Classical music symphony with a focus on youth<\/p>\n
By Gus Kairupan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): \"Pray for me, please\", said 17-year-old
\nDominicus Levi Gunardi, who was about to play Liebestod, an
\nexcerpt from Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde, arranged for
\npiano by his father-in-law, Franz Liszt.<\/p>\n
Of course I answered \"I will\" though I doubted that this
\nbrilliant young pianist needed any.<\/p>\n
Prayers are for those who are unprepared for the job they've
\ntaken on. Dominicus Gunardi was more than prepared to undertake
\nthis most difficult piece in every respect: technically,
\nintelligently, emotionally and, most of all, musically. If there
\nis one boy who must continue with music it is he.<\/p>\n
But that applies to many of the other 23 pianists, ranging in
\nage from 13 to 23, who performed at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta on
\nTuesday and Wednesday, in two concerts collectively called \"YPM's
\nYoung Musicians in Focus.\"<\/p>\n
YPM stands for Yayasan Pendidikan Musik (Foundation for Music
\nEducation), whose school has over the years produced some of
\nIndonesia's foremost musicians, especially pianists. This year's
\ncrop is a particularly good one, so good, in fact, it left Aisha
\nSudiarso who is on the way to getting her master's degree in the
\nU.S., speechless.<\/p>\n
Small wonder. These youngsters displayed an exceptionally high
\ndegree of musical maturity. Listen to Milsa Said, playing
\nScriabine's Etude Op. 2 No. 1. Technically, it isn't one of the
\nworld's most difficult pieces, but it takes everything out of the
\ninterpreter to deliver the message of one of Russia's most
\nmystically inclined, composers. The coloring Milsa exhibited,
\nthe clarity of all the lines in this polyphonic work, the
\nexceptional control of dynamics, all these spoke of her great
\nability as an artist.<\/p>\n
One would, perhaps, expect such maturity from someone who is
\n21 years old, but how about Aureine Wibrata, a 14-year-old high
\nschool student whose exciting Danza de la Moza Donosa, by Alberto
\nGinastera, elicited an equally warm response? Or Debussy's
\nPrelude from his suite entitled Pour le Piano, faultlessly
\nrendered by Prihatini Nur Indah, one of the babies of the group
\nat 13.<\/p>\n
She, too, should carve a career as a pianist, having begun at
\nthe age of three and a half. Or the impeccable interpretation of
\nPoulenc's Toccata, played by the other 13-year-old, Irsa Destiwi.<\/p>\n
Then there was I Gusti Agung Nyoman Lia Oktarini playing
\nChopin's Nocturne Op. 27 No. 1, a piece fraught with different
\nmelodic lines, all of which she picked out and displayed with a
\nclarity and maturity that is downright uncanny for someone her
\nage. Her Balinese background may account for so high a gift.<\/p>\n
Thinking process<\/p>\n
All these kids (for that's what they are), as well as the many
\nother \"below-18's\" exhibited a maturity that matched those of the
\n\"old\" ones. Whatever their age, though, they have already notched
\nup about 10 years of study as far as schooling in music is
\nconcerned.<\/p>\n
How does one rate maturity? One aspect is the way the per-
\nformer puts themselves into the composition played, a kind of
\nthinking process that goes, approximately, along these lines:
\nBeethoven wrote this sonata, but it's me who's playing it and
\nthis is how I see it. One may not like the way Ika Darmawan, 16,
\nplayed Brahms' Rhapsody Op. 79 No. 2, but afterwards, one real
\nizes that her interpretation wasn't so irrational after all.<\/p>\n
She will, no doubt, be playing it again ten years from now,
\nwhen she has gained more knowledge about Brahms and other facets
\nthat surround this German composer's life and times.<\/p>\n
As the cream of YPM's students, these youngsters have com
\npleted, or are in the course of completing their conservatory
\npreparatory level studies, i.e. three more years following the
\nregular six-year course. Whether all of them will go to a real
\nfull-fledged conservatory is doubtful because, curiously, there
\nis no conservatory of Western classical music in this country.
\nThere are tertiary art institutes that have music departments,
\nbut they are parts of an entity, not independent music academies.
\nSo if any of these kids want to go on, there is no other way but
\nto leave the country.<\/p>\n
It isn't only they who deserve congratulations. A salute must
\nalso go to their teachers: Maryam Rudyanto, Soetarno Soetikno,
\nLinny Sugianto, Ina Sutisna, Adelaide Simbolon, Poly Hidayat, Eri
\nPrabowo, and last but not least YPM's triumvirate, the country's
\nnoted pianists Rudy Laban, Iravati Sudiarso and music theory
\nmaster Alex Paat.<\/p>\n
The concert was billed as Young Musicians in Focus, but
\nwhether they are, or will be, musicians when they reach adulthood
\nstill remains to be seen.<\/p>\n
Veronica Winarta, 23, is currently in her eighth semester as
\nan economics student majoring in accounting. Rita Andriani, 20,
\nis also an economics student. F.X. Adi Santos will one day be an
\nelectrical engineer, and while Ni Luh Ayustha, 21, in a few years
\nfrom now, will concern herself with mankind's mental health
\n(she's a psychology student), Frieda Handayani, 21, will be
\ntaking care of people's physical ailments.<\/p>\n
Perhaps they may all be at the pinnacle of excellence as
\naccountants, engineers, doctors, psychologists, sociologists,
\neconomists, whatever, but for now -- if not in the future -- they
\nare, for their age, superlative pianists who, during those two
\nevenings at GKJ, were in focus, as the program said. Who knows,
\nsome of them may well remain in focus, not just in Indonesia but
\nelsewhere in the world.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/classical-music-symphony-with-a-focus-on-youth-1447893297",
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