Ananda, Trisutji redefine classical music

By Y. Bintang Prakarsa

JAKARTA (JP): Many classical concerts are not user-friendly, that is, they often leave the audience in a state of aural confusion. This is especially true of music from the 20th century. Without any introductory remarks, the music might sound unexpected or freakish if performed for an audience trained to appreciate a narrow repertoire of classical and romantic pieces.

Therefore, you were lucky if you had the chance to listen to a special recital by pianist Ananda Sukarlan, a rare Indonesian talent who has succeeded in acquiring international fame and recognition, at the Erasmus Huis on Tuesday evening.

The program traced the exploration of harmony and melody by composers from the eighteenth through to the twentieth century, including the formidable work of J.S. Bach with three selections from The Well-tempered Clavier, Book One, Ludwig van Beethoven Op. 27 No. 2 and Dmitri Shostakovich with two pairs of prelude and fugue from 24 Preludes and Fugues), Inner Mobiles by Jan-Bas Bollen, who was born in 1961 in the Netherlands, and three pieces from the still ongoing project of Etudes for Piano by Gyvrgy Ligeti who was born in 1923.

Ananda introduced each work with a brief speech about how the composer gave a different treatment of harmony and melody to their compositions.

Most interesting was the world premiere of Jan-Bas Bollen's Inner Mobiles, composed in 1999 and dedicated to the pianist, who collaborated with Ananda when they were at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Netherlands. The idea came from mobiles, the most popular form of which is a decoration with images of birds, etc., connected by strings and rods suspended from the ceiling. The composition is its analogy in sound.

"I was determined to treat my musical material in a minimal way rather than letting it develop," the young composer remarked. "Thus, I kept melodic phrases, rhythmical patterns and chords in a state of suspension, sounding like mobiles in my inner ear."

The tone production, especially in the second movement, was inspired by electronic music, to which Bollen, a computer freak, is very familiar with.

Ananda's achievements are too many to be listed here. The pianist, who was born in Jakarta in 1968 and now lives in Spain, graduated "summa cum laude" from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, and has won numerous competitions.

As a pianist he is thoroughly familiar with repertoire from almost every period of keyboard music, but on top of that he is a lover and promoter of 20th century music, often working closely with composers. His discography, which includes six CDs on Dutch, Austrian and Spanish labels, is entirely devoted to 20th century compositions.

The eminent British composer Sir Michael Tippett praised Ananda highly for the latter's recording of his First Sonata in the solo CD The Pentatonic Connection (Erasmus WVH 139): "I was quite taken aback by the freshness and vitality of the playing. Mr. Sukarlan's interpretation gave it strength and poetry, elevating it to a new plane. Technically, his playing was impeccable and his tone control and variety of color quite admirable."

This year, the pianist is performing, composing, judging competitions and lecturing. In July alone, after his concert tour in Indonesia, he is performing six concerts in New Zealand, giving lectures at three universities, as well as playing Igor Stravinsky's Piano Concerto with the Wellington Symphony Orchestra. From Aug. 8 to Aug. 10 he is back in Jakarta to chair a team of juries in Piano Competition 2000, organized by Pusat Kesenian Jakarta (the Jakarta Arts Center) and Asosiasi Komponis Indonesia.

He is also scheduled to perform charity recitals at Hotel Mulia in Jakarta on Aug. 1.

Trisutji

Competing with the young artist was the established pianist- composer Trisutji Kamal, who performed the same evening with her Trisutji Kamal Ensemble at the Dharmawangsa Hotel. In this concert they performed Trisutji's work, including the Gunung Agung, a three-part composition which was inspired by the explosion of Mount Agung in Bali in the 1960s which took many lives.

The composer has toured extensively in Europe over the past few years with her experienced ensemble of two pianists and Balinese percussion, plus hiring singers when necessary. Their last tour was in India last April with soprano Binu D. Sukaman, during which they performed at the World Festival of Sacred Music, bringing some traditional Balinese Hindu chants and original compositions by Trisutji inspired by Islamic tradition.

Also featuring a poetry-reading session and an auction of paintings by Astari Rasyid, the concert was a charity program to collect donations for the victims of the Bengkulu earthquake, as well as for supporting the education of poor children, the distribution of which will be handled by the Suara Ibu Peduli (the Voice of the Caring Mother).