Soloist, youth ensemble accord Bach full majesty

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The setting could not have been more perfect for the evening concert.

A marriage of European and Mediterranean architectural styles in the ballroom of Marocco House, in upmarket Menteng, beamed a serenity and grace to match the works of J.S. Bach and other composers of classical music.

Marocco House is where the National Youth Orchestra Indonesia (NYOI), an ensemble of talented young people under the guidance of private organization Indonesian Youth Music (MRI) and Japanese violin soloist Mayu Kodera, captivated a small audience in a concert of classical music.

It took place on Thursday evening, and was held to raise funds for the mental rehabilitation of young Acehnese who had survived the tsunami.

The medium-sized ballroom also imparted a sense of intimacy to the works performed for an audience sitting under an ornamented dome.

However, during the recital of the first piece, Bach's Trio Sonata in G Major for two flutes and basso continuo, there was little to indicate to the audience what a superb performance they were about to enjoy.

In the four-movement piece, composed by Bach at the Court of Cothen between 1717 and 1721, woodwinds and harpsichord failed to radiate the supposed charm and the only interesting feature from the performance was the variation on a bass line, a common feature in baroque music.

A woman journalist who had studied classical music whispered to me that there was nothing special about the rendition, apparently unaware of what was going to happen next.

After a brief moment of silence, the complete ensemble of the youth orchestra, and Kodera, appeared on stage for Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor.

Considered by many as one of the supreme 18th-century masterpieces of that genre, the piece was written by Bach between 1717 and 1723 as a secular work presented for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, a Calvinist who could not stand elaborate church music.

In the allegro, the orchestral opening is recalled several times during the movement, and again at the end.

During the main movement, marked andante, the audience savored the main attraction of the evening concert -- the virtuosity of soloist Kudera, which dominated the subsequent proceedings.

With an energetic background provided by the ensemble, Kodera displayed a faultless technical command, leaving the audience numbed in their seats.

At one point there was mournful lyricism, suitable for nocturnal musing; at another, her thunderous pace was enough to leave the uninitiated gasping for breath.

The boisterous allegro assai finale was met with thunderous applause.

The next two compositions were early 20th-century classic Brook Green Suite by Gustav Holst and Di Bawah Sinar Bulan Purnama (Under the Moonlight), a work originally composed by R. Maladi in keroncong style.

The reception cooled somewhat, as both were felt to be too modern for the evening, if not for their inability to radiate the majesty found in Bach.

Splendor returned during a rendition of Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony, which consisted of four movements for string orchestra, but was, in fact, far from simple.

The first movement, Boisterous Bouree, took its cue from the melodic contours and rhythmic cadence of English folksong, while the material for the second, Playful Pizzicato, derived from a 1924 Scherzo for Piano and a song that dated from the same year.

In the third movement, Sentimental Saraband, violins, cellos and basses dispelled the playfulness of the two earlier movements with an utterly somber mood.

The three movements made way for the dramatic Frolicsome Finale, which wrapped up the concert.

With the lights back on, the audience rose from their seats as one and gave both ensemble and soloist a lengthy standing ovation.

"The violin soloist deserved the most credit. However, the ensemble also supported her very well," said my knowledgeable neighbor.

Youth members of the ensemble were selected by MRI from hundreds of applicants from Medan, Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta.

In preparation for the concert, all NYOI players attended a three-day master class given by Japanese professor Ikuyo Nakamura.

Along with Kudera, Nakamura was in the country with support from M-Project, a Japanese organization that focuses on teaching classical music here.