Dutch master cellist mesmerizes audience

By Gus Kairupan

JAKARTA (JP): Thorough master of instrument, stylistic versatility, an almost unlimited palette of colors and, of course, talent... these are just some of the many top qualities I can think of that mark the playing of young Dutch master cellist, Pieter Wispelwey, who mesmerized the capacity audience at Erasmus Huis last Wednesday.

Accompanying him at the piano was Dutch-Italian pianist Paolo Giacometti, whose artistry matches that of Wispelwey. The two have been making music together for at least a year and are indeed a superb pair of musicians.

Giacometti, who only last year graduated (with honors) from Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, has also achieved considerable acclaim as a soloist.

Talent is not enough. A solid knowledge of instruments and styles that developed from, say, the 16th century onward is almost a sine qua non for today's musicians, if only because so much classical music written until well into the 18th century is today played on instruments that weren't around during that period. But it wasn't during the main portion of last Wednesday's program that particular aspect dawned on me.

It was when Wispelwey played an excerpt of one of Bach's suites for unaccompanied cello as an encore. I could swear that at times it seemed that I was listening to a viola da gamba (an instrument that was one of the precursors of today's modern string instruments), though I must admit I've heard that instrument only about three times in the rather distant past. If anything, it was this short piece that demonstrated Wispelwey's depth as an artist and his marvelous control of the bow.

The duo played works by four composers: Schubert's Sonata in A-Minor, D-821; Mendelssohn's Sonata in D-Major, op. 58; three short pieces by Faure titled Romance in A-Major, Papillon op. 77 and Apres un Reve and finally Poulenc's Sonata for Cello and Piano.

There were four very different styles and manners which the creators applied to get their message across. Schubert did it by juxtaposing parallel majors and minors. Then there are the brilliant but murderous 6/8 measures in inhuman tempo with which Mendelssohn achieves his effects, the mysticism that colors Faure's compositions (he used to be connected with church music for a long time) and the irony throughout Poulenc's works - no doubt inherited from Erik Satie whom he idolized.

Today's musicians do not have it easy having to be knowledgeable about all these, not to mention those with which the likes of Schoenberg and Webern shook and shocked the world of music, plus the other 20th century styles.

However, I'm sure that Wispelwey and Giacometti were among the best cello-piano duos to have appeared here recently. Faultless cooperation and coordination marked their performance, and the interpretation of the four very different styles was just as excellent. There was, however, a little drawback noticeable especially in the opening number, Schubert's sonata, in which Giacometti sounded as if he was holding back. There were instances (especially in parts that require a more pronounced presence of the piano) you wished he'd come more to the foreground. Perhaps this reticence was suitable in the pieces by Faure in which the piano part is not as prominent as in the other works, indeed merely providing a harmonic framework for the melodic lines by the cello.

However, in the two other sonatas (Mendelssohn's and Poulenc's) Giacometti showed himself as the fine pianist he is. One looks forward to hearing him as a soloist.

I was wondering whether it was a case of butterflies having a party in his insides, but the denouement came when Wispelwey appeared by himself to give an encore, saying that Giacometti was too ill to continue playing. Well, if he plays with such excellence when ill, how would his performance be when he is in good health?