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WAGNER'S THE FLYING DUTCHMAN / Richard Wagner Society (Singapore) et al / Review

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RICHARD WAGNER'S 
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
Richard Wagner Society (Singapore)
& OperaViva Limited / Finger Players
VictoriaTheatre
Sunday (23 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 25 October 2016

A piece of history was made when Singapore's first-ever complete production of a Wagner opera was staged at VictoriaTheatre on Sunday evening. The Flying Dutchman was Richard Wagner's fourth opera and his first hit. Running just over two hours and without too complicated a plot, it made an ideal choice for a maiden attempt.


Despite the lack of experience, this newcomer had much to recommend. First-time opera directors Chong Tze Chien and Glen Goei gave the production a Southeast Asian slant, with the introduction of wayang kulit and shadow puppetry to great advantage. As the Singapore International Festival of Music Orchestra conducted by Darrell Ang played the Overture, the back-story of the Dutchman, doomed to wander the Seven Seas for all eternity, was retold by puppetry alone. In the foreground, the maiden Senta (portrayed by Australian soprano Kathleen Parker) was seen obsessing with a Dutchman puppet dug out from a tok dalang's box. Their later meeting would prove pivotal.


To open, Singaporean tenor Jonathan Tay's Steersman set the right atmosphere for the drama to unfold. Act 1 saw the Dutchman (Ukrainian bass-baritone Oleksandr Pushniak) and ship-captain Daland (German bass Andreas Hörl, as Senta's father) strike a deal for Senta's hand in marriage. Both were well matched, the world-wearied and vulnerable Dutchman a foil for the greedy and manipulative Daland.


The star was Parker's Senta, whose dramatic Ballad in Act 2 showed all the qualities of an ideal Wagner soprano. Opposite her, hunter Erik and some-time love interest (Czech tenor Jakub Pustina) was a weaker presence with his straining at higher tones. Mezzo-soprano Candice de Rozario fulfilled her part of Senta's sidekick Mary well. The men's choir from Schola Cantorum, with just eleven singers, was just too small for the sailors' choruses while the women's choir was not always pitch perfect in the Spinning Chorus. 


The stage design could never match those of Bayreuth or major opera houses, so Wong Chee Wai's sets relied effectively on the use of shadows and silhouettes, with a skeletal ship's hull with steps and runway being the mainstay. A kampong on stilts, spinning wheels and the simulation of waves, projected as shadows under Lim Woan Wen's evocative lighting, were also atmospheric touches.

Max Tan and Yuan Zhiying's costumes vacillated between Western and Asian, so the extravagant outfits of the Dutchman (bright red) and Daland (black and white) appeared like something out of a sci-fi pirate movie. For a production predominantly cloaked in dark hues, the contrasts were still eye-catching enough.


The final scene when Senta abandons the safety of terra firma to unite with the Dutchman, thus providing his redemption, was a poignant one. There was no mention of death, only sacrifice and the course of true love. Ultimately, it was the musical, dramatic values and story-telling that made this production stand out.


There are four more shows on 25, 27, 28 (with an all-local main cast) and 30 October. A brush with Wagner's first outing in Singapore is guaranteed to be a memorable one. 



CD REVIEWS (The Straits Times, October 2016)

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BACH Piano Works
NELSON FREIRE, Piano
Decca 478 8449 / *****

The music of Bach has not featured in the recordings of Brazilian piano virtuoso Nelson Freire, until now. That is a surprise given how well attuned he is to the baroque idiom. 

It might be argued that Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) never conceived his keyboard music for the modern piano, but if one considers these works to be transcriptions, Freire's view of Bach originals and hyphenated Bach (other composers' arrangements) can rank with the very best.

Four major works – Partita No.4 in D major, Toccata in C minor, English Suite No.3 in G minor and the Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue– are played first on this album, illustrating his utter clarity, immaculate phrasing and total command of counterpoint and infectious dance rhythms. There is a joie de vivre which he makes entirely his own. 

Bach's own transcription of Alessandro Marcello's Adagio (from the Oboe Concerto in D minor) and transcriptions by Busoni (of three Chorale Preludes) and Siloti (Prelude in G minor) are elegant and sound freshly minted. He concludes with the familiar Myra Hess version of Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring, a seamless reading that caps a totally enthralling recital, all 82 minutes of it.



DANCER ON A TIGHTROPE
BARTOSZ WOROCH, Violin
MEI YI FOO, Piano
Champs Hill 114 / *****

This anthology is a showcase of the solo violin’s “brave new world”, and it is not as forbidding as one might think. Its title comes from Sofia Gubaidulina's Dancer On A Tightrope (1993) for violin and piano, which opens with a repetition of the A note and builds up into a formidable caprice. Like a stuntman's balancing act on a high wire, it is a hair-raising experience for the listener.

The idea of polyphony on a violin began in the baroque era with Biber and Bach, and modern composers developed further ideas from there. Grazyna Bacewicz's thorny Sonata No.2 (1958) is such a work, and so is Paul Hindemith's fairly accessible Sonata Op.34 No.2 (1924), which culminates in variations on a song that also appears in Mozart's Piano Concerto No.27.

Prokofiev's Sonata Op.115 (1947) is the disc's most approachable piece, a tuneful neoclassical look back on old dances, meant to develop a violin student's technique. Likewise, Alfred Schnittke's Fuga (1953), a student work discovered after his death, is a far cry from his atonal and polystylist style of mature years. 

Polish violinist Bartosz Woroch’s highly impressive technique is ultimately servant to the music's digital and spiritual challenges. He is joined by Malaysian pianist Foo Mei Yi on prepared piano in John Cage Six Melodies (1950), short studies in Zen-like serenity. This is a stunning show of violin virtuosity, comparable with Gidon Kremer's legendary Paganiniana album from the 1980s.  

MELVYN TAN 60TH ANNIVERSARY PIANO RECITAL / Review

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60TH BIRTHDAY PIANO RECITAL
MELVYN TAN, Piano
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall
Tuesday (25 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 27 October 2016 with the title "A spellbinding birthday party".

It is hard to believe that Singapore-born pianist Melvyn Tan has just turned 60. The Peter Pan of the piano still sports a boyish smile, and carries an air of giddy excitement when he is near a keyboard, as if preparing for a busy show-and-tell session. His long flailing arms are a given as he steadies himself to perform.



This concert followed closely his London Wigmore Hall recital on 13 October (his actual birthday) and a most recent CD recording Master & Pupil, which showcased the music of Beethoven, Czerny and Liszt. Beginning with Beethoven's Six Bagatelles (Op.126), which may be seen as disparate short fragments that did not become part of a sonata, he brought out a wealth of colour and varied responses.


One might take issue with his generous use of the sustaining pedal, which caused some smudging of textures, but that approach to sound thrusted Beethoven's late period Sonata No.30 in E major (Op.109) unequivocally into the Romantic era. Its first two movements, brief and cogent, carried on from the bagatelles with a show of wistfulness and fist-shaking dramatics respectively.

The gem that was the 3rdmovement's Theme And Variations then unfolded beautifully. Its hymn-like theme was projected with crystal-like clarity, and the ensuing variations lovingly tended to. The trills in the last of these led into the theme's reprise, a welcome homecoming with the warmth that greets the best of long-lost friends.


Instead of playing Czerny, British composer Jonathan Dove's Catching Fire, specially written for Tan, received its Singapore premiere. A captivating showpiece of some 15 minutes, slower sections of bell-like sonorities (and occasional birdsong) alternated with fast toccata-like episodes which sparked, sparkled and got increasing incandescent as the work progressed.

Along the way, there were aural references to minimalism, gamelan and even boogie-woogie. It was a long journey that took Tan from his earlier fortepiano days of Mozart and Schubert to Messiaen, John Cage and this work. How he revelled in its terminal velocity and unbridled freedom of expression. Whoever said 21st century music had to be atonal or boring, or both?


The second half was devoted to Franz Liszt's monumental Sonata in B minor, a work of utmost concentration that played on the metamorphosis of four themes. Too often it is mercilessly hammered out or over-intellectualised. Tan's version was neither of these, a highly personal account which took certain liberties in phrasing and pauses for breath.

His fingers and entire musculature was equal to its outsized physical demands. Although there were some missed notes, he was too well into the music to be actually bothered, instead drawing his listeners in for a spellbinding ride. What a journey it was, from stentorian chords, luminescent chorales to stampeding octaves and finally silence. This performance was not about digital virtuosity, but more a lifetime's experience encapsulated within an absorbing half-hour.


Prolonged applause was rewarded with two familiar encores, Liszt's Un Sospiroand Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu. Celebrating pianism does not get as heady as this.  


THE FLYING DUTCHMAN / Thoughts on the Asian Cast evening on 27 October 2016

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RICHARD WAGNER'S
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
Richard Wagner Society (Singapore)
Asian Cast  performance (27 October 2016)

I had the fortune of attending the production of The Flying Dutchman by the Richard Wagner Society (Singapore) for a second time, on this occasion a performance by an all-Asian cast. How did it compare with than the Singapore premiere performed by the International cast. Were there major differences?

I am happy to report that the opera scene in Singapore has progressed to such a point that the differences were not at all about standards of performances, and the mostly local cast could stand tall alongside the internationals. Physical stature alone was the main disparity, as the internationals were mammoths or amazons both in size and voice, but the locals made up in different ways.

Only two characters were common in both casts, Jonathan Tay's Steersman and Candice de Rosario's Mary. Tay was a bright and youthful presence in the opening aria while Rosario was ever-dependable in her smallish role.  

As Daland, baritone Julian Lo appeared almost puny, but his acting and characterisation of the role was superb. One could tell his intentions by just looking into his eyes and facial expressions. His voice, although not as towering as Andreas Horl's, was still well projected. Our Dutchman, bass-baritone Martin Ng is a six-footer but still small by Oleksandr Pushniak standards. He commanded a presence with his voice, which got better as the evening progressed. The main issue is a ramrod and strait-jacketed demeanour in his red suit, as if he were directed to portray a character of perpetual “stoic stiffness”.

Soprano Nancy Yuen in her Wagnerian debut as Senta was a pleasant surprise. She did not let her petite size (she is really tiny compared with Kathleen Parker) get in her way. The smitten youth she portrayed was as real as it gets, and her Second Act Ballad was convincing, even if one knew she was close to the upper limits of her abilities. She was made to work hard, and the credit was just in her giving it all, something we know to expect whenever she takes on a role. Tenor Kee Loi Seng as Erik, Senta's hunter boyfriend, was in ways preferable to Jakub Pustina. Playing the forsaken lover, his clear voice never strained and his intonation was never an issue.

The issues that dogged the choirs remained despite the earlier experience, and offstage choral amplification. 11 men were just too small for the sailors to make a real impact. Doubling the number on stage would have helped, as well as getting more powerful voices, and both. The women were better overall, with the intonation issues on the first night were more or less ironed out, and their acting was also more natural.

The direction by Glen Goei and Chong Tze Chien of the Finger Players was unique, putting an Southeast Asian twist to the story-telling with the use wayang kulit and shadow puppet-play. These came to play in the Overture and many scenes, where shadows and silhouettes skilfully took the place of expensive and bulky sets. That alone was worth the ticket of entry.

Attending a second evening of The Flying Dutchman was a rare pleasure, and I would urge others to do the same as there are two more performances, on Friday (28 October) and Sunday (30 October). Do note that this was the Asian cast’s only evening out, as the production returns to the international cast for the final two evenings.      

MATHEA GOH Violin Recital / Review

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MATHEA GOH Violin Recital
with Beatrice Lin, Piano
Esplanade Recital Studio
Wednesday (26 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 29 October 2016

Fifty years ago, the classical music scene in Singapore was spear-headed by Goh Soon Tioe (1911-1982), violinist, pedagogue, conductor and all-round music entrepreneur. His name lives on in the award created in his memory, given to exceptional young Singaporean string players and administered by his daughters Vivien and Sylvia, and the Community Foundation of Singapore.


The recipient of this year's Goh Soon Tioe Centenary Award is teenager Mathea Goh Xinyi, a student of former child prodigy Lee Huei Min, whose 75-minute long solo recital distinguished her out as a major talent to watch in years to come. There was nothing student-like in her playing, only an astonishing maturity that has to be experienced to be believed.


She commenced her recital with Edvard Grieg's rarely heard Second Sonata, with an opening G minor chord that immediately showed she meant business. Its solidly-drawn quality and the strong, vibrant tone she exuded would be sustained unflaggingly for the rest of her very demanding programme. In the dance-like faster section, her nimbleness and flexibility meant she could truly bring out the robust spirit of the Norwegian composer.

The slow movement sang and flowed like one of Grieg's Lyric Pieces, with simplicity and not a little nostalgia, and the finale's folk-dance leapt up from its black and white pages with fulsome colour and rhythmic vitality. Pianist Beatrice Lin was sensitive throughout, but every bit an equal partner in chamber music.


Arguably even more impressive was the segment for unaccompanied violin when Goh was completely on her own in Bach's First Sonata in G minor (BWV.1001) and Ysaye's Sonata No.3, also known as the Ballade. This resembled the opening rounds of any of the prestigious international violin competitions, which Goh will undoubtedly feature in years to come.


Her impeccable intonation in the Prelude (marked Grave) of the Bach would make players double her age green with envy. The clarity and dexterity displayed in the Fugue and final Presto were again the result of that familiar adage, “Practise, practise, practise,” if one were asked the way to Carnegie Hall.

The hair-raising technical difficulties in the Ysaye did little to faze Goh, as she launched herself fearlessly into its thorny thickets and brambly bushes. That she come out victorious and unbruised was credit itself, and this continued into Paganini's well-known Caprice No.24. In these fearsome variations, she wisely chose to include Schumann's piano accompaniment (again played by Lin) which prevented her from being too exposed.


Together the duo completed the recital with Ravel's swashbuckling Tzigane. The extended solo introduction gave Goh ample opportunity to rhapsodise in as free a manner as she chose, and when the piano joined in, the Magyar swagger was in full flow to its brilliant close.

A chorus of bravos ensued, and Jascha Heifetz's transcription of Gershwin's Summertimeshowed that in the midst of all that bravura, there is a sensitive and musical soul of a virtuoso also waiting to come out.    

MOST HEAVENLY MUSIC OF THE SPHERES / 6th Singapore Lieder Festival / Review

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MOST HEAVENLY MUSIC OF THE SPHERES!
6thSingapore Lieder Festival
The Sing Song Club
The Arts House
Friday (28 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 31 October 2016 with the title "Shakespeare in songs".

Perhaps no figure in literary history has had the same impact of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) on the English language, with his plays, sonnets and poems. On the 400th anniversary of his death, the Sing Song Club has devoted the entire 6th edition of the Singapore Lieder Festival to song settings of Shakespeare's verses.


The second of four evenings was a programme of 20 songs drawn from his comedies and problem plays. Thirteen plays were represented, sung with spirit and verve by five local singers accompanied by pianist Shane Thio.

Sing Song Club co-founder tenor Adrian Poon alone sang in ten songs. His mellow, natural and unforced voice was ideally suited for songs with flowing lyrical lines, such as Martin Shaw's I Know A Bank (from A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Patrick Doyle's Sigh No More, Ladies (Much Ado About Nothing).


Yet when it came to varying styles, such as two settings of Fancy (The Merchant Of Venice), he was fully attuned to each idiom and their nuances. Benjamin Britten's Fancie was more rhythmic, emphasising bell-like staccato phrases, while Francis Poulenc's Fancy was serene and less animated, yet delivered with equal vividness.

If there were one song that was alone worth the price of entry, that would be the newly-commissioned Come Away, Death (Twelfth Night) by Zechariah Goh Toh Chai which received its World Premiere. Also the longest song, its predominant mood was bleakly placid, but giving way to an atmosphere of soothing calm, with Poon's sympathetic entreaties finding an uncanny resonance with quiet drones on the piano. 


Soprano Cherylene Liew's exquisitely poised voice accounted for Hugo Wolf's Lied Des Transferierten Zettel (A Midsummer Night's Dream, sung in German), Ernest Chausson's Chanson D'Amour (Measure For Measure, French) and Haydn's She Never Told Her Love (Twelfth Night, English), which provided further contrasts.


Baritone Daniel Fong was given the honour of opening the recital, where a nice boomy glow to his voice graced Glen Roven's I To The World (Comedy Of Errors) and Schubert's Was Ist Sylvia? (Two Gentlemen Of Verona). The latter was another song with two different settings presented, and Eric Coates' more lyrical Who Is Sylvia? (sung by Poon) resembled a popular song.

In between the songs, there were a couple of amateur readings of Shakespeare, including favourite lines of Poon and Thio which lent a more personal touch to the proceedings. Thio's best loved quote from Henry V turned out to be one of the Bard's wittiest (and cruelest) insults.


The songs for multiple voices included Frederick Keel's You Spotted Snakes (A Midsummer Night's Dream) with soprano Yap Shin Min and mezzo-soprano Ng Sheh Feng, Liza Lehmann's How Sweet The Moonlight (The Merchant Of Venice) and George Shearing's Fie On Sinful Fantasy (Merry Wives Of Windsor). Bob Chilcott's Come Unto These Yellow Sands (The Tempest) closed the delightful evening with three women's voices in the brightest of spirits.    


GABOR TAKACS-NAGY CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN - WITH ANDRAS SCHIFF / Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra / Review

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GABOR TAKACS-NAGY
CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN
- WITH ANDRAS SCHIFF
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall
Tuesday (1 November 2016)

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

There was a Hungarian flavour to the all-Beethoven programme by the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra in its latest concert. Guest conductor Gabor Takacs-Nagy comes from an illustrious tradition of Hungarian conductors including Georg Solti, George Szell, Ferenc Fricsay, Eugene Ormandy and Fritz Reiner. Leading the Conservatory Orchestra for a second time in concert, he brought an old world charm to what might have been standard orchestral repertoire.


Breaking from tradition, he addressed the audience before two works, briefly explaining Beethoven's inspirations and intentions. The concert opened with the brief King Stephan Overture, composed for the 1812 opening of the grand theatre in Budapest. Named after the founding monarch of Hungary, its evocation of the Hungarian spirit included long-held lines alternating with faster music of a courtly and celebratory nature. The orchestra responded well to the conductor's cues, bringing out a spirited reading with textural colour and rhythmic vigour.

Next, the orchestra accompanied Hungarian-born pianist Andras Schiff in Beethoven's First Piano Concerto in C major (Op.15). Sensitive in every way, the soloist was allowed to shine in an ultimate expression of chamber music. Schiff's account was not barnstorming, but measured and delicate to every nuance and detail. It was interesting that he observed the single F natural “wrong note” in the 1st movement, which came about because keyboards in Beethoven's time did not include the high F sharp within its range.


He also played chords, octaves and accompanying figurations during the orchestral tuttis, as if he were part of the general ensemble. The 1st movement cadenza was eventful in its storm and stress, capped by a loud chord followed by a cheeky soft broken chord. Beethoven's spirit would have heartily approved of this subversive and subtle humour that enlivened the music.

Gracefulness reigned in the slow movement, almost a pas de deuxbetween piano and the orchestra's excellent clarinet principal Jang Zion. More crispness and light-hearted banter lit up the final Rondo, which leapt about with an irresistible joie de vivre. And there were two encores from the ever-generous Schiff, two Beethoven Bagatelles from Op.126. How prescient it was that the second encore included a hurdy-gurdy's bucolic drone, a most apt prelude for the Pastoral Symphony of the second half.

Takacs-Nagy adopted a comfortable pace for the orchestra to amble in the symphony's 1st movement, which relived “happy feelings on arriving in the countryside”. The gently lapping rhythm of the 2nd movement, Scene By The Brook, was bliss itself, answered by the chirpy bird-calls from the flute, oboe and clarinet.


The winds distinguished the 3rdmovement's village dance, with perfect timing from the oboe, bassoon, clarinet and French horn, before the perfect storm, where the timpani hurled thunderbolts while the shrill piccolo rode the wind. Beethoven's only slow movement finale was a hymn of thanksgiving, played with an overarching warmth with the message that all's well with the world. Conductor Takacs-Nagy's final gesture of pointing to the heavens above said it all.   

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, November 2016)

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STORIES FROM AN ISLAND CITY
The Teng Ensemble
Cross Ratio Entertainment A21 / ****1/2

Here is a very enjoyable exercise in nostalgia as The Teng Ensemble, Singapore's hip Chinese chamber crossover ensemble, applies a new twist to the melodies we sang during our younger days. Forget those National Day Parade mash-ups; what we have instead are slicked up versions of old friends in spiffy outfits by Chow Jun Yi (composer) and Huang Peh Linde (arranger). 

The first track, Childhood, packs in four songs – Ikan Kekek, Burung Kakak Tua, Ni Wa Wa (Mud Doll) and San Lun Che (Tricycle) – while City By Moonlight is an improvisation on Tian Mi Mi, the supposedly subversive Chinese hit which originated from the Indonesian song Dayung Sampan.

The eight-member Teng Ensemble cleverly merges the sounds of electronic and acoustic instruments in a seamless manner, with melodic lines led by Samuel Wong's pipa, Yang Ji Wei's sheng, Gerald Teo's cello and Phua Ee Kia's falsetto vocals. 

Listen for some very astute juxtapositions, such as in Gratitude, with familiar songs involving mothers and fathers, or Journey which merges Geylang Sipaku Geylang with Rasa Sayangwhere Syafiqah Sallehin's accordion makes a cameo. This listener’s favourite tracks are Fusion (Chan Mali Chan) and Storm War (Munneru Valiba), which make this disc worth listening over and over again.     



STRAVINSKY Piano Ballets
Petrushka & The Rite Of Spring
KATYA APEKISHEVA
& CHARLES OWEN, Piano 4 Hands
Quartz 2117 / ****1/2

It was an established fact that Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) composed at the piano. His frenetic and rhythmically complex orchestral scores were all conceived with ten or twenty fingers on a keyboard. 

While instrumental colour may be wanting, harmonic lushness and rhythmic vibrancy could still be reproduced in such piano transcriptions. Petrushka (1911) was his second ballet, making advances from the late-Romantic opulence of The Firebird, such as the introduction of his “Petrushka chord”, a classic example of polytonality. The exuberance of the Russian Dance and Shrovetide Fair sections are headily recreated with the percussive sonorities from the piano.  

His next masterpiece, The Rite Of Spring (1913), took piano textures and by extension symphonic writing to a new dimension. The ballet music heard on piano still provides an equally vivid experience, especially with the rapid-fire interplay of four hands in a very narrow space. 

The Russian Apekisheva and the Briton Owen, co-founders of the London Piano Festival, make excellent partners, complimenting each other's sensitivity with outright virtuosity, and vice versa. There are recent excellent recordings on 4 hands of The Rite Of Spring, notably by Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim (on Deutsche Grammophon), but the London-based duo more than holds its own.  

Some Photos from OLEKSANDR KORNIEV'S VIOLIN RECITAL

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OLEKSANDR KORNIEV Violin Recital
with LIN XIU MIN, Piano
Esplanade Recital Studio
Thursday (3 November 2016)

On an evening when Ray Chen packed the crowds into Esplanade Concert Hall, Ukrainian violinist Oleksandr Korniev did very well to get a good house at the Esplanade Recital Studio. The final year Yong Siew Toh Conservatory student (from Qian Zhou's studio) has just won the first prize at the international violin competition in Almaty (Kazakhstan) and the audience got a taste of what real virtuosity was all about.


His mastery of solo works – Paganini's Caprice No.24 and Ysaye's Sixth Sonata– revealed an intricacy of articulation, perfect intonation and sumptuous tone, all accomplished with seemingly effortless ease. His innate feel for various native idioms also added significantly to the charms of Spaniard Sarasate's Romanza Andaluza and Kreisler's gypsy-inspired La Gitana.


The two major works Cesar Franck's Sonatain A major and Wieniawski's Faust Fantasy saw him partnered by Lin Xiu Min, a practising medical doctor rather than a professional accompanist pianist, on the piano. What was remarkable about Lin was he played all the piano parts completely from memory, and half the time with his eyes closed. The technical details in the second movement of the Franck had no terrors for him, while he generated an orchestral sound for the Wieniawski. Their sense of ensemble and rapport was generally excellent in both these virtuoso works, bringing out performances of genuine distinction.


This was a true partnership of uncommon equals, and their encore was a rhapsodic work of Central Asian flavour by Korniev's father, composed for him when he was ten years old as an exercise of some sort. Apparently this was a World Premiere, its extended opening solo (not unlike Ravel's Tzigane) soon gave way to a raucous dance with piano before finishing quietly in a soliloquy. It can be surmised that the audience who lapped up every moment of this spectacular concert did not miss Ray Chen for a single moment.


THE NYONYA JOURNEY / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

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THE NYONYA JOURNEY
Singapore Chinese Orchestra
Singapore Conference Hall
Friday (4 November 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 7 November 2016 with the title "Spicing up Peranakan tunes". 

Peranakan culture came about through Chinese immigrants travelling down the South China Sea to settle and go native in the lands of Southeast Asia, which they referred to as Nanyang. The inimitable melting pot of Chinese and Indo-Malay indigenous cultures came to define their lifestyles, cuisine, dressing, language and mores.


This Singapore Chinese Orchestra concert conducted by Yeh Tsung featured four world premieres of works celebrating the Peranakan experience, each different and individual in its own way. Chinese composer Xie Xiang Ming's Colours opened the concert, its repetitive short and rhythmic motifs on winds and plucked strings forming a patchwork that recalled minimalism and the patterns found on local fabrics and tiles. There was a semblance of melody from the cellos but that was not further developed with the work's abrupt ending.


Subtle were the local influences in East Malaysian Simon Kong Su Leong's Tok Panjang (Nyonya Delicacies) that relived the spices and flavours to be found in a festive long table feast. There were four linked parts, entitled Teh Mata Kuching And Wine, Festival Dishes, Nyonya Kueh and Areca, which whetted the appetite for something equivalent to sambal belacan, but this was not fully sated. Humming from the players closed the work quietly as bibiks delved on the pleasures of betel nut.


The most aromatic work was Chong Kee Yong's Celebration of Faith, which employed four ensembles: the main orchestra, a troupe of five offstage musicians and two groups of winds on opposite balconies. Beginning with a crackling old gramophone recording of ceremonial music, the music soon became an Ivesian symphony of aural assails, each group operating independently of each other. The heady piece closed with a clangourous procession of the quintet marching out of the hall and receding into the distance.



The longest work was Dick Lee's The Journey of Lee Kan, the story of his ancestor seven times removed who left the Fujian town of Yong Chun at the age of 18 in 1776 to make a living in Malacca. He started a local family line but eventually returned to China, possibly from irresistible homesickness. Scored for orchestra, chorus (Vocal Consort) and two soloists, this was more a cantata than an oratorio unless one considers ancestor worship a religion.


Lee himself gave a short introduction, humourously referring to his forebear as “The First Mad Chinaman”, referencing his bestselling 1990 album The Mad Chinaman. Singer-actor George Chan sang the eponymous part while soprano Felicia Teo Kaixin was his love interest Tuan Neo. Both singers were amplified, but the volume could have been further boosted for more clarity above the orchestral throng.

The music never got out of Lee's comfort zone of writing for musicals in English, with pretty tunes and agreeable harmonies par for the course. SCO Composer-in-Residence Eric Watson's expert orchestration added to the colour, but there was no further room for an edginess which would have made the work more memorable.


Had the words been in Hokkien, Malay or both, the outcome might have been quite different, and likely more authentic. As a musical experiment, this was a worthy effort that can be further developed. 

Composers and colleagues:
Eric Watson (2nd from left),
Chong Kee Yong (3rd from right) and
Simon Kong Su Leong (extreme right).

OPERACALYPSE NOW!! / L'arietta / Review

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OPERACALYPSE NOW!!
L'arietta
Aliwal Arts Centre
Sunday (6 November 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 8 November 2016 with the title "Fun opera apocalypse keeps kids riveted".

Halloween has come and gone but its macabre spirit lingered on for newly-formed local opera company L'arietta's latest production, which cramped three short operas into a single act, not for the first time. 

Gravestones of the opera divas
and Al B Bach (1685-1750)

The black box space in the Aliwal Arts Centre was transformed into a spooky cavern with various Halloween paraphernalia and two wine bars, one of which was tended by the monosyllabic tenor Reuben Lai as the world comes to a cataclysmic end.


A newsflash announces that an asteroid is hurtling towards the planet and extinction is imminent in ten minutes, which was where tenor Leslie Tay's Figaro Montague and soprano Kristin Symes' Carmen Capulet came into the picture in the first opera, Figaro's Last Hangover by Patrick Soluri. Short snippets from the eponymous operas were relived, while old loves rekindled for one last time.


This was not so much a scena lyrique but an acted-out melodrama, where the singers' vivid characterisation of its comedic characters stole the show. Their voices were clearly projected and no surtitles were needed. As their surnames suggested, the couple soon began feuding over past amours and the romance unravelled to laughter from the audience.


The impending disaster is however delayed, which allowed for Michael Hurd's The Widow of Ephesus, the longest and most lyrical part of the trilogy, to be played out. Here the vocal qualities of the singers came to the fore. Symes' cynical Maid, Lai's unlikely Soldier, and soprano Angela Hodgins' grieving Widow all shined in this romance which took place outside a tomb.


What happens when the Soldier's dereliction of duty as a result of his tryst threatens to lead to a court-martial and possible execution? A neat solution provided by corpse-swapping saved the day, with all parties happy in the end. The Widow gets a new lover while the Soldier gets off the hook.

Whatever's left over from
the head of a music critic!

Mary Ann Tear's direction ensured that story-telling and interaction between performers, television screen and the informally seated audience (which included many children kept in rapt attention) remained paramount. This was vital in conveying the message that modern opera could be unstuffy, accessible and even fun. Music director Aloysius Foong was an ever-alert presence with his demanding part sympathetically helmed on the piano.


The asteroid has struck, the characters are still alive but Earth has been overrun by the living dead, which was the basis of the concluding opera, Soluri's Figaro and the Zombie Apocalypse. The lovelorn Figaro returned to the bar for one last fling, and so did Carmen, but never the twain shall meet as the squabbles began once again. As this entertaining production keenly alluded to, some things are destined never to change, even after the zombies have come home.   

Zombies and music critics meet
(frankly is there a difference?)

THE BLACK PEARL - TRIBUTE TO MARIA CALLAS / Bellepoque / Review

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THE BLACK PEARL
TRIBUTE TO MARIA CALLAS
Bellepoque
Esplanade Recital Studio
Tuesday (8 November 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 10 November 2016 with the title "Laying bare famous soprano Maria Callas".

On 16 September 1977, alone in a Paris apartment, the great Greek-American diva Maria Callas died, apparently of a heart attack. She had been the world's most famous dramatic soprano, hailed as La Divina. Yet she had been ill, lovelorn and vulnerable at the very end, a pale shadow of her former self.


The Black Pearl, receiving its Asian premiere, is a play by Federica Nardacci with music, originally in Italian but performed in an excellent English translation. In it, the tormented and world-weary persona of Maria is separated from the celebrity and superstar of Callas. Laid bare, La Divina was as human as the next person, fraught with insecurities, ultimately wanting of love and understanding.


The narration, related through the character of butler Ferruccio, was rendered by Singaporean actor-director Gerald Chew, whose tortured expression and angst-ridden eyes was totally believable. Central to his soliloquy was the utterance of the word “Silence”, which meant the cessation of singing, sound and life itself. Opening with a throbbing heartbeat, the story began with mortality and moved backwards in time to the so-called glory years.


Italian lyric soprano Silvio Cafiero had the demanding task of playing Callas, and did a more than creditable job singing a range of arias from her iconic operatic roles. She has a beautiful and pristine voice, capable of projecting with power and vibrato, yet capable of diminuendos (diminishing the volume) to a just audible hush, without missing a note.


Her first aria was Desdemona's Ave Maria from Verdi's Otello, a moving prayer of rapt stillness, and before long, she was seeking a distant beloved's return in Un bel di vedremo from Puccini's Madama Butterfly, and reliving Violetta's dying scene in Verdi's La Traviata. Allied to this was an innate ability to emote and act out the part, which was, of course, Callas' speciality and strength.



The “orchestra” for the evening was Italian pianist Claudio Di Meo, who accompanied the arias and expertly filled in the gaps with interludes of his own device. The set design by Fiorenza de Monti was simple and effective, a tea-table, chair, portrait of a reclining diva (Between Hours by Edward B. Gordon, courtesy of LUMAS) and a red shawl, the latter used to very good effect.


The slightly over-an-hour-long play in two acts never dragged, and even when certain arias were truncated, such as Sempre Libera (La Traviata) and the concluding Convien partir (Donizetti's La Fille de Regiment), the essence of each was not lost. At least the audience got to hear the popular favourites Bizet's Habañera(Carmen), Puccini's Vissi d'arte(Tosca) and O Mio Babbino Caro (Gianni Schicchi) intact.


The only pity was not having Cafiero do the honours in the bel canto gem that is Casta Diva (Bellini's Norma). Instead emanating from the speakers was the recording of La Divina herself, played after all the characters had departed the stage. Even that was cut short after a climax, perhaps deliberately so. Beyond all that was darkness and... silence.     

Pianist Claudio Di Meo, soprano Silvia Cafiero,
Director Sabrina Zuber, playwright Federica Nardacci
and actor Gerald Chew (from L).

CD Review (The Straits Times, November 2016)

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THE BEST & RARITIES
YUJA WANG, Piano
Deutsche Grammophon 4826653 
(CD + DVD) / ****1/2

The virtuosity of Chinese piano phenomenon Yuja Wang is already well-known. This compilation rehashes highlights from her earlier recordings, including pieces by Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, Stravinsky, Ligeti and a platter of virtuosic transcriptions by Horowitz, Cziffra and Volodos.

She tantalisingly offers four new tracks, where digital dexterity is the main draw, from Scarlatti's Sonata in G major (K.455) to a live performance of Prokofiev's Toccata, where memories of a young Martha Argerich are rekindled. That she is able to bring out the tongue-in-cheek of Rachmaninov's Polka De V.W. or the vertiginous runs in Art Tatum's version of Tea For Two is a testament to her versatility.  

The accompanying DVD entitled Through The Eyes Of Yuja, a 49-minute film by Anais and Olivier Spiro, provides glimpses of a young jet-setting artist's life on the road. From Kansas City to Zurich and Caracas, she is seen rehearsing and performing works like Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto and Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto

She acquits herself as a modest and mostly likeable personality, besides being a true servant of music. Fans of her hyper-charged pianism (and low-cut outfits) will need no further encouragement in acquiring this album. 

YO-YO MA & THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

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YO-YO MA & THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall
Friday & Saturday (11 & 12 November 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 November 2016 with the title "Memorable festival of musical riches".

How does one get people to attend concerts of new music? One way is inviting a celebrity artist to perform, and audiences will pretty much swallow up whatever music is offered. That is a cynical way of looking at things, but what would explain Esplanade Concert Hall filled to rafters on two evenings featuring superstar Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma in mostly modern works?

To be fair, his imprimatur ensured much good contemporary music played by other excellent soloists with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Shui Lan got heard by far more people than otherwise. Widening our ears, breaking down barriers and fostering warm ties between diverse global cultures were always the mission of Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, truly a worthy cause for celebration.




To sweeten the deal, Elgar's Cello Concerto was programmed in the first evening. Here was a rerun of Ma's 1999 performances of the same work at Victoria Concert Hall, except he seemed to adopt broader tempos in the 1stand 3rd movements. His opening solo had that unmistakable air of an elegy, breathtaking in its intensity and gripping listeners by the lapels.


Its famous Adagio was a sigh heard across the century, all the more poignant taking place a hundred years after the monumental sacrifices of the Somme. The faster movements were nimbly negotiated, and the finale's catharsis – with pain and agony palpably etched on his face - was greeted with a standing ovation. Three solo encores were also rapturously received.  



Earlier in the evening, Ma played equal partner to SSO Principal Cellist Ng Pei-Sian in Sicilian cellist-composer Giovanni Sollima's Violoncelles, Vibrez!, a concerto grosso-like movement accompanied by strings. Whether in unison, interplay or counterpoint, the pair was nigh inseparable through its quasi-minimalist and neo-Romantic course; a wallow for string fanciers.


On the second evening, Ma joined Chinese sheng virtuoso Wu Tong in Duo by Zhao Lin. Belying its simple title, the double concerto was a lushly orchestrated score that resembled film music, of the James Bond meets Pirates Of The Caribbean variety. The sonorous solo wind and string parts were well integrated into the canvas, culminating in a deeply felt slow duet to close.


Soloists from the Silk Road Ensemble were also highlighted in concertante works. Kurdish-Iranian kamancheh (spike fiddle) player Kayhan Kalhor starred in his own Silent City (on Friday), another moving elegy for strings and percussion, this time to the million lives lost in the 1980s Iran-Iraq War. Hypnotic and meditative turned to breathless and bounding in Gallop Of A Thousand Horses (on Saturday), which got communal pulses racing.



Wu Man's pipa substituted for the Japanese biwa as she joined Kojiro Umekazi's shakuhachi (bamboo flute) in Takemitsu's November Steps, where contrasted but ultimately complimenting timbres broke the etheral orchestral spell of rapt stillness. Umekazi's own Cycles, a modern relook at Dvorak's Largo with recorded fragments of Walt Whitman's voice, opened the first evening's fare.

Mark Suter leads the percussionists.

The second evening's programme was more eclectic, with short chamber pieces to begin: Wu Tong's ceremonial Fanfarefor suona and percussion, Mark Suter's Weavings for four percussionists wielding eight caxixis(Brazilian bead-filled shakers), Wu Man and Wu Tong's Duo for pipa and sheng, all of which exhibited a rare and exuberant artistry from the performers.


The full ensemble with orchestra also showcased Uzbek composer Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky's Sacred Signs, with five likeable movements that explored the Euro- and Central Asian folk influences which paved the way for Stravinsky's The Rite Of Spring. Completing the memorable two-day festival of musical riches was Siamak Aghaei and Colin Jacobsen's arrangement of traditional Persian music, Ascending Bird, a exhilarating accelerando about a bird's metaphorical flight to the sun and spiritual transcendence.

Can you spot a casually attired Yo-Yo Ma
who performed in the general ensemble?
(He's in blue, near the extreme right.)
      

A HUSUM DIARY 2016 / Days Seven, Eight and Nine

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Sightseeing: the harbour of Flensburg,
near the Danish border.

Thursday (25 August)


Recital 10: Martin Jones (7.30 pm)

The septuagenarian English pianist Martin Jones was re-invited to the festival on the strength of his recital on 26 August last year, and he did not disappoint. Like before, he began with some Czerny, his Souvenir de Peste, a set of variations on a very banal theme written for amateurs of the day. Despite Jones' ardent advocacy, one performance is enough for one lifetime. 

Next were the three Images Oubliées of Debussy, works that were only published as late as the 1970s. The 2nd movement's Sarabande is identical to the one in Pour le piano, while the fast finale shares the same folk melody as that in Jardins sous la pluie. This set is regularly recorded in integrale sets of Debussy but seldom performed in concerts. Completing the first half was five Earl Wild transcriptions of Rachmaninov romances. Jones plays each with a beautiful tone, and summons all the resources available for Floods of Spring, which gets a truly thunderous performance.

Australian composer Graham Hair provided more technical fodder in three of his Transcendental Studies, which sound as fiendish as they are fun. Jean Francaix's Éloge de la dance is a play on the waltz rhythm and idiom, with some off kilter moments as if one had a glass of champagne too many. 


Fun defines Franz Reizenstein's Variations on the Lambeth Walk, which has the popular melody dressed in the styles of Chopin, Verdi, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Wagner and Liszt. There was much mirth and giggles from the audience, and these turned into gasps for the encores by Grainger, Moszkowski, Arlen-Rachmaninov-Mann (Over The Rainbow), Pierne and Tchaikovsky-Wild. The little cygnets took a little tumble but like water off a swan's back, got back to the lake in a most graceful way.  

For his hard work, Martin Jones
gets a model Kowloon Motor Bus
which came all the way from Hong Kong
  
Sightseeing: a fantastic view of the Holstein Gate
and Salt Warehouses from the
Petrikirche (St Peter's Church) in Lübeck.

Friday (26 August 2016)


Recital 11: Zlata Chochieva (7.30 pm)

The name of young Russian Zlata Chochieva is familiar on the strength of her excellent recordings of Chopin and Rachmaninov Études on the Piano Classics label. Up live, she fully lives up to those lofty expectations. Her first half had a nice mix of Galuppi, C.P.E.Bach (which always unfamiliar but crisply minted such that one asks “why have we not heard that before?), hyphenated Bach, hyphenated Franck and Liszt.

One question that lingered was: wasn't that Bach Siciliano by Kempff rather than Friedmann as indicated in the notes. Trust the ever-trustworthy Ludwig Madlener to whip up his iPad with a pdf score and the mystery is solved. Chochieva did play the Kempff version after all. There was Liszt's blustery transcription of Bach's Fantasy and Fugue in G minor (BWV.542) and Friedman's transcription of the Franck's Prelude, Fugue & Variation, which does not sound too different from the Harold Bauer version. Liszt was represented by a Klavierstuck, the totally unfamiliar but beautiful Hymne de la nuit, contrasted with  the rather nastily percussive Csardas Macabre so to end the first half with a bang.


The second half opened with one of Medtner's Skazki and the lovely Canzonata Serenata, which unfolded with great ease and fluidity. That was merely the prelude to Rachmaninov's monumental 40-minute First Sonata in D minor, a Faustian symphony in three movements all but in name. Chochieva has recorded this too, and the live version is just as good. Her prodigious technique is equal to all its ferocious demands, including a Mefistophelean final ride to the abyss that had one on the edge of the seat.  

The amigos at Hartmann's:
with Satoru, Ludwig and French critic
Bertrand Boissard.
  
The restored Gatehouse of Schloss vor Husum.

Saturday (27 August 2016)

Earlier in the day, Jesper Buhl and Bryce Morrison
had a lively discussion and debate on who had a
greater impact on piano music: Schnabel or Horowitz?


Recital 12: Cyprien Katsaris & Helene Mercier (6 pm)

Cyprien Katsaris is back, after rescuing the festival last year when a scheduled pianist had cancelled at the eleventh hour. With him was the French-Canadian Helene Mercier (perhaps better known as Louis Lortie's partner in a number of Chandos piano duo recordings) in a programme which was a repeat of a recording of Schumann and Brahms on Katsaris' Piano 21 label. To begin were a selection of Schubert Ländler transcribed by Brahms for four hands on one piano. Pleasant, but neither vintage nor memorable Schubert, but nicely done.

The serious business began with Clara Schumann's 1857 transcription of her late husband's famous Piano Quintet in E flat major Op.44. The duo's recording sounded richly sonorous but in reality, the live version on two pianos was a clangourous and banging affair, with no strings to cushion the blows. It also did not help that both pianists did not gel completely together. Its four movements started to sound percussive and it was almost a relief when it all ended.

Less problematic was Brahms'Sonata in F minor Op.34b, which has the same music as his familiar Piano Quintet. Here the duo worked better, and there was much passion and tenderness in its pages. The third movement's relentless march was very well held together, and the finale came as a tour de force. If only the last two bars had come with a true vehemence, it would have been close to a perfect reading. The duo’s encores were two lesser known Hungarian Dancesby Brahms, and true to form for this festival, Katsaris said that they tried to avoid the familiar ones.


One week and two days had come to an end so quickly, and I was sorry to see the festival close. There was a usual round of speeches, a buffet dinner with drinks, but the post-festival gloom was only relieved by the thought that the Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum would continue in a year's time. Come 19-26 August 2017, pianophiles and old friends would gather again to share in the sheer joy of experiencing live music at its finest. All thanks to Peter Froundjian and his wonderful team, and to quote a certain Arnie Schwarzenegger, “I'll be back!” 

Seeing double: Fritz from Switzerland,
and Norbert from Germany,
or is it the other way round?
Good things have to come to an end,
final drinks and dinner!
Bidding farewell to Husum:
Daniel Berman (who will perform in 2017),
Ludwig & Kathrin Homburg.

A HUSUM DIARY 2016 / Days Five and Six

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More sightseeing: Petrikirche (St Peter's Church)
as viewed across the Schlei Lake at Schleswig.

Tuesday (23 August)


Recital 8: Hubert Rutkowski (7.30 pm)

It is not too surprising to see a Polish pianist performed a nearly all-Polish programme. Since this is Husum, there was no Chopin on the list! The first half started and ended with polonaises, including Beethoven's rarely heard Polonaise in C major (Op.89) and Paderewski's barnstorming counterpart. In between was all Leschetizsky, beginning with his edition of the Rameau Gavotte and Variations, which is more florid than the original. 

Completely unknown is his Venetian Ballade(with barcarolle-rhythm to be expected), Hommage a Czerny (a toccata-like study), Hommage a Chopin(mazurka rhythm with a grand ending) and Aria, a rhapsodic nocturne-like piece. Speaking of nocturnes, I must revisit Paderewski's B flat major Nocturne, which came off beautifully in Rutkowski's hands.

More Polish fare in Ignaz Friedman's transcriptions of songs by Stanislaw Moniuszko – Printemps, Chant du soir and Dumka, all of which were very pleasant if not completely memorable. To close was the large sprawling Sonata by the young Witold Lutoslawski, composed in 1936. Like the early sonatas of Stravinsky or Dutilleux, it is a product of youth and impressionability, unlike resembling anything of the mature composer. The influences of Debussy, Szymanowski and the late Russian romantics are there, and the even the slow movement has touches resembling Mompou. It plays for over half an hour, and does get a little tiring, but it deserves to be heard once in a while. 

Rutkowski’s  encores included a Szymanowski Mazurka(Op.50 No.1), Rameau's Gavotte and one variation, a familiar Chopin Mazurka(in A minor, he does get a spot after all) and quite appropriately Der Dichter Spricht from Schumann's Kinderszenen, good to close any set of music.   

A view of the Marinedenkmal (Marriners' Memorial)
at Laboe, near the entrance of Kiel Firth.

Wednesday (24 August)


Recital 9: Severin von Eckardstein (7.30 pm)

A more eclectic programme than the one by German pianist Severin von Eckardstein would be hard to find. The first half comprised mostly short pieces, beginning with two Barcarolles (Nos. 9 and 8) with their svelte and sometimes elusive harmonies typical of the French composer's late style. Then came a selection of Preludes by French pianist Robert Casadesus, all of which have a late Romantic Scriabin-like feel with a witty play on sonorities. 

The short-lived Liszt pupil Julius Reubke's Scherzo in D minor is filled with high spirits, more Schumannesque than Lisztian, and this was a perfect foil for Anatol Alexandrov's Vision which was mellow and dreamy, benefiting from wonderful pedal-work from Eckardstein. The half ended with three Techludes by the pianist himself, the second of which required some preparation of the piano, with its John Cage-like plinks and plonks qualified by thuds in a dance-like number.

His second half qualifies to be the best half-programme thus far, as the juxtaposition of Medtner, Scriabin and York Bowen has an almost spiritual-musical connection in their idioms. Medtner's Dithyramb (Op.10 No.2) provided a big and beefy sonority, not to mention its piquant harmonies, which led to the smouldering and dark Polonaise Op.21 of Scriabin, cut from the same cloth as the better known Fantasy Op.28. 

York Bowen's Sonatain F minor Op.72 in three movements is a true gem waiting to be discovered, and Eckardstein played it with the vehemence worthy of the best Rachmaninov or Medtner. One gets the feel that Bowen was the most cosmopolitan and eclectic of the four late-Romantics, as one senses a distant whiff of film and show biz music within a solid classical frame.   

There were two very differen encores, the hymn-like Fantasiestuck (Op.111 No.2) by Schumann and Louis Brassin's transcendentally difficult transcription of Wagner's Magic Fire Musicfrom Die Walkure. A most satisfying evening was concluded with yet another round of drinks at Hartmann's Country Kitchen.

A HUSUM DIARY 2016 / Days Three & Four

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Sunday (21 August)


Recital 5: Johann Blanchard (4.30 pm)

One cannot pretend that the six numbers from Georges Bizet's Bilder vom Rhein (Rhenish Pictures) can match anything from Carmen or The Pearl Fishers, but there is a simple Schumannesque and Mendelssohnian charm which the young French-German pianist captures. Cecile Chaminade is the only woman composer represented in this festival, and Blanchard has become a sort of specialist of her music. Should a woman's music be any different from a man's? At any rate, Blanchard displayed both the sensitivity and virtuoso to handle the dark smouldering Tristesseand Automne (her most famous work bar none, an etude even when one least expects it) and the more mundane Allegro Appassionata from the Sonata in C minor, which showed that a woman can spin notes as much as a man.

There were two short pieces by the French-Romanian Georges Boskoff: Vers l'inaccessible builds up to a high decibel climax without the nuclear fission of Scriabin's Vers la flamme, and the Chopinesque charms of Valse Romantique continues to delight. Blanchard's two encores could not have been more different, Brazilian Fructuoso Vianna's Valsa No.4 for the sweet-toothed and the recently-departed Einojuhani Rautavaara's rumbling Etude No.4 that gave the recital a loud end.


Recital 6: Artem Yasynskyy (8 pm)

The young Ukrainian truly took the rarities dictum to heart in his very varied programme. One would not have expected piano works from the first two composers, Jehan Alain and Benjamin Britten. Both showed they were well-attuned to the idioms, especially the French organist-composer who was killed by the Nazis while defending his homeland during the Second World War. One truly does not miss the organ in the pieces of his Volume 3 for piano, which included an impressionistic Ballade and Taras Bulba with its Bartok-like violence. Britten, who escaped part of the war in USA, served the instrument well in his wonderfully evocative Holiday Diary, by no means a children's work.

Out of the ordinary was a work by Gerard Pesson which involved the sounds of repeated sliding the fingers on the keyboard (glissandi without actually hitting the strings) and thumping the keyboard lid of the Steinway, a percussive dance of ivory and wood with string notes added into the fray. His programme was completed with Joseph Hofmann's Mazurka and Character Sketches, the most famous of which is the last, Kaleidoskop, a favourite of Cherkassky's. Did one expect 5 encores from this true keyboard explorer? For the record, these include two Satie pieces (Je te veux and Gnossienne No.1) , two Scarlatti sonatas and his own take on Chopin's Black Key Etude with its quite charming graffiti.  

Jesper Buhl, owner of Danacord,
provides a little piece of showbiz post-concert.

A spot of sightseeing: on a sand dune
near List, in the North Sea island of Sylt. 

Monday (22 August)


Recital 7: Joseph Moog (7.30 pm)

Young pianist Joseph Moog has become a celebrity of sorts, like a cross between a German Benjamin Grosvenor and the young Van Cliburn. He has a stature that makes him stand out, and that is even before he touches the piano  His programme began with Haydn's Fantasia in C major, which came across as somewhat hectic but not without the humour. Frederic Rzewski's iconic The People United Will Never Be Defeated! is over an hour long, but we get the theme and Moog's own cadenza, which uses an inversion of the theme and builds it up in a fugal manner. It is in effect an extended variation with a fair share of Busoni-isms before a grand apotheosis and the simple restatement before closing. 

This is in the same spirit as the notorious Hexameron, a combo-work by six pianist-composers namely Chopin, Thalberg, Czerny, Pixis, Herz and Liszt, and mostly Liszt who added an introduction, bridging passages between the variations and a gand finale. Moog played the hell out of the Steinway in this totally vulgar work, and its a wonder that it remains standing after all that pounding.

Max Reger's Traume am Kamin (Dreams by the Hearth), comprising 12 pieces, is virtually unknown, because its by Reger. What if one said these were newly discovered pieces by Brahms, which a number resemble? What about the etude-like piece in D minor which look forward to the young Prokofiev? Finally the last piece is an unabashed tribute to Chopin's Berceuse down to many fine details. Does that make you want to try it out? Petrucci Library, here I come! The formal programme ended with Godowsky's Symphonic Metamorphosis on Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, another barnstormer to test the Steinway's sturdiness. There were four encores, a Trenet-Weissenberg transcription April in Paris, a Rachmaninov Etude-tableau(Op.33 No.8),  Moog's own outlandish transcription of Gershwin's S'Wonderful and the Scarlatti-Tausig Pastorale(based on the Sonata K.9). Have we found ourselves a new Marc-Andre Hamelin?

A HUSUM DIARY 2016 / Days One and Two

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A HUSUM DIARY 2016

I’m back in Husum, Germany for the second year in succession. After spending three nights at the 2015, I have been totally hooked, like some cocaine junkie. All thanks to the Japanese professor-critic-musicologist Satoru Takaku, who has himself become a regular fixture in these parts of Schleswig-Holstein. 

This year, I was determined to experience the full monty, which spans nine days in total with 12 recitals and other fringe events thrown in. It will be piano music flowing into both ears, and oozing out through the pores by the time I return to Singapore. As I had written in an article for the Singapore Medical Association News, “Muslims go to Mecca, Roman Catholics go to Lourdes, Pianophiles go to Husum”. Just wondering, am I the only Singaporean who has done this piano pilgrimage?  

Friday (19 August 2016)

The Brahms Museum in Heide,
just 20 minutes by train from Husum.

It takes 20 hours to get from Singapore to Husum. Twelve hours from ChangiAirport to Helsinki, two more hours to HamburgAirport, and thence two further hours by train from Hamburg's Altona to Husum itself. Not to mention the waiting times, and a brief stopover to the modest little BrahmsMuseum in Heide (the home of his ancestors), which by the way is a Pokemon Go stop of some relevance.

Th large festival banner at the gate
of Schloss vor Husum.

Husum in summer is blue skies and bright sunshine, a far cry from the “grey city by the sea” description by its most famous native, the German writer-poet Theodor Storm. Its market square is a hive of activity, with commerce and holiday-makers making the best of the warmth before autumn inevitably arrives. Pianoraks (a term coined by British writer-broadcaster-educator and all-round pianophile Jeremy Nicholas) gather at the 16th century Schloss vor Husum for their annual harvest of musical manna, and anticipation is thick as Kaiser Wilhelm II’s moustache for the annual Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum, now in its historic 30thyear. Peter Froundjian is the festival's founder and artistic director, proud father of a baby that has not only grown up, but become piano esoteria central of the world.


Concert 1: Jonathan Plowright 
Symanowski Quartet (4.30 pm)

These two piano quintets in the key of C minor are true rarities perhaps until the Hyperion recording by these performers get released. If there is any justice in the world, both ought to be far better-known, especially the Ludomir Rozycki quintet with its massive 40-minute sprawl. It matches every bit the passion and intensity of favourites like the Brahms or Franck. There is Brahmsian richness of themes and harmonies in the 1st movement, but it is the slow movement's lament – with big tunes by cello and viola – that steals the show. The light-heartedness of the finale does not quite erase the pathos of the preceding movement.

The quintet by Ignaz Friedman is less intense, but no less listenable. The charm of old Vienna (think of Kreisler and Korngold) permeate the opening movement with the second theme reminiscent of old movie music, and do I hear echoes of Dvorak and Grieg in the slow movement, which is in the form of Theme and Variations. Similarly, Slavic folk music take over the dance-like finale, before a welcome return of the melody from the slow movement. Jonathan Plowright and his Polish partners give the best case possible of both quintets, which I hope to hear again soon. The best fix: buy the CD when it comes out next month! 

 

Concert 2: Duo Grau-Schumacher (8 pm)



The piano duo of Andreas Grau and Gotz Schumacher look like a pair of solicitors and advocates from Stuttgart or Dortmund, but they are are seriously good musicians. To perform an all-Busoni programme completely from memory is no joke, and the seriousness of their intent is stamped from the first note to the last. 

Rambling is what one might described the opening work, Improvisation on the Bach chorale Wie wohl ist mir, o Freund der Seele (a mouthful in itself), which is a hotbed of counterpoint, mildly disturbing harmonies and the obligatory fugues. No argument with the committed and reading. What followed is hyphenated Mozart, including the Fantasy in F minor (K.608) for mechanical organ and the Duettino Concertante (a transcription of the finale from the Piano Concerto No.19in F major). Those performances were on the rough and ready side, which could have done with a more rehearsals, and somewhat more charm. 

The main event was the Fantasia Contrappuntistica, which for 2 pianos is a quite different beast from the solo version. This was probably what J.S.Bach might have done for The Art of the Fugue had he lived into the 20th century. The subject was a Bach chorale but transformed into a quite unrecognisable behemoth that lasted the best part of 35 minutes. Bring on its parade of fugues, variations and chorales, and the duo delivered it with the authority which engenders a new admiration on the craft of Busoni. You either love him or hate him, and there can be no middle ground. 

That was the best performance of the evening, which drew two encores. The first was Busoni's transcription of the Magic Flute Overture, now with far more ebullience than previously and a Bach-Kurtag chorale transcription. Still that might be all the Busoni one will want to hear for the rest of the year.  

The first evening at Hartmann's Landkuche with
Ludwig Madlener, Satoru Takau
& Monsieur Cortot (distant relation of Alfie).

The Wasserreihe in Husum, near the harbour,
is where Theodor Storm's house is located. 
Husum's quaint little inner harbour
with the Marienkirche in the background.

Saturday (20 August 2016)


Recital 3: Florian Noack (4.30 pm)

One new aspect on this 30thanniversary year is the introduction of the Young Explorers Series, which highlights younger pianists with the penchant for rarities. The young Belgian Florian Noack is already fairly well-known for his piano transcriptions of orchestral works. He did not play any of these, but introduced instead Theodor Kirchner's Nachtbilder (Night Pictures), comprising some 10 character pieces. The style is along the axis of Schumann and Brahms, but with a streak of fantasy and tempestuousness beyond their mere titles (which were just tempo indications). Noack brought a gamut of impulses and moods, but seemed to over-pedal to make his point.

One way of describing unknown piece of music is by referencing already well-known works or styles. So to say that William Sterndale Bennett's Fantasie (dedicated to Schumann) was Mendelssohnian is not an understatement. The German's manner was so well relived that one might call the four-movement work derivative. There was a Chopinesque opening in the 1st movement, but the rest was Mendelssohnian in its melody, decorative touches and general note-spinning. Pleasant but not memorable. Noack gave as good an account as he could, and it could be surmised that he will play Mendelssohn very well too. 

His final work was Stephen Heller's Tarantella, which is gentle and nimble, without the coruscations of Liszt; another pleasant listen. His two encores were of a totally different ilk, two of Sergei Lyapunov's Transcendental Etudes, the Berceuse and Dance of the Phantoms, which were very well played.


Recital 4: Simon Callaghan (8 pm)

One thing that can be said of the Briton was that he brought out the most gorgeous sound from the piano, one which the earlier pianists had missed out on. There was a warm burnished tone created for Arnold Bax's May Night in Ukraine, which carried off from the earlier Lyapunov with its Borodin-like melody but filled with dark hues, and just as evocative was Bax's Gopak, a folk dance with some delicious syncopations.

The piece de resistance was surely Roger Sacheverell Coke's 15 Variations and Finale. Its slow theme in a minor key was not unlike that in Mendelssohn's Variations Serieuses or Grieg's Ballade, but the variations were more aligned to Rachmaninov or Medtner with more dark asides balanced with occasional sentimentality. Definitely more demanding than Rachmaninov's Corelli Variations, this deserves to be heard more often, especially with Callaghan's dedicated and most musical advocacy.

The built-in encores were Stephen Hough's Rodgers and Hammerstein transcriptions: the Carousel Waltz, My Favourite Things, Hello Young Lovers and March of the Siamese Children, all of which I've heard from Hough himself in concert. Callaghan cannot pretend to be Hough but his performances were still persuasive. Just do not play The King & I pieces in Bangkok, lest the lese majeste laws get the poor pianist thrown into the slammer. There were three further encores, all Preludes by Coke. From Callaghan, who has recorded them, its the real thing.   

Simon Callaghan with his page-turner
Satoru Takaku after the recital.
Callaghan's piano duo partner Hiroaki Takenouchi
looks happy on the banner behind them.

CD Review (The Straits Times, November 2016)

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MASTER & PUPIL
MELVYN TAN, Piano
Onyx Classics 4156 / *****

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was the teacher of Carl Czerny (1791-1857), who in turn taught Franz Liszt (1811-1886). This illustrious relationship of masters and pupils that spanned three generations is celebrated in the 60th birthday programme of Singapore-born British pianist Melvyn Tan. He has mentored a number of young pianists himself, with his work at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. 

Beethoven, who had set the Romantic era in music on fire, is represented by his late music, the brief but highly expressive Six Bagatelles (Op.126) and Sonata No.30in E major (Op.109).

The latter closes with a sublime set of variations, and this form is perpetuated in a far more florid manner in Czerny's Variations On A Theme By Rode(La Ricordanza), the decorative trend being in vogue with the early Romantics. Czerny's Funeral March, written upon Beethoven's death, is a tribute to his master's famous funeral marches from the Sonata in A flat major (Op.26) and Eroica Symphony. 

Liszt's Sonata in B minor, from the lofty heights of Romanticism, completes this generous 80-minute programme. While eschewing the blood and guts of a Argerich or Horowitz, Tan's breezy and totally musical account is neither short of passion nor dramatics, and offers a refreshing alternative to the barnstorming ones, 

STRINGS FANTASY / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

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STRINGS FANTASY
Singapore Chinese Orchestra
Singapore Conference Hall
Friday (25 November 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 28 November 2016

The concert's English title, Strings Fantasy, only told part of the story.If only its poetic Chinese title Qin Qin Yue Lu, which so cleverly incorporated surnames of the string soloists Qin Li-wei and Lu Siqing, were not so easily lost to translation. Also unspecified in the title was the concert's first half wholly devoted to the music of Zhao Ji Ping. This prominent Chinese composer is best known for writing scores for movies by Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, such as Yellow Earth and Raise The Red Lantern respectively.  


Opening with Zhao's Guo Feng, which roughly translates to “National Airs”, the orchestra conducted by Yeh Tsung showcased solos from pipa, sheng and erhu, besides parading the rarely-heard bianzhong (bronze bells). The music began with a string chorale, working its way to a heroic allegro before finishing off with a long crescendo.


Subtler was Melody Of The Secluded Orchid, a pastoral setting to a Confucian poem sung by soprano Zhang Ning Xia with obbligatoparts for violin and guqin. This unusual combination worked well because Lu Siqing's incisive violin and Zhong Zhi Yue's striking but mellow guqin never sought to hog Zhang's limelight.    

Composer Zhao Ji Ping
receives the accolades alongside
cellist Qin Li-wei and conductor Yeh Tsung.

The evening's best work was Zhuang Zhou's Dream, a single-movement cello concerto premiered by Yo-Yo Ma and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. Its achingly beautiful and elegiac strains found an equal in Qin Li-wei's cello, epitome of a long-breathed singing tone. Although punctuated by faster dance-like segments and an outburst of percussion, it was the lyrical representation of ancient philosopher's ruminations that held sway.


Lu returned in the second half for two virtuosic showpieces. Gypsy fiddling seemed like the common denominator in Chen Gang's The Sun Shines Over Tashkurgan, with its distinctive Central Asian (or Xinjiang) flavour, and Pablo Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy. Lu, armed with a healthy vibrato, was in his element for the latter's Habanera and Seguidilla, before romping home with the Danse Bohemienne. As an encore, he offered a Paganini theme and variations sonata movement.



The concert closed with Law Wai Lun's The Celestial Web, a cantata on the universality of Man, Nature and the cosmos, with words by local artist Tan Swie Hian. Slightly shorter than the Ode To Joy movement of Beethoven's Choral Symphony, it nonetheless expressed similar lofty ideals. Its quivering introduction in D minor seemed like a tribute before lifting off to a different plane.


Instead of solo voices, the texts were recited by Kang Ying Yu and Kong Xiang Chi, very confident drama students from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. The Vocal Associates Festival Chorus (Chorus Mistress: Khor Ai Ming), looking more cosmopolitan than previously, sang the balance of the Chinese words with suitable gusto.

The orchestral accompaniment was excellent, with solo dizi providing florid ornamentation and dramatic bianzhong giving the proceedings an epic and timeless feel. This was an evening with far more than just fantastic strings, but one would not have guessed it without actually being there. 


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