Cello-piano duo plays to appreciative audience

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.