“Organ Recital at Aula Simfonia” -- NOW! Jakarta

BY JOHN PAUL The organ is not an ugly brown instrument and Casavant is not something you eat. Two important things you would have learnt, if you didn’t already know, at the Organ Recital of Chelsea Chen at the far and far out Aula Simfonia Jakarta. The repertoire presented was as varied as the formations it required; solo organ, organ-violin duo, violin solo, organ and violin plus chamber orchestra, etc. For me, the evening began in the afternoon with the ever so congenial and helpful Ms. Katarina helping me with my RSVP and being at my service for “…directions, and anything else you need help with when you arrive.”

Ms. Chen entered the hall just as I began to remember why I wasn’t looking forward to the venue’s wooden seats. However, as she played the opening piece, the high notes began to occupy my senses with their beauty. Entered the bass section then lo and behold, the sensation of a vibrating seat, tingling up my spine. Electrifying! I wonder what would have happened if my hair wasn’t tied down. French organ grandeur filled the air.

Ms. Chen graciously began with a bonus, as it wasn’t in the program book, called Carillon-Sortie en Re majeur by Henri Mulet. The audience soon heard Naiades by Louis Vierne. The title is said to mean water-nymphs and Ms. Chen’s technique allowed her crystal clear execution of each note to produce the lightness required of this virtuosic piece. You could almost see the flutes floating on the deep basses, like nymphs on a deep lake. Even my organist friends were impressed. I was still enjoying the ‘after-sound’ when Louis Wong appeared and started fiddling on what he later told me was a turn-of-the-century violin by an anonymous Italian violin-maker. I asked him because his low register was penetrating from the first bow, and so were the pianissimo upper fermatas as he played Roderick Gorby’s Amstel Dromen.

My appetite for a showcase of his technical finesse was never quite met until the allegro con brio of Prokofiev’s Sonata in D major late in the second half. A fine tone and broad colour palette are qualities often lacking even among very technically accomplished violinists, but seem to in fact be Mr. Wong’s strong points. Such is the story of practically the rest of the evening. The completeness of Rheinberberger’s suite and Handel’s concerto was sacrificed for brief works by contemporary composers including Chelsea Chen herself. Luckily, Bach’s Concerto after Vivaldi in D minor received due honour, so much that I literally bowed my head in reverence to Bach’s divine inspirer. Ms. Chen’s compositions, the Jasmine Fantasy, premiered at this very occasion, and the Taiwanese Suite were well developed and added not just to the interest of the evening, but to the organ repertoire as well. Composing was indeed an almost compulsory ability of the virtuoso of old. I could add more details but I think it best to learn the painful lesson of missing a great concert and only getting to read the review. So now, check out our calendar and the concert previews and may all be well with thee.