TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Impressive birthday celebrations at Aula Simfonia Jakarta

Vahur Luhtsalu (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, September 29, 2016

Share This Article

Change Size

Impressive birthday celebrations at Aula Simfonia Jakarta Jakarta Simfonia Orchestra and Dr. Billy Kristanto (Jakarta Simfonia Orchestra/File)

T

he Jakarta Simfonia Orchestra (JSO) celebrated the birthdays of Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 – 1764), an outstanding figure of French baroque music, and contemporary British composer John Rutter (b. 1945) on Sept. 24 by performing their works in Aula Simfonia Jakarta. Their birthdays fell on Sept. 25 and 24, respectively.

It was the first occasion for the author of this article to visit Aula Simfonia Jakarta. Someone who first enters the concert hall will probably be stunned by its interior: a large well-designed hall, walls covered with wooden panels (ensuring excellent acoustics), impressive chandeliers on the ceiling, decorated with many sculptures and classical portraits. The venue pays homage to celebrated composers of the past 500 years from Palestrina to Rachmaninov and in that way clearly states the mission of the venue; to be a temple for worshippers of art music.

(Read also: From victims to survivors: The healing journey of the Dialita choir)

In certain ways it was a déjà vu experience for me. It felt almost the same when I first entered the building of the F. Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary, more than 20 years ago, which became my second home during my cello studies there. F. Liszt Academy´s art nouveau-style building with all its exterior and interior decorations depicting historical titans of music such as Franz Liszt and heavenly creatures playing all kinds of musical instruments, lifts up the souls of music students and concert goers. Being surrounded by works of art allows you to appreciate music and its transcendental power even more. Entering Aula Simfonia Jakarta made me feel that way again. Jakartans can be proud to have such a world-class venue boasting not only its aesthetically impressive appearance, but its excellent acoustics as well.

The concert started with “Piano Concerto in D flat Major” from Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian (1903 - 1978). The work was composed in 1936 and premiered a year later in Sokolniki Park, Moscow. The historical accounts from that event tell us that the performance of the piano concert drove its creator to sadness and despair; after concert soloist Lev Oborin found the composer crying bitterly deep inside the park. However as time passed his piano concerto has become one of the most performed contemporary concertos for piano and orchestra. Khachaturian's piano concerto is the very best example of a musical piece highlighting the origins and true meaning of the concerto genre: cooperation and competition between soloist and orchestra.

Saturday´s concert pianist Indah Lestari Hertanto, Belgian guest conductor Gabriel Laufer and the JSO managed to bring out most of the concerto's unique features; its expressive nature and its beautiful, characteristically diverse musical themes. Indah´s interpretation of the concerto was courageous and lyrical, thoughtful and humorous, singing and dancing, tenderly fascinating and fiery in temperament. Hopefully we will not need to wait too long to hear her play with the JSO again.

After the break the concert continued under the baton of Dr. Billy Kristanto with well-known musical piece  “Adagio” by Tomaso Albinoni (1671 - 1751) / Remo Giazotto (1910 - 1998),  providing opportunities for organist Lina Runtuwene to give more color to the orchestra´s palette of sounds and for concertmaster Wen Wen Bong to shine with gracious violin passages in the middle of the work. It served as introduction to Francois Couperin (1668 - 1733) composition “Les Nations, Première Ordre ‘La Françoise’” for a smaller group of musicians: two violins (Wen Wen Bong and Hery Sunarta), two flutes (Marini Widyastari, Metta Faurizka Ariono), bassoon (Stephanie Marcia), cello (Leonard van Hien) and harpsichord (Dr. Billy Kristanto).

(Read also: Orchestra to perform notable compositions in October concert)

While listening to their performance I noticed that occasionally musicians struggled to highlight the delicate nuances and contrasts of this baroque masterpiece and fill the immense spaces of the concert hall with their sound. Aula Simfonia Jakarta is mainly built for symphonic orchestras naturally able to produce a big sound. Therefore it requires a lot of extra effort from smaller chamber music groups "to make themselves heard".  Contrasts, accents must be very well articulated, highlighted to reach the listener in the furthest corner of the music hall. Some may argue with me here, but in my opinion chamber music would sound better in more intimate, smaller concert venues rather than in symphonic concert halls requiring not only excellent performers, but also exceptional musical instruments. It is especially true with strings; many classical music lovers know that there is a huge difference of sound quality and volume produced by mass manufactured instruments or violins and cellos made by Stradivarius or masters of similar caliber.

The concert continued with one of the most popular works, a hallmark of baroque-era France: opera-ballet “Les Indes Galantes” (“The Gallant Indians”) by Rameau (1683 - 1764). That masterpiece is originally close to three hours long, but the JSO played selected parts from it in the form of orchestral suite. With their performance maestro Kristanto and the JSO gave a proper gift for Rameau on occasion of his 333rd birthday.

The concert was finalized with three songs by Rutter “For the Beauty of the Earth”, “Look at the World” and “A Clare Benediction”. These songs were definitely the concert's biggest highlights besides Khachaturian's piano concerto. Rutter is a well-established composer in the world of choral music. His music has a gentle, melodious character and masterfully orchestrated and has won the minds and souls of many chorus singers and choral music lovers. The members of the Jakarta Oratorio Society performed Rutter´s works confidently and passionately; a beautiful roundup for the concert event in Aula Simfonia Jakarta.

 

***

Vahur Luhtsalu is a cellist, lecturer, business consultant and public speaker specializing in musical performances, lectures, training and development of individuals and organizations. Learn more about him on his website www.vahurluhtsalu.ee.

---------------

Interested to write for thejakartapost.com? We are looking for information and opinions from experts in a variety of fields or others with appropriate writing skills. The content must be original and on the following topics: lifestyle ( beauty, fashion, food ), entertainment, science & technology, health, parenting, social media, and sports. Send your piecetocommunity@jakpost.com. For more information click here.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.