French-Indonesian cooperation at a violin recital
By Gus Kairupan
JAKARTA (JP): In contests, anything but first place is a loser.
This does not necessarily mean that those who lost are less noteworthy. Second place in one of the top violin competitions in the world, the "Yehudi Menuhin Competition" (UK), certainly is nothing to sneeze at.
Even more so for a 13-year-old Polish boy. Meet Bartolomiej Niziol who did just that in 1987 and followed it up with better placings at the Poznan "Wieniawski Violin Competition" (first place, at 17 years) in 1991, repeating the feat at the equally renowned "Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition" in France two years later at the age of 19.
The Long-Thibaud competition requires winners to give performances around the world, so Niziol is currently on a tour to some 40 countries.
Prior to his Jakarta appearance, he'd already given recitals in Japan, China and Malaysia. He appeared here under the auspices of the Centre Culturel Francais, The French Cultural Center, in cooperation with Banque Nationale de Paris and sponsorship of Le Meridien Hotel, where the recital was held on June 2.
The young violinist's recital here is a continuation of what amounts to a tradition of brilliant French musicians or French- sponsored musicians giving concerts in Jakarta, such as the Trio Galitzine, the Versailles saxophone quartet and violinist Frederic Pelassy and his accompanist Jean-Bernard Hupmann.
Niziol's brilliance especially came to the fore in the Variations Op. 15 by Henryk Wieniawski and Karol Szymanowski's Nocturne et Tarantelle. Like Niziol, these two composers also hail from Poland, so one would more or less expect the interpretations at the hands of a Polish violinist to be perfect.
But that is beside the point. Niziol would've been equally brilliant playing compositions by other violin masters like, say, Sarasate, Paganini or Vieuxtemps. The Wieniawski and Szymanowski works were the showpieces of the evening, displaying Niziol's stunning mastery of the instrument.
The violinistic fireworks -- which often are merely a matter of technique -- were preceded by Debussy's Sonata in G Minor no. 3, Schubert's Sonata in A Minor Op 137 no. 2 and Poeme Op. 25 by Ernest Chausson. It was in these three works that Niziol shone as a complete musician with his superb coloring and faultless narrative capabilities. He's only 20 years old, so lovers of good music can reasonably expect another 50 years of this violin genius.
Recital
The recital, unfortunately, suffered from the constant hum of the air-conditioning. It's one of the drawbacks of auditoriums in hotels, magnificent though they may be. Of course, when the event is of the type such as the Versailles saxophone quartet (also held at Le Meridien Hotel), the problem is insignificant because of the volume of the music. But for solo artists, or an ensemble as small as a duo, extraneous noises are especially disturbing for an audience whose ears are already more alert than usual.
Kudos must also go to his accompanist, Indonesian pianist Adelaide Simbolon, who has studied in Russia, Australia and the United States. Accompanying is in many respects more difficult than playing solo if only because one has to consider the role of the other player besides ones own.
Simbolon, who teaches at Yayasan Pendidikan Musik, proved to be more than up to the task of tackling the music whose piano part is as complicated as that of the violin, and matched Niziol's playing measure for measure, note for note. She is one of a rising number of fine pianists in Indonesia whom one would like to hear more often.
That she has been entrusted with the job is also something of a measure of the sufficiently high standards of classical music education in this country. Perhaps even regionally Indonesian classical musicians are showing signs of becoming artists to be reckoned with at least in Southeast Asia. I was told that Niziol for his recital in Penang, Malaysia, could not find a pianist capable to accompany him, and had to engage the one who accompanied him in Singapore. For his recital in Thailand (it followed the Jakarta performance) two pianists had to be engaged. Apparently, there is no pianist in Thailand who can handle the entire accompaniment of Niziol's programs so that the job had to be divided among two.
This is not the first time that Adelaide Simbolon has accompanied seasoned artists from abroad, neither is she the only one who has done so. Another recital, featuring British cellist and pianist Iswargia Sudarno, is coming up soon.
Of course such events are marvelous opportunities for our musicians to hone their skills, even more so because they are provided by foreign artists who already enjoy international renown. Through them, the reputation of our young and extremely talented classical musicians will, hopefully, spread beyond the borders of Indonesia whose track record, as regards promoting the likes of Simbolon and Iswargia, is deplorable.