WALA LANG
This is a special year for culture and arts in the Philippines, being the golden anniversary year of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, one of Asia-Pacific’s best. It was founded in 1973 as the CCP Philharmonic Orchestra on initiative and with the continuing support of then First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos. Now we rejoice in the PPO’s half century of triumphs.
The orchestra has performed under renowned conductors, with some of the best artists and in some of the world’s most musical cities.
Van Cliburn and other internationally known pianists were with PPO on many occasions. At the other night’s concert, the fourth of the PPO’s 39th season, our own world famous Raul Sunico brought to life Franz Liszt’s music as soloist in his Concerto in A major. The immortal Renata Tebaldi and other divas have sung with the PPO. This time internationally acclaimed soprano Rachelle Gerodias and tenor Arthur Espiritu with mezzo soprano Krissen Manikan-Tan and baritone Byeong in Park were soloists in Ludvig van Beethoven’s spectacular Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 (“Choral Symphony”) with the soaring sound of 120 voices from five of our outstanding choral groups.
The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra at Samsung Theater, the Circuit, 8 December 2023.
It was a truly memorable evening, a virtuoso performance of orchestra, soloists, choir, and conductor.
The symphony calls for a choir and there was one, a 120-voice choir composed of members of five of the best—the CMU Consortium of Voices, the Eastern Chamber Singers, the Ateneo Chamber Singers, the Novo Concertante Manila, and the Kammerchor Manila. The choir master was the renowned Jonathan Velasco, singer and international choral conductor and adjudicator.
European Union Ambassador and Mme. Luc Véron were special guests at the concert. In his remarks, the Ambassador noted that since 1992, the prelude to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony that is the well-known melody Ode to Joy was made the official hymn of Europe. “It was inspired,” said the Ambassador, “by a poem of German poet, playwright, and philosopher Friedrich Schiller (1859-1905) about an idealistic vision of the human race becoming brothers. I am not certain that we are much closer to this ideal today. But I am certain that the music of Beethoven and Liszt still reminds us of this ideal wherever we are in the world.”
Ambassador Véron shared an anecdote about the first performance of the 9th symphony that premiered in Vienna in 1824. “Beethoven was already entirely deaf at that time but he wanted to help the musicians by showing them the style and dynamics that he had imagined. One musician later wrote, ‘He stood in front of the conductor’s stand and threw himself back and forth like a madman. At one moment he stretched to his full height, at the next he crouched down to the floor. He flailed with his hands and feet as though he wanted to play all the instruments and sing all the chorus parts.’ It was a good thing that the conductor had already instructed the musicians not to pay attention to the composer! When the symphony was completed, Beethoven remained facing the orchestra and could not hear the thunderous applause. Caroline Unger, the mezzo-soprano soloist, had to tap the deaf composer’s arm and have him turn around so that he could see the crowd’s response. Many had tears in their eyes.”
Under the baton of its Polish conductor Gzegorz Nowak and the leadership of concert master Dino Akira Decena, the PPO celebrated its golden anniversary with European music and Filipino talent. In the words again of Ambassador Véron, the event was a “musical journey, embracing the universal language that unites us all, transcending continents and weaving the Philippines into the beautiful symphony of global unity.”
Note: Jonathan Velasco is a Trustee of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and a faculty member of the College of Music of the University of the Philippines.
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