Classical music scene paints a rather mixed picture<\/p>\n
By Gus Kairupan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): December l996. Time again for a flashback and a
\nlook at the music scene.<\/p>\n
Classical music, that is. It's a rather mixed picture that
\nreveals itself, though I must confess that this year I have not
\nbeen attending as many events as I would have liked. However,
\nthis doesn't mean that I have not been aware of the goings-on in
\nthis city.<\/p>\n
Progress there certainly is, especially on the part of
\nIndonesian musicians who have made classical music their forte.
\nBut the pace is that of a snail suffering from arthritis in the
\nknees -- if snails have knees, that is.<\/p>\n
So give a big hand, ladies and gentlemen, to these stalwarts
\nwho are struggling on their own with nary a nod of recognition
\nfrom those official quarters whose responsibility it is to -- at
\nleast -- encourage them. But nevermind. There are very good
\nIndonesian classical musicians, and if one or two make it onto a
\nmuch larger stage (and there will be some, I assure you) it is
\nbecause they've done it by themselves without the slightest
\nsupport from any department or corporate interest.<\/p>\n
Orchestras<\/p>\n
The mixed picture shows good and bad, alarming and
\nencouraging, with small groups (or individuals) overshadowing the
\nlarge ones. Let's start with the orchestral scene. Nothing much
\nhas been heard from the Twilight Orchestra (TO) since it was
\nfeatured in a television program during the Idul Fitri holiday
\nlast February.<\/p>\n
It could have performed again after that, but I very much
\ndoubt that. If they had, it would have been what the music circle
\ncalls an \"event,\" meaning a commissioned concert for some
\ncorporation or charity occasion. Public concerts are indeed not,
\nor rank very low, on the list of TO's priorities. For all intents
\nand purpose, TO seems to have moved into oblivion, thus joining
\nthe Jakarta Symphony Orchestra (JSO), which bit the dust way
\nbefore TO gave up the ghost. If JSO still exists it would only be
\nin the documents of the Adhi Suara Foundation, its parent
\nfoundation.<\/p>\n
There remains the Nusantara Chamber Orchestra (NCO) as the
\nsole provider of orchestral music. NCO is at least constant,
\ngiving performances every other month. It has shifted venues from
\nthe Jakarta Hilton to Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, which,
\nacoustically speaking,l is the better place for it, though its
\nstage is not large enough for the group.<\/p>\n
As for the quality of performances, well, that still leaves an
\nawful lot to be desired. One comment I overheard at NCO's last
\nconcert was Untuk Indonesia sih udah cukup (for Indonesia, it's
\ngood enough) and checked myself in time from making a spectacle
\nof myself by throttling the person. The comment indicates that a
\ntenth rate orchestra is good enough for this city that prides
\nitself on being a world capital. The abysmal thing is that
\nwhoever is behind NCO (I think it's still the Yayasan Nusantara)
\ndoes not (or will not) realize that Indonesian conductors are --
\nto put it mildly -- inadequate.<\/p>\n
There isn't much wrong with the musicians (not that all is
\nright with them). They are quite capable of producing remarkable
\nstuff when directed by a good conductor. I saw this myself when
\nAustralian conductor Philip Green was here to direct a group of
\nmusicians the majority of which consisted of members of the
\nCapella Amadeus string ensemble.<\/p>\n
Winds and brass players were recruited from elsewhere and
\nincluded musicians who play in the NCO and a number of underused
\ninstrumentalists.<\/p>\n
What they performed (it was a fund-raising event for social
\nprograms of the Catholic church) was real music, and would have
\nbeen much better if the numbers with piano accompaniment had been
\nleft out of the program. Otherwise, it was a highly enjoyable
\nconcert and proved in no uncertain terms what can be achieved
\nwith a good conductor.<\/p>\n
Phillip Green has been here before working with the NCO but
\nwhatever good he has achieved then seems to have disappeared,
\nwhich is not an isolated instance. He followed in the footsteps
\nof other conductors who came, worked with the orchestra, and upon
\nleaving the group they worked with reverted back to its usual bad
\nhabits.<\/p>\n
This leads us to the Capella Amadeus string ensemble which I
\nreviewed about a month ago. The group, with a core of about a
\ndozen players, is the only one that performs with any regularity.
\nIt is very much a one man effort -- or one woman effort, rather,
\nfor the driving force behind it is Grace Sudargo, who also heads
\na school for string instruments in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Besides giving public performances, Capella also does events
\nand demands for the group seem to be on the rise. There are two
\nthings they may need to do: venture out of the late baroque and
\nclassical periods on which it has been concentrating up to the
\npresent, and guard itself from falling into the trap of becoming
\noverly dependent on events.<\/p>\n
The fate of the Twilight Orchestra and the Jakarta Symphony
\nOrchestra are good examples of what happens if you have to dance
\nto whomever plays the tune but is in fact quite ignorant about
\nmusic. As regards Ms. Sudargo, she was also the concert master at
\nthe concert conducted by Phillip Green, and I must say that in
\nthis country she's the only one fit to occupy that second most
\nimportant position in an orchestra.<\/p>\n
Individual efforts<\/p>\n
This is where some brighter instances provide hope. One
\nperson that merits considerable praise is Trisutji Kamal --
\nIndonesia's one and only composer who blends Indonesian and
\nIslamic musical idioms with those from the West. Her own
\nbackground is Western music, piano and composition, and she has
\ngiven performances in several countries, the latest in Thailand
\nsome months ago. In her tours overseas she presented compositions
\nthat combined duo piano with Balinese percussion. It is probably
\ntoo much to say that these excursions were roaring successes, but
\nthe foreign ears to whom she brings her work are, at least, used
\nto one universally known element -- the piano. The fact that her
\nworks are rooted in impressionist styles makes them easy to
\nlisten to.<\/p>\n
Of the other musicians who have come to the fore and show
\nsigns of getting stronger are pianists Linny Sugiarto and
\nIswargia Sudarno, who specialize in music for duo piano (two
\npianos) and piano duets (one piano, two players) and have already
\nappeared before. The two presented a rather daring program last
\nNovember in which the oldest composer was Debussy. The rest were
\nvery modern and it's there that the daring applies. You don't
\nget to hear a Dieter Mack or Messiaen composition at any musical
\nevents. Pianists, whether singly or otherwise, always stick to
\nthe usual Chopins and Liszts, which is alright of course, but one
\nalso wants to hear what today's composers have to say.<\/p>\n
Also quite active over the past year was pianist Ary Sutedja
\nwho is concentrating very much on chamber music these days. She
\nperformed in a concert which was at the same time the debut of
\nthe all-women ensemble called Classical Nuances (Nuansa Klasika)
\nwhich also included oboist Soun Youn Yoon from South Korea,
\nclarinetist Karen Ellis-Chong and violist Sharon Eng. The latter
\ntwo hail from the U.S. and have lived here for a number of years.
\nClassical Nuances has so far not given a second concert.<\/p>\n
So much for the 1996 scene as regards classical music
\nactivities. It doesn't differ much from 1995 though the Twilight
\nOrchestra and Jakarta Symphony Orchestra were still doing a bit
\nof work. Then, too, it was the efforts of small ensembles and
\nindividual musicians that were much better than the orchestral
\npresentations. And with things as they are, this pattern is bound
\nto remain for quite some time.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/classical-music-scene-paints-a-rather-mixed-picture-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}