As a piano concertist, Caces has gained several honors. He performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Hochschule Symphonie Orchester under Julius Kalmar in Vienna’s prestigious Golden Hall, and was later awarded the “Prix Decouverte” after a solo recital at the Festival International De Musique in Le Touquet, France. Caces has given solo recitals in Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the US. He was featured soloist of the Hanover Kammersymphonie Orchester.

It was in the dual role of pianist and conductor that Caces performed at the F. Santiago Hall, playing three Beethoven Concertos — Nos. 2, 1 and 4 — while also conducting the UST Symphony Orchestra. I was not present when Caces yesterday played and conducted the two other Beethoven Concertos — Nos. 3 and 5 (“The Emperor”).

As conductor, he has collaborated with the MSO, PPO and UST Symphony Orchestra. A seasoned chamber musician and conductor, he has given recitals and concerts in Europe and America.

Nevertheless, as interpreted, the three Concertos were more than enough to demonstrate the infinite depth and breadth of Beethoven as composer, encompassing his protean originality, inventiveness and imagination; in brief, his creative genius.

Beethoven himself played the Concerto No. 2 in B Flat Major in Vienna in 1795, having purportedly composed it in two days, and established his pre-eminence with it.

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major bears slight traces of Haydn and Mozart. The listener gave special attention to the rondo which is dauntingly virtuosic in style and dual in character: the delicate and the gentle alternating with the robust and the ferocious.

The Concerto No. 4 in G Major is regarded Beethoven’s finest although it is overshadowed by the Fifth (“The Emperor”) in popularity and in the frequency of rendition. The Fourth’s solid structure has urgent appeal and attraction, its originality including, among others, enticing and inspiring melodies and variations. The Concerto is an arsenal of challenging technical devices, and Caces rose to their demands in magnificent measure, conveying power, fire and dynamism as he breezed through the bravura passages with astonishing rapidity and agility. Further, his tonal colors and inflections evoked the emotional content and sentiment of the various movements.

Caces wielded the baton in a magnetic, mesmerizing manner, conveying power, fire and dynamism, and leading each section of the youthful ensemble to respond to his dynamism marvelously. Indeed, the listeners felt the constant surge of overwhelming energy from pianist-conductor to orchestra.

With absolute, masterful grasp of both the piano and orchestral scores, Caces played and conducted so rousingly that he achieved an arresting, amazing and electrifying feat which places him in the ranks of our top pianists and baton-wielders.