Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra
Perth Festival 2025
Perth Concert Hall 24/5/25
Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, Grzegorz Nowak (conductor), Diomedes Saraza Jr (violin), Wen-Sinn Yang (cello)
Our first report from this year’s Perth Festival of the Arts features a jam-packed ‘basket of goodies’ programme of familiar bonbons presented on the night of the 24th May by a band hitherto unfamiliar to Scottish audiences, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by their Polish principal conductor Grzegorz Nowak, perhaps more familiar to our readers through his association with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. Two soloists also featured: the orchestra’s Filipino Concertmaster and Artist-in-Residence Diomedes Saraza Jr was the violin solo in Vaughan Williams’ ‘The Lark Ascending’, while Swiss guest virtuoso cellist Wen-Sinn Yang performed the solo part in Tchaikovsky’s ‘Rococo Variations’. The excellent warm acoustic of Perth Concert Hall, ever praised by performers both national and international, earned afresh its mention in the performance credits. Also on the programme were Filipino composer Jeffrey Ching’s ‘Il maestro di cappella’, Bizet’s Carmen Suite No.1, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. I did say ‘jam-packed’. And that’s without mentioning encores.
The Ching work is a piece of theatrical silliness that pokes merciless fun at the conductor, based on a similar late 18th-century piece by Cimarosa, updated to our present time. When the conductor fails to appear, the string players summon him by tapping out a rhythm on the bellies of their instruments. The cacophonous piece begins, the conductor beating time furiously with indications of tempo and dynamic changes, all studiously ignored by the players. Only when he abandons the familiar choreography of the podium and starts to use the gestures of a traffic cop on point duty does a tenuous semblance of order emerge. I am pretty sure that this traffic cop / conductor gag’s thunder was stolen in the early 80s by a young Rowan Atkinson in a Cambridge Footlights production in aid of Amnesty International (possibly ‘The Secret Policeman’s Ball’)? At the end, the music settles to a radiant major chord and the harpist plays rippling ethereal arpeggios ascending to the heavenly upper compass of the instrument. And beyond, as he walks off, his fingers still plucking the air, unable to stop quivering. A hoot undoubtedly and, as I say, a piece of delightful silliness.
‘Carmen’ was the first grand opera that I got to know from start to finish (1971-ish from the 1964 Callas / Gedda recording while I was still in primary school) and I am still in thrall to the music. The two suites were compiled after Bizet’s death by his friend Ernest Guiraud and of course feature the most unforgettable melodies. We heard all 6 movements of the First Suite (though the 4th movement, ‘La Séguedille’, was inadvertently omitted from the printed programme). The outer movements derive from the two parts of the Prélude to Act I, but in reverse order, starting with the shorter tragic doom-laden cello tune that mounts in tension until curtain-up, and concluding with ‘Les toréadors’, the rest of the Prélude depicting the fiesta atmosphere at the bullring and the parade of the bullfighters from Act IV. The 2nd, 3rd and 5th movements are the Entractes to Acts IV, III and II respectively, the ‘Aragonnaise’ (a dance with a dash of flamenco spice), the Intermezzo (an exquisite wistful pastorale for harp and flute with other wind comments and strings) and ‘Les dragons d’Alcala’, a carefree melody that permits the illusion that nobody’s fate is sealed yet at the end of Act I (definitely an illusion). In the opera, the ‘Séguedille‘, with which Carmen seduces Don José to gain her escape from arrest, has just happened. He has abandoned his childhood sweetheart and his career. His fate IS sealed. The playing and sonic picture-painting were phenomenal, showing that both orchestra and conductor are indeed fortunate in their artistic partnership. And at least one audience member was 11 years old again.
Vaughan Williams’ ‘The Lark Ascending’ has enjoyed a position at the top of the classical charts for a few years now, mainly due to a very fine recorded performance from Nicola Benedetti. But for me it goes back to that same period of boyhood discovery as the Bizet, this time the 1967 Hugh Bean recording with Boult and the Philharmonia, which my father captured on reel-to-reel from an early-70s Radio 3 Morning Concert (back in the days when the Radio Times “did what it said on the tin”). Can a Filipino soloist and orchestra do justice to this quintessentially English music? Yes, absolutely. Diomedes Saraza Jr, with flawless intonation, expressive vibrato and the sweetest tone, gave a rhapsodic and captivating account of the piece, while the shimmering strings and lyrical winds played to the acoustic strengths of the hall. I’ve often written that something special happens when an an orchestral principal plays a concerto with their own orchestra (most notably with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra). This was no different. Very lovely and very well received by the Perth audience. Diomedes’ encore, unknown to me and as yet unidentified by fellow-concertgoers I quizzed since, was an extraordinarily virtuosic piece with elements of birdsong imitation, Paganini-like violinistic pyrotechnics and bluegrass. Phenomenal.
A similar enduring popularity is enjoyed by Tchaikovsky’s ballet suites, affording as they do a chance to enjoy the romantic music without sitting through the whole ballet. On the basis that it remains unknown how closely the posthumously published 1900 suite adheres to Tchaikovsky’s wishes, we heard a modified selection, concluding with more of the national character dances from Act III included and the final tragic Scene omitted, as it is essentially a reprise of the opening number of the suite. A great oboe solo and full brass sound set the dramatic Scene, with a powerful climax. The Waltz, one of Tchaikovsky’s finest (and he certainly could write a waltz), was lyrical and satisfying, with a lovely cantabile trumpet solo in the central section. Excellent wind playing and playful strings characterised the Dance of the Swans. A superb extended harp cadenza from Bryan Lee Kit Meng launched the Pas d’Action, a tender love duet between harp and Diomedes’ solo violin. The central section of this movement, a leaping waltz for solo violin over pizzicato string accompaniment, was no less dramatic, then back to a resumption of the love duet, but between solo violin and principal cello, Gerry Graham Gonzales. Very expressive and moving. Four national dances (two more than in the published suite) were included and followed next, all with a festive atmosphere. These were a Hungarian Czardas, a Spanish dance, a Neapolitan dance and a Polish Mazurka.(with a lovely central interlude for two clarinets), bringing the suite to a celebratory close. The playing was characterful and spirited.
Tchaikovsky’s glorious ‘Variations on a Rococo Theme’ came to my ken in that same early 1970s period of discovery, as the coupling on the 1969 Deutsche Grammophon LP of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with Rostropovich, Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. It has been a firm favourite ever since, so I was surprised to read in the programme notes that the commonly performed version is not Tchaikovsky’s original but a much edited and revised version by the German cellist who commissioned it, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen. Detective work and forensic scholarship have resulted in the original version being first performed in 1940 and finally published as late as 2009. We heard the familiar (and generally preferred) version and glorious indeed it was. Wen-Sinn Yang’s playing was exquisitely lyrical and cantabile in the statement of the theme and the wistful 3rd Variation and the elegiac 6th Variation, agile and virtuosic in all the others. Conversation with the orchestra was elegant and characterised by mutually responsive phrasing, particularly with flute in the 5th Variation and flute and clarinet in the 6th. The virtuosity in the minor cadenza in the 3rd Variation and the extended cadenza in the 5th was phenomenal. The arpeggiated harmonics in the 4th Variation gavotte were absolutely delicious. The evenness of phrasing of staccato playing both up- and down-bow was very impressive. The final galop was thrilling, exuberant and the icing on the cake. I would happily acknowledge that Wen-Sinn Yang’s interpretation and execution have nothing to fear from comparison with the iconic Rostropovich recording. Excellent.
If a man in the street knows the start of only one symphony, that symphony will be Beethoven’s Fifth. My own familiarity with the piece goes back literally further than I can remember. Performing it carries a challenge: to take the listener on a journey of the psyche that makes it seem fresh and new without undermining that satisfying familiarity – this the PPO under Nowak achieved fully. The first movement was taut and cogent, the C-minor tension sustained throughout. The exposition repeat was satisfyingly honoured. The light and shade of the Andante con moto ‘slow’ movement, with its contrasting moments of tenderness and brusqueness, expansiveness and focus, and evocations of both serenity and the macabre, were beautifully adumbrated. The darkly demonic scherzo and its contrasting fugal trio were dramatically realised. The journey from darkness into the radiance of the triumphant finale.took us with it, trombones and piccolo joining the texture to lift and transform the human spirit. Magical. Very well received by the satisfactory attendance in the hall.
There were two super G-minor orchestral encores, both crisply idiomatic and stylish: Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance Op.46 No.8 (a Furiant – I played the cello part in a concert of the Festival Orchestra of Abu Dhabi 32 years ago) and Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5. Fabulous.
The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and Grzegorz Nowak is a great partnership and they certainly won hearts and minds at the Perth Festival. Full marks from me.