An exquisite escape into musical excellence!
A Musical Tribute to Mary Billimoria concert at the Lionel Wendt Theatre on Saturday June 18 provided an extravaganza of delight! It was in support of the noble work undertaken by the Sunera Foundation, and certainly was not the first such event; in fact there have been, every year, the presentation of fine artistic performances which resonate and stand out as milestones among cultural fests in Colombo. This concert was also exceptional.
Why would I be thus enthused and lapse into panegyric? For nigh upon two hours and ten minutes an audience in Lanka was afforded an opportunity to leave far behind the fuss and fissures that becloud our limiting firmament, the horrors and suffering wreaked by capricious nature or accidents and pain from the blazing of cruel incendiary material. We were locked in the embrace of the enlivening spirit, which in turn, rendered totally irrelevant the concepts and sensibilities that inform our society of those construed, hapless demarcations, Parsee, Tamil, Sinhala, Burgher or Moor. The Powerful Pause was wrought by Music, with scarce thought to it being German, Brazilian, Hungarian, Russian or Norwegian in origin, and here, we had accomplished musicians and players knit as one, interpreting and sharing their love. Love? I would add, their “Labour” too, for indeed, such a coalition in excellence as was on display could not have been wrought by wishful thinking, neither with the mere pursuit of note perfection.
Mary Billimoria would have approved of the note perfection, and she would likely have revelled (as the sentient audience did) in the ascendancy of the musical element in the context of that technical supremacy honed by the players of her fold. The Beethoven Piano Trio justly brought forth the meticulous pianism of Rohan de Silva, for indeed the dominant instrument in the trio was his. But what fine intuitive collaboration was evident from Lakshman Joseph de Saram (violin) and Dushy Perera (cello)! The violinist would opine that with the demands of precision timing and need for accurate metrical counting that the composer places, especially in the final movement prestissimo, it was “brutal” to have to perform!!! They acquitted themselves with aplomb, and with finesse, which was where joy was to be derived.
Another such exacting piece was the two-piano performance by Soundarie David Rodrigo and Ramya de Livera Perera, (They both were already well known by their familial names before they met their spouses!), with excerpts from Rachmaninov’s Suite for Two Pianos. Here too, the Tarentella, as the term implies, imposes a rigorous tempo that relentlessly careens forward, and unless the two players were to maintain that demand for watchfulness and complete alertness as to what the other was playing while ever maintaining the dynamics of the musical expression, they would falter and fail. None of which happened, it all flowed and coalesced with the excitement of the trapeze flyer in high heavens.
Sujeeva Hapugalle made a triumphant return to Colombo’s stage, another diminutive but powerful bravura player at the piano, when called upon to deliver in the Romantic oeuvre. Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 is larger than life even for a manly player such as the scintillating Jorge Bolet, and here, Sujeewa turned in such a vibrant, muscular performance that left us breathless. She did so again in an absolutely refreshing two-piano outing with Rohan de Silva on Darius Milhaud’s Brasileira. As a solo piano work, in similar vein, she introduced us to a really enjoyable piece, Tango Brazileira written by Chiquinha Gonzaga, who is for all intents and purposes very little different from the mysterious Lavinia, infamous for her dalliance with Governor Maitland but famed for having bestowed her name on the southern suburb of Colombo and its beachfront resorts. The mestizo Gonzaga was also an activist and abolitionist in her native land, but what a powerfully evident talent she possessed for one so disenfranchised and determinedly self taught in all she learned! This essence of ‘life abundant’ was communicated in Sujeewa’s reading of that piece. An exquisite ‘touch’ and clarity is also a hallmark, and indeed was demonstrated by all the pianists, dependent on the nature of the work they had to perform.
It must not be thought that the entirety of the evening comprised con fuoco fare; rather, there was a winsome mix and sensitive matching of the elements, and so too with the inclusion of the meditative, melodious and magical moments in lyrical interpretation. This factor too, made the evening the more memorable, that such an array of accomplished artistes would fashion the programme to touch the several emotional layers that was at their behest. For instance, the single movement from Dvorak’s Piano Quintet No.2 in A was of this mould, and the exchange in the thematic elements shared by the First Violin (Cynthia Fernando), Avanti Perera (Viola) and Dushy (Cello), and underscored by the second violin of Lakshman with the principle Piano part as played by Rohan, exacted the blend at varying ranges in sonority.
Clearly, the evening was rare. Sunera is to be congratulated that they were able to persuade the many (for indeed such an aggregation to assemble as they did would be a tough call, as the saying has it) to refresh themselves and their patrons in Colombo under the considerably commodious and goodly umbrella hosted by the late Mary Pestonjee Billimoria.
- Arun Dias Bandaranaike