The Manila Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Molina made another tour de force last Saturday by playing a rarely heard Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2 with the new Juilliard graduate  Diomedes Saraza Jr.

 

No one in the musician’s circle (not even this writer) can recall when it was last heard, but the more knowledgeable ones said it was once played by Filipino violinist Carmencita Lozada, the first and last Filipino prizewinner of the Paganini Competition.

 

The orchestra opened with a rousing  Carnival Overture, Op. 92 by Dvorak. It turned out to be a fitting opening number for its joyful melody, it being far from being maudlin.

 

(Before the concert, orchestra manager Jeffrey Solares asked the audience to stand and observe a minute of silent prayer for conductor Helen Quach, who passed away on July 31 in Canberra, Australia.)

 

If the overture was awash with tuneful sounds, the concerto was a virtual  contrast that obviously was a big aural challenge for both the musicians and the audience—and more so for the soloist!

 

Only the most experienced ear can detect the concerto’s Hungarian themes now wrapped and re-molded in new musical idiom. Program notes speak of its  chromatic passages and 12-tone themes.

 

Not for the faint of heart

 

One can try to sound learned all the way, but there is nothing like an actual immersion in the concerto. The piece is  not for the faint-hearted, as both orchestra and soloist reveal a perilous and exacting musicianship not found in the Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn warhorses. You can’t afford to miss a measure here because, if you do, the whole piece will fall to pieces, like one performance in Juilliard by a visiting youth chamber orchestra.

 

But in the hands of  Saraza and the MSO under Molina, the Bartok concerto sizzled  with pure aural magic. The sound was,  of course, new, and the structure was even beguiling as it was, indeed, astounding.

 

There was a hint of melancholy in the andante tranquillo movement, but just as you guessed where the melody was going, the sound was gone and replaced by new variations that was utterly heart-stopping for its speed and execution.

 

By the time you got to the end of the finale allegro molto movement, you realized the music  had greatly tested the caliber of its  soloist and  the entire orchestra.

 

Indeed, the applause was deafening and the “Bravos!” utterly spontaneous. Surely, it was one of the proud nights of the Manila Symphony Orchestra.

 

If the Bartok concerto sizzled, the Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36, was a grand finale, showing how joyfully the orchestra could live up to the challenge.

 

First played by the MSO under Herbert Zipper  on June 13, 1951, under the baton of Zipper, Tchaikovsky’s Fourth under Molina is proof that the gap between the old and the new generation of musician is no longer that big.

 

Indeed, the orchestra has evolved, giving its best regardless of who is holding the baton.

 

Violinist Saraza will perform once again the electrifying violin concerto tomorrow, Aug. 20, 7 p.m., at the UP Abelardo Hall  in Diliman, Quezon City, along with pianist Oliver Salonga, who is soloist in Chopin’s Piano  Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21.

 

Call tel. 5763132 or text 0906-5104270.