PROFESSIONAL musicians usually play one solo concerto per concert, but Raul Sunico took on the challenge of performing all four of Russian composer Sergey Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos.
Under the helm of music professor Herminigildo Ranera, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) accompanied Sunico throughout his endeavor.
Raul Sunico’s “A Rach Concert” last Jan. 26 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) was historic because the piano virtuoso took on the challenge of performing Russian composer Sergey Rachmaninoff’s four piano concertos in a single night.
Sunico, the former dean of the Conservatory of Music and the former CCP president, said that he chose Rachminoff’s concertos to challenge his “memory and endurance.”
“[Rachmaninoff’s concertos] are so fulfilling to play and perform because of the intensity, melodic appeal, and lyricism that serve to project the performer’s inner soul,” Sunico told the Varsitarian.
Playing with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra under the helm of UST Conservatory professor Herminigildo Ranera, Sunico opened the concert with Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 1 in F♯ minor, Op. 1,” an 1891 musical piece composed of a vivace or lively opening, an andante cantabile or soft and flowing section and an allegro scherzando, an upbeat finale.
This was followed by Rachmaninoff’s popular “Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18,” a composition dedicated to Rachmaninoff’s physician who helped him recover from his depression.
Sunico then moved onto “Piano Concerto No.4 in G minor, Op. 40,” a 1926 composition which was dedicated to Rachmaninoff’s friend and contemporary, fellow Russian composer Nikolai Medtner.
Sunico capped the night with Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30.”
“The third [concerto is] decidedly among the most demanding of all the concerto repertoire. Not only do [it] contains the most number of notes, but the technical (and often musical) demands are at times overwhelming,” Sunico said.
In 2015, Sunico, also accompanied by PPO and Ranera, was also the first musician to play all three of Pyotir Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s concertos in one evening at the National Museum.
A faculty member at the Conservatory of Music, Sunico has received the “The Outstanding Young Man of the Philippines” Award for Music in 1986 and the Presidential Order of Merit in 2015.
All proceeds from “A Rach Concert” will be used to fund the Sunico Foundation of Arts and Technology which gives scholarship grants to students gifted in the arts and sciences. J.A.C. Casucian
