French young trio presents classics across Indonesia

JAKARTA (JP): Music lovers in several cities are in for a classic treat after warm encores peaked a presentation of French Trio Wanderer here on Wednesday.

"Extraordinary," gushed noted pianist Iravati Sudiarso at the end of the first part of a piece by Joseph Haydn. The rest of her impressions she kept to herself with closed eyes, bowed head and a wide smile.

The top graduates of the Paris National Conservatory of Music buoyed the audience through a cascade of repertoires by Haydn, Beethoven and Maurice Ravel. Extra tunes to cater to the demands of the audience were taken from the trios by Antonin Dvorak even after the flowers were presented.

Similar programs which include Trio en la minuer by Ravel, who also studied at the Conservatory, are planned for concerts in other cities.

Indonesia is the second leg of the trio's Asian tour.

They played in Bandung on Thursday and will move on to Balikpapan, East Kalimantan on Nov. 19. The tour will continue to Yogyakarta on Nov. 21 and Surabaya, East Java the next evening.

The two hours in the auditorium of the Yamaha Music Center on Jl. Gatot Subroto were filled with melodies written for the piano, violin and cello, played by Vincent Coq, Raphael Pidoux and Guillaume Sutre respectively.

Close team work between the men, aged 27 to 31, and "a similar level of skill" noted Sudiarso, showed through their beautiful performance. The musicians have entertained audiences and won awards across France as well as in America and Germany.

Local musicians are still poorly trained, lamented Sudiarso.

The choice of pieces ranged from skipping, merry tunes to gloomy emotions with emphasis on the cello. Of the selection, Coq touched on the slow movements in Beethoven's trio which is "very strange and haunting, even more incredible in today's music."

"Maybe Beethoven was inspired by Shakespeare," said Coq.

Although it is the group's second visit here, it was regrettable that the auditorium was half empty, "maybe because of the rain" commented the French embassy's cultural attache Alain Monteil.

The group, formed in 1987, will leave Indonesia for concerts in Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and South Korea, organized by the Yayasan Pendidikan Music and the French Cultural Center. The tickets only cost Rp 10,000 (US$4.5) for two hours of the masters' works. (anr)