The Jakarta City Philharmonic performed its first concert of 2018 on Wednesday evening, kicking off a series of free monthly concerts for classical music aficionados in Jakarta.

The theme for the night, “Lingkaran Keabadian” (Eternal Circle), was presented by 75 trained musicians conducted by Budi Utomo Prabowo. Together they performed four musical compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, Max Reger, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Indonesian composer Jenny Rompas.

According to the program book, the theme was “a summary of various questions on the essence of humanity”, as captured by the theory of “Eternal Recurrence”, which holds that the universe, all in existence and energy recurs continually.

The two-hour concert opened with a rendition of the Indonesian national anthem “Indonesia Raya” (The Great Indonesia), a common practice in recent concerts.

The first piece performed was “Air on the G String”, August Wilhemj’s arrangement of the second movement of Bach’s “Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068”. The orchestra dedicated the performance to the late music critic Suka Hardjana, who passed away earlier in April.

Bach’s “Air” is impressive despite its short length; lasting only 19 bars without repeats. The orchestra, under Budi’s direction, certainly impressed the audience with the performance of the opening piece, with the melody growing in complexity and subsiding quietly near the end.

Next up was Jenny Rompas’ “0”, which was deliberately kept short by the composer as she wanted to avoid boring listeners when repeated. According to Jenny, the composition was inspired by French composer Erik Satie’s “Vexations”, which is only one page in length but is meant to be played 840 times in succession.

The third composition performed was Reger’s “Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Mozart, Op. 132”. The 33-minute composition was the German composer’s most popular work, having eight variations that according to Budi, “become increasingly distanced from the main theme, but still retain the essence of the theme”.

After a 15-minute break, the orchestra played their last composition, Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64”. Rompas said of the Russian composer’s piece that the symphony was “cyclical, with a recurring theme across the four movements, unlike other symphonies that use the sonata form”.

Aditya Pradana Setiadi, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia and the Jakarta City Philharmonic’s musicologist, wrote in the program book’s preface that the orchestra sought to integrate contradictory elements to achieve a point of equilibrium — a reflection on the myriad catastrophes and blessings that have marked Indonesia’s social and cultural spheres.

Indeed, the concert’s pieces were selected for the messages they convey.  Bach’s “Air” starts out serenely and grows in power before ending with a return to tranquility; much like the circle of life. Rompas’ “0” starts off gentle, but is contrasted with a faster theme, played in repetition.

Reger’s composition strays further with each variation, but retains notes repeated in every step. Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 5” is one of the composer’s most popular works, achieving peak popularity during World War II for its idea of “ultimate victory through strife”.

For Jakarta’s concertgoers, it seems this restoration of equilibrium is the essence to healing from the chaos and stress of living in the capital, be it for a moment of contemplation or recording the concert in the dark for validation online.

The Jakarta Theater hall in Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Cikini, Central Jakarta, is the new home for the Jakarta City Philharmonic’s concerts, previously held at the colonial-era Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (GKJ) playhouse, near Pasar Baru.

The new venue boasts a capacity of 1,200 people, compared to GKJ’s limited capacity of 250. However, Wednesday’s concert was fully booked within a week, with as many as 1,700 music lovers signing up for the free reservation.

The organizers had to cancel a total of 700 reservations, with 200 seats reserved for invited VIPs, including Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno.

Aksan Sjuman, the Jakarta City Philharmonic commissioner who is also a committee member of the Jakarta Arts Council, said he was pleasantly surprised by the response the orchestra had received from the public, as classical music was a relatively uncommon genre compared to pop music.

“I honestly don’t know the reason behind this enthusiastic response, but this shows that classical music is not only enjoyed by the elite,” the former Dewa 19 drummer said. (jlm)

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