Photos by Lui Queano.
Her opening Scriabin Impromptus startled the audience.
They gasped at her Chopin Preludes.
The Joplin numbers energized the audience surprised by the feet-stomping gesture of the pianist.
After the finale number — Ravel’s Alborada del grazioso — screaming ovation ensued obliging the pianist to give two encore numbers greeted with more standing ovations.
The sold-out return engagement of Cecile Licad at Carnegie’s Kurt Weill Auditorium electrified audiences Thursday night (Dec. 5) and elicited bottomless pride from Filipinos in the audience.
“Cecile Licad was mobbed like a Hollywood star at the adjacent lounge,” reported music fan Lui Queano who drove all the way from Toronto to watch the concert.
Queano and his Sandugo vocal group performed for Licad in the house of environmentalist Odette Alcantara in Blue Ridge in the 90s.
“I showed Cecile (Licad) that 90s photo with her and my singing group in Blue Ridge and she exclaimed ‘Oh my God!’’
The Filipinos in the audience were just as dazzled.
Inigo Elizalde posted on FB: “An amazing evening of incredible music. Such a fabulous talent!”
Danny Barizo told Licad: “It was a real pleasure listening to you at Carnegie Hall. Your performance was a display of sheer artistry and musicality.”
Filmmaker Carlitos Siguion-Reyna who just arrived in New York managed his jetlag and went straight to Carnegie Hall. “Saw a wonderful recital of Cecile Licad. The pianist again did the music world, the Philippines, and herself much honor through her deeply personal readings of a rich, diverse, and interesting program generously supplemented by two encores. Hoping for more concerts of her again soon in Manila.”
Earlier before the concert, excitement over the comeback recital of Licad filled the internet.
One Timothy Sandefur posted on his Instagram with a Carnegie Hall poster of Licad: “Did I fly 2000 miles to see Cecile Licad play Scriabin at Carnegie Hall? You’re damn right I did.”
The ultimate tribute came from genre critic George Grella of New York Classical Review who noted one of her infrequent and welcome appearances.
“This was the kind of performance that was less about pianistic display than about ideas and meaning, something classical music needs much more. Licad is both an excellent pianist and an excellent musician. The pairing of her chops at the keyboard, which are superb and of her thinking which is both logical and personal. Her playing Thursday night showed she had thought through every piece, every note, in detail. The result, channeled through her energy, was never less than fascinating. Not every idea was convincing, but there was always an idea with Licad’s stamp on it. And when everything worked, the results were impressive and even revelatory,” Grella wrote.
The critic was impressed by the first half of the program. To him, the Scriabin Impromptus were the most coherent and meaningful he has heard.
He noted that Scriabin’s writing has always been beguiling to pianists. “But his (Scriabin’s) sense of structural form is often less than the sum of his gestures and effects. Licad made them sound perfectly rational and sensible, connecting shorter phrases into a sense of a long line that flowed through each. The Chopin Preludes were magnificent and indeed revelatory – it was stunning to hear such familiar music played in unfamiliar ways that sounded just right. Licad had tremendous independence between right and left hands, tempos pressed to the edge of their markings and a skillful, ad libitum quality. The music sounded both more structurally transparent and expressively denser, not must miniature showpieces but concise and deep quasi-vocal pieces yearning to break into words.”
He emphasized that Licad is one of the few musicians dedicated to the American romantic piano literature and found the programming excellent.
The review’s conclusion: “Last was Ravel’s Alborado del gracioso, music that, like Chopin, seemed to fit Licad perfectly. The thinking and playing were as fine as the Preludes, Licad underlining the shape and placement of each phrase without teetering in mannerism, the sound full of empty spaces and mystery in another superb interpretation. Licad added two encores which were direct continuation of the program, Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag and Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s Souvenir d’ Andalousie. With a much more regular pulse and the same effervescence, the rag was superb, the right balance of order and freedom. Licad knows Gottschalk probably better than any living pianist, and the showpiece was dazzling and tremendous fun, a triple exclamation points at the end of the evening.”
A proud son throughout the evening was Licad’s son Otavio Meneses who came with his girlfriend.
After her New York engagement, Licad is scheduled to do another national outreach tour in Antipolo City, Iloilo, Cebu City, Nueva Ecija, Davao City and Sorsogon.
After her Philippine outreach concerts, she flies to Portland to provide live music for the silent film Louie with Wynton Marsalis and his jazz ensemble. Louie is the film adaptation of the life and times of Louie Armstrong.
