Cello-piano duo plays to appreciative audience
Jim Read, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The near-perfect acoustic of an almost-full Erasmus House, South Jakarta, provided the ideal milieu on Thursday for the second concert in the Chamber Music Series.
Leonard van Hien (cello) and Adelaide Simbolon (piano) chose a program of works by Chopin, Beethoven and Mendelssohn.
In what was van Hien's debut public performance at the age of 54, the duo got off to a slightly shaky start at the beginning of Chopin's Polonaise Brillante in C major op.3.
Initial nervousness was soon left behind as the two players immersed themselves in the youthful charms of what is one of Chopin's earliest compositions.
Although he is much better known as a composer of music for solo piano, the writing gave both instruments a chance to shine as they moved confidently toward a bravura conclusion.
Simbolon, who studied piano in both Russia and the U.S., became a member of the faculty of YPM Music School, joining more recently the piano faculty at the Jakarta Conservatory of Music.
Van Hien may be better known as the senior representative in Jakarta of financial services company Jardines.
He studied cello at an early age and, more recently, was encouraged by his wife to take it up again. He has played in various chamber ensembles in England and Indonesia.
The second work was Beethoven's Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor op. 5 no. 2. The first movement is full of the emotional intensity usually associated with the composer, at some points even bringing to mind his "Pathetique" Sonata for solo piano.
The sonata explored the sonorities and dynamic range of both instruments within the framework of its thematic excursions.
By the final movement, a garrulous, witty rondo, both players were brimming with confidence, their animated, yet mature dialog full of zest and joie de vivre.
Following the interval, the dramatic intensity of Beethoven gave way to the sheer, romantic luxuriance of Mendelssohn in his Sonata for Cello and Piano in D major, op. 58.
The conclusion of the first movement moved some in the audience to applaud -- intensely annoying as it usually destroys the integrity of a multimovement performance -- but it was almost forgivable on the night as due recognition of the accomplished interpretation.
The coquettish second movement gave both players an opportunity to demonstrate their exquisite articulation and dynamic control, as well as the restraint that is also necessary when playing as a duo.
The quintessential plaintiveness of the cello's middle and upper register were explored to the full in the adagio third movement. Who could not be moved by the emotional intensity of the dialog between the two instruments?
The fourth movement, marked molto allegro e vivace, was a showy resolution of the agonized questions posed in the third, as well as a welcome return to a major key.
The ensemble playing of difficult, fast passages clearly demonstrated the technical assurance of both players.
By the end of the concert, everyone must have been hoping for a rendition of The Swan from Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals as an encore, but were treated instead to something equally as delightful -- not least because it came as a pleasant surprise.
The slow movement from Chopin's Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano received an enthusiastic reception and sent the audience cheerfully on its way.
After the concert, van Hien said in jest that as he had waited 54 years to make his debut, he might be 108 before the follow-up.
In reality, both performers may be heard again in subsequent events of this series: van Hein in the fourth concert, (Jan. 6, 2005, at the Erasmus House) and Simbolon in all three remaining concerts, starting on Dec. 30 at the Widjojo Center auditorium, South Jakarta.
A special highlight of the Dec. 30 concert will be guest artist Jean-Paul Minali Bella playing the arpegina, an instrument that looks somewhat like a large viola. It produces a very lively, clear sound and allows exploration of hitherto unexplored musical domains.