater was fairly full, thanks to “impresario” Jose Mari Chan. No background information on Rassoulova was on the printed program and this was just as well; such material can sometimes unduly influence the listeners’ judgement.

The fortyish pianist played classic works (Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart) impressionistic (Debussy), romantic (Chopin) and contemporary (the Russian K. Karaev), demonstrating a highly distinctive conversance with the diverse musical styles.

In Scarlatti’s Sonatas in D Minor and C Major, the pianist’s fluidity, fluency, refinement and elegance were to characterize her style for the rest of the selections. Haydn, often called “The father of instrumental music” showed in his Sonata in D Major meticulous craftsmanship, indeed a perfect musical form “free from stringent academic rules”.

Retaining only a few essentials of the old classical sonata, Beethoven’s is thus called Quasi una Fantasia. Besides expanding existing forms, the composer adds his own innovations. These make the sonata more technically challenging than those of Scarlatti and Haydn, and the pianist met these challenges exceedingly well.

Musicologists aver Chopin makes poetry, with the piano; Debussy paints with it. In Debussy’s La Lune Descend Sur Le Temple (The Moon Descends or Shines on the Temple) and Qui Fut Poissons D’or (Gold Fish), Rassoulova created imaginative, visual evocations, the first conveying moonlight reflections; the second, gold fish almost flying. The exoticism of Debussy, arguably the greatest French composer, was made almost palpable.

Chopin’s four mazurkas are Polish dances — the composer was Polish-born — and their evanescent mood was lovely, haunting and seductive with a recognizable Slavic ambiance. Chopin wrote 56 Mazurkas in all, none of them virtuosic as the four briskly interpreted Mazurkas proved.

The pianist seemed a bit wanting in power but she made up for this lack with grace and charm of interpretation. The rousing applause brought on a nearly virtuosic rendering of Debussy’s Preludes.