I can't say that I'm a fan of classical music. I am not that classy. Even so, I quite enjoy them. My first experience with classics was when I was in the tenth grade. I watched an anime titled 'La Corda d'Oro'. It means gold string in English. It tells about a girl who was gifted with a musical talent by a fairy to compete in classical concours. From that anime, I knew Minuet, Ave Maria, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and so on. 

My second experience was when I watched Prague City Philharmonic concert in Kumamoto City Hall almost eleven years ago. I watched it with Kumiko-San, Otosan, and Amirah - my roommate. The third time was when I attended Wibi Soerjadi's piano recital in Semarang. And the last one were when I attended Jakarta City Philharmonic (JCP) concert here in Jakarta.

I can listen to instrumental music, but I don't always get the classical music. Sometimes I can listen to it without getting bored, but most of the time I can't help but yawn. I agree that it is a best company for study, but only if it were in a class full of students, just like the time in the extra class I took when preparing for undergraduate study.

I knew JCP from a friend and was very curious to watch its concert. Finally, on August, we managed to watch it as a gift from my husband in our first anniversary. The theme was 'Space and Time' and the pieces picked were described a moment where each piece was arranged by the composer. And at that very time, I see what I was listening. 

The first piece was Petite Symphonie for Nine Wind Instruments by Gounod. It was a piece composed during the 'beautiful era' before the World War I broke out. To me, it was light and cheerful. It was like seeing beautiful multi-color flowers in the garden where women wear old gown and men with their old-school suit. Some of them wear hat and some others bring umbrella. Some are talking, some are selling breads, and some are buying. Some men sit with newspaper in their hands, some with cigarette. It seems that there is nothing to worry about.

The second piece was Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani by Martinu. The timpani made my heart beats faster during this performance. I could feel myself panicking as the army is approaching and my surrounding is bombarded. The music was so tense that I could hear the screams, shots, and explosions in the atmosphere. It felt like I can see people dying around me. Both I and my husband even gasping for air when this piece ended. We just stared at the empty stage and then looked at each other when it was the time for intermission. Too amazed.

The next piece was L'Holorge de Flore (A Musical Flower Clock) by Francaix. It was consisted of seven parts. Each part described a time in a day when each flower blooms. This too makes me experienced a musical vision where flowers process to bloom, one-by-one.

The last one was Insidious by Misael Elahrens Tambuwun which combine orchestra and electronic tape as it is composed in this present digital era. Insidious tells a story of a child who was dragged by his nightmares he had in his sleep to mortality. It was creepy I know and I got goosebumps when Misael sang a part of 'Lingsir Wengi' song. 

I was very satisfied watching this concert because finally I get what the pieces were all about. I just knew that we can 'see' classical music! Just like when we listen to other music or when we read books. The setlist and mini-lecture before the concert was started were vital. And I can see why I didn't get it in the first concert and the recital before. While the recital before didn't provide a setlist, the first concert gave a setlist in Nihongo or Japanese. That was why I didn't get it and even fell asleep 😅

Other than that, every movement of the conductor was meaningful to me. He moved to create the music, yet it seemed like he danced to the music too. When he went slow, so did the music, when he went tense, so did it, when he seemed to fly up on sky, the music brought us too. 

Last week we watched another concert by JCP, but they played Indonesian songs, instead of classics. But that too was great. I loved it more because there were these superb singers with their angelic voices. Can't wait for more experience with JCP next year!

PS. One of my bucket-list is checked!