Some
days back Catherine Morris Fernandes a very good friend of mine had on FB asked
about wanting tkts to the Bombay Chamber Orchestra and I promptly asked for 2!
2
tkts in hand, I did not know who it would be who would accompany me to the
performance, so I put up on my gtalk ‘Hve Got 2 tkts for THE BOMBAY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA - Sophia Bhabha Auditorium - 1st September, 2012 at 7:00p.m’ either none of those perpetually appearing
online at gtalk saw it or were not interested, either way, as my ex-colleague
Ramesh Keshavan just said ‘seat
seat pe likha hota hai baithnewale ka naam! So there I was with my aunt (Sr. Supreetha) who is a Nun
posted in Orissa she had come down for a day from Mangalore enroute to Orissa.
Both of us reached the place late by about 10 mins (Blame it on Bombay Traffic or
IST) a few people were moving about in the foyer and behind the closed doors
there were more of them seated and there on stage was a black tails (a white
man wearing black tail coat) waving and gesticulating with all the energy he
could muster (later came to know he was Josef Suilen the Dutch Guest Conductor)
it immediately reminded me of Tom & Jerry, where Tom is the music/orchestra conductor :-))))
As I said it was a first time experience for
both of us. Which began with a bang with a difference, somebody really needs to
do something about the seats at the Sophia Bhabha Auditorium which keep looking
up and the moment you touch them to get them in the level where you can occupy
them ‘Dhaap’ is what you hear and you can imagine the embarrassment when this
happens when the Orchestra is playing and the Conductor is all into his music.
Makes one wish the earth would open up and one could hide in it. Dunno if I should call it some solace or height of bad timing and placing, that more ‘Dhaaps’ were
heard at regular intervals.
So finally there I was seated in Seat 017 of
Sophia Bhabha Auditorium looking at a live Orchestra (oh phuleez, not the kind
people commonly understand and know to be an Orchestra with musicians and
singers dishing/doling out bollywood, tollywood or kollywood hits) The Bombay Chamber Orchestra is the only Indian Symphony orchestra that functions and performs on
a regular basis with a concert standard of performance, incidentally it
celebrates its Golden Jubilee 50 yrs this year (1962 – 2012).
So there was Josef Suilen! well to begin with, as
I said black tails waving and gesticulating with all the energy he could muster
and as a first timer I did not know whether to wonder where he gets that sort
of energy for the fully body work out he kept on doing standing on a square
black block which also caught my attention and or to think that it was just a
matter of minutes before Josef Suilen fell off it (the square black block) if he was not careful enough.
Next my eyes moved on to the musicians, what they wore, what age group they
belonged to, what instrument they were playing? I could recognize violins,
cellos, some wind instrument and a set of drums (not the rock band drum set but
different decent kind) and in between I also looked at the ceiling to notice
that one of the bulbs was not working, felt the AC was working and that people
around me included locals, foreigners (one Asian lady looked like a younger
version of Mary Kom) and then there were Nuns (my aunt included) and
children!!!! Yes! Children I wonder what on earth were they brought by the
parents/guardians to such a performance for, unless of course they had the urge to
add to the cacophony of instruments.
What was played and heard that evening was Franz Liszt’s
Piano Concerto No. 2 in Amajor, Beethoven’s Leonore Overture and choral works by
Mozart, Puccini, Verdi and Saint Saëns. Don’t ask me which was good as I can’t
make out one from the other. When all the playing, the bowing, applauding was
on I could not make up my mind what should I be paying attention to? Couldn’t
show false appreciation as even a blind man would have made out that it was a
hopeless attempt on my part to show that I understood music.
What caught my eyes
was, once when Josef Suilen raised
his left hand and bang on! his wedding band caught the light and this was just
when the thought - what would his wife think of him when she saw him conducting
like this, was crossing my mind. I can still picture that soft porcelain hand
and that glint caught by the wedding band which seemed to have caught my eye
just to allay my doubts about Josef Suilen and his family (read spouse) getting
along and how. I am sure they must be saying hearing their names called out by
each other is Music to their ears ;-)
Then on came BALÁZS FÜLEI – the pianist. Who for the better
part of the beginning of his performance was adjusting his base, the stool on
which he was to sit and then again there was the display of soft porcelain
hands, Aaah! What a sight, and when they danced on the Piano one wanted to
dance too, all through the performances I tried and visualized the rains, the
fields, the swaying trees the flowers in the gardens and water fountains.
Then came the bombshell, Lyric Soprano, Sunanda Rao-Erdem – A big girl I must say! (But then what’s with
the Opera singers and their size? Are they storehouses of air which they don’t
seem to inhale at all when they crooooooooooooooon and how!) Sunanda Rao – Erdem
sang/crooned and took me to the courts of kings, the war ravaged cities and
battle fields (that’s what I think of when I hear Opera, it is more of a
Soldiers marching or a melancholy love song) The lady packed some power in her
lungs which was heard and how! You can take a bow once again Sunanda Rao-Erdem.
But, kintu, chintu, parantu here’s what’s more interesting, singing in
the choir The Songsters – (Director Patricia
D’Cunha) was my ex-colleague and good friend Catherine Morris Fernandes (her 3rd
performance) and her son Craig Fernandes (his 2nd performance) quiet
enviable but a very happy fact! Thank
you Catherine for arranging the tickets and Craig for waiting with them for me
outside the auditorium, even as the entire troupe was inside/backstage.
This post Too Verbose for your liking??? Well! Been to an Orchestra so
have to have it properly Orchestrated in it now ;-)
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