Standing ovation for Van den Hoek
By Gus Kairupan
JAKARTA (JP): "Pleasure," said Martijn van den Hoek, "is where you're not." He then sat down facing the 88 white and black keys and did everything to prove himself wrong. I should really say that "they" then sat down, because the event was an evening of music from a piano duet -- four hands at one piano, not to be confused with a piano duo which means four hands at two pianos. The other two hands that evening belonged to Mieke van den Hoek who happens to be his wife.
But what did that spiel about "pleasure being somewhere where you're not" have to do with concerts? It came up in Martijn's explanations about the pieces to be performed. Now there, I must say, you have an admirable practice -- a musician talking about the music and what to listen for, what certain quirks in the phrases and harmonic structure mean, and more of the things that make the music understandable. It's especially important when you're listening to program music, which was the type of music the Van den Hoeks performed that evening. Anyway, what Martijn meant was, to put it roughly, that your fun is never as much fun as other people's fun.
Now to the music. The two were to play Brahms' fourth symphony (arranged for a piano duet) but that was scuttled and replacing it were works by Gabriel Faure and Sergei Rachmaninov. I must say that I wasn't sorry for the change in the program because I'm not quite sure whether the arrangement for piano would have worked satisfactorily, especially that gorgeous melody for cellos in the slow movement. Besides, the works that replaced the symphony were more in line with the theme of "there where you're not." You're not where Schubert's wanderer is (Wanderer Fantasie); you have no idea about the little girl named Dolly who enchanted Faure, and who was the daughter of a friend of his; you're not among a lot of puppets, one of which is called Petrouchka (Rachmaninov). In short, you're on your little patch where the grass is less green, or so you think.
But then Martijn and Mieke appeared, took hold of the 350 or so people in the audience and heaved them (me included) over the fence onto greener pastures. The program started with Schubert's Wanderer Fantasie (solo piano) which ranks right among the most monumental compositions for piano ever written by an 18-year-old youth. I must admit that at first I harbored some reservations about the enormous sound Martijn produced since the sound of pianos of around 1810 was considerably smaller, more intimate. But then came the songs that you find in all of Schubert's compositions, regardless of whether they're for voice or instruments. Singing is the essence of Schubert's works, and Martijn sang his heart out. The other solo composition, also played by him, was the arrangement for piano of three excerpts from Stravinsky's ballet suite Petrouchka, another one of those finger smashing pieces but which Martijn played to perfection. Definitely not easy to follow or to discern the line of direction among the jumble of sounds, had it not been for the crystal clarity Martijn brought out in his presentation.
The duets Martijn and Mieke played were by Faure (Dolly Suite), Ravel (Mother Goose Suite) and Rachmaninov titled merely Six Pieces Op. 11. Musically speaking, it is a well-nigh perfect match, and they're the second husband and wife team I have ever heard, the other being -- if memory serves me right -- Beatriz and Walter Klien. Please correct me if I'm wrong. There are no pianistic fireworks involved in these three suites. Music, anyway, has very little to do with technical wizardry. It's been quite some time since I last heard the Mother Goose Suite in concert and I must say that Martijn and Mieke's interpretation was the best so far: the exquisite lullaby in pavane for Sleeping Beauty; you could hear the birds winging away after having feasted on the bread crumbs Tom Thumb strewed along the path; strains as fine and delicate as droplets of water suspended from a spider's web in Laideronette, Empress of the Pagodas and even the beast in Conversations Between Beauty and the Beast came through as a creature more to be pitied than censured.
Music with a theme, a story and relating a story through the use of words is far easier than doing it through tones. And if the storyteller plays with his voice to make the tale interesting, so must the musician use whatever means at his disposal to get the message across, like tone coloring, varying rhythmic patterns, volume levels, and so on. Martijn and Mieke van den Hoek did so masterfully, and were given a standing ovation for their efforts. As for "pleasure being where you're not", well, that's where Mr. Van den Hoek went wrong. If only for an hour or two, we were definitely where pleasure was.