Camelia

The Jakarta Post

 

Features - July 12, 2007

 

Camelia Pasandaran, Contributor, Jakarta

 

According to legend, the music teacher of great Italian opera tenor Enrico Caruso told him: "You can't sing, you have no voice at all!" Caruso's voice had a limited range and it was only after years of hard work that he was able to reach a high C with any confidence.

 

He further developed his skills through a series of public performances, and after one show in Milan , famed Italian conductor Arturo Tuscanini apparently remarked: "If Caruso continues to sing like this, he will have the whole world talking about him."

 

This anecdote shows that even a gifted musician such as Caruso needed to spend a long time learning and rehearsing, as well as opportunities to gain onstage experience to hone his talent.

 

For young talented musicians here, the opportunity to perform in public is rather scarce, as the general preference is for already famous musicians -- or an infamous one with enough resources.

 

But 10 young musicians got a chance in the limelight during the closing event of the Indonesian Piano Festival 2007: the Gala Concert, held on July 5 at Usmar Ismail Concert Hall in Kuningan, South Jakarta .

 

Some might have thought that these unknowns were music students who would perform classical pieces of moderate difficulty -- but these performers proved that they deserved the spotlight.

 

As they struck the keys and wrought out the melody of well-known pieces by Baroque to modern composers, their high abilities were evident. They played flawlessly the long and difficult works of Brahms, Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann and other world-class composers, filling the hall and pampering the ears of the audience.

 

The pianists worked hard to earn a place in the concert, which would present only the 10 best participants of the Indonesian Piano Festival, held recently at the Wisma Kinasih resort and convention facility in Depok, West Java . The performers were selected based on their progress during the music camp, as well as their performance in the student recital.

 

Long before that, 28 of 178 young musicians had succeeded in auditioning for the festival.

 

"We want them to have courage to perform in public," said Iswargia R. Sudarno, one of the tutors of the piano festival.

 

Iswargia, who also auditioned the applicants, added that the festival's recital and concert series were designed to enhance the performance skill of the participants.

 

The Gala Concert was opened by a simple, yet beautiful performance by Jennifer Ongkowijoyo, who played Sonatina in C Major -- 1st Movement, composed by Aram Khatchaturian.

 

The mood of the audience started to build when the forth performer, Debrina Lukmanto, played Johannes Brahms' Intermezzo in A Major Op. 118 No. 2. It is a short and simple composition, but she played expressively and captured the audience's attention.

 

Another fine performance was also delivered by Randy Ryan, who played Frederic Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp Minor Op. Posth and amazed concertgoers with the melancholic nuance in his playing.

 

The concert presented not only these young performers' solo skills, but also duet, in five piano-violin duets.

 

One duet revealed a good collaboration between the two instruments, with Nia Juniarsih (piano) and Jane Ade (violin) playing Brahms' Sonata No. 3 in D Major Op. 108. Both produced highly dynamic music while exchanging leads. Jane displayed an impressive pizzicato -- plucking the strings of the violin -- that prevented monotony.

 

Two duet compositions for piano and baritone were included on the program: Jessica Vidya Lukijanto (piano) and Mario E. Imanto (baritone) presented Franz Schubert's Die Kr„he from Winterreise; Tiffany Danielle Soesilo (piano) and Aditya Pratama (baritone) performed Schubert's Frhlingstraum from Die Sch”ne Mllerin.

 

Tiffany was one young performer who succeeded in bringing out the character of the compositions she played, whether the Schubert duet or Heitor Villa-Lobos' Cicio Brasilero No. 4. Listeners could feel the intensity from the faster sections, and were lulled by the slower parts.

 

The festival's Gala Concert closed with an outstanding performance by Danang Dirhamsyah, who played the long Johann Sebastian Bach composition, Chaconne. He played the piece of more than 15 minutes confidently and serenely -- and had, amazingly, memorized the entire score.

 

Overall, the young performers in this concert demonstrated impeccable technique -- their performance was flawless. None played the wrong note, and no hesitations caused by the presence of the score.

 

However, it must be said the concert lacked soul. While the performers might not have made any mistakes, they tended to play the compositions technically and without personality.

 

When faced with a fast tempo or a long composition, their eyes were glued to their fingers -- and probably their minds on the score -- thus neglecting to watch and remember the audience to their right.

 

It would have been more enjoyable if all performers could have taken the stage like Andreas S. Susanto, who closed the concert's first half with Chopin's Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 31.

 

Andreas accompanied his playing with impressive facial expressions that altered according the part he played, so the audience could catch the music not just with their ears, but with their eyes, which enabled them to feel the music's soul.

 

Bowing over the piano at fast segments and drawing in his body, eyes closed, when the piece became slow and melancholy, he gave the impression that he was flowing deeply in his music. His expressiveness and hand gestures on the keys helped the audience to grasp the melancholy of the composition by Chopin, a Romantic composer.

 

Andreas showed that a successful performance takes more than just playing technically: A musician should understand the character of the musical works and their composer, and bring these to life with vivid expression.

 

Iswargia said it would take time for the young musicians to attain good performance and playing techniques. He said the concert clearly showed that the performers had made much progress through the piano festival.

 

"There's improvement in technique and concentration," he said.

 

Just like the boy Caruso, these young musicians are like rough diamonds that need to be cut and polished for their true talents to shine.

 

For them to achieve this and develop beyond the printed notes, they would need more opportunities such as the Indonesian Piano Festival for acquiring solid musical knowledge and experience -- and constant practice.