Brilliant playing from Salonga, Coo

June 12, Independence Day, seemed like an unusual day for a concert. With the flurry of activities that day and the special non-working holiday the next day, you would think people would go out of town for a mini-holiday. But the Philamlife Theater along UN Avenue in Ermita, Manila was packed that night for the gala debut concert of pianist Oliver Salonga and cellist Victor Michael Coo with the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra, under the leadership of conductor Rodel Colmenar.

The concert, billed as Best of the Philippines Concert Tour 5, presented in cooperation with Philamlife, is part of a series of concerts organized by Music News Concert Series. Music News impresario Pablo Tariman says he "has witnessed the transformation of Salonga, Coo and Colmenar over the years and we thought it was about time they work together."

We are unfamiliar with Salonga, a two-time NAMCYA first prize-winner. He is presently a piano performance major at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, studying with Dr. Roberta Rust. His past teachers include Teresita Perez, Chambi Soriano, Marvi Ortiz and Carmencita Arambulo. Rosario Licad, the mother of Cecile Licad, Sr. Angelina Gutierrez and Marietta Cruz, have also coached him.

We had the chance of seeing Coo perform years ago. For this concert, he confronted the Everest of cello concertos, the Dvorak Cello Concerto in B-minor, Op. 104. A NAMCYA prizewinner, he is currently pursuing his masters in cello performance at the University of Maryland.

Salonga was up in the first half of the concert in a bravura performance of the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2 in A. The concerto, one of two by the virtuoso composer-pianist, departs from the three-movement model of most concertos. Instead, Lizst fashioned movements unified by a theme into a single movement work. The work challenges both pianist and orchestra to make the movements sound like an integral whole, while making sense of the delicate balance between soloist and tutti. Critics have pointed out that Lizst combined the best of orchestral and chamber music writing in his concertos, offering the soloist and the orchestra opportunities to show their stuff.

Salonga made a passionate entrance in the concerto, playing with wistful enthusiasm. After the opening series of dramatic statements and arpeggio runs, he attacked the brilliant piano playing with strength and power. These are this young pianist’s virtues. Confronted with challenging music, he didn’t waver, but pushed on, his masterful command of his instrument attesting to his accomplishments as a performer.

It is not easy for a pianist not to triumph with the Lizst piano concertos. All he needs are fingers of steel, a quick memory and reserves of energy to last these relatively short pieces. (Lizst’s concertos last no more than 25 minutes each.) What we missed is an opportunity for more introspective playing, which the Lizst concertos do not provide. These are pieces for pianistic display, and are just perfect for this occasion. And Salonga did deliver.

In the encores, Salonga played Chopin, and gave the audience a chance to hear him solo. While encores do not offer a full picture of a pianist’s worth, Salonga did show that he could play dramatically, although with deliberateness. We will wait for that concert when the pianist will show his dramatic and sensitive side.

Coo was up on the second half, and you could feel the buzz of excitement in the whole auditorium, especially after Salonga’s memorable turn. The Dvorak concerto is considered the paragon of cello concertos because it highlights the instrument’s unique qualities while keeping its distinct sound in front of the orchestral fabric. Very few 19th century composers devoted their attention to the cello because of its distinctive voice that keeps it bound within the orchestra. Unlike the violin, its sound has difficulty rising out and singing freely. Dvorak did not conceive his cello concerto until he heard the Herbert Cello Concerto No. 2 during his stay in New York as head of the National Conservatory of Music. With the assistance of his compatriot, the cellist Hans Wihan, he wrote a concerto that fully exploited the resources of the instrument, a feat that has not been matched since.

It was evident from the start that Coo knew his instrument well. From movement to movement, the young cellist astounded with his potent playing, his superior command of his instrument, and his consummate knowledge of the piece.

In the opening movement, he was brilliant in presenting fully the cello’s unique voice, his fingers working double time in a performance that was crisp and brisk. It sounded too fast at times (The encore, a prelude from a Bach solo cello suite was played virtuosically but just as dizzyingly fast.), but Coo has youth on his side to play this piece as fast as he wanted it. Indeed, this was a young man’s conception of this beautiful concerto. The contemplative second movement was conceived as a hushed song, while the finale featured bravura playing in all aspects.

To fully appreciate the Dvorak Cello Concerto, it has to be heard live in the concert hall to give the listener the proper sound perspective between the soloist and the orchestra, an experience you do not get from listening to a recording. Coo and Colmenar served Dvorak well, even if it, at times, was just a tad too fast. Perhaps, in a decade or so, the cellist will be able to present his viewers a different conception of the concerto that will reflect his maturity as an artist.

In the two concertos, the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra and Colmenar partnered the soloists with great attention and detail, despite some rough spots.

It was inspired programming that the concerts featured the orchestra in two Filipino compositions, Redentor Romero’s Philippine Portraits and Lucio San Pedro’s Lahing Kayumanggi. It is now rare to hear compositions by Filipino composers in the concert hall. Colmenar and the MPO are doing a great service by presenting the music of native writers in performances that do them justice.

Up next for Coo is a concert with pianist Mary Anne Espina at the Baguio Country Club Ballroom on June 24. When this article sees print, he will have performed in the closing concert of the Fourth Pasig Summer Music Festival.

Music News Concert Series is also presenting legendary Filipino tenor Otoniel Gonzaga in a concert with the MPO on July 26. For ticket inquiries and reservations, call or fax 901-7156 or e-mail musicnewsservice@yahoo.com.