Young concertgoers in Yogya impress Dutch pianist

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.