‘Ritmo at Romanza’ concert a resounding success

In regularly featuring the works of Filipino composers in concerts and recordings, we preserve our musical heritage and encourage the creation of new works

What can be more enchanting than an evening of classical music played on two pianos by homegrown virtuosi of the art?

Last Saturday (Sept. 30) was such a night, when Musika Pilipinas held “Ritmo at Romanza,” a piano duo concert featuring Rowena Arrieta and Raul Súnico and directed by Monino Duque, at the Metropolitan Theater.

It was Arrieta and Súnico’s first time to perform together again in 13 years.

Musika Pilipinas, headed by Dr Maria Alexandra Iñigo Chua, is a group of researchers conducting the Philippine Music Industry Research Project, which is conducting a comprehensive and extensive cultural mapping of the Philippine music industry, something that’s never been done before.

Among their activities for this year was the staging of this concert which showcases the works of Filipino composers of classical music.

Some of the pieces featured were ‘lost’ music that had not been heard in decades or were being performed for the first time.

These were: a two-piano arrangement of Juan Hernandez’s “Simoun Overture” (1920), which was a wonderful start to the evening; and Carmencita Arambulo’s “Poeme,” Juan Hernandez’s “Romanza Appasionata” (1919), and Antonio Regalario’s “Sayaw’ (1964), performed solo by Arrieta.

Also among the rediscovered pieces were, played solo by Súnico, Jose Estella’s “Mandolina” (late 19th century), one of the earliest Filipino concert etudes; Julio Nakpil’s “Danse Campestre Ob. IIA” (1891), a country dance in habanera rhythm characterized by charming melodies in the ‘stile brilliant’ common in 19th-century music; and Diego Perez’s “La Fuerza de Amor” (c. 1880), a mazurka de salon for solo piano with dramatic and pleasing romantic melodies.

Also performed for the first time was a two-piano arrangement of Rodolfo Cornejo’s “Kandingan,” a piece inspired by a Moro wedding dance and incorporating 20th-century musical elements.

The two legendary pianists also rendered familiar pieces.

Arrieta performed, in its public debut, Rica Arambulo’s arrangement of Fr. Manoling Francisco’s “Hindi Kita