Liam Arcellana Hertzsprung: Amazing grasp of styles / Sydney stages Rizal play

Phil-Canadian pianist Liam Arcellana Hertzsprung, 19, grandson of Emy Yuvienco Arcellana and the late National Artist for Literature Francisco Arcellana, gave a rcital last week at the UP Abelardo Hall’s mini-theater.

Four years ago, Liam, then 14, performed at the UP Executive House, and in view of this, his recent engagement showed immense progress through continued training under Dmitry Nesterov at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada.

I missed the opening Baroque piece Prelude and Fugue in E Minor by Bach, regarded the greatest musical genius the world has ever known. But I caught the last movement Allegro Assai of Beethoven’s Sonata in C Major Op. 2 No. 3, the pianist’s rendition conveying power and passion.

The personable Liam gave a few remarks to introduce each of the remaining selections in a manner that charmed the audience and heightened its interest.

Shostakovich’s Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in G Major, replete with discords, angular and atonal phrases, obliterated whatever lyrical lines there were. Liam faithfully delineated what so starkly contrasted with Beethoven’s style.

In the initial portion of Shostakovich’s work, the excessive use of the pedal led to the merging of tones. The score may have called for excessive pedalling which created unique sounds that stressed the composer’s atonality. The modern “revolutionary” piece, powerful and original, was often abrasive to the ear.

Followed Debussy’s La Terrase des audience du clair de lune. It has been observed that “Chopin makes poetry with his piano; Debussy paints with it.”

Exquisite in detail, Debussy’s piece has been described as “concerned with colors, nuances, moods, sensations, atmosphere — an uninterrupted flow of dream-like sounds where phrases overlap” — delineating vistas of sensitive, delicate impressions and textures rarely realized in music.” How closely the pianist hewed to this description!

The cognoscenti would have relished the juxtaposition of Ravel with Debussy. A musicologist has pointed to the two composers’ respective treatment of the French legend’s sprite Ondine: Debussy’s is “sensuous, flowing, liquid”; Ravel’s is “cold, clear, pointilliste, the glitter of spray.”

Ravel’s “Pavane pour une infant defunte showed masterful craftsmanship, enchanting moods which were fully captured by Liam’s interpretation.

Liszt’s Etudes transcendantes are generally regarded among the showiest and noisiest of his works, and Liam’s choice of the No. 10 in F Minor showed the bombast and bravura characteristic of Liszt. It was of course stirring music, the dramatic contrasts of mood, color and rhythm delineated through diabolically challenging chords and runs which were executed by the pianist with touches of virtuosity.

To the audience’s lusty approbation, Liam responded with Debussy’s “Doctor Gradus ad Parnassu” from “The Children’s Corner” which Debussy composed for his four-year old daughter Chouchou; it delineates the struggles of a child with piano exercises.

The recital was an eloquent and highly impressive testimony to Liam’s astonishingly firm grasp of widely divergent styles, and to his brilliant technique, both of which will lead him to the international concert stage in due time.

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Last June 10, Lea Salonga met the Sydney cast of “Her Son, Jose Rizal”, the play written by National Artist for Dance Leonor Orosa Goquingco. Lea was in Sydney to rehearse her role as Grizabella in “Cats” scheduled at the CCP main theater.

A new theater group in Sydney, The Fine Artists Collaboration (FAC) is presenting jointly with the Filipino Community Cooperative Goquingco’s brilliant theater piece which Freddie Guerrero described as “the best play written in 1955.” Alejandro R. Roces wrote that of all national artists, Orosa-Goquingco encompassed the most number of artistic disciplines.

Cast in “Her Son, Jose Rizal” are RJ Rosales as Rizal, Kate Roc-Andres as Doña Teodora; Claudio Trinidad is costume designer; Armando “RC” Reyes, director. In the production are Mars Cavestany, Sally Anolin Clark, Bob Mendoza, Isa Noble, Tom and Lennie Merjudio, Evelyn Zaragoza, Emma de Vera, Michelle Baltazar, Divin Montillano and Jame Crame.

The play will be presented June 17, 18, 19 (birthday of Rizal, the Philippine national hero) and 20 at the Tom Mann Theatre in Surry Hills, New South Wales.