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THE use
of microphones at classical music concerts is a
hit-and-miss thing. Sometimes it works; most times, it
doesn’t. The acoustics of a venue must really be so bad
for any event organizer to even justify using them. If a
concert hall cannot get the message of a performance
across to its audience, then it should be skipped in
favor of a better hall.
At the
recent birth-year celebration concert honoring the late
insurance trailblazer and business leader Robert Coyiuto,
held at the Meralco Theater, the use of microphones
proved to be a curious one. While the entire concert was
being recorded for posterity, the mikes also served to
amplify some parts of the concert. Whether the
performances needed the extra help is debatable. In one
instance, it helped, but, for most the part, it wasn’t
needed at all.
You know
there was something amiss by the time conductor Helen
Quach raised her baton to lead the Philippine
Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) in Richard Wagner’s
“Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.”
The orchestra sounded gritty and coarse. You would think
that Quach was having difficulty balancing the
orchestra’s sound to suit the hall’s size. But, no, the
orchestra was being miked—the sound was not only coming
at you straight from the center of the stage, but also
from speakers positioned strategically overhead at the
left and right sides of the theater. There was no sense
of proportion, with the brass and woodwind sections
drowning out the strings. In this Wagner prelude, yes,
the brass and woodwinds do predominate over the strings,
but not to totally overwhelm them.
The ears
eventually got used to the aural setup, and by the time
flute prodigy Caitlin Alisa Coyiuto stepped onstage, the
idea that the whole concert was going to be amplified
had already sunk in. As the young Coyiuto tuned her
flute, one could immediately gauge how the real balance
onstage was. She possessed a strong clear tone that
would blend well with the orchestra.
But once
the music started, the mikes were up, and the flute was
just too loud. It was as if a whole microphone had been
stuffed into the flute. And the microphone was about a
foot away from her. You could hear each time the young
Coyiuto would draw in her breath, which was jarring to
the placid music she was playing, the Poulenc “Flute
Sonata” as orchestrated by Sir Lennox Berkley. That was
a darn pretty good microphone, if you ask me.
It was
hard to gauge how strong a performer Coyiuto was with
the mikes on. From what we heard, she has strength to
hurdle the piece without difficulty. There are very few
professional flute soloists in the country, and this
young girl should be encouraged with her talent. Perhaps
we would hear her play in the future the Prokofiev
“Flute Sonata,” which is better known in its violin
transcription. Perhaps, it would be in a proper hall.
Following the Poulenc “Flute Sonata” was the Schumann
“Piano Concerto” featuring pianist Cristine Coyiuto.
Yes, the performance was miked, too, although there
really was no need for it. The older Coyiuto is a
capable pianist; surely, she could make herself heard
through the din of the orchestra on her Bösendorfer.
Coyiuto
the pianist was in her element that afternoon, milking
Schumann’s romantic music of its every meaning. Aided by
Maestra Quach, she was brilliant in her runs, strong and
forceful yet still gentle to let the lovely music shine.
In her cadenzas, she showed her mettle as a pianist, not
just a romantic technician but also a virtuoso of the
first order. Her playing would have surely pleased the
Coyiuto patriarch.
It was a
good thing that the amplification to the piano was
brought down to a more acceptable level by the middle of
the first movement. Before that, you could hear the
insides of the piano jangle as the pianist worked the
music. The bass notes boomed while the treble was shrill
to a fault. Perhaps it would sound great on the final CD
or DVD mix, but that afternoon it was like the audience
was placed inside the piano. When the adjustments were
made, it eventually became a truly thrilling experience
worthy of the celebration.
By the
time the orchestra went solo for Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony
No. 4,” the mikes had been cleared from the stage. And
given Maestra Quach’s reputation as a perfectionist, she
managed to get the PPO’s glorious sound across the
breadth of the Meralco Theater without difficulty. Was
there really a need for microphones? Quach showed there
wasn’t.
After
the intermission, the Coyiuto siblings took to the stage
to unveil the commissioned bust and portrait of the late
Robert Coyiuto, executed by sculptor Rafael del Casal
and portraitist Romulo Galicano. It was a fitting
tribute to the Coyiuto patriarch’s memory.
The
whole concert was a musical success despite the miking.
What was important was the true meaning of the
occasion—that all those who loved and honored the late
Coyiuto gathered together to remember his lasting
legacy. |
