Finnish and Polish artists mesmerize Jakarta music lovers

Gus Kairupan

JAKARTA (JP): European music is very much in Jakarta's air these days, as it no doubt is in Bandung, Yogyakarta and Surabaya, which together with Jakarta is presently the concert tour of musicians from six members of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, participants in the European Union Music Festival. But also performing here was a non-EU member, Poland, which brought in the Szczecin Boys Choir. They certainly merit mention, especially for their combined performance with the Indonesian Children's Choir (Paduan Suara Anak Indonesia, PSAI).

Last Saturday, Feb. 20, marked the turn of Finland represented by the all-female Trio Finlandia, with violinist Eeva Koskinen, pianist Marita Viitasalo and Ritta Pesola on cello. It was their second performance in Jakarta, the first occurring in late 1997, which impressed me deeply. Small wonder, the credentials of each individual guarantee top-notch performances. Apparently, more people were in attendance at the 1997 performance, told friends and acquaintances about it, with the result that the auditorium of Erasmus Huis was in real danger of bursting at the seams. Even more than when the Amstel Trio opened the festival on Feb. 10.

It is always a pleasure to welcome back groups of first-rate musicians. The program this time, I'm sure, satisfied many classical music devotees. Now, I hope that what I am going to say about the performance will not be thought of as a fly in the ointment. I don't mean it that way at all because the performance was excellent. It was the rather thin representation of Sibelius, the Finnish composer with towering stature as a world-class composer.

In his own country, Sibelius has no equal either before or so far, at least, after his birth in 1865. The program also featured a piano trio by another Finnish composer, Einar Englund (b. 1916), which I took an immediate liking to for its polyphonic elements and slightly percussive nature of the tone quality. Maybe it's the influence of Russian composers Prokofiev and Shostakovich who deeply impressed Englund.

My knowledge of Sibelius' works is not very extensive. Apart from the Finlandia overture, Swan of Tuonela from the Lemminkainen suite which I yet have to hear in its entirety, the violin concerto, Pelleas and Melisande, there isn't much else I am acquainted with. I do know, however, that Sibelius was very active as a chamber musician, and thus expected something more solid than the six small pieces (alternating piano solo, piano and violin and piano and cello) that opened the concert. But I shouldn't gripe too much, it has at least widened familiarity with another aspect of Sibelius, i.e. as a composer of smaller forms. Besides, the pieces revealed Sibelius' side as a poet of nature, a composer who sings of winds swaying through evergreen forests, of brooks rushing over rocks, of bleak, white winter landscapes.

Also present was Beethoven, with Trio for Strings Op. 70 No. 2, published in 1809, but probably written somewhat earlier, and it is dedicated to a noblewoman, Countess Marie Erdody. It is a beautiful work, quite graceful and certainly does not reveal anything of the problem that had already beset Beethoven for almost 10 years' deafness, although there were melancholic overtones in the work's third movement, Adagio.

Vocal music

Last week was also the performance of the boys' choir from non-EU member, Poland. The Szscecin Boys Choir had been here for at least a week for workshops and performances, all held in Jakarta. An excellent choir presenting a highly appreciated performance, the boys from Szscecin (how do you pronounce this?) are certainly not new to the art of performing, and have, indeed, been lauded in many cities in Europe. The concerts were sponsored by the Indonesian Institute of Sacred Music, Teater Tanah Airku, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah and PSAI itself.

The performance of Polish and Indonesian songs was a delight. But an even more important aspect was the merging of both choirs. Though PSAI, too, has reaped successes both inside and outside Indonesia, combined efforts are always of great benefit to both participants, and the Indonesian children have undoubtedly learned as much from the Polish youngsters as the Polish boys have from their Indonesian counterparts.

If there is one thing the Indonesian children's choir might want to look into it would be what I would call (for want of a better description) vocal acting and relaxing. There were two examples the boys gave, acting out (with physical movements) an orchestra and making noises imitating string and wind instruments, all, of course, in perfect harmony, including the part where they slid into perfect disharmony.

Where singing as a group is concerned, PSAI is certainly a match for the Polish group. Children are, of course, famously free of stage fright, it is the conductors who are nervous wrecks, and perhaps could not care all that much about fame, but when they have been taught properly, the result, more often than not, is a thing of real joy. Those clear, pure and unspoiled voices! What a pity that they are doomed to become adults.