Thoughts while watching Philippine Philharmonic’s 40th Anniversary Concert

Well, today was Philippine Philharmonic’s 40th Anniversary performance, and I was able to watch it thanks to a Deal Grocer deal. I didn’t know what to expect – I enjoyed the last Orchestra concert I went to, but I’m not sure about this one. In any case, I was glad I’m even able to pry myself away from office work and go to CCP instead of doing overtime.

To be completely honest, I just found it okay. I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t acquired the taste yet to be able to discern Orchestral music. I don’t know what’s good and what’s bad. Maybe for someone like me who doesn’t really go to an Orchestra performance that often, all I can do to know what’s good and bad is just base it on how I feel or imagine while listening, and if it was memorable enough for me to look up afterwards. I think you can start appreciating art that way.

There were some new Ryan Cayabyab works performed by the PPO – and trying to appreciate it, I thought about the pictures and thoughts that the music invoked – ‘Para kang hinahabol’ and ‘This is like looking at an Abstract Painting, mahirap ma-gets‘ was my impression of the first, and the second was sounded like a Movie Soundtrack – I liked it better, something that would make your head bounce at every stressed note, and sway on every build-up. As for the performers, with the amount of hand-shaking the Violin soloist Dino Decena did after each performance, you can tell that playing the work was difficult, but it sounded so effortless and emotional.

Out of everything, I liked Schumann’s Symphony no. 1, “Spring”. I think it showcased the abilities of the PPO – how the soft parts were played softly yet audibly, and how the build-up to the Grander Sounding parts was just moving. Just really sad that for the other performances, my mind was wandering to a lot of things. And to asking myself the question Why am I not enjoying this when I enjoyed listening to Vision of Escaflowne’s Scores, to Les Miserables’ Music, to the music performed in the last Toyota Classics Concert? Are Musical Scores and Orchestral pieces two different things? Do you have to acquire a taste for Orchestral music just to be able to appreciate it?

Well, what I do know is that I still have a pass for 3 other PPO performances, and probably I could hone my Orchestra listening skills attending those.

Happy 40th PPO! Oliver Ochanine, Conductor. Dino Decena, Violin. January 25, 2012 CCP Main Theater. Program: Wagner, Richard: Prelude to Lohengrin – Cayabyab, Ryan: New work for Violin and Orchestra – Wagner, Richard: Siegfried Idyll – Schumann, Robert: Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”