French-Indonesian cooperation at a violin recital

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.