THE GRAND TOUR
Pianist Nat Yontararak wants to tell the world, in song, about the greatness of Thailand
Piano virtuoso Nat Yontararak has been up to something big. One of Thailand’s pioneers in contemporary classical music, he’s currently on tour in Europe — visiting seven countries and performing 11 concerts to pay homage to two former great kings of Thailand, King Chulalongkorn and King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
This year celebrates the 120th and 110th anniversaries of King Chulalongkorn’s Royal European Grand Tours, which marked the first diplomatic relations between Siam and Europe.
“Additionally, it’s the 100th anniversary of Chulalongkorn University, and as an alumni, I thought I would repay the favour that His Majesty gave to the country,” explained Nat. “His visitation of Europe was extremely important. I think Thailand would have had a difficult time surviving up to this point [if it wasn’t for him].”
Nat, the first Steinway Artist in Thailand and Outstanding Contemporary Silpathorn Artist, is recognised for his original compositions mostly dedicated to the Thai royal family. A concert pianist, composer, teacher and architect, he has written three piano sonatas: No.1, Glory To Our Great Kings (1994), No.2, Homage To King Rama IX (1999) and No.3, Siam Sonata (2002), in order to celebrate and pay homage to the royal family. Four years ago, Nat designed his own 200-seat private concert hall, Sala Sudasiri Sobha, in order bring in world-class musicians and support up-and-coming Thai musicians.
It’s been almost two decades since his last tour abroad, and this may be the most heartfelt and ambitious of them all.
Following in the footsteps of the kings, Nat’s concert tour, Homage To The Great Thai Kings, hopes to give Western audiences a different perspective and understanding of the Thai people, culture and monarchy through the sounds of the piano (accompanied by traditional Thai dancers from the Christian Communications Institute).
He will be performing his carefully selected programme in Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland and England, hoping to portray Thailand in a more cultural and artistic light.
“The first section of the programme is for King Rama V,” Nat said. “When the king visited Europe for the first time, Thailand was still called Siam. I happened to have composed Siam Sonata [in 2002] for King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 75th’s Birthday, and they are songs that advertise Thailand very well.”
Split into four movements, like the standard Western sonata, each takes audiences on a journey to one of the four regions of Thailand.
“The first movement, The Central Region,
gives the feeling of the central administration of the whole country,” explained Nat. “In the second movement, The Isan Region, there’s the sounds of the khaen, there’s the ho-sam-la,
which is pure Isan. The third movement — The Northern Region — there’s sounds of the seung
with a slow rhythm that’s typically northern. The last movement, The Southern Movement,
sounds quite compact, violent and exciting — and is also the ending movement. It’s basically in the structure of the sonata — a form that people who listen to classical music can catch right away.”
“But there’s a gentleness in every movement,” he continues. “Like the personality of the Thai people. That’s what I’m trying to convey.”
Homage To The Great Kings is also a chance for Nat to pay homage to the recent passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, one of his great inspirations. Not only will he be performing the royal compositions Love In Spring, Somewhere Somehow, and Oh I Say, Nat will also be playing his latest composition, Sine “Quo” Non, a gut-wrenching elegy to the late monarch.
“The feeling of that day, Oct 13, was kept inside,” said Nat. “The next day, seeing the funeral procession from Siriraj Hospital to the Grand Palace, I think that’s a traumatic image, and I got the inspiration to write the composition.”
“The song starts with the emotion of sadness, then a funeral march,” Nat explained. “And it ends with the king’s song Alexandra ( Pan Din Kong Rao), which gives a feeling of hope for the future, where Thai people will continue to be prosperous with his teachings. The idea is positive — looking towards the future, even if we’ve gone through a tough period.”
Performed twice in Bangkok at his concert hall Sala Sudasiri Sobha, Sine “Quo” Non never fails to produce a sea of tears within the audience. Westerners, through Nat’s music, can realise the pain, anguish, and love for King Bhumibol. “[Westerners] may get the sense that, ‘Oh, Thai people really do love their King’,” said Nat. “He united our country. He’s the meeting point of all of our hearts.
“If we didn’t have an honourable and respectable figurehead going to the West, people would not have seen us. If our royalty didn’t go, what grandeur and glory would we have presented to the West? And me going there, I’m not royalty, I don’t have anything, but I have my music, and I hope the music will portray these things.”