OPINION

Blind pianist-singer truly phenomenal! / UST showcases its best

SUNDRY STROKES By Rosalinda L. Orosa
The Philippine Star 03/06/2004

Blind pianist-singer Carlos "Chucky" Alberto Ibay entered the CCP stage with a guide. But once seated before the piano, he was confidence and assurance personified.

For a blind person to play the piano is a startling achievement. But for him to do so exceedingly well is a phenomenon. As one listens to Ibay, queries come rushing to mind. Having been born blind, how did he learn to play the piano? How did he learn to "read" notes? Unable to see musical scores, how does he retain everything he plays in his memory?

Mozart’s Adagio in B Minor and Rondo in D Major seemed like an ever-so-gentle breeze wafting across the stage. One had to assume Ibay had a sixth sense, an inner vision that guided his fingers unerringly across the keyboard. He did not play a single false note, yet how often pianists with normal sight play wrong ones!

Chopin’s Sonata No. 3 in B Minor was as tremendously impressive, each of the movements delineated with the most sensitive artistry. Runs were swift and fluid; chords, crisp, sharp, distinct.

Chopin, tubercular and frail, lacked power. But as his biographers claim, his pianissimos were so soft, so feathery light that his fortissimos, by contrast, "boomed" mightily. In this regard, Chopin could have composed his pieces expressly for Ibay who, employing Chopin’s device, achieved a relatively wide range of dynamics.

If Chopin is the poet of the piano, Ibay conveyed his poetry with ineffable beauty. The quiet majesty of the introduction, the dynamic scherzo, the insuperable lyricism of the largo, the bravura of the presto could have been just what might have pleased Chopin himself. In response to the thunderous applause, Ibay played Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, approximating virtuosity to everyone’s increased amazement.

As singer, Ibay accompanied himself on the piano, astonishing and, indeed, bewildering the audience with his feat, his robust tenor tossing off with gusto widely diverse popular songs in English, Spanish, Tagalog and Italian – With a Song in My Heart, Because, Dahil Sa Isang Bulaklak, Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal, Sabor a Mi, Te Quiero Dijiste, Non Ti Scudar Di Me, Musica Probita and Adios Nonino by the Argentinian Astor Piazolla – these demonstrating incredible versatility.

By now, the audience was "wild" with adulation and admiration. They clamored for more and Ibay obliged with the Broadway hit New York, New York. Hinting at the late hour, and indirectly enjoining the listeners to leave, he then sang The Lullaby of Broadway, stressing the line, Goodnight, Baby, sleep tight, Baby. But the audience stayed on until after Gounod’s Ave Maria, this sung with reverential air. What a pity Ibay could not see the repeated standing ovations!

The concert was not only musically gratifying but also spiritually inspiring particularly to those who, with no handicap, have yet to exploit their God-given talents. Cultural entrepreneur Martin Lopez initiated the presentation.

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Since Raul M. Sunico, redoubtable concert pianist, became UST Conservatory dean, its activities have perceptibly increased and diversified. Its annual concert at the CCP main theater featured ten and twenty pianists (alumni and students) playing on ten pianos, and other student groups which must be the country’s best.

The UST Symphony Orchestra rendered a cohesive, forceful Prometheus Overture by Beethoven under the baton of Renato Lucas, an augury of the high quality performances that were to follow.

The voice faculty – sopranos Gloria Coronel, Mary Patricio Pacis and Thea Perez, tenors Eugene de los Santos and Ronan Ferrer, and bass Jun Jaranilla – sang with polish excerpts from Bernstein’s West Side Story, and the Guitar Ensemble interpreted an enchanting arrangement of the Toreador from Bizet’s Carmen under Ruben Reyes, and the excellent rondalla under Ricardo Calubayan played Buenaventura’s arrangement of Philippine Medley No. 2 and Dadap’s of Lulay, thus adding another dimension of sound to the strings.

Perfect synchronization by ten alumni pianists characterized M. Wilbey’s Fantasie on Carmen, a medley of various arias that provided rare listening pleasure.

Twenty student pianists figured in Poulenc’s Sonata for Four Hands, each man stooping over the woman pianist to play the outer notes, then sitting beside her to play on the upper register. The flawless synchronization inevitably reflected the rigorous rehearsals behind the disciplined rendition.

An exciting highlight was the innovative combination of ethnic percussions with ten pianos in Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika by Cayabyab-A. Feliciano, with cadenzas by Cayabyab, the interplay demonstrating how au courant Dean Sunico is with contemporary music developments.

Conductor Roger Llado played on the trumpet, Tots Tolentino on the sax in H. Rańora’s arrangement of Top Hits XIII and A. Peńa’s Roto for the Jazz Band augmented by ten alumni pianists, the thunderous applause proving jazz, as always, is better appreciated than classic music.

Sunico’s arrangement of Havah Nagilah and Autumn Leaves for ten alumni pianists, brass quintet and percussion likewise drew lusty applause as did Vaclav Nelhybel’s Symphonic Movement for the Symphony Band of woodwinds and brasses under Herminigildo Rańera. Twenty student pianists (two to each of ten pianos) showed admirable "togetherness" in Mozart’s Overture to Cosi Fan Tutte, with Rodel Colmenar on the podium.

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Finale, a glorious ending, had Ricardo Mazo, Jr. conducting some 200 singers, soloists Rachelle Gerodias, Nenen Espina, tenor Randy Gilongo and baritone Andrew Fernando, with the Symphony Orchestra under Colmenar, 20 faculty pianists, Sunico among them, performing for the tremendous climax.