Safe music programs lack special something

By Gus Kairupan

JAKARTA (JP): Give the audience what they want to hear. That seems to be the formula visiting musicians adhere to in Indonesia. I well remember the days when I was sounded out by cultural affairs officials of foreign embassies regarding what local audiences appreciate in the way of concerts.

Those days appear to have long since passed, not, I hasten to add, due to any of my suggestions. Me? Telling visiting musicians what to play? Heaven forbid! Actually, however, I have occasionally remarked that modern music so rarely gets a hearing in this country. But that is no longer the case, as anyone who attended cellist Reynard Rott's exciting recital at Erasmus Huis a few months back can testify. Also, pianist Ananda Sukarlan's recent performances that were enthusiastically received.

It seems, though, that some artists would rather stick to what you could call "safe programs" of pieces that are quite well- known and loved by a large number of concertgoers. This is what took place last Saturday at the Yamaha Music Hall in a recital by Japanese pianist Yuko Higashi, sponsored by the Yayasan Musik Indonesia.

The program included compositions by Schumann, Chopin, Debussy and Ravel. These are sublime masters whose names will never be absent from programs of musical performances simply because the world acknowledges their greatness, and recognizes that a beautiful rendition of a Mozart concerto is as valuable as a Rembrandt painting.

If I get to know of a pianist intending to perform Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, I make sure not to miss it.

The problem with safe programs is that the compositions performed are so familiar that one expects nothing but the best. Every little shortcoming immediately stands out, and every wrong note (there were quite a few) becomes an unpleasant shock.

The one presented by Higashi was, to put it lightly, super safe to the point that the bulk of it consisted of very short pieces, such as two waltzes by Chopin (including the one Chopin did not call the Minute Waltz) and two mazurkas by the same composer.

The Schumann pieces were Des Abends and Aufschwung from the Fantastiestuecke cycle. Debussy's contribution was L'isle joyeuse, and Ravel was represented by Pavane pour une infante defunte and Jeux d'eau. There were also two other Chopin works, the Barcarolle and the first Ballade in G-Minor.

These two and Ravel's Jeux d'eau were the only works with some real muscle and are the type of works one expects in a really substantial recital.

So would the two compositions by Schumann, but only as parts of a unit. Schumann may probably be called the inventor of the piano cycle. These are a series of short pieces inspired by a central idea like Kinderszenen (Scenes of Childhood), which speaks for itself, and Davidsbundlertaenze that has a bit of a literary background.

Schumann's two pieces, pleasant as they are, were of little consequence outside the Fantastiestuecke cycle to which they belong, while two Chopin waltzes and mazurkas were not really good material for a meaningful concert.

The recital of short pieces would have been quite at home at a small gathering in private surroundings before an audience not too demanding in its musical taste, rather than in a concert hall.

As regards the performance, well, Higashi possesses a very good technique. However, if "safe program" applies, she also played it safe. Textbook-wise there would be little to fault, but then textbooks do not good music make.

Where is the entertainment value if you know exactly that an accelerando or diminuendo would be coming up long before even getting to the spot and that in getting there, the conventional path (the printed score, that is) would be followed. Though this may be perfect reading, it certainly lacks inspired interpretation.

This is not to say that Higashi did not have her own concept of how to interpret music. However, in at least three cases interpretation fell flat, and in the case of Chopin's C-Minor waltz (op. 64 no. 2) her way of rendering it was quite uncalled for.

Waltzes and mazurkas have the same time signature but everything depends on accentuation of the beat. In the mazurka there is an almost imperceptible pause before the strongly marked second beat. It is something that you have to feel, and it is small wonder that there are renowned pianists who would rather play a 12-minute scherzo by Chopin than one of his two-minute mazurkas.

Maybe it is because it is in the mazurkas, not the ballads, scherzos, impromptus, what have you, that the soul of Poland lies. Some editions of the C Minor waltz carry the directive of the tempo giusto, i.e. in strict (waltz) tempo. This particular waltz is a bit of a trap because its characteristics make it easy to unwittingly turn the piece into a mazurka. Hence the strict tempo directive to warn the player against it.

The Ravel pieces were also wanting. Why the Pavane and Jeux d'eau were given identical tempos is a question only Higashi can answer, and color shading -- so important in impressionist music -- was almost non-existent. The unfortunate result was that, as regards tone characteristics, there was little to differentiate a piece of music about a dead princess from a composition about the play of water.