The most awaited part of the PPO’s 40th season opening concert was Bruch’s Violin concerto No. 1, Op. 26 with no less than violin icon Shlomo Mintz as distinguished soloist under Maestro Grzegorz Nowak.
What the soloist brought to Manila audiences in his Philippine debut was a rare Bruch limned with his own amazing brand of maturity. He silenced an excited audience with a mind-blowing encore, Paganini Caprice No. 24. You could hear an entire audience howl their approval and not a few stood up to give him an ovation before the intermission.
What the music lovers didn’t expect was that the closing program, Richard Strauss’s tone poem Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40, would be an even more mind-blowing finale.
The Strauss piece doesn’t have the name recall of Beethoven’s Third or Bruckner’s 9th or Mahler’s Second or Tchaikovsky’s Sixth.
At least for this concertgoer, the Strauss piece was a total stranger until one realized what a massive orchestral masterpiece it is.
The Strauss tone poem turned out to be the evening’s piece de resistance, a total orchestral sensation under the baton of Maestro Nowak.
One decided not to read the program notes (an incisive one written by Tony Hila) just to check if one could relate to the orchestral piece without the formal introduction from the souvenir program.
The Strauss piece brought out the best in the orchestra and one has never seen a conductor perfectly in command. One could safely conclude the PPO has risen to high expectations in this program which elicited a screaming standing ovation.
Diomedes Saraza, Jr. who debuted as PPO’s new concertmaster and artist-in-residence said he enjoyed working again with Maestro Novak. “I could feel the orchestra welcomed me with kindness. When the first rehearsal happened, everything felt natural as if we had been playing together for a long time. It was also special because that was the first time, I’ve ever played Ein Heldenleben throughout my orchestra career. Playing the solo was cherry on top and I am grateful to Maestro Nowak for trusting me to play it.”
He is not new to concertmaster task as he held the same position with the Manila Symphony Orchestra for quite a while. “I am in charge of creating bowings (fingerings) for the first violins and tuning the orchestra in the rehearsals and in concerts. On a deeper level, I am in charge of understanding what kind of sound or interpretation the conductor wants for the string sections and lead with the string principals. As artist in residence, I will be soloist of PPO as well. For this season, I will be playing a Shostakovich violin concerto on April 2025 also with Maestro Nowak.”
Within 24 hours, the music loving netizens posted their approval of the opening concert.
Book author Susan Lara commented: “I was beside myself with joy on being able to watch PPO’s 40th Season opening concert, Forte. Violinist Shlomo Mintz was breathtaking and Grzegorz Nowak was impeccable.”
Piano mentor and PPO subscriber Willie Aquino gushed: “A grand and impressive PPO concert! The Strauss opus Ein Heldenleben was superb! Soloist Shlomo Mintz was excellent. The new concertmaster, Diomedez Saraza, Jr. brought out the virtuosic highlight of the Strauss tone poem. Indeed, he is a sterling addition to the PPO.”
Richard Sy-Facunda said Mintz showed a soloist not in the youthful heat of passion but of a seasoned artist imparting his wisdom.
He observed: “I overheard an attendee asking his seatmate, ‘How many movements for the Bruch?’ Probably because the violin concerto does not follow the convention of stopping at the end of each movement. The concerto, like Mendelssohn’s, was written this way to avoid the applause between movements so abhorred by the composer. During the advent of the compact disc medium in the 80s, my first album of Shlomo Mintz was a pairing of the two Prokofiev Violin Concertos with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Claudio Abbado. His flawless technique and burnished tone made the CD a fixture on my player for quite some time. All these qualities evident last night plus a focused playing making us listen more to the music than just ‘watching’ the performance.”
Sy-Facunda reserved his best comments for the orchestra. “The night, however, clearly belonged to the orchestra. Did anyone notice the lush string sound? The big, bold, brash sound of the winds and brass? The assortment of percussion including two snare drums, bass drum and timpani ? What better way to showcase this ‘new sound’ with Richard Strauss’ tone poem Ein Heldenleben op. 40 which is easier said than done. Strauss demanded a lot from the orchestra. First the number of players. This tone poem required a large number of players. Last night’s assembly nearly reached 100. Strauss was quoted as saying that the orchestra had to be as vicious as a snake pit. And yes they were. The violins had that biting edge and never sounded so together! The winds and brass, usually relegated to adding color to the orchestral fabric, joined forces with the strings providing a seamless dialogue. Did anyone notice the trumpet players exiting the stage during performance? Nope, they were not on strike but only following the composer’s intention of making the trumpet sound distant. Kudos to Maestro Nowak for bringing out the best in the orchestra1. “
Facunda’s fearless forecast: “If the orchestra continues on this ‘new sound’ trajectory, we may be able to hear in the future a convincing interpretation, on these shores, of Anton Bruckner’s 8th Symphony or Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony or perhaps R. Strauss’ ‘Eine Alpensinfonie’.”
The next PPO season concert happens on November 15 with cellist Sara Sant’ Ambrogio as soloist in the Elgar cello concerto.
