An enthusiastic audience filled Ben’s Theater recently to hear the brilliant young musicians of Virtuosi Thailand give a performance of music featuring two violins. The violinist Jirajet Jesadechet (Toto) founded Virtuosi Thailand in 2019, and it’s a generic name that’s used for several different and highly talented young ensembles. At the recent performance, they lived up to their name by playing several pieces of technically demanding music.
First on the bill was the Sonata for Two Violins in F Major, Op. 3, No. 4 by the French baroque composer Jean-Marie Leclair. He was a contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach and a renowned violinist and composer. Almost all his music was written for violin and historically he occupies an important place in the development of violin music in France. His skill as a dancer took him from his native Lyons to Italy, before he returned to France and settled in rather down-trodden area of Paris. He is one the few composers who was murdered. He was found stabbed to death at his house in October 1764. The crime remained a mystery, though it was thought that either Leclair’s ex-wife or his embittered nephew may have been behind the plot.
The Sonata for Two Violins comes from six similar sonatas published in Paris in 1730. They are written without keyboard accompaniment and very much in the baroque style, which relies on a great deal of imitation and different contrapuntal devices, combining the melodies in different and novel ways. It’s immensely effective string writing and violinists Visanee Vongvirulh (Pang) and Jirajet Jesadechet (Toto) gave a splendid performance of the work with an impeccable sense of rhythm and phrasing. The charming second movement has an almost “classical” melody which must have sounded quite modern in 1730. Toto and Pang played it superbly with an assured sense of melodic line. I was also impressed by their string tone quality which blended perfectly. It was also pleasing to hear perfect intonation throughout the concert. The last movement is a gigue which, as the name implies, comes from the English word “jig” and it’s a lively country dance that was often used by baroque composers as the final movement of a suite. Pang and Toto gave a bright and joyful performance with a light touch and with an excellent sense of rhythm. Perhaps the playing was a bit too polite and maybe a bit more rhythmic emphasis would have suited the rustic dance-like nature of the movement.
These days, little is heard of the German-Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski, so I was delighted that Virtuosi Thailand included one of his works in their programme. He was one of the most renowned pianist-composers of his time and his piano writing was highly praised by that other legendary Polish pianist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski. At the turn of the twentieth century, Moszkowski was considered the most successful salon composer of the day. When he died in April 1925, a prominent musical journal dramatically reported, “So painful an announcement has not stricken the entire musical world since the deaths of Chopin, Rubinstein and Liszt, of whom Moszkowski was a worthy successor.”
He drifted into obscurity perhaps because he specialized in light-weight, attractive, tuneful but rather old-fashioned piano music, unlike many of his contemporaries who wrote large-scale orchestral works. Moszkowski’s Suite for Two Violins and Piano in G minor, Op.71 was published in 1903. Critics immediately hailed it as a spectacular work and for many years it remained one of Moszkowski’s best-known compositions. It shows Moszkowski to be a master of elegant and charming melody. For this performance, Toto and Pang were joined by pianist Rasikamon Siyapong (Maprang) who has performed extensively throughout Europe and Asia.
Accompanied by rippling arpeggios from the piano, the opening movement Allegro energico has yearning melodies and a sense of urgency. The three musicians gave a lively performance which was dramatic and compelling. In the second movement, a lyrical waltz with a charming melody, there was some fine string playing from Pang and Toto and some expressive piano work from Maprang, who brought out the various melodies clearly through the string texture. To my ears, the instrumental balance tended to favour the piano and the overall sound would probably have been more satisfactory had the piano lid remained closed. The third movement, Lento assai contained some lovely expressive string playing and fine ensemble work. The ethereal ending was beautifully timed. The suite ended with the high-spirited Molto vivace, a technically challenging movement. The three musicians gave an excellent account of the work and it was wonderful to hear this tuneful music by the now-neglected Moszkowski.
Violinist Jirajet Jesadechet (Toto) earned his B Mus degree at Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and he received an M Mus degree at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Toto’s playing is inspired by Mayumi Fujikawa, his latest teacher. He has won prizes at local and national competitions and he teaches at Bangkok String Academy, his own private studio where violinists are intensively trained and prepared for performances and auditions. He plays a 1942 Amédée Dieudonné violin.
Visanee Vongvirulh (Pang) is a professional violinist and educator who teaches at the College of Music, Mahidol University. She graduated with first-class honours in Music Performance from the College of Music, Mahidol University and later gained a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees at Mozarteum University, Salzburg. She was the leader of the Thailand Elite Orchestra and has received the Certificate of Recognition as an Inspiring Music Teacher from the Music Teachers Association of Thailand.
Pianist Rasikamon Siyapong (Maprang) earned her B Mus degree in piano performance with first-class honours from the College of Music, Mahidol University. She later studied at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and completed her Master Degree in vocal accompaniment from University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. She has given concerts all over Europe and performs frequently in the Thailand International Composition Festival.
After the interval, Toto, Pang and Maprang were joined by double bass player Nattawut Sungkasaro (Jay) who is Principal Double Bass of the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra. Jay has been Principal Double Bass in the Thai Youth Orchestra and the Princess Galyani Vadhana Youth Orchestra. He earned his B Mus at Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music and has a degree from the University of Music and Performing Arts. He is clearly a highly experienced and talented bass player who plays with a rich, warm tone quality. At the concert, his sensitive playing brought a new dimension to the ensemble.
The second half of the concert began with a thrilling performance of Pablo de Sarasate’s brilliant show-piece for two violins entitled Navarra. This 1889 work is named after the composer’s birthplace and based largely on the Spanish dance known as the jota, a kind of early Spanish waltz. Sarasate’s piece captures the essence of Spanish spirit and rhythmic vitality. For much of the piece, the solo violins play the melodies with minimal accompaniment. Both violinists are presented with technical challenges with numerous harmonics, double and triple stopping (playing two or three notes simultaneously), tremolandos and left-hand pizzicatos. The work is regarded as one of the most virtuosic violin duets ever written, in which the two soloists are of equal importance and their melodic lines imitate and intertwine. The final section of the work is remarkably difficult to play and takes even the most competent violin players years to master.
The four musicians gave a lively and confident performance of this difficult Sarasate work. It was, for me at least, one of the highlights of the evening and featured superb violin playing from Toto and Pang who managed the technical hurdles with confidence and bravado. Plenty of eye contact between the violinists ensured excellent ensemble. I especially enjoyed the sensitive and rhythmic accompaniments from Maprang and Jay.
Pablo de Sarasate was a virtuoso violinist who displayed remarkable talent at an early age, performing his first public concert at the age of eight. The press was already taking notice of his abilities and the journal Gaceta musical de Madrid reported glowingly in 1855: “Sarasate, infant prodigy, at the age of eleven has the talent of a true artist. He has a bright and flawless technique, remarkable intonation, self-assurance on stage, and a wonderful sense of phrasing. He is so natural, exciting the enthusiasm and admiration of the audience, which could hardly believe what they were hearing.” By the 1870s Sarasate was performing to admiring audiences all over Europe and the Americas.
Another highlight at the Virtuosi Thailand concert was the Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano by Dmitri Shostakovich. To be more accurate, the five pieces were arranged by Shostakovich’s friend, composer and arranger Levon Atovmyan. With the permission of the composer, Atovmyan assembled the suite in 1970 selecting Shostakovich’s lighter-style works and taking the music from ballet suites and film scores. As a result, the music is in quite a different style to the composer’s symphonies and chamber music. It’s delightfully light-hearted and intended largely for sophisticated entertainment.
The four musicians gave a superb performance of the suite. The Prelude was perfectly balanced and the delicate Gavotte featured some precise and sensitive playing from Jay and Maprang. The dream-like Elegy was absolute magic, with perfect timing and ensemble among the musicians. They really caught the atmosphere in the Waltz, a flowing, bitter-sweet, reflective piece with distinctly Russian overtones. The last movement is a Polka, a fun-filled romp which first appeared in a comedy-ballet of 1935, somewhat prosaically entitled, “Dance of the Milkmaid and the Tractor Driver.” It was a charming performance, played with excellent precision and sense of style.
The Russian violin virtuoso and composer Igor Frolov was a Professor at the Piotr Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow, Artistic Director and conductor of Moscow Camerata chamber orchestra, Artistic Director of Moscow Philharmonic Society, People’s Artist of Russia as well as Full Member of International Academy of Sciences. Frolov had no academic training in composition, and when he wrote his first pieces, he was over fifty. He was influenced by jazz music, which was banned in Russia when he was a student.
Virtuosi Thailand gave a fine performance of Frolov’s witty and entertaining Divertimento, a single-movement piece which opens with Bach-like imitative writing between the two violins, much in the style of the Leclair Sonata that opened the concert. The music then morphs into a jazzy dance-like pastiche with echoes of country and western music. However, the music struck me as the kind of awkward pseudo-jazz that one might expected from an untrained Russian composer with little practical experience of the genre. Even so, Toto and Pang made the best of it and played with drive and enthusiasm supported brilliantly by Maprang and Jay.
Frolov’s superb setting of Jerome Kern’s song Smoke Gets in Your Eyes seemed far more successful as a piece of music. Virtuosi Thailand excelled yet again in their thoughtful and rather moving performance of this piece. There was some spell-binding violin playing from Pang and Toto, lovely rich tone and spot-on intonation throughout. I was also impressed by the thoughtful bass playing from Jay and the beautifully judged piano accompaniments from Maprang.
The concert was a resounding success with the members of the audience and they wanted more. The musicians responded with two encores. The first was a dazzling performance of Vittorio Monti’s famous Csárdás arranged by Julian Milone and adapted by Toto. The musicians played superbly with a great sense of style and by this time in the evening, they were playing at their best. Toto’s violin solo sounded ravishing with wonderful tone quality while later, bassist Jay played the melody using the “harmonics” of the double bass. This gives the effect of sounding two octaves higher and it’s something of a technical feat. The second encore was the famous tango entitled Jalousie (“Jealousy”) written by the Danish composer Jacob Gade in 1925 and arranged by Max Harris. Today it’s known around the world and it was given a magical performance by Virtuosi Thailand who once again, really seemed to catch the romantic, dark, haunting mood of the gypsy music.
The programme was particularly well-planned and well-balanced and presented in chronological order. But not only that, the variety of musical styles from Baroque to Broadway was excellent and had obviously been given a great deal of thought. The programme gave the musicians of Virtuosi Thailand the opportunity to demonstrate their versatility, their superb technical skills and their remarkable musical understanding. It was an entertaining and delightful conclusion to this year’s concert season at Ben’s Theater.
