pianomania

RARITIES OF PIANO MUSIC

AT SCHLOSS VOR HUSUM 2015

Danacord 779 / *****

The world’s musical capital of piano esoteria is surely the north German town of Husum, where an annual summer festival is held to celebrate the forgotten alleys and byways of the piano repertoire. The 2015 festival again unearthed a rich vein of gems in the form of concert pieces and encores.

It takes something to omit the likes of Chopin, Schumann or Rachmaninov to present instead music by Alkan, Hummel, Harold Craxton and Mompou, performed with refinement and dedication by the likes of Yuri Favorin, Florian Uhlig, Jonathan Plowright and Jonathan Powell. What about the the music of Issay Dobrowen's Poem (Powell again) or the delights of Carlos Guastavino's La Nina Del Rio Dulce from the loving fingers of Martin Jones? One is unlikely to hear these performed better anywhere else.

Improvisations and jazzed up numbers have a prominent place, not least in Cyprien Katsaris's 18-minute mash-up through Romantic operas, concertos, symphonies and ballets in the manner of Liszt, which was his pre-recital preamble. See if you can name all the tunes.

Whoever remembers Alexander Zfasman, a Soviet-era bon vivant (an oxymoron if any) whose Fantasy On Themes By Matvei Blantermatches the syncopated best of Zez Confrey or Billy Mayerl? Played with infectious verve by American Alex Hassan, this sums up the heady spirit of one of the world's most special piano festivals bar none.

WATER

HELENE GRIMAUD, Piano

NITIN SAWHNEY, Producer/ Composer

Deutsche Grammophon 479 3426 / **1/2

Even for fans of French pianist Helene Grimaud, this release may come as somewhat of a disappointment. First the music: there are eight short movements of composers musing on the watery realm. The usual suspects are there, with Liszt's Les Jeux D'Eau A La Villa D'Esteand Ravel's Jeux D'Eau depicting fountains, Debussy's La Cathedrale Engloutie(The Engulfed Cathedral) and Takemitsu's Rain Tree Sketch II.

Lesser-known pieces like Faure's Barcarolle No.5, Berio's Wasserklavier, Albeniz's Almeria and a movement from Janacek's In The Mists are also given a hearing. She plays these well but the recorded sound is tinny and over-reverberant, as if to lend the music an added mystique.

Each of the pieces are separated by an interlude, entitled Water – Transition (and there are 7 of them) by British composer-producer Natin Sawhney. These are little more than bitty morsels of recorded electronic or ambient sounds which do little to enhance the understanding or appreciation of the actual music.

To conclude, there is an 11-minute so-called bonus track Water Reflections, which reprises a few bars from earlier music and Grimaud plainly reading out their titles and spouting a few choice words. All in all, there are just over 50 minutes of real music in this concept album; the rest is pretentious dross.

Here's a shameless bit of self-promotion. I was recently invited to perform a 15-minute mini piano recital in a concert Doctors With A Cause at Alexandra Hospital on Tuesday (13 September 2016). This was part of the Causeway EXChange programme of events which has been promoting bilateral ties through the arts between Singapore and Malaysia since 2010.

This was the first time that medical doctors have been involved, with the idea that good music can also be therapeutic, even when delivered by people who are more often viewed as pill-pushers and MC-issuers. Doctors from both Singapore and Malaysia performed in this concert, playing on one of the "Lang Lang" grand pianos designed by Steinway that have been donated to various schools and organisations in Singapore last year.

It is customary to get the least spectacular person
to perform first! And I played all slow pieces:
the Bach-Siloti Prelude in B minor,
the Bach-Siloti Air in D major and
Rachmaninov's Vocalise in Alan Richardson's
transcription. Wonder how many people kept awake.

Dr Thevi Thanigasalam, an ophthalmologist
in Malacca performed the 1st movement from
Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata and
Chopin's Scherzo No.2 completely from memory.

Dr Au Kah Kay, another one of the usual suspects,
played the Schumann-Liszt Widmung
and Chopin's Barcarolle.

And here are the doctor-pianists!

Doctor turned stand-up comedian Dr Jason Leong
from Kuala Lumpur showed how
laughter is the best medicine
by regaling the audience with stories about his
Proton Wira and how MY is "different" from SG.

Like Saturday Night Live, there was a wonderful
world music band At Adau from Kuching, Sarawak
which performed a selection of updated indigenous
songs on traditional and modern instruments.

Some nifty Orang Ulu moves from
At Adau's tribal dancer.

Dr Thevi and Juju,
the Korean drummer of At Adau

Musicians and jokers unite!

Some well-deserved post-concert makan
at Newton Circus food centre.

Paganini Lost and Found was the title of a lecture-recital given at the Lee Foundation Theatre of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts on Wednesday 14 September 2016. It appears to be a new approach to public music education adopted by the Academy, involving an informal discussion between faculty members and performances by students and alumni.

The talk about Niccolo Paganini and the legacy spawned by his famous Caprice No.24 was moderated by composer-lecturer Zechariah Goh Toh Chai and the information provided to the audience was simple and avoided all technical jargon. Attended by a fairly sizeable audience including many children (who were well-behaved), this looks like something NAFA could do more of to make classical music approachable to lay-people.

The concert began with Chan Yoong Han
performing Paganini's Caprice No.24
with all its fiendish variations.

The panel of violinist Chan Yoong Han,
Dean of Music School Lim Yau and pianist
Nicholas Loh discussed about Paganini's legacy.
Just look at Nicholas' space-age boots.

Young pianist Chen Yueperformed Liszt's
Paganini Etude No.6, which was a literal
transcription of the caprice on piano.

The duo of Song Yuexuan and Zou Yuanxu
gave an excellent performance on 2 pianos of
Lutoslawski's Paganini Variations,
filled with harmonic and dynamic quirks.

Winnie Chua performed Robert Muczynski's
Desperate Measures with much aplomb,
a jazzy look at the popular theme.

Arguably the best performance of the evening
came from saxophonists Michellina Chan& Alexis Seah
with pianist Jessica Leong in Jun Nagao's Paganini Lost,
a most exuberant jazz showpiece.

BORDERLANDS

Wu Man (Pipa) &

Master Musicians from the Silk Route

Singapore

International

Festival of Arts 2016

SOTA Theatre Studio

Thursday (15 September 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 September 2016 with the title "Tracing roots of pipa in journey of discovery".

In Borderlands, world-renowned pipa virtuosa Wu Man traced the roots of her instrument all the way to Central Asia, to a time of antiquity when cross-fertilisation of different cultures was a way of life. For this concert, she was joined by five Uyghur musicians and a dancer from Xinjiang Autonomous Region in China's Far West.

A contemplative pipa solo Gobi Desert At Sunset by Wu ushered in Chebiyat Muqam, the first of several excerpts from muqams to be performed. A muqam is the traditional Uygur suite of pieces involving poetry, singing, instrumental music and dance. Typically a muqam would take several hours to complete and the full set of 12 could last the best part of a day.

For the purpose of this evening, Chebiyat Muqam, essentially an extended love song with erotic undertones, breezed through 25 minutes of sensuous and often exuberant music. The chief protagonist was vocalist Sanubar Tursun who also strummed on a dutar (a long-necked lute), whose pristine voice and haunting inflexions recalled an ancient age and exotic locales.

In the feverish climaxes, she was joined by Mijiti Younusi (on tambur, another plucked lute), Rexiati Abudureheman (satar, bowed lute), Adili Abudukelimu (kalun, a dulcimer struck by sticks) and Alifu Saideke (hand drum), who added their male voices to the fray. Time stood still for this unlikely entertainment, which had the drawing power of a muezzin's call to prayer, heady aroma of freshly burnt incense and earthly pleasures of a seraglio.

All the singing was in Uyghur, a Turkic language still spoken in Xinjiang alongside Han Chinese putonghua. An added visual element was the colourful presence of dancer Delare Maimaitiyiming whose nodding head movements and swirling revolutions took on the spectacular in Mountain Spring. Here she balanced six bowls on the top of her head without spilling a drop of water.

It was back to Wu Man, who assimilated her journey of discovery of Central Asian music in Song of the Kazakh, a virtuoso showpiece far removed from Chinese pipa music which unveiled Western harmonies and hints of polyphony.

In Hanleyun, two songs were joined. The first was about life experiences, of how a nightingale who has not suffered winter would not know the joys of spring, and the second on a homeland that resembled the Garden of Eden. For Ajam, all the plucked strings came together for a slow to fast and vigorous love-in.

For the final muqam excerpts, dulcimer-player Abudukelimu displayed his throaty baritone-like vocals (Dolan Muqam) and joined dancer Maimaitiyiming in an animated “pas de deux” (Nawa Muqam), relating the plaints of a desert hermit and sage.

The 90-minute concert ended like how it started, in near total darkness, with Wu in pipa solo Night Thoughts, a study on solitude. Face to face with true artistry, how these precious minutes elapsed, like dew evaporating under the morning sun.

Wu Man and her ensemble meet with
SSO violinists Kong Zhao Hui & Yin Shu Zhan.

TAKACS QUARTET PLAYS BEETHOVEN

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Friday (16 September 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 September 2016 with the title "Stunning work from quartet".

It is no secret that Beethoven's string quartets are hardly performed on concert stages here. Over-reverence and trepidation on the part of local musicians will account for this, and audiences are the poorer as a result. Thus it was a treat to witness an evening of Beethoven quartets performed by the world-renowned Takács Quartet.

Formed in 1975 by four Hungarian students in Budapest, it is presently based in Boulder, Colorado with two of the original members still performing. The interpretation of Beethoven's 16 string quartets is the bedrock of its repertoire, and the three quartets performed also neatly corresponded with the German composer's “three periods” of composition.

From the “early period” was the congenial G major Quartet (Op.18 No.2), following earlier models of Haydn and Mozart but displaying signs of an independent, free-spirited mind. From the outset, the ensemble showed why it is considered one of the world's finest. First violinist Edward Dusinberre's leadership is impeccable, his entries direct and clear-headed, with his colleagues in close audio, visual and almost telepathic contact.

The foursome – with second violinist Karoly Schranz, violist Geraldine Walther and cellist Andras Fejer - coalesced as one although each part could be distinctly discerned. This was a coming together of singular minds with the ultimate objective of cohesion and projection that was keenly maintained over the 2-hour long programme. When the surface calm was stirred, as in the 1^st movement's development, the pacing and dissonance level was upped, but the quartet remained resolute.

As jarring contrast, the F minor Quartet (Op.95) from Beethoven's “middle period” was storm and stress in its four minor-key movements. Its nickname “Serioso” was taken seriously, as muscle and sinew strained to deliver its alternatingly angry and sombre message. Yet there were subtle gradations within this angst and indignation, which the quartet brought out trenchantly. With the wave of a wand, the finale's turned from darkness to light of a major-key to finish with an acute start.

The second half was reserved for the C sharp minor Quartet (Op.131) from the “late period”. Here Beethoven broke all the moulds in this 40-minute-long utterance of seven connected movements. The mind boggled at the myriad changes of mood, emotion and disposition that took place in this journey of the soul, wrought by the stone-deaf, disease-wracked and spiritually-scarred personality.

Dusinberre's stark opening solo issued like a cry for help, to which the other strings piled on their responses in a contrapuntal maze. Before any resolution could be had, the jolly 2^ndmovement and interlude-like 3rd movement arrived before the 4^thmovement's theme and variations. The quartet kept the audience listening, and enthralled as to what might just happen next.

Such is the elusive narrative quality of absolute music, that only an outfit like the Takács can convey with such utter immediacy and vividness. By the close of the passionately hewn finale, the chorus of bravos that rang out was a just indication of their stunning success.

MOZART & MAHLER

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Saturday (17 September 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 September 2016 with the title "Angelic outing from virtuosos".

There was another evening of chamber music at the Conservatory, but it was more of a local variety. The Conservatory's faculty comprises real virtuosos in their own right, and it was a pleasure to hear them perform in Mozart's Quintetin E flat major (K.452) for piano and winds.

The Conservatory's emerald green Bösendorfer grand piano was wheeled out. Pianist Bernard Lanskey (Conservatory Director) towered over the keyboard with his back against the audience and four wind players faced him. This unusual placement worked well because the sound was homogeneous, with the mellow-sounding piano not over-powering the others.

The winds' opening chord set the tone, and the piano's crisply articulated introduction soon got the opening movement underway. Interplay between guest clarinettist Dimitri Ashkenazy and faculty members Rachel Walker (oboe), Zhang Jin Min (bassoon) and Han Chang Chou (French horn) was excellent, especially in the serenade-like Larghetto slow movement when each took turns in juicy solos to luxuriate.

The finale with its chirpy theme was another delight, as the sheer clarity of each part shone through. Tempos were kept brisk and perky, adding to the movement's rustic and bucolic quality as it danced its way to a cheerful close.

Here was an august collection of highly-skilled soloists, and the same should be said of the young players from the Conservatory Chamber Ensemble who performed in German conductor Klaus Simon's arrangement of Mahler's Fourth Symphony. The shortest and most lightly scored of the Austrian composer's ten symphonies was further reduced to one instrument per part, which made for some interestingly transparent sounds.

Just as unusual was the scoring for piano (played by Foo Yi Xuan), accordion (Syafiqah 'Adha Sallehin) and harp (Charmaine Teo) which helmed much of the accompaniment. Conductor Chan Tze Law, arguably Singapore's most important Mahler conductor, kept a tight rein on the proceedings and the end result was never hectic or hurried.

Once one got used to the Viennese palm court band sound, Mahler's music pretty much spoke for itself. The sleigh-ride jingles of the opening movement rang out purposefully, and it was soon apparent that every player was on the top of his or her game despite their highly-exposed parts.

Special mention goes to first violinist Liu Minglun who adroitly alternated between two violins in the scherzo-like 2nd movement. One violin was tuned to a higher pitch to produce a sinister and discomfiting effect depicting “Death playing the fiddle”. The spectre of mortality loomed high in this ironic movement, but was laid low for the lovely slow 3rd movement which breathed a leisurely and rarefied air.

This paved the entrance of German soprano Felicitas Fuchs, garbed in an emerald green gown, to sing the verses of Das Himmlischer Leben (The Heavenly Life). This was a child's vision of celestial delights, and even if she did not try too hard to sound childlike, the sheer beauty of her voice backed by musicians in their angelic best was otherworldly bliss.

EMIL GILELS

Complete Deutsche Grammophon Recordings

DG 479 4651 (24 CDs) / *****

Emil Gilels (1916-1985) was one of two great Ukraine-born Soviet pianists to emerge and charm the West during the height of the Cold War, the other being the longer-lived and better-known Sviatoslav Richter. Commemorating the centenary of Gilels’ birth, the German yellow label has reissued its archive of his complete studio recordings, made during a relatively short window from 1970 to 1985.

His playing is warm and generous, extremely musical and never obsessed with virtuosity for its own sake. These are best heard in both of Brahms’ piano concertos (with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Eugen Jochum), possibly the best in the catalogue, Brahms’ First Piano Quartet, Schubert’s Trout Quintet, the short musings of Grieg's Lyric Pieces and four-hand works by Mozart and Schubert (with his daughter Elena).

His premature death following a botched surgical procedure meant his Beethoven sonata cycle was tantalisingly incomplete (he had 5 sonatas to go), but one fortunately gets to hear his Gramophone Award-winning Hammerklavier Sonata, which is magnificent.

Gilels' earlier recordings on Melodiya from the 1930-50s issued by the Westminster label includes recitals (with Scarlatti, Schumann, Liszt, Medtner and various encores) and chamber music. There is however no Khachaturian piano concerto as one cover wrongly displays, but the third concertos of Prokofiev and Kabalevsky. Here are many hours of rewarding listening.

TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto

STRAVINSKY Les Noces

PATRICIA KOPATCHINSKAJA, Violin

MusicaAeterna / Teodor Currentzis

Sony Classical 88875165122 / ***1/2

First off, kudos to Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis and his orchestra and opera chorus from the Russian city of Perm for attempting this adventurous coupling of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky with the celebration of Russian peasantry as a common theme. There are staged photographs of a village wedding with him and Russian-Austrian violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja as husband and wife with love letters serving as programme notes. As a concept, this is first rate.

However, Kopatchinskaja's “brave new world” view of Tchaikovsky's popular Violin Concerto is one of the ugliest on record. Her preening demeanour, alternating slashing and percussive bowing, with deliberate extremes of dynamics and dry vitriolic tone is jarring. This may come across as exciting in concert but makes for irritating repeated listening. She decries “moronic violinism” in her notes, but that is exactly what she serves up.

This is fortunately offset by one of the best recordings of Stravinsky's choral ballet Les Noces (The Wedding), which truly captures the raucous and earthy happenings of rustic matrimonials. Sung in Russian, the soloists and chorus are undeniably authentic and vividly recorded. So, its 2 stars for the Tchaikovsky and 5 for Stravinsky, which makes 3 and a half in total.

NANYANG IMPRESSIONS

Singapore

Chinese Orchestra

& NAFA Chinese Orchestra

Lee Foundation Theatre

Wednesday (21 September 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 23 September 2016 with the title "Showcase of Nanyang music".

Nanyang Music by nomenclature is a new genre of music, coined by Yeh Tsung and the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. It had an official inauguration in 2006 with the First Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Composition. In actual fact, Nanyang music has always existed as indigenous music of the lands of Southeast Asia or works of local composers without such formal titles.

Nonetheless, the notion of incorporating Southeast Asian elements into Chinese instrumental music has take root, becoming a discrete artistic entity that cannot be ignored. This joint concert by the SCO and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Chinese Orchestra was a showcase of this music.

The SCO conducted by Quek Ling Kiong opened with young Singaporean composer Wang Chen Wei's Confluence, a short and colourful work that utilised the gamelan pelog scale in its principal melody. First heard on the guan and later on dizi following a yangqin cadenza, the Indonesian character of its graceful sashays was unshakeable.

More subtle was Chew Jun An's Colours Of Rain with its impressionistic hues in two discernible sections. The first was dissonant, with a torrential storm looming over pelting ostinatos. This contrasted with the second which approximated light precipitation, with a plaintive melody from dizis and sheng gliding over the harp's accompaniment.

The NAFA Chinese Chamber Ensemble performed without conductor, opening with Phoon Yew Tien's Divertimento on Malay Folk Songs. Lightly scored, plucked and bowed strings sang out short motifs and whole tunes from the popular Lenggang Kangkong, Rasa Sayang and Dayong Sampan. A larger ensemble then offered Law Wai Lun's A Walk In The Rain, which is a sympathetic treatment of a Hakka folk melody.

The SCO and NAFA Chinese Orchestra joined forces for the final two works of the concert. The first was Jiang Ying's Hot Melody of Southeast Asia, a pretentious piece of kitsch that just about matched its banal title. The term “hot” referred to the jazzy Afro-American idioms that so captivated Europe during the 1920s and 30s.

What was heard was merely a watered down imitation of Leroy Anderson's various light pieces, played with little regard to jazz harmonies or nuances. And its selling point from Southeast Asia? Perhaps the music is fit for an a-go-go club in Geylang or Patpong...

Far better was Sarawakian Simon Kong's Izpirazione II, an orchestral suite inspired by three thick-skinned East Malaysian fruits. Its movements Durian, Rambutan and Tarap corresponded to a prelude, scherzo and danzon. Durianwas premised on a recurring short motif that spelt anticipation of an aromatic feast, while the fast and piquant Rambutanwas built on the repetitive rhythms inherent in its spelling.

For the finale, conductor Quek got the audience clapping and stamping their feet to the raucous dance of Tarapwhile he filled in with guttural tribal chants. The encore was par for the course of the mid-Autumn Festival as Hua Hao Yue Yuan made for a celebratory send-off.

VLADIMIR HOROWITZ

PLAYS GREAT SONATAS

Sony Classical 88697884092 (10 CDs)

****1/2

What constitutes a great sonata? This seems arbitrary as the piano sonatas in this box-set range from 2-minute masterpieces by Scarlatti to half-hour mammoths from Liszt, Schumann and Schubert. One might argue that whatever the Ukrainian-American virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989) touches turns to gold, especially Scarlatti's single-movement harpsichord miniatures of wit and wonder (there are 32 of them here).

He also exhibited a special sympathy for the neglected Muzio Clementi, with several sonata movements, and reignited an interest for Alexander Scriabin, whose Sonatas Nos.3, 5, 9 and 10 get definitive performances.

The electrifying side to Horowitz's virtuosity is heard in Chopin's Funeral March Sonata, Schumann's Third Sonata (also known as the Concerto Without Orchestra), Liszt’s Sonatain B minor and Rachmaninov's Second Sonata,. He is less convincing in Schubert's last Sonata in B flat major and Beethoven, where the playing is often overstated.

From the 20^th century, he practically owned Samuel Barber's Sonata and Prokofiev's Seventh Sonata (he gave the American premieres), and makes a good case for Kabalevsky's banal Third Sonata. The only disappointment is the presentation as the lack of programme notes for new listeners is unacceptable.

THE CLARINOTTS

with Wiener Virtuosen

Deutsche Grammphon 481 1917 / *****

The Clarinotts is the world's foremost clarinet family, formed by Vienna Philharmonic Principal Clarinettist Ernst Ottensamer and his sons Daniel (also a Principal in Vienna) and Andreas (Principal of the Berlin Philharmonic).

Their debut album features original works and arrangements for two and three clarinets, sometimes in combination with basset horn (a member of the clarinet family with a slightly lower range), performed with much zest and finesse.

Mendelssohn's Concert Piece No.1 (Op.113) is a delightful repertoire work in three movements, with excellent interplay between the sibs, Daniel on clarinet and Andreas on basset horn. Franz & Karl Doppler's Rigoletto Fantasy for three players was arranged from the original for two flutes, and luxuriates in popular melodies like La Donna E Mobile, Caro Nome and Quartet Bella Figlia Dell'Amore.

Also of operatic origin is the trio Soave Sia Il Vento from Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, while Rossini's La Danza with the pastorale from William Tell Overture as introduction is operatic in its intensity and outward display. The longest work is Bela Koreny Cinema I, conceived as dramatic movie music with a jazzy vibe. Serving as encores are Luiz Bonfa's popular Manha De Carnaval and the thrills and spills of Olivier Truan's The Chase, which complete a highly enjoyable hour.

ROCOCO VARIATIONS

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (30 September 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 3 October 2016

There was a pleasing symmetry to the pair of concerts by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by its Principal Guest Conductor Okko Kamu last weekend. Two symphonies in the key of D major bookended a concerto, with all three works sharing a common theme of classicism.

Neoclassical may describe Prokofiev's First Symphony, also known as the Classical Symphony, which was an early 20^th century update on the symphonies of Joseph Haydn. “Small is beautiful” is the credo of this delightful work which got a bubbly reading that was also well paced. Amid the busyness was bassoon principal Zhang Jin Min's ever-steady arpeggiated passages that pulsed like clockwork.

The slow movement displayed much lightness in its staccato beat with violins singing a seamless melody. The 3^rdmovement's Gavotte, where there was a deliberate effort to parody its ungainliness, did not come off as planned. It sounded lead-footed, but the quick-fire finale was mercurial and incisively driven to be truly exciting.

Next came Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme for cello and orchestra, popularly known as just the Rococo Variations. The term rococo refers to a late baroque style that favours simplicity over the typically florid and ornate figurations of the earlier 18^thcentury. It was such a Mozartian theme that inspired this lovely piece which received a stunning performance from SSO Principal Cellist Ng Pei-Sian.

Sporting a short-sleeved tee-shirt and with his hair tied up in a short tail, the orchestra's youngest ever principal was the epitome of chic informality. More importantly, his playing also expressed that sense of freedom, one with a rich, singing tone that projected richly to the highest circle seat, and perfect intonation.

His nimbleness was articulated perfectly in the tricky variations, and the slower, more lyrical moments were a marvel of tenderness and grace. The furious finale variation was delivered with unabashed aplomb, and the loud audience applause was rewarded with Bach's Prelude in G major as encore, three more minutes which were simply sublime.

Beethoven's Second Symphony completed the evening's programme. Its punched out opening chords were loud and uncompromisingly direct, as if trying to make a point. The slow introduction soon led into the Allegro section of raw virile energy. Here was Beethoven's angst, coinciding with the onset of his irreversible deafness, laid out for show.

The orchestra was on the same page throughout, and while there was bustling activity in the 1^st movement, the slower 2^nd movement benefited from a sturdy unceasing pulse that lent much to its attractiveness. The Scherzo was vigorous and full bodied in its approach, which set the tone for the rollicking finale.

Here, a relentlessly hectic pace could have been pursued, but conductor Kamu favoured one that allowed its wit and humour to come through. As the much animated finale drew to its feverish close, one could easily discern that this was no routine run-through, but a bona fide and true interpretation.

THE CLASSICAL ELEMENTS

ALBERT TIU, Piano

Centaur 3503 / *****

The Philippines-born and Singapore-based pianist Albert Tiu has come up with another winner in his second solo album on the American Centaur label. The Classical Elements comprises four suites of five pieces each, inspired by the ancient notion of Earth, Air, Water and Fire as the four pillars of the natural world.

Each suite includes one of Luciano Berio's Encores, entitled Erdenklavier, Luftklavier, Wasserklavier and Feuerklavier respectively, which are surprisingly accessible short pieces. Debussy, the master of musical impressionism, is also sine qua non, with his Hills Of Anacapri, Wind On The Plains, Reflections In The Water and Fireworks as programming pivots.

Tiu's other selections are excellent, with warhorses by Liszt, Ravel and Rachmaninov, and rarities like Godowsky's Gardens Of Buitenzorg, Griffes'Night Winds, Ibert's Wind In The Ruins and Mompou's The Lake, all evocatively coloured. His touch is variegated and exquisitely weighted, and often each piece flows seamlessly into the next.

All are virtuoso pieces, and he pulls out all stops in Louis Brassin's transcription of Wagner's Magic Fire Music from The Valkyrie and Scriabin's Vers La Flamme (Towards The Flame). The fever-pitch in this 80-minute recital is also mirrored by the psychedelic cover design. Simply unmissable.

DON'T MISS:

ALBERT TIU

Piano Recital: Grand Russian

TCHAIKOVSKY Grand Sonata

RACHMANINOV Sonata No.1

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Friday, 7 October 2016 at 7.30 pm

Free admission by Registration

MEDTNER PLAYS MEDTNER Vol.II

NIKOLAI MEDTNER, Piano

Melodiya 10 02274 (2 CDs) / *****

The grossly underrated music of Russian composer Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) has enjoyed a renaissance thanks to the advocacy of pianists like Nikolai Demidenko, Marc-Andre Hamelin and Hamish Milne. Medtner's own recordings however have pride of place, especially those of his three piano concertos which are classics of the late Romantic repertoire.

Gathered in a single album for the first time, these deserve special acclaim for their authority and authenticity. Recorded in 1947 with The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by George Weldon (Concerto No.1) and Issay Dobrowen (Concertos Nos.2& 3), with sponsorship by the Maharajah of Mysore, these reveal Medtner as an adroit and mercurial pianist.

Medtner’s interpretations inform and influence the modern interpretation of his music far more than most other contemporary composer in their own compositions. The use of recurrent motifs lends tautness and unity despite the sprawling structure, and these repay more dividends than his close friend Rachmaninov's piano concertos on further listening.

The Third Concerto, arguably his best, carries the subtitle “Ballade” and takes on an inexorable sweep through its three connected movements. This is astutely coupled with his rhapsodic Sonata-Ballade, a masterpiece of thematic development and counterpoint, which is similarly inspired. These performances are essentially listening for all true pianophiles.

GRAND RUSSIAN

ALBERT TIU Piano Recital

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Friday (7 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 10 October 2016 with the title "Passionate rendition of Russian rarities".

What makes Russian Romantic music so attractive and compelling that a large audience was enticed to the Conservatory on a Friday evening to attend a recital comprising two piano sonatas which could rightly be considered rarities?

The names of Tchaikovsky (left) and Rachmaninov provided a clue, as both Russians composed tuneful works with emotions firmly emblazoned on their sleeves. Pathos and tragedy are writ large in their often overwrought scores such that listeners are put through a wringer and come out feeling a spiritual catharsis. Just like a good movie. Or maybe it was the name of Albert Tiu, surely the most adventurous and thematically sophisticated pianist in Singapore today.

It was really a bit of both, as he began his recital with Tchaikovsky's Grand Sonata in G major Op.37. Big chords dominated the opening movement, delivered with fearless panache but tempered by a Schumannesque lyricism which made contrasts all the more apparent. The shortcoming was not Tiu's but Tchaikovsky's, because the repetitious piece in four movements which ran past the half-hour mark seemed to go on a bit too long.

The perpetual movement in the 3^rdmovement's Scherzo provided a worthwhile diversion but that was too short-winded. It was left for the Finale to combine the extremes - with more loud notes and prestidigitation – leading to a vertiginous climax before bringing down the house.

This Tchaikovsky-Rachmaninov tandem was strategic in other ways. Tchaikovsky was Rachmaninov's mentor and musical “father”. Both their grand sonatas were in the same key as the grand piano concertos they were yet to compose, as well as being written-out premonitions.

Rachmaninov's First Piano Sonata in D minor Op.28 that occupied the second half was even longer, but in Tiu's hands, that never became an issue. The brooding and ruminative opening predicted his Third Piano Concerto, and Tiu built up a strong case by drawing the listener into the unsettling heart of this very personal music.

The oft-quoted association of this symphonically conceived work with the Faust legend is apt, as its three movements seemed to reflect the conflicted personas of Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles. While the 1^st movement struggled with turmoil and upheaval, the slow 2^nd movement was a calming and tender portrait, while the finale was a devilish hell-for-leather ride into the abyss.

In each of these, Tiu's views were highly characterised in the gripping narrative, with each movement carved out with a granite-like assuredness and inexorability. There was hardly a dropped note let alone a moment's loss of concentration. There have only been three complete performances of this work in Singapore in living memory. Tiu gave two of these, including the local premiere in 2004. If anything, this last epic reading surpassed his first in terms of passion and volatility.

Taking a break from barnstorming, his encore promised something totally different: Percy Grainger's Irish Tune From County Derry, popularly known as Danny Boy. After Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, it came like a blast of fresh air.

COKE 24 Preludes

15 Variations & Finale

SIMON CALLAGHAN, Piano

Somm 0147 / ****1/2

Spare a thought for English composer Roger Sachaverell Coke (1912-1972), a contemporary of Benjamin Britten and composer of six piano concertos and three symphonies, who has virtually been forgotten. He shared a piano teacher with the future Queen Elizabeth II and a composition teacher with Singaporean composer Kam Kee Yong. He was also a good friend of Rachmaninov's, whose composition style influenced his own.

Witness his 24 Preludes for piano, laid out in two separate sets (Op.33 and 34) between 1938 and 1941, which are rich in late Romantic sensibilities and harmonies, dark and brooding in demeanour. Running about 50 minutes in duration, they are longer than Chopin and Scriabin's Preludes but less discursive than Rachmaninov's own.

The 15 Variations & Finale (Op.37) has the potential of being a classic. It is imaginatively written, with precedents in Mendelssohn's Variations Serieuses and Rachmaninov's Chopin Variations.

The young English pianist Simon Callaghan who presents these premiere recordings is clearly a virtuoso and excellent guide in this arcane repertoire. Like the music of York Bowen and Nikolai Medtner, once scandalously neglected, Coke's day would surely come.

FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Decca 483 0201 / ****1/2

Long before American Idol, William Hung and Susan Boyle, there was Florence Foster Jenkins. The elderly and wealthy socialite captured the imagination of an entire nation by selling out Carnegie Hall in 1944 despite having the unenviable reputation of being the “world's worst singer”.

The word “despite” might easily be replaced by “because of” as her legendary badness was genuinely entertaining, as portrayed in the Steven Frears directed movie that bears her name. There are no FFJ original tracks (she recorded several with Melotone) in the original soundtrack, but the multiple Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep hits execrable heights with true gusto, partnered by Simon Hellberg's piano who plays the original accompanist Cosme McMoon.

As if to illustrate the gulf between hubristic ambition and actual insight, there are two tracks of Delibes'Bell Song from Lakme, first sung by coloratura soprano Aida Garifullina (who played Lily Pons in the movie) followed by Streep's classic FFJ. The original music by Alexandre Desplat conducting the London Metropolitan Orchestra captures the big band sound of 1930s and 40s America.

For pure escapism, Streep's approximations of Johann Strauss's Adele's Laughing Song(Die Fledermaus), McMoon's Like A Bird and Valse Caressante, and Mozart's Queen Of The Night Aria (The Magic Flute) will have one in stitches. But spare a thought for the neighbours, so keep the volume down.

BRUCKNER MASS NO.3

Singapore

Symphony Orchestra

Singapore Symphony Choruses

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (15 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 October 2016 with the title "Sublime farewell".

Thirty-two years is a lifetime when one considers the services to choral music by the outgoing Choral Director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra Lim Yau. A successor has been named but his legacy, comprising two terms of 16 years each, is a massive one to live up to. His first term from 1981 to 1997, as Chorus Master of the Singapore Symphony Chorus (SSC), focused on building core concert repertoire with works like Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Handel's Messiah, Orff's Carmina Burana and Mendelssohn's Elijah.

The years 2000 to the present saw SSC augmented by college and community choirs to form a mega-chorus. This enabled monumental works like Mahler's Symphony Of A Thousand, Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, Britten's War Requiem and MacMillan's Seven Last Words to receive Singapore premieres at Esplanade Concert Hall.

Lim's final concert was typical of his innovative programming, juxtaposing two contrasted but spiritually connected works, both receiving first-ever performances here. The still-living Estonian Arvo Part's Te Deum revealed a variety of choral intimacy that was close to his heart. Despite the posture of praise, it is more subdued than exultant, building upon unison chants and gentle triads which ring gently on the ear.

This stock-in-trade tintinnabuli was ever-present, but impressive was the evenness of unison singing from the three choirs, including a semi-chorus on centrestage. The minutest of pianissimos was no easy task of control, but Lim's charges were all ears and one in voice. The orchestra's string textures were sparse but well-marshalled, serving more as interludes than outright accompaniment.

Shane Thio's minimalist piano contribution and Lu Heng's manning of electronic tape and ison (a Byzantine drone) added to the mystique, which coursed through its seemingly timeless half-hour duration. A solo soprano voice was a balm in the closing pages, with the semi-chorus' reassuring Sanctus as a quiet invocation of parting.

With woodwinds, brass and percussion joining in for Bruckner's Third Massin F minor, one's penchant for sound and bluster would soon be sated. However this is a far more nuanced work than one might expect from the provincial Austrian who played the organ and idolised Wagner. Again it were the quieter sections which impressed, beginning with the serious demeanour of worship that opened the Kyrie Eleison.

Ecstatic joy in the Gloria and Credo were soon to come, and the sheer volume built up for the shattering climaxes were a pleasure to behold. And there was still the luxury of four imported soloists, soprano Alexandra Steiner, mezzo-soprano Celeste Haworth, tenor Jussi Myllys and bass Alexander Vassiliev, who had short but important parts in key verses. Ultimately it was conductor Lim's choruses which stole his final show.

From the absolutely beautiful Benedictus to the final Agnus Dei, here was a sublime close with Rachel Walker's brief oboe solo and a serene walk into the sunset. How apt it was for Lim's inspired musicianship and leadership to do the talking. If one pondered how this professed non-Christian could be so sympathetic in Christian music, the answer would be this: Music is his true religion and creed.

Behold The Man.

THE SUNKEN CATHEDRAL

AND OTHER STORIES

KSENIIA VOKHMIANINA Piano Recital

Singapore

International Festival of Music

Gallery II, The Arts House

Sunday (16 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 18 October 2016 with the title "Passion was all that counted".

It is not a coincidence that a number of foreign-born pianists have chosen to make Singapore their home. Thomas Hecht and Tedd Joselson (USA), Albert Tiu (Philippines), Boris Kraljevic (Montenegro) and Yao Xiao Yun (China) have all contributed to our rich musical scene here. The name of young Ukrainian pianist Kseniia Vokhmianina, who studied at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and now a faculty member of the School of The Arts, should also be added to this list.

Her hour-long recital at the Singapore International Festival of Music was a testament to exceptional teaching and artistry of the highest order. Beginning with the First Book of Preludes by Claude Debussy, she revealed a wide range of colours, shades and nuances from an instrument which the composer described as “a box of hammers and strings”.

Well-judged pedalling was the key to Dancers Of Delphi, which conjured an air of grace and poise. Misty hues in Sails, swirling eddies of Wind On The Plains, a mystical aura that enveloped Sounds And Scents Mingle In The Evening Air, and utter desolation in Footprints In The Snow, all pointed to an acute sense of feeling different moods and styles. Debussy's evocative titles in French had been added to each of these pieces after they had been completed.

A comprehensive technique is sine qua non for the 12 pieces, and there was no shying away from the pummelling force required for What The West Wind Saw or huge sonorous chords that surmounted The Sunken Cathedral. All these were supplied in abundance by Vokhmianina, not to mention the simplicity of Girl With The Flaxen Hair, and rhythmic subtleties in Interrupted Serenade, Dance Of Puck and the jazzy swagger of Minstrels.

Singaporean composer and Cultural Medallion recipient Kelly Tang's Elegy (2015) came in complete contrast from the earlier fare. It is the slow central movement from his Piano Concerto In Three Movements, composed for the SG50 celebrations and first performed by Lang Lang at the National Stadium.

Written in memory of the nation's founding first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, it was a heartfelt tribute that included some bluesy harmonies a la Keith Jarrett and the curious inclusion of the Fate motif from Rachmaninov's First Symphony. Perhaps the latter was an acknowledgement that from failure (as the symphony's disastrous premiere was) sometimes comes a destiny of hope.

The recital concluded with Alexander Scriabin's single-movement Fifth Sonata, also known as “Poem Of Ecstasy”. Its rumbling opening bars and volcanic eruptions are startling, and Vokhmianina delivered this with true vigour and conviction.

Rarely has a work seen the piano's keys being caressed and yet brutalised within the same page. For a while, she played safe with its orgiastic outpourings when a more unfettered approach would have been preferred. However when push came to shove, she let it rip and a few missed notes were the result. No matter, passion was what counted most and there was no shortage of it.

With her piano guru Boris Kraljevic.

With Singaporean composer Kelly Tang.

...AND THERE WAS NOTHING

TO Ensemble

Singapore

International Festival of Music

Play Den, The Arts House

Sunday (16 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 18 October 2016 with the title "Unique brand of crossover jazz".

Trust locally-trained and mostly self-taught composer and jazz-cum-crossover pianist Tze Toh to come up with yet another post-apocalyptic and end-of-days scenario to spice up his latest concert. Having gained a certain notoriety from his Land With No Sun series of concerts, his most recent offering ...And There Was Nothing had as its back drop another science fiction-inspired story involving cosmology, eschatology and artificial intelligence.

To the casual concert-goer, all this might come across as mumbo jumbo, but it was merely an elaborate front for an unusual piano quintet that was in effect a 10-movement modern jazz symphony. For this concert, the ensemble was deliberately pared down to involve only five soloists (including Toh on the piano) and with no accompanying ripieno group.

This spareness worked to its advantage, as the sound of each instrument became more transparent. Christina Zhou's violin contrasted with the lower tones of Benjamin Wong's viola, both playing the traditional classical string parts. The main leitmotifs and themes for the work was cast in G minor, which accomodated Lazar Sebastine's Carnatic violin which had a more ornamental role.

Teo Boon Chye's saxophone was the leading star, and it was he who opened in Earth, the first chapter. His was a dark and dusky tone, one which experimented with atonal lines at the outset but ultimately reverted to more familiar tonalities.

The first four chapters were oppressive in mood, as if portending a bleak fate for the planet and mankind, and it was in Chapter Five: Beginning / Pan Guwhen the atmosphere lightened finally. Sebastine turned percussionist, swapping his violin for a drum, over which Teo's sax and Wong's viola soared unimpeded in this most exuberant movement.

Toh was ever conscious that textures of each instrument were to be clearly differentiated. In Chapter Six, which had seven separate titles, a drone from the viola contrasted with caterwauling from the violin, while the next chapter saw both instruments in a tender duet. Elsewhere, the Western violin and Indian violin, both operating on different scales, duelled for primacy.

The Seventh to Ninth Chapters had no titles, except for question marks. Here the future of life on earth was being pondered; are we doomed or will we be saved? Chapter Eight saw all five soloists thick in action, and the ancient concerto grosso of the baroque period was all but being relived.

By now, most would have been totally confused by the narrative of the work, but the Tenth and final Chapter (no question marks and deliberately left blank) was to prove a watershed. Gloomy and troubling G minor had morphed into a reassuring G major at the end, thus suggesting salvation at hand.

TO Ensemble's audience was a small but receptive one, and given Toh's zeal in proselytising his unique brand of crossover-jazz-world music, this should change sooner than later.

SG INSPIRATIONS

ALAN CHOO, Violin

LIN HENGYUE, Piano

SG50 Celebration Fund / ****1/2

Here is a neat collection of short pieces for violin and piano from that “golden generation” of Singaporean composers born in the 1980s to early 1990s. The best-known of the five composers featured is Chen Zhangyi, who was the first local composer to be commissioned by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for its overseas concert tours since the 1980s.

His Sandcastles is dreamy and builds up with waves of sound, while Groundfrom his single-act opera Window Shopping (for solo piano) ambles like a jazzy improvisation. Phang Kok Jun, a favourite of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra's, offered two solos. Hustle Bustle (violin) rustles with a frenetic Paganini-like quality while Wind Chimes (piano) resounds in the tintinnabulation of bells.

Chew Jun An's Lucid Dreamerconjures a sense of isolation, while In The Wind, A Lonely Leaf(violin), a pentatonic tune takes on a life of its own through its discursive 10 minutes. Tan Yuting's still and evocative Water uses recorded sounds and Fantasy Lights captures a dazzling nocturnal view of the skyline from the Singapore Flyer. Wynne Fung's In A Quiet Grey lyrically fantasises on clouds and skies, and ponders on their ephemeral and ever-changing nature.

National Violin Competition champion Alan Choo possesses the technical know-how to match the thorniest of scores, and his sympathetic partnership with pianist Lin Hengyue scores on all counts. Produced for the SG50 celebrations, this is a souvenir to treasure.

SCULTHORPE

Complete Works for Solo Piano

TAMARA-ANNA CISLOWSKA, Piano

ABC Classics 481 1181 (2 CDs) / ****1/2

If there were a composer who fathered a distinctive “Australian sound” in music, that would be the Tasmania-born Peter Sculthorpe (1929-1914). His music sympathetically combined 20^thcentury modernism with Asian (particularly Japanese and Balinese) and Australian aboriginal influences.

His output for piano, dating from 1945 to 2011, reflects that eclecticism and exoticism. In this complete edition, there are first performances of his juvenilia, mostly short tonal pieces from his years of study at the Melbourne Conservatory. A more personal voice is later heard in his Sonatina (1954) and Sonata (1963).

The Japanese influence comes in Night Pieces (1971), Landscape (1971), Koto Music I & II (1973 & 1976), while his stock in trade Aboriginal sound – filled with dreamy resonances, echoes and silences – are best appreciated in Djilile(1986), Nocturnal (1983/89) and Harbour Dreaming (2000).

His Little Passacaglia (2004) was written memory of victims of the 2002 Bali Bombings, while his final and longest work Riverina (2011) is a summation of all his styles in five movements, including quote from Home Sweet Home and the Chinese song Molihua. Australian pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska has lived with Sculthorpe's music since her early teens and is a most persuasive advocate. The recorded sound is also excellent.

THIEF IN THE NIGHT

AND OTHER BIZARRE TALES

THOMAS ANG Piano Recital

Singapore

International Festival of Music

Gallery II, The Arts House

Tuesday (18 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 20 October 2016 with the title "Mix of obscure and familiar".

One important aspect of this year's Singapore International Festival of Music is its focus on some of the nation's most talented young musicians. One who has been tipped to be a future super-virtuoso in the mould of the great French-Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin is Thomas Ang, presently studying in London's Royal Academy of Music.

His piano recital was an eclectic mix of familiar and obscure work, the sort that find their way to the Rarities of Piano Music Festival at Schloss vor Husum in Germany. To sell tickets, popular works had to be programmed, so Ang began with Chopin's Third Ballade and three Études from Op.10.

One is not immediately drawn to his prodigious technique, but rather a directness of expression. He does not gild the lily, allowing instead for music speak for itself. The Ballade was crafted with care and good taste, building up to a passionate climax. The studies were tossed off like putty in his fingers, their brilliance on the Bösendorfer grand coming off as over-glaring in the reverberant hall.

The last of these was the Black Key Etude (Op.10 No.5), which was the subject of two further studies by the afore-mentioned Hamelin and Leopold Godowsky. The psychedelic and acid-infused take of the former was tampered by the more traditional contrapuntal fairground that was the latter. Ang swallowed these challenges whole, and followed up with the staple of all virtuosos worth their salt, Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit.

This triptych of tone poems is considered one of the most fearsome in the entire piano literature. The watery realm of Ondine and the bow-legged scampering of Scarbo were brushed off with splashy colour and manic ferocity but it was the slow movement, Le Gibet (The Gallows) which held the most fascination. Ang's take was slower than usual, but the repetitive tolling B flat octave of a distant church bell was totally hypnotic.

The second half opened with Bach's Prelude & Fugue in F sharp minor (Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2), where Ang demonstrated her was equally adept in standard repertoire. His Bach was particularly clear-headed and transparently illuminated.

Rarities took over with two Singapore premieres, of Russian pianist-composer Samuil Feinberg's song The Dream (in Ang's own transcription) and the Second Sonata. Dissonant and piquant harmonies dominated both works, the latter being a thorny single movement of volatile and elusive emotions, heavily influenced by the mystically-inclined Scriabin.

As a palate cleanser, two short movements from Tchaikovsky's Children's Albumrevealed a more tender side. Rachmaninov's transcription of Tchaikovsky's Lullaby, filled with smouldering melancholy and surprising harmonic twists, and Ang's transcription of Tchaikovsky's song When The Day Dawns completed the highly satisfying two-hour recital.

That last piece and his encore, an original transcription of a Schubert Lied, showed Ang to be following the footsteps of another legendary Golden Age pianist, the late great Earl Wild.

NEW MUSIC IN A MYTHIC LANDSCAPE

SIFOM Ensemble

Singapore

International Festival of Music

Chamber, The Arts House

Wednesday (19 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 October 2016

New music has the perpetual problem of attracting audiences, and presenters are usually mindful of engaging patrons with various outreach efforts to win them over. This concert of new Singaporean music however did nothing of the sort as its presentation was lamentable and unacceptably poor.

There were neither composer biographies nor programme notes provided, just a host who happened to be Paris-based conductor Marlon Chen merely reading out titles of performed pieces. Even the names of performers were omitted. Strike One. Two works on the printed programme by John Sharpley and Koh Cheng Jin were discarded with no reasons given. The compensation was a complimentary drink offered on the house. Strike Two.

Without fanfare, the 65-minute long concert (originally marketed as 90 minutes) began with Chen Zhangyi's Sandcastles. Violinist Arisa Ikeda and pianist April Foo gave an evocative reading with lyrical lines accompanied by rippling keyboard textures, like waves gently lapping on a serene tropical beach.

Bertram Wee's Love Songs for piano trio was sterner than its title suggested. Its 5 movements were atonal and dissonant, with the idea that the course of true love is never easy. Violinist Rida Sayfiddinov, cellist Dzhama Saidkarimov and pianist Thomas Ang covered a full gamut of 20^th century technical devices including harmonics, slides, brusque pizzicatos and heavy chords which cemented his case in no uncertain terms.

A surreal soundscape was created for Ding Jian Han's Slow Jogging On A Not-So-Silent Night, scored for flute (Jeremy Lim), clarinet (Andrew Constantino), violin, cello and piano (Foo), conducted by Marlon Chen. No actual notes were played in its opening minutes, comprising only the sound of air passing through channels or over strings. This soon cystallised into tones, both short and long-held, which generated a Zen-like calm and mysticism.

Newly commissioned was Mick Lim's #9(Sharp Nine), a brief work for pipa(Chua Yew Kok), zhongruan (Loi Eevian), violin, viola (Ho Qian Hui) and cello, which ran a course of plucked notes and pizzicatos. The first work to actually resound with a distinctively Oriental idiom was Ho Chee Kong's Echoes Of Fall for marimba (Kevin Castelo), clarinet, gambus (Loi on ruan) and cello. There were virtuoso roles for each in this enjoyable serenade-like work, which could have come from Central Asia.

The last and most substantial work was Tan Yuting's Chinatown, a song cycle with texts by Tan Chee Lay featuring talented and expressive soprano Angel Cortez. Its scoring with strings, winds, piano and percussion was lush, and two central fast movements took on the form of rhythmic dances. The subjects involved a culinary paradise and a back-alley barber, but Cortez's Chinese pronunciation was indecipherable, again not helped by the lack of texts or translations. Strike Three and you're out.

Good music performed by dedicated musicians will always endure, but the cause of new music was not honoured with proper contexts and annotations on this occasion, thus coming off as a wasted opportunity.

PORTRAIT OF A COMPOSER / IKAN GIRL

Singapore

International Festival of Music

Chamber, The Arts House

Friday (21 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 24 October 2016

Malay musicians have long dominated the popular music scene in Singapore, but have recently made in-roads into Western classical music. The best example is young composer Syafiqah 'Adha Sallehin, the first Malay-Muslim graduate from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, who was the composer-in-residence of the 2^ndSingapore International Festival of Music.

This concert was to have featured five new chamber works including two World Premieres but logistical reasons militated against that. It instead had a truncated first half that opened with two solo piano works performed by Matthew Mak. Elegy was a short and sentimental pop-inspired piece, a student work that could have come from a songbook anywhere in the world.

Syafiqah assured that no one died for it to be conceived. More complex was Surviving Love, which was also tonal but featured some dissonances, and a turbulent central section that portrayed the trials and tribulations of her parents' love. Played with feeling by Mak, all's well that ends well, as to be expected.

The first work with an authentically local idiom was Anjakan Jiwa (Movements Of The Soul) performed by an ensemble with Syafiqah on accordion, violinist Mukhriddin Sayfiddinov, flautist Zaidi-Sabtu Ramli, pianist Nabillah Jallal and percussionist Ramu Thiruyanam. With rhythmic ostinatos established on accordion and percussion, this was an lively dance that lilted like the infectious nuevo tangos of Astor Piazzolla, but with a distinctly Malay flavour.

The group conducted by Marlon Chen performed the concert's main work Ikan Girl. To prepare the audience, a Preludewas crafted involving its main themes and presented as an attractive stand-alone concert piece.

Ikan Girl, a dance-tableaux in multiple short scenes, was adapted from a tale in the ancient Malay poem Syair Bidasari. Here, a beautiful girl's life and soul is intertwined with that of a magical fish. Producer Mohamad Shaifulbahri's conception was the eternal play of good against evil, danced by eight members of the Bhumi Collective. Amin Farid's choreography combined modern dance with Malay and Indian traditions, where grace and violence found an equal footing.

Nur Azillah Abdul Rahman and Nadia Abdul Malek mirrored each other's movements with seamless fluidity, their carefree smiles finding an implacable antagonist in Rupalavanya Subramaniam's icy Queen. Paralleling a similar plot in the Snow White story, the Queen seeks to destroy the girl but is saved by the fish's dynamism and an unlikely lackey danced by Amin.

This feel-good quotient would have come to nought if not for Syafiqah's vivid music that closely followed the narrative. Lively and high-pitched birdsong evoked a forest waking, while heavy chords and stern harmonies represented the darker forces at work. A sense of agitation filled the air in the abduction scenes while a violin's bittersweet melody played out a happy resolution.

Like what Stravinsky's Petrushka did for Russian music over a century ago, could Syafiqah's Ikan Girl, an experimental but coherent fusion of Malay and Western classical music, be this equally momentous landmark for local music?

Producer Mohamad Shaifulbahri,
choreographer Amin Farid and
pianist Nabillah Jalal were London-based
artists, when they first collaborated with
composer Syafiqah 'Adha Sallehin.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, September 2016)

Photos from DOCTORS WITH A CAUSE Concert / A Causeway ExChange event

PAGANINI LOST AND FOUND / A Lecture-Recital at NAFA

BORDERLANDS / Singapore International Festival of Arts / Review

TAKACS QUARTET PLAYS BEETHOVEN / Review

MOZART & MAHLER / Yong Siew Toh Conservatory / Review

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, September 2016)

NANYANG IMPRESSIONS / Singapore Chinese Orchestra and NAFA Chinese Orchestra / Review

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, September 2016)

ROCOCO VARIATIONS / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

CD Reviews (The Straits Times. October 2016)

GRAND RUSSIAN / ALBERT TIU Piano Recital / Review

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, October 2016)

BRUCKNER MASS NO.3 / Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Review

THE SUNKEN CATHEDRAL AND OTHER STORIES / KSENIIA VOKHMIANINA Piano Recital / Review

...AND THERE WAS NOTHING / TO Ensemble / Review

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, October 2016)

THIEF IN THE NIGHT AND OTHER BIZARRE TALES / THOMAS ANG Piano Recital / Review

NEW MUSIC IN A MYTHIC LANDSCAPE / SIFOM Ensemble / Review

PORTRAITS OF A COMPOSER / IKAN GIRL / Singapore International Festival of Music / Review