A long way to go for Midori Orchestra

By Gus Kairupan

JAKARTA (JP): What struck me first of all when I entered the Mutiara Ballroom of the Gran Melia Jakarta hotel were the bright red drapes that hung from a height of three meters and ran along the entire width of the stage at the back and sides of the orchestra.

The occasion was a concert organized by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain as part of the commemoration of Spain's National Day. Their national day fell on Oct. 12, while the concert was held on the evening of Oct. 14.

As a five-star hotel, one does not expect the Mutiara Ballroom to be less opulent, and it certainly is very luxurious. It must always be kept in mind, however, that hotel ballrooms are not exclusively designed for concerts to be held in them.

Of course, this does not mean that you cannot present musical events in such spaces; you can, and quite satisfactorily too, provided you take some measures that will help enhance the projection of sound. Carpeted floors belong in the category of a nonelectronic musical ensemble's worst enemy, as do scores of meters of textile. "But it was all right during rehearsals this morning," an orchestra member said. Sure, but I bet there wasn't an audience of hundreds present.

The auditorium was marked by an overabundance of sound- absorbing elements which rather spoiled the evening of classical music presented by a symphony orchestra.

Inadequate preparation

At any type of concert, except those that feature electronic instruments, acoustics are an all important aspect. Even so, one cannot lay the blame for an inadequate presentation at the feet of bad acoustics. This is especially the case with such staples of the classical repertoire as El Amor Brujo (Falla), Brahms' Concerto for Violin & Orchestra, the overture to Verdi's La Forza del Destino, and Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, probably the most famous concerto for guitar and orchestra.

I would say that these would surely be items you would find in the most basic collection of even a nonchalant admirer of classical music. What I mean to say is that since these oeuvres are so well-known one also knows exactly what is happening -- which way melodic lines will go, what harmonic structure is coming up and in what rhythmic pattern both will appear.

The concert featured the Midori Symphony Orchestra, more about that later, and three soloists: soprano Katrine Roberts, violinist IG Bagus Wiswakarma and guitarist Oliver Pletscher. Allow me to start with them and the compositions in which they took part.

First of all, soprano Katrine Roberts, who was the soloist in El Amor Brujo by Spanish composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946). It is true that this was the first time the work was performed by an all-Indonesian ensemble, though it is hardly a debut in this country.

Falla's work, in the form of a suite without the vocal sections, was presented almost ten years ago by a symphonic group comprising youngsters from Indonesia, the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain.

Originally, the work featured dances, songs and spoken parts in the form of what is referred to as a gitaneria, which is associated with folk music, but later Falla presented a version for ballet and songs.

Even bearing in mind the acoustical shortcomings, I found the choice of Katrine Roberts, billed as a soprano, quite out of place because the vocal sections remained quite firmly within the mezzo-soprano range.

I'm not blessed with perfect pitch, thank God, but I dare say that the pieces did not often move higher than G or A above middle C. With that kind of tessitura it would be awful for a real soprano, but quite comfortable for a mezzo-soprano or even contralto. However, her voice has an impressive timbre and I, for one, look forward to hearing her again in works that really suit her range.

This was also the first time I heard IG Bagus Wiswakarma play. His mastery of technique is -- as I have so often heard before -- indeed faultless, even brilliant. Hats off for that, but personally, I look askance at soloists who read from the score. Brahms' violin concerto is such a well-known work that you know exactly what is coming, what to expect.

One would, for instance, think something like here comes an accelerando or perhaps here's the climax of the recapitulation, and so forth. That was exactly how my thoughts went, but what it boils down to is that you hear exactly what is actually written in the score; in other words, there was nothing that showed the performer made the composition his own or stamped it with his personality. Bagus deserves an A but only for technique and brilliant reading.

In a way, this applies also to Oliver Pletscher whose performance of Rodrigo's most famous work ought to have been given a more upbeat tempo in the outer movements.

I am sure that compared to the orchestra Pletscher would certainly be more knowledgeable about the characteristics of Spanish music and that he could have forced the orchestra to dance to his tune -- that's what soloists need to do when playing with an Indonesian orchestra. They must know the works they play from soup to nuts and back because they have to take over the lead of the entire process.

The Orchestra

This brings us to the orchestra and its conductor, Yudianto Hinupurwadi. I have said often during 16 years of commenting on classical music and I will say it again that Indonesian conductors are inadequately prepared in education, training, experience, intellectual breadth or even a range of musical knowledge to adopt the title.

When the orchestra started, the first item on the program, Falla, I took notice of the general tone color of each instrumental section (strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion) and thought all right ... this is what Yudianto wants the tone to be like. Not that I liked it, but let's put that aside.

What should not have happened though, was that he also stuck to that tonal character throughout the whole program. I found this irresponsible because you must not apply the tonal characters you used in Falla to a work by Brahms. Or Verdi. Or even Rodrigo who hails from the same country as Falla. But then, the matter of tone coloring, except for playing loud and soft, is one thing that an Indonesian conductor has not mastered. The result? Flat performances of orchestral music.

The concert at the Gran Melia was the second for the Midori Symphony Orchestra. The group was born only this year and rests under the aegis of the Midori International Music Foundation, which was also founded this year.

Actually, a school of music under the Midori name has been operating for 15 years, but apparently 1999 is the first year that the institution presented the results of its labors -- provided, of course, that among its students there are those who take part in the orchestra.

The orchestra includes quite a number of musicians who have performed regularly in other orchestras such as the Nusantara Symphony Orchestra and the Twilight Orchestra.

Midori still has a long way to go, and I hope that it succeeds in achieving the goals it has set for itself. At the same time, it must avoid the fate that has befallen at least three symphonic groups during the past 15 years: the Jakarta Symphony Orchestra, Nusantara Symphony Orchestra, which was last heard of in the beginning of this year and the Twilight Orchestra, now reduced to a string group called the Twilight Ensemble.

Foundations were established for these groups but at one point support ceased, which spelled the end of the orchestras' activities. It isn't at all difficult to figure out why, and Midori would do well to do just that if it does not want to fall in the same trap. The Midori foundation should at least be aware that there is a pattern here -- and a glaring one it is!

One last word of advice to the Gran Melia. Next time, please do not wrap classical music events in yards and yards of textile, unless, of course, you plan to present performances that feature hard and/or metal rock groups.