Japan musicians: Superb! / Violin contest beckons

To celebrate RP-Japan Friendship Month, four superb Japanese musical artists gave an East-West concert at the CCP under the auspices of the Japanese Embassy, the Japan Foundation and the CCP.

In the two Chopin Nocturnes, pianist Susumu Aoyagi had a delicacy of touch and a subtly nuanced phrasing which infused the romantic pieces with exquisite poignancy. His rendition of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, played at a much faster clip than usual, was the best live performance of the work I had heard thus far. His widely diverse tonal colors, rippling runs at break-neck speed, whispery pianissimos and thundering chords which belied his small, slight frame, converted the old warhorse into a new warhorse of tremendous dimensions.

Aoyagi was the evening’s busiest performer, proving an impeccable, brilliant assisting artist to violinist Ayako Ishikawa and the rest of the instrumentalists. The petite, willowy violinist, a shimmering vision in her flowing scarlet gown, was incredibly all fire and passion in Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre – as she and pianist Aoyagi – in rhapsodic, dramatic, powerful thrusts – delineated whirling dervishes, then turned languidly lyrical in Massenet’s Meditation from Thais, every single melodic line shining luminously.

Koto player Risa Kataoka, garbed in a kimono, her long instrument lying on its back, opened the program in measured, stately, elegant phrases with Sakura – made familiar to us during the Japanese Occupation — her fingers gracefully, nimbly plucking the multi-layered strings. Forthwith, the koto, along with Risa’s sweet voice in long-sustained high notes, eloquently depicted a bird flying in the cold, wintry wind.

More marvelous surprises were to come. Performing offstage and starting from the top end of the auditorium, flutist Takako Hagiwara, likewise in a kimono, mesmerized the audience as she slowly descended and wended her way onstage while demonstrating her virtuosity in a Japanese composition. She later rendered the diabolically challenging and extensive Carmen Fantasie by Bizet, showing astonishing brio and consummate mastery of her instrument.

Earlier, the four participants and our own guitarist Sixto “Butch” Roxas, smoothly blended in an improvised version of Lucio San Pedro’s lullaby Sa Ugoy ng Duyan, this number infusing local color to the program. Followed Roxas’ solo, Granados' well-loved Spanish Dance No. 5, the guitarist conveying grace and élan.

Before or after performing, each Japanese artist explained his/her number in a quaintly charming, humorous manner. (For instance, flutist Hagiwara confessed she could hardly breathe in her tight kimono!)

The magnificently gratifying concert was a high compliment indeed to our music lovers. Garnering a standing ovation, it deepened RP-Japan friendship. The prefatory remarks of Ambassador Makoto Katsura and CCP president Nestor Jardin stressed the significance of that friendship.

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The Gilopez Kabayao Foundation Inc. is sponsoring the first Gilopez Kabayao Violin Competition to mark the 62nd year of Gilopez’s concert career, begun and highlighted by his debut in New York’s Town Hall at 18, and at Carnegie Hall at 20.

The contest, open to Filipinos ages 18 to 35, requires two among selected Paganini Caprices, one virtuoso piece, one complete violin and piano Sonata from selected sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, Fauré, Franck, Richard Strauss, two Philippine folk songs transcribed by Gilopez, a contest piece, and Mutya ng Pasig by Abelardo-Kabayao.

Cash awards are first prize, P50,000; second, P30,000; third, P20,000. A special prize will be given for the best interpreter of a Kabayao-transcribed folk song.

Schedule of competition: Preliminaries, Oct. 5, 2009; semi-finals, Oct. 10, 2009; finals, Nov. 6, 2009.

Deadline for submission of applications is Aug. 30, 2009. Application forms may be secured from St. Scholastica’s College, UST Conservatory, UP College of Music or from the Gilopez Kabayao Foundation, San Juan St. Molo, Iloilo, tel/fax (033) 3366151 or (033) 3370204. Cellphone: 0927 5442324.