The superb team-up between German cellist Alban Gerhardt and Filipino pianist Cecile Licad worked wonders anew when the two received a standing ovation in the closing concert of the Shriver Hall Concert Series in Baltimore.
Wrote a critic: “Joined by the fine pianist Cecile Licad, the cellist then offered a superb account of the Debussy sonata. Gerhardt drew out the dark beauty of the score with such terrific tension in his phrasing that even the lyrical moments had a telling edge.
“In Schumann’s rhapsodic Adagio and Allegro in A-Flat, the cellist poured out a golden, enveloping tone and found abundant nuance and character at every turn. His bravura sweep in the Allegro lit up the hall. Licad delivered finely detailed playing of her own in both works.”
Gerhardt and Licad had earlier teamed up in two award-winning CDs: “Casals Encores” and an all-Faure recording chosen by the Gramophone editor as CD of the month.
Gerhardt once told Strad Magazine, the bible of string players, that the first thing he did was planning a recording is to choose pianists of the first rank. He had mustered the courage to ask Licad and could hardly believe it when she agreed.
“The caliber of her playing lifts the piano parts to an unprecedented level of quality,” he added.
‘Incredible journey’
Gerhardt last heard in the Philippines in 2009 with Licad, said his musical partnership with the Filipina piano virtuoso had been an “incredible journey” for him—from being a stubborn, rather small-minded typical “German” musician to being much more open, spontaneous and flexible, especially in the approach to Brahms or Beethoven.
“Cecile has taught me how to look beyond what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong,’ purely by her playing, not by trying to convince me eloquently,” he said.
Licad was last heard at Glorietta Mall last May 10 as soloist of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic under Gerard Salonga and received a standing ovation after a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
Licad is soloist of the Nashville Symphony in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 on June 22, and will proceed to the Philippines June 29 as soloist of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra under Salonga in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Totentanz for Piano and Orchestra
The complete program of the June 29 CCP concert: Beethoven’s Overture to “Egmont,” Op. 84; Saint-Saens Danse Macabre, Op. 40; Liszt’s Totentanz S. 126; Liszt’s Symphonic Poem No. 2: Tasso’s, “Lamento e Trionfo,” G. 96; Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S. 124.
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