Piano Concerto Extravaganza Concert II

Thaya Kpps played the Rachmaninoff

 SET Building Auditorium.  Bangkok, Thailand.  June 28, 2013.  To its great credit, the Stock Exchange of Thailand has been very supportive of Thailand’s classical musicians, especially the young ones, and in this tradition, it enlisted the support of one of this country’s best teachers and pianists, Nopanand Chanorathaikul, to present nine of her talented current and former students, in a very creative format:  a concerto concert without an orchestra, that is, an orchestra in the traditional sense.  In place of the 90 or so musicians comprising the modern symphony orchestra, we had 20 young musicians playing orchestrations arranged by its conductor, Parinya Chucherdwatanasak, currently a doctoral candidate in conducting in the US.  It was surprising how very effective these arrangements were in simulating the original orchestrations and giving both the pianists and the audience a real sense that we were participating in “the real thing.”  This success was, no doubt, due to the Parinya’s creativity and conducting skill, and to the excellent playing of his 20 musicians.

Cue (left) played the Mozart and Pete (right) played the Shastokovich

 

With nine pianists to perform, it would not be possible for each to play a full concerto, so inventive Nopanand assigned each student his or her own movement of Mozart Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 414, Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2, and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, all big pieces frequently played in major concerto halls throughout the world.  As each movement ended, the pianist quickly got up and was immediately replaced by another pianist waiting in the wings, sort of as concerto musical chairs, which on this occasion, worked remarkably well.

There was so much good playing that it is difficult and somewhat unfair to single any one pianist out, but I was particularly happy to hear 13-year old high school student Payaonn Musikabhumma, play the very difficult first movement of the Shostakovich concerto with such dexterity and determination, and Puripat Paesaroch perform the last movement with obvious enthusiasm which was infective, and Thaya Kongpakpaisarn play the last movement of the Rachmaninoff 2^nd with a maturity and depth so great that it sounded if we had taken a magic carpet ride to Carnegie Hall.

Not only did I hear wonderful music, but it put me in a mood so good that it remains undiminished more than a week later.