NCO featuring a top-notch pianist

NCO featuring a top-notch pianist

By Gus Kairupan

JAKARTA (JP): Keep an eye on Stephen K. Tamadji. If his
performance last Tuesday with the Nusantara Chamber Orchestra is
any indication, this young pianist will reach considerable
heights. Prokofiev's piano concertos, though a standard by now,
belong to the most difficult in piano literature, the more so
because of the precision work required between piano and
orchestra, precision work in which split seconds make all the
difference.

In this respect it is fortunate that during the performance of
Prokofiev's 3rd Concerto (C-Major) Stephen had the upper hand and
maintained his hold throughout. It was Stephen who led the
orchestra, from the moment the short Andante that opened the
first movement led into the Allegro and in a way masked the messy
inequalities among the instruments. What we need now is a full
solo recital by this young man. Unless my eardrums deceive me, it
will be even more rewarding than Stephen's performance with the
Nusantara Chamber Orchestra.

The piano concerto was the highlight of the concert at the
orchestra's home, the Jakarta Hilton International's Golden
Ballroom. Besides the concerto, the program also featured Ravel's
Minuet Antique and Debussy's Prelude a lappers-mid dun fauna,
both of which are standard concert pieces written by the two
giants of the impressionist period. Impressionism was extensively
covered in the program notes, which dwelled at considerable
length on the differences between Debussy and Ravel but forgot to
mention one fundamental aspect, which is that Debussy's
composition is programmatic, while Ravel's isn't. It is quite
important because when it comes to programmatic music the
orchestra, as I have mentioned so often before, is at a total
loss. Yazeed Djamin may, for instance, be thoroughly
knowledgeable about Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream, but
has not extended the knowledge and the implications of it to the
members. The same applies to the art of painting, or at least the
emotions it stirred in Mussorgsky's soul.

Are such aspects of secondary importance? I don't think so and
in the case of Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun, they definitely
aren't. The faun, a mythical creature, half-goat, half-man, that
embodies everything related to sexual pleasure, or, at least, the
promise or anticipation of it. And it is all there in Debussy's
music: the lazy, languid descending and ascending chromatics for
flutes over a stretch of just a major third; the heavy unequal
breathing in the strings supporting the mating call of the horns,
the dynamics of the entire orchestra working up to an
unmistakable climax.

That, no doubt, is what was going on in Debussy's mind, but
not in the mind of both the conductor and players last Tuesday.
For sheer voluptuousness this Prelude has no equal in the entire
repertoire of classical music, and though the piece was hissed at
and roundly booed during its debut, it later became an
unqualified success, especially when it was turned into a ballet
featuring Nijinsky. So far removed was the orchestra's rendition
from any hint of sensuality that you'd wonder whether any of the
performers have ever experienced such a sensation. My guess is
that they haven't, but even that is forgivable. What is worse is
the lack of musical integrity or respect for someone else's
compositions.

You see, the whole piece was botched from the very beginning.
I did catch some of the message at the opening of the concert
which said that the harpist, Maya Hasan, due to illness, could
not appear. But having only half-listened to it, I can't remember
what was said further. Anyway, what transpired was that the harp
part was played on the piano. Another serious mistake. The harp,
though it does not introduce the main theme, plays such an
integral part as the scene setter in this all too-well-known
composition that replacement by the piano cannot be condoned.
Perhaps the thinking behind it was that the sound of a piano
comes close to that of a harp. This is a matter of opinion, of
course, but to me, and, I dare say, to others in the audience,
they do not sound the same if only because the strings on one are
plucked, while on the other they are struck. Or perhaps another
line of thought was that the Prelude is not well-known in
Indonesia. But then, it is even more of a reason why it should
have been rendered in its proper form.

All this, in a way, does not reflect very well on Stephen
Tamadji who should have politely declined from doing Debussy's
foremost composition a disservice. Instead of the Prelude, the
orchestra should have played another composition -- after all
these years the orchestra would surely have a sizable repertoire
on which to call in an emergency. Or Ms. Hasan, who is not the
only harpist in town, should have been replaced.