The Way to End Slums

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. Bangkok. September 13, 2012. The Asian Coalition for Housing Rights ("ACHR"), which is based in Thailand, but which operates throughout Southeast Asia, has a great deal of experience in empowering slum dwellers to tear down or convert their slum houses to livable housing, and to do so without the expenditure of a lot of money, in fact, with a budget of only US$58,000 per city. How it accomplishes this was detailed in a new documentary film "The Way to End Slums," which was shown for the first time in Thailand at the FCCT on September 13. It was very impressive. The underlying methodology of ACHR is to enlist the labor, skills and finances of the slum-dwellers themselves to build their own communities. ACHR does not do any of the work, nor supply money or materials; rather, it provides the organizational abilities needed to harness the energy and skills of the urban poor to radically change their own existence. The results, as shown in the film, are admirable.

Great Piano Quartets and Quintet

Goethe Institut Auditorium. Bangkok, Thailand. September 11, 2012. It is uncommon in Bangkok to have an evening devoted to piano quartets and quintets, and it is encouraging that when it does occur, it is as enjoyable as was Tuesday's performance by faculty members of the College of Music at Mahidol University. The program was perfect, presenting as it did, examples of disparate selections from the literature, which shared a commonality of very listenable music, from the sublime, to the classic and romantic, and, particularly in the Faure, a level of excitement quite uncharacteristic of some of Faure's elegiac compositions, which are nothing, if not dull. I don't know if this group (which lacks a name) plays together regularly, but I hope that it will continue to provide the small Bangkok audience for these events, other opportunities to hear them perform.  
 
Sittichai Pengcharoen ( violin),Juris Madrevich (viola), Juris Lakutis ( cello),
Maris Arents (doublebass) and Eri Nakagawa ( piano).
Program: Mozart Piano Quartet in G minor. K.478 , Faure Piano Quartet in C minor. Op 15, and Schubert Piano Quintet (The Trout), D667.

The Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra Gives Us Russian Pictures

Master pianist Eri Nakagawa has every reason to smile after her memorable performance of Prokofief’s Third Piano Concerto with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra.

 
Music Auditorium. Mahidol University Salaya Campus. Nakhonpathom, Thailand. September 8, 2012. Japanese pianist Eri Nakagawa showed once again that she can play anything she chooses, whether it be all of Chopin's Etudes at one recital, or the Rachmaninoff 3^rd Piano Concerto, or chamber music, or recording a lovely CD of Bach's inventions and sinfonias, and play them all well. But, Prokofief's popular 3^rd piano concerto, which has become a favorite in the final rounds of major piano competitions, is a special challenge, not only for its phenomenal difficulty and virtuosity, but also because of the numerous musical elements which form the fabric of the work, be they lyricism, dissonance, tonality, wit, or frequent changes of tempi and mood, and while the concerto is quintessentially 20^th century, it has abundant classical structures, such as the second movement's theme and variations. The challenge facing the pianist and orchestra is to turn Prokofief's score into something beyond a romp, and at Saturday's TPO performance, soloist and orchestra gave Prokofief's 3^rd piano concerto as excellent a performance as we are likely to hear in Thailand. When called upon, Nakagawa was propulsive and percussive, but when a dramatic change was indicated, Nakagawa responded with warm melodic lyricism, punctuating these passages with Prokofief's characteristic "wrong notes." Nakagawa never looked at conductor Gudni Emilsson, but Emilsson had his orchestral troops in such order, and his oneness with the soloist was so complete, that the two had a shared understanding of what they wanted to produce, which, judging from the cheers from the audience, also was what the audience wanted to hear. An altogether memorable performance.

In any list of symphonic warhorses, the Mussorgsky-Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition would be in the top rung. One could find some imperfections in TPO's rendition, but the overall performance was of an orchestral sound that rivals that of many professional orchestras. It was a very credible and enjoyable rendition of this over-played work.

Italian Pianist Marco Grieco Plays in Bangkok

Marco Grieco (left) receives flowers following his Bangkok recital.

Goethe Institut Auditorium. Bangkok, Thailand. September 6, 2012. Italian pianist Marco Grieco attracted an audience of 30 to his Bangkok recital, exactly double the size of last night's audience for Japanese pianist Atsuko Seta. Still, the Bangkok audience for piano recitals is pathetically small, except for the very occasional appearance of a superstar such as Yundi, Adnes or Barry Douglas. Grieco is a large and handsome man, but his playing was uniformly bland. His technique allowed him to play all the notes, but his performances never went beyond the routine. He played Beethoven's "The Tempest" more like "The Calm Before the Storm."

Atsuko Seta Piano Recital

Goethe Institut Auditorium. Bangkok, Thailand. September 5, 2012. Hampered by the rain, Japanese pianist Atsuko Seta, who is now resident in Chiang Mai, where she teaches at Payap University, attracted an audience of only 15 listeners to her Bangkok recital. Still, to her credit, she played as if to a full house. Her program consisted of mostly well-known works by Beethoven, Liszt and Chopin, but as her last number, she performed Alberto Ginastera's Sonata para Piano No. 1, Op. 22, very likely a first-time performance in Bangkok. I liked the Ginastera enough to want to hear it again, so I will look for it on iTunes and download it onto my iPod.

Asiatique The Riverfront

 
Bangkok, Thailand. August 25, 2011. Bangkok has a surfeit of magnificent malls; nevertheless, new shopping and entertainment venues open constantly and immediately fill up with crowds. The newest addition to the Bangkok scene is quite different from the rest: it is located outside the CBD and on the beautiful Chao Paya River, the city's main waterway. Called "Asiatique the Riverfront," the low-rise eating, shopping and entertainment destination can be reached by a free shuttle boat from Sathorn Pier, which is on the skytrain, or by bus, taxi, tuk-tuk, or motorcycle. However, once there, it is fun to make a whole night of it. 

 



Asiatique The Riverfront is beautifully designed with a "festival market and living museum" concept. There are 1,500 shops, 40 restaurants and two cultural centers (Photo left).






 



 





 I read in the newspaper that the Irish pub at Asiatique served Irish lamp stew, so I headed there for dinner. The stew was quite good. (Photo left).








 

 Asiatique is thoughtfully and beautifully designed. I particularly liked the broad walkways. (Photo above).

Among the 1,500 shops, are the usual tourist trash, but also was shops such as this one, which display craft and art goods in an attractive way. (Photo above).

With 40 restaurants to choose from, you can find just about any kind of food you want, served in enclosed fine dining establishments, or in open-air restaurants alike this Thai restaurant. (Photo above).