bontok-ili - filipino piano piece

[crazy for ivan moravec]

great writing. it's always an effective piece for the audience!

[ted]

I quite like this. Are there many people writing piano music in the Philippines at present ? Dozens of my own pieces and improvisations are based on images of the Philippines, although I haven't been there for many years now. Some of the Pangasinan love songs are very attractive, but I suppose I am biased to a certain extent as my wife is a Filipina.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

not much modern composers write piano music, sadly. they're more focused on new techniques and they find it hard to compose for piano solo. one composition professor told me that writing new music for piano is much too limited now since the instrument is truly romantic more than anything else. he says that piano techniques have pretty much been exhausted, even only during the golden age of the instrument.

there are a lot of turn of the century compositions which are highly romantic, even chopinesque in nature, but also much of the spanish influence on a lot of them too. composers such as abelardo, buencamino, etc.

this piece is a post-war composition. it is part of a set entitled Mountain City Suite.

[ted]

Really ! How pessimistic and depressing ! I most vehemently disagree with whoever voiced that little piece of nonsense. I think it says more about the limitations of his brain rather than about the bounds of musical expression. Nonetheless, it seems to be a view held by very many people, especially academics. I think I might start a poll on that topic to see what the general opinion is here.

[jepoy]

wow! sounds great!

crazy, i've actually been looking for the sheet music of Bontok-Ili for months now. My teacher thought the piece was called Bundok (i take private lessons only), so it added to the confusion. My friend with connections at the UP college of music finally sent me a copy today. I browsed through it and it does look technically and interpretatively challenging. So, your recording definitely gives me some ideas on how to tackle the piece. I'm also borrowing my friend's CD with Mariel Ilusorio's interpretation of it, also to get some more ideas.

I want to include more contemporary Filipino compositions in my repertoire. So far, I know Malikmata by Antonio Molina (thanks to Jhon for sending me a copy a year ago) and Francisco Santiago's Nocturne in E-flat minor. Both need a lot of polishing as they're still far from "concert" quality.

Thanks for sharing your music!

p.s. mind sharing a copy of altered images sheet, the one you posted in another thread? 

[crazy for ivan moravec]

thanks. the reason why i haven't been able to post the sheet of altered images is that the work has been published by Cayco Foundation. there have been others who wanted to see it too but i couldn't post it here. sorry...

[jepoy]

crazy, is the publication part of an anthology of filipino pieces or just for Bontok Ili? Where is it sold?

[crazy for ivan moravec]

i dont think it was ever published. it's the last piece of a set of 3 entitled Mountain City Suite. Rosendo Santos' son teaches at the university of michigan composition dept, his name's Erik Santos.