Young concertgoers in Yogya impress Dutch pianist

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post/Yogyakarta

Concertgoers in Yogyakarta were flattered last weekend as one of Holland's leading pianists, Ronald Brautigam, presented them with a memorable solo piano recital of music by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert.

The 300-seat auditorium of the Gadjah Mada University's school of medicine, where the recital took place last Sunday evening, was overflowing with an enthusiastic, yet patient audience of mostly young people.

Loud applause was heard every time the Amsterdam-born musician finished a piece.

When his fingers struck the piano keys, however, you could have heard a pin drop.

Everyone seemed to be hypnotized by his virtuosity and musicality as the Brautigam's fingers danced beautifully on the keys, sometimes accompanied by a swaying of the body.

"Thank you! Thank you for being such a wonderful, warm audience for the concert. I will never forget this evening," Brautigam told the audience when master of ceremonies Anggi Minarni prompted him for some closing remarks.

A long, standing ovation by the end of the concert from the excited audience "compelled" the pianist that evening to play three more pieces on top of the scheduled program of Bach's Toccata in G BWV916, Beethoven's Sonata op. 27/2 ("Moonlight"), Chopin's Three Waltzes op 34 and Ballade no. 1 op. 23, and Schubert's Sonata in B-Flat, D960.

It was the second time that Brautigam had performed at the same venue in the city. His first visit to Yogyakarta was in 1999.

Performing in Yogyakarta, according to Brautigam, had been a great pleasure because here he had found the warmest audience imaginable. Their reaction was exceptional, he said.

"My previous concert here was one of the most unforgettable I'd ever had," Brautigam told The Jakarta Post while in Yogyakarta.

What was also exciting, he said, was that many in the audience were young people. Back in his home country mainly people over 50 went to classical music concerts.

"It may be because people here are not as spoiled as those in other countries where they have a wide choice of classical music concerts to go to every night," Brautigam said.

Apart from performing in Yogyakarta, during this year's visit to Indonesia, Brautigam also had two other piano recitals scheduled. One was held in the Central Java town, Salatiga, the other in Jakarta. They were held as part of the Dutch Embassy's effort to showcase Dutch culture.

Born in 1954, Brautigam developed an interest in the piano while still a small boy, mostly because his father always played the piano at home. He tried to play it himself when he was only four years old.

At five, his father realized that his son had considerable potential and found him a piano teacher. "From then on, I've been playing (the piano) nonstop," Brautigam said.

Upon finishing high school, he joined the Sweelinck Conservatorium, a prominent college for studying classical music in the Netherlands, where he studied with Jan Wijn. He continued his classical music studies in London with John Bingham and in the U.S. with Rudolf Serkin.

In 1984, he was awarded the Nederlandse Muziekprijs, the highest Dutch musical award, and, ever since, has performed regularly with leading European orchestras under distinguished conductors.

Apart from performing on modern piano, Brautigam has also developed a great passion for the fortepiano (a precursor of the modern piano) and regularly gives recitals on his own fortepianos as well.

He has two fortepianos, both built by his longtime close friend Paul McNulty of the Czech Republic. One is a five-octave copy of a 1792 Walter built in 1993, the other a five-and-a-half- octave copy of a Walter & Sohn (1805) built in 2003.

In 1995, he started a long association with the Swedish CD company BIS and has recorded a total 40 CDs since then. All, thus far, have been of music by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven.

"I always play classical music; I love it so much. I feel my talent best fits it. I tried other music when I was a student but never found it as rewarding as classical music," Brautigam said.

In 2004, volume seven of his Haydn CDs won the Critic's Award for a keyboard release at the Classical Awards held at the MIDEM international music convention in Cannes, France.

"I have two ideals: One is to play the piano as long as possible, the other to keep improving my play.

Today's performances must be better than before. Therefore, although the repertoire is played over and over again, each time there is always a different challenge," said the busy Brautigam, who has performed at many different venue in the world.