pianomania

THE FREDERIC MEINDERS TRANSCRIPTIONS

FREDERIC MEINDERS, Piano

Vol.1 Danacord 671 / *****

Vol.2 Danacord 687 / *****

These are not new recordings, but no serious lover of piano music should be without these discs. Dutch pianist Frederic Meinders, who is 70 this year, follows in the illustrious tradition of Liszt, Busoni, Rachmaninov, Leopold Godowsky and Earl Wild in the hallowed art of transcription.

To date, he has written close to 600 arrangements of a bewildering array of works for the solo piano, many of which are songs, Their vocal lines do not merely get absorbed into piano textures but are often transformed to something else quite different.

The first volume has groups of lieder by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Mahler, but no way does he imitate Liszt. For example, his version of Schubert's Serenade (from Schwanengesang) is for left hand alone. In the Mahler songs, he incorporates denser orchestral textures but the melody never gets overwhelmed.

The second volume includes the entire 16 songs from Schumann's Dichterliebe(Poet's Love), beautifully rendered, and the first piece of Kinderszenen(Scenes From Childhood), again arranged for the left hand. His Chopin transcriptions, sometimes combining themes from several pieces in a contrapuntal mash-up, have to be heard to be believed. The single Etude (Op.25 No.7) which Godowsky declined to rearrange has found glorious fruition in Meinders' hands. Here is pianism at its most inspired.

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.2

KHACHATURIAN Piano Concerto

XIAYIN WANG, Piano

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Peter Oundjian (Conductor)

Chandos 5167 / ****1/2

Coupled for the first time are perhaps the two most unfashionable and maligned Russian-school piano concertos ever composed. Tchaikovsky's Second Piano Concerto in G major (1882) has never replicated the success or popularity of its forerunner. Although extremely tuneful, casting it in the major mode often equated the music with a lack of pathos, not to mention gravitas.

Its very long 1^st movement cadenza is problematic for pianists. The slow 2^nd movement is in effect a glorified piano trio while the finale is a slight and comedic dance (complete with chuckles that might have inspired Woody Woodpecker) more associated with Saint-Saens.

The Armenian Aram Khachaturian's Piano Concerto in D flat major (1937) is unabashedly populist and lowbrow, using folk-flavoured melodies and razzle-dazzle pianistic effects to mask its inadequacies. Its slow movement however employs the flexatone, which produces a high-pitched wheezy tone when vibrated, to famous effect.

Both concertos have had champions among the great pianists in the past; Cherkassky and Gilels in Tchaikovsky, Kapell and Lympany in Khachaturian. Young Chinese pianist Wang Xiayin however holds her own in these incisive and energetic, no-holds-barred performances, which are boosted with superior recorded orchestral sound. Wallow if you dare.

BERTRAND CHAMAYOU PLAYS LISZT

Singapore

Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (9 December 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 12 December 2016 with the title "Scintillating piano play".

Not for the first time, there was a synergy in the programming of Singapore Symphony Orchestra concerts that worked well. That was not apparent at first when Music Director Shui Lan raised his baton for Beethoven's rarely heard Leonore Overture No.1. This is one of four overtures crafted for Beethoven's only opera Fidelio, which was originally known as Leonore, named after its heroine. It was never heard in Beethoven's lifetime.

The emphatic opening note in G is common to all three Leonore overtures, but this short-winded incarnation took on an unfamiliar path until themes to be found in Overtures Nos.2 and 3 appeared. It was fascinating to note how Beethoven modified and transformed his music over time until a definitive form was reached, aided by this cogent and coherently helmed reading.

Thematic metamorphosis was central to Franz Liszt's Second Piano Concerto, which opened quietly with its main theme presented as a woodwind chorale. Even French pianist Bertrand Chamayou's solo entry was sedate but soon a web of fine filigree was spun, then evolving into the outright virtuosity associated with Liszt's pianism.

Chamayou's scintillating fingers, immaculate octave and chord playing were not merely brilliant ends in itself, but rather the means by which Liszt expressed his symphonic thought. His projection was pin-point and incisive, like a laser beam scything through metal plates. Pianist and orchestra were as one throughout, not least in the sublime segment where Chamayou played accompanist to Ng Pei-Sian's cello solo.

Not even the vulgarity of sweeping octaves on both hands could diminish the stature of this performance. Liszt knew how to grandstand and bring down the house, and Chamayou duly obliged. His encore was most appropriate: Liszt transcription of Mendelssohn's lied On Wings Of Song, a keen demonstration of cantabile skills.

Continuing in the Romantic thread, the second half was devoted to Robert Schumann's Second Symphony. The slow introduction to the 1^stmovement sounded hesitant and prosaic, as if the gears had not shifted into place. However once the faster section was reached, the ensemble bonded as bounded as one, buoyed by a Beethovenian vigour.

This was the most Beethoven-like of Schumann's four symphonies, and got the passion and energy it deserved in this performance. And even before the rapid manoeuvres of the opening movement had settled, the 2^nd movement's perpetual motion got underway with the violins in imperious form. Clean-cut and clear as crystal, this was another virtuoso reading, contrasted by the long-breathed ruminations of the slow movement.

Here was the heart of the symphony, one which ached and yearned with nostalgia, an area which conductor Shui was adept at coaxing from his orchestra. The valedictory finale saw the heroic 1^stmovement motif melding as one with a quote from Beethoven's song cycle An Die Ferne Geliebte (To The Distant Beloved). The love of a man and a woman from Leonore had come full circle, and found fruition in Schumann.

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN

YOUTH ORCHESTRA IN CONCERT

School of the Arts Concert Hall

Sunday (11 December 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 13 December 2016 with the title "Amazing Australian youth orchestra".

The Western Australian Youth Orchestra was last heard here in 2009, when it performed a concert alongside The Orchestra of the Music Makers at Esplanade Concert Hall. This year, it had the stage to its own with an excellent concert led by its Music Director Peter Moore, who is often better remembered as irrepressible host of the wildly popular Babies Proms.

Contemporary Australian music featured prominently on its programme, with two works lasting about ten minutes each opening both halves of the concert. Iain Grandage's Out Of Time (2004) was a highly tonal showpiece that highlighted different aspects of the young orchestra's prowess, including instrumental solos and ensemble playing.

Minimalist in feel, the music chugged along agreeably, resembling the wizardry of Harry Potter movie music and the lyrical variety that accompanies wildlife documentaries. Its message was an exhortation to seize the day as time was running out, one obliged by the young musicians who put on a vivid and stirring performance.

Young composer Rebecca Erin Smith
receives the plaudits.

Rebecca Erin Smith's Murakami's Well (2016) was more abstract but no less listenable, inspired by the fantasies in Toru's dried-up well in Japanese Haruki Murakami's novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Almost a concerto for orchestra in miniature, the riot of colours conjured up by various instrument groups and solos relived moments of Bartok, Sibelius and Stravinsky without sounding derivative. However it was the influence of Debussy which ultimately dominated the more animated section, cranking up the tempo to an ecstatic close.

In between both works, Montreal-born violinist Alexandre Da Costa (now residing in Perth) was soloist in a unabashed romanticised orchestration of Tomaso Vitali's violin classic, the Chaconne in G minor. Forget its supposed baroque origin, for Costa's exuded a vibrato the size of Western Australia with opulent ornamentations to match.

The showboating continued in Vittorio Monti's Csardas, where the gypsy elan in this half-tipsy dance held sway. The impromptu encore was an even longer work, all three movements of Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), where both soloist and orchestra luxuriated in a display of string fireworks.

The world's only concertmaster with
pink hair is Julia Nicholls.

The orchestra completed its demanding programme with the final two movements of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.4 in F minor. String pizzicatos were the mainstay in the Scherzo movement, and if one felt the players were somewhat off the pace, this was made up by the woodwinds which picked up speed and some neat brass chorale work.

All caution was thrown to the winds for the tempestuous finale which provided many exciting moments, not least when the Fate motif which opened the symphony returned, blared out by the brass.

More Australiana, appropriately, made up the generous encore offered: Michael Hurst's The Swagman's Promenade. As its title suggests, this was a fantasy on The Waltzing Matilda and other popular Ozzie tunes. Fair dinkum, it made for a jolly good show.

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

The Mono Era 1948-1957

Deutsche Grammophon 479 5516 (51 CDs)
****1/2

Given the recent worldwide craze in collecting vinyl recordings and an upsurge of nostalgia, it is not surprising that the major recording labels are reopening their archival vaults for reissue and re-acquaintance. This box-set of selected monaural recordings from the German label's vast catalogue is a revelation, not just because of the quality of the performances. The original sleeve art of the albums, with their iconic yellow covers, has also been reproduced.

Thanks to their longevity, the Amadeus Quartet, pianists Shura Cherkassky, Wilhelm Kempff and Sviatoslav Richter, baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler and Lorin Maazel are names which are still familiar to modern listeners. It is fascinating to sample some of their earlier work.

Just as interesting are the recordings by pianists Stefan Ashkenase (in Chopin Sonatas) and Andor Foldes (Liszt and Rachmaninov Piano Concertos), bass Josef Greindl (Schubert's Winterreise), cellists Ludwig Hoelscher (Brahms, Grieg and Strauss Cello Sonatas) Enrico Mainardi (Haydn and Schumann Cello Concertos), violinist Johanna Martzy (a violin recital programme), the Loewenguth Quartet (Debussy and Ravel String Quartets) and conductors Fritz Rieger, Fritz Lehmann and Ferdinand Leitner.

Does anybody today remember who they were? Thanks to these invaluable documents, many issued on CD for the first time, their names will not be forgotten.

TITANIC MASTERPIECES

Orchestra of the Music Makers

Esplanade Concert Hall

Wednesday (14 December 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 16 December 2016 with the title "Bravo for a stunning show"

The Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) is one group that does not operate in half-measures. Its concerts, like a Mahlerian symphony, aim to encompass the world,. Its latest concert, a collaboration with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra (WAYO), was a sequel to their last concert together in 2009 entitled When Heavens Collide.

It was more a case of “when bodies collide” when over 180 instrumentalists ascended the stage of Esplanade Concert Hall for two popular symphonies. The first was Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in Gustav Mahler's orchestration which featured the OMM-School of the Arts Camp Orchestra with the Australians, conducted by Peter Moore.

Refreshing was to hear an old-fashioned big sound in a Beethoven symphony when the new normal was a lithe, Twiggy-like sonority favoured by many orchestras today. Opulence is a sin for some, but not so in Moore's expansive approach which could never be called sluggish. The entries were mostly very precise, amazing for so many young musicians huddled closely together.

The violas and cellos in the opening of the slow movement were svelte and mellow, so homogeneous that one imagined them to be seasoned professionals. Even if the 3^rd movement's goose-stepping was not always perfectly in sync, the sweep in the propulsive finale hugely impressed. Here, Mahler's favour boosting woodwinds and brass made their parts stride to the forefront. Even the humblest piccolo began to sound like a solo instrument.

Not wanting to neglect the concertante element, Quebecois violinist Alexandre Da Costa took centrestage in Sarasate's Gypsy Airs, accompanied by WAYO. His was another old-fashioned wallow with a vibrato that stretched the Nullabor Plain, and the virtuosic tricks to match. His encore, accompanied by just a string quartet was a stanza from the Canadian national anthem, O

Canada

The main event was the second half OMM-WAYO pairing in Mahler's First Symphony, also known as The Titan, conducted by Chan Tze Law. The opening had shaky moments for woodwinds and offstage trumpets despite the rapt pianissimo from the strings, but the dawn was evocatively captured. The strolling main theme, quoting one of Mahler's own Wayfarer Songs, stole the scene and the early awkwardness was soon forgotten.

Even better was the rollicking country dance of the 2^nd movement, where contrasts between the earthy and the spiritual were well delineated. The next movement's droll funeral march with the Frere Jacque theme was lit up with some lusty Klezmer-like playing that truly brought out the spirit of Mahler's sound world.

The finale's “cry of the wounded heart” was delivered with a directness and vehemence that was simply stunning. If one thought this mega-orchestra was all about dash and flash, the quiet and slow bits between showed the young musicians were also capable of nuance and sensitivity.

Where did the conductor go?

As if to also demonstrate its total independence, conductor Chan stepped off the podium, and the players performed its encore, Franz Waxman's Ride Of The Cossacks from the movie Taras Bulba, on their own. Bravo indeed!

Here they are! Partners in crime:
Peter Moore & ChanTze Law

Here's how to fit almost
200 people on stage.

On Friday evening (16 December 2016) at the School of the Arts Concert Hall, Singaporean pianist Song Ziliang gave an unusual piano recital as part of the Young Virtuoso Recital Series organised by MW Events Management. It was a classical piano recital which also included performances of popular music, encompassing Japanese anime, Korean drama, Chinese oldies and Singaporean Xinyao. The World Premiere of Singaporean Malay composer Syafiqah Adha Sallehin's Mahligai, a work that melded Malay and Western idioms, was also performed.

Song Ziliang studied music at the Moscow Conservatory and later at London's Royal College of Music, where Mikhail Petukhov and Gordon Fergus-Thompson were his principal teachers respectively. He is presently a teacher at Zhonghua Secondary School, where General Music and Marketing are his main subjects.

His classical programme included the Bach-Busoni Chaconne, Schumann's Fantasy in C Op.17 and Scriabin's Sonata No.5. In between were the popular offerings, some of which included requests from his Facebook friends and followers.

Ziliang is an adept and personable speaker and fully engaged his audience with an assortment of anecdotes, and was unafraid to use a little Singlish as well. His listeners clearly warmed up to his efforts and were totally appreciative in their response. As to his concert attire, he deliberately dressed down (denim jeans included) as he did not want to make concerts a stuffy experience.

Ziliang with local composer
Syafiqah Adha Sallehin.

With cellist Loke Hoe Kit,
whose Young Virtuoso Recital takes place on
1 July 2017, at Victoria Concert Hall.

Loke Hoe Kit and pianist Heegan Lee
plugging their forthcoming concerts,
organised by MW Events Management.

THE ITALIAN BARITONE

MARTIN NG Vocal Recital

School of the Arts Concert Hall

Saturday (17 December 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 December 2016 with the title "A baritone grown in stature".

In a state where vocal recitals are uncommon events, a baritone concert is a curate's egg. Singaporean baritone Martin Ng has gradually been making a name for himself. Presently based in the Italian city of Verona, his recent outing as the eponymous Flying Dutchman in the Singapore premiere production of Wagner's opera in October gave notice to his considerable abilities.

This recital presented by opera blog The Mad Scene however centred around Italian operatic roles, where baritones are often limited to the part of villainous, avuncular and anti-hero characters. There was no Puccini but lots of Verdi. Here he proved his mettle, not just vocally but also dramatically, as one might in an opera house.

His programme began with two contrasting arias from Donizetti's bel canto operas. In Cruda finesta smania from Lucia di Lammermoor, he projected with a force and heroism more usually associated with tenor arias. Emoting equally well, the lyrical of pages of Come paride vezzoso (L'elisir d'amore) found that sensitivity and balance which showed he was not just a pair of sturdy lungs.

Ng's performances have grown in stature over the years. The board-like stiffness that accompanied his earlier appearances has given way to a more supple and flexible persona befitting a variety of roles. In Ponchielli's Ah! Pescatorefrom La Gioconda, his agile and articulate way around its tricky rhythms was a marvel to behold.

Even better were the second half's offerings of Verdi's Pieta rispetto e amore(Macbeth) and Cortigiani vil razza dannata (Rigoletto), and Giordano's Nemico della patria (Andrea Chenier). His towering and booming entries, tempestuous and anguished expressions, always found a foil in flowing melody which his mellow and multi-hued voice served well. This indicates he is ready for major roles in more repertoire operas in time to come.

Adding variety to the programme was Chinese soprano Li Jie, graduate of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and now living in Germany, in some non-Italian repertoire. Her command of Schumann's lied In der Fremde, Lehar's Meine Lippen (from Giuditta) and the obligatory Puccini aria (Signore ascolta from Turandot) was excellent, and was every bit Ng's equal.

The accompaniment was provided by Montenegrin pianist Boris Kraljevic, whose orchestral conception of the music ensured that a fuller ensemble was not missed. His solo segment was as varied as the songs he played for, applying myriad shades of bell sonorities to two Rachmaninov pieces, the Musical Moment(Op.16 No.5) and Etude-Tableau (Op.33 No.8).

Together, the threesome served up sumptuous readings of the recital's most substantial pieces, operatic duets from three Verdi operas. The relationships between father and daughter (Rigoletto), father and prospective daughter-in-law (La Traviata), evil duke and would-be lover (Il Trovatore) were shelled out with a show of passion and conviction.

The chemistry between all three performers was clearly palpable, and prolonged acclaim following a stirring Udiste... Mira di acerbe lagrime (Il Trovatore) ensured that the heights of its conclusion would be encored, to further applause.

O FORTUNA!

The Joy Chorale

BraddellHeights Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Sunday (18 December 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 20 December 2016

It is amazing how Carl Orff's Carmina Burana has become one of the most popular and performed of all choral works. Why performances of it have not been banned a long time ago remains a mystery. Its greatest indictment was that Nazis appropriated it as a glorification of German (read Aryan) peasantry and its racially “pure” values.

Then there are those Latin and antiquated German words extolling the joys of the tavern, feasting, drinking and underage sex. Not even meriting a M18 rating has its advantages. After all, how would one get all those children into the hall to sing lascivious lines like “Oh! Oh, Oh! I am bursting all over with love!”?

To present Carmina Burana as a Christmas-time concert was a coup, as the hall was well-filled with families and children, toting camera handphones and all ready for some seasonal cheer. The 170-strong Joy Chorale (Chorus Director: Khor Ai Ming), including 85 children's voices, was colourfully attired and in good voice. Accompanied by the Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adrian Tan, this was a visual and aural spectacular as much as those Mahlerian concerts that have come before.

The gauntlet was thrown in the first timpani thwack and the opening chorus O Fortuna, sung with much guts and gusto. The wheel of fortune, waxing and waning like the moon, had spun and Fate dealt its first hands. One might not expect the same polish as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Chorus' previous performances, but the raw energy exuded was equally palpable.

The larger congregation of women singers were in their element throughout, easily the best section of the choir. Men's voices are always in short supply, but they excelled in In Taberna Quando Sumus with its repeated “bibit” toasts. In Si Puer Cum Puellula (If A Boy With A Girl), what was needed were several shots of choral Viagra. The children barely kept their tune in Amor Volat Undique (Love Flies Everywhere), but looking cute and innocent was all that mattered.

Of the soloists, baritone Alvin Tan was a confident and bellowing Abbot of Cockaigne, of hearty voice even if his pronunciation was not always perfect. Opposite him, soprano Xi Wang maintained a virginal presence, comfortably conquering the high notes even in the climactic Dulcissime, with the most joyous loss of maidenhood in all music.

The cameo role afforded to tenor Melvin Tan as the roasted swan on a spit was well characterised. His agonised voice and demeanour, and attired in tribute to Björk's ludicrous swan costume, were alone worth the price of entry. There was even a terpsichorean role which dancer Rachel Lum obliged with no little grace.

Full lyrics and translations were provided both on screen and in the programme booklet, a luxury given the prohibitive copyright costs involved. Kelly Tang's orchestral showpiece Apocalypso in a virtuosic performance served as a excellent prelude, and Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You as encore provided a suitably festive send-off.

ROZYCKI & FRIEDMAN

Piano Quintets

JONATHAN PLOWRIGHT, Piano

with Szymanowski Quartet

Hyperion 68124 / *****

Two of music's greatest piano quintets are the sole examples by Johannes Brahms and Cesar Franck, both of which play for about 40 minutes.

Casting the net wider for quintets of this stature, one will eventually stumble upon these virtually unknown and unjustly neglected works by the Poles Ludomir Rozycki (1883-1953) and Ignaz Friedman (1882-1948). Both piano quintets are in three movements and cast in C minor, the key of unbridled pathos and unrelieved angst.

The Rozycki (1913) typifies the late Romantic era, with broad melodies not dissimilar to those of Brahms, Faure and Richard Strauss, but tinged with the Slavic melancholy of Tchaikovsky and the young Rachmaninov. The slow movement is itself a portrait of gloom, only dispelled by a finale of animation and levity. The Friedman (1918) is slightly shorter, and has a veneer of Viennese charm over and above a bed-rock of pensiveness and rumination.

Are these undiscovered masterpieces? British pianist Jonathan Plowright and the Polish Szymanowski quartet perform with passion and authority, lifting these beyond salon superficialities and obscurity into the realm of established true classics.

NEW YEAR'S CONCERT 2016

Vienna Philharmonic / MARISS JANSONS

Sony Classical 88875174772 / ****1/2

75 years of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's patented New Year Concerts have yielded over 319 different works by the Strauss family and other composers of festive light music, and more are added every year to this delectable smorgasbord of confections and lollipops.

The 2016 edition conducted by Latvia-born Mariss Jansons throws in eight more works not previous heard in the Golden Hall of Vienna's Musikverein. Heading this list is Robert Stolz's United Nations March, composed as recently as 1962 and the most “modern” work ever performed in this series.

Also heard for the first time are Waldteufel's España (using the same tunes as Chabrier's España), Hellmesberger's Ball Scene, Ziehrer's Viennese Maidens, Eduard Strauss'Out Of Bounds, and three other Johann Strauss II rarities, all agreeable fare for the occasion.

The familiar favourites also return, such as the Emperor Waltz, Treasure Waltz, Pleasure Train, Josef Strauss'Music Of The Spheres, and the sine qua non obligates - The Beautiful Blue Danube and Johann Strauss the Elder's Radetzky March - with synchronised clapping from the audience. Like all things Viennese, old habits die hard, and older pleasures ever more so.

SINGAPORE

INTERNATIONAL

FESTIVAL OF MUSIC GALA-CONCERT

Living Room, The Arts House

Thursday (29 December 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 31 December 2016 with the title "Local-born pianist thrills in comeback".

Music lovers with long memories might remember Singapore-born pianist Koh Poh-Lin who was active here during the 1980s before moving to Vancouver, Canada where she is now based. A student of the late pianist Ong Lip Tat and later the legendary pedagogue Lee Kum Sing, she was a semi-finalist at the 1989 Rolex Asia Piano Competition. Among her contemporaries are Singaporean pianists Shane Thio, Christina Tan, Lena Ching and Victor Khor.

She marked her long-awaited return to the local stage with a performance of Chopin's First Piano Concerto in a chamber version accompanied by a string quartet and double bass. Formed by members of the Singapore International Festival of Music (SIFOM) Orchestra, the string group that partnered Koh was unfortunately ragged and under-rehearsed.

The martial opening tutti was hesitant and out of sorts, with intonation being mostly a hit or miss affair. It seemed like an eternity before Koh's imposing entry of big octaves and chords, which broke the spell of mediocrity. The hall's Shigeru Kawai grand piano was not in best shape, but she made music with a sensitive and limpid touch, and the music's over-arching cantabile came through winningly.

Where the adrenaline level was upped in the 1^st movement's development section, she responded in kind, providing some of the concerto's more thrilling moments. With the strings scrambling to keep up, the collegial qualities that characterised chamber music at its finest was intermittent at best. When the ensemble seemed to gel at times, these were unfortunately not sustained for longer stretches.

The performance's best minutes came in the slow central movement, where its title Romanzewas taken at face value. At a more relaxed pace, all six players luxuriated in the music's warm glow and seamless lyricism.

The finale's Rondo might be described as rough and ready, one which would have benefited from more rehearsal time. Other than a short section where a variation of the dance-like theme was missed out or not observed, Koh's pianism was otherwise one of steadfastness, the unifying factor that kept the ensemble together through to the concerto's romping close.

Would a solo recital have been a better choice to make one's comeback in front of a hometown audience? A standing ovation accorded by a full-house might encourage her to do just that in next year's edition of SIFOM, a festival that celebrates local talent.

Amanda Chia plays de Beriot.

SIFOM Artistic Director Darrell Ang
interviews the Hwang sisters, Claris & Crystal.

Crystal Hwang plays Debussy

On the same platform this evening were three younger Singaporean musicians. 16-year-old violinist Amanda Chia gave a confident reading of Charles de Beriot's Violin Concerto No.9 accompanied by pianist Iryna Vokhmianina. Sisters Claris and Crystal Hwang put the polish on a Haydn sonata movement and Debussy's First Arabesque respectively. Given time and hard work, they might one day emulate the achievements of Koh Poh-Lin themselves.

Iryna Vokhmianina and the Hwang sisters
are based with Tanglewood Music School.

A Rolex Reunion, after 27 years!
Koh Poh-Lin, with Albert Tiu and Susan Lai
took part in the 1989 Rolex Asia Piano Competition.

As published in the 18 December 2016 edition of The Sunday Times (Singapore):

BEST

ZHOU LONG & CHEN YI

Symphony Humen 1839

New Zealand

Symphony / Darrell Ang

Naxos 8.570611

Conductor Darrell Ang became Singapore’s first-ever Grammy nominee for classical music with this symphony jointly composed by the China-born husband-and-wife Zhou Long and Chen Yi. Commemorating China’s act of defiance in Humen, Canton that sparked off the Opium Wars, the 2009 work is both patriotic and cathartic, heralding the ascent of Chinaas a global superpower.

THE CLASSICAL ELEMENTS

ALBERT TIU, Piano

Centaur 3503

The 20 piano pieces in this recital are inspired by the ancient concept of earth, air, water and fire as the four pillars of the natural world. The Philippines-born and Singapore-based pianist Albert Tiu has an exquisite and variegated touch in diverse works by Liszt, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Godowsky, Scriabin, Griffes, Ibert, Mompou and others, all of which are evocatively coloured.

J.S.BACH Mass in B minor

Soloists with Concerto Copenhagen

Lars Ulrik Mortensen

CPO 777 851-2

This recording of Bach’s classic choral work employs five soloists and just five ripieno voices (one voice per part) in the choral movements, accompanied by period instruments. The effect is one of lighter and more transparent textures without sacrificing on volume, depth or grandeur. A sitting will help redefine the words “divine” and “beautiful”.

WORST

TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Violin

MusicAeterna / Teodor Currentzis

Sony Classical 88875165122

Has there been an uglier recording of Tchaikovsky’s popular Violin Concerto than this travesty? Russian-Austrian violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja adopts a preening demeanour, deliberate extremes of dynamics, slashing and percussive bowing, and capped by a dry vitriolic tone that makes for irritating repeated listening. Simply perverse.

As published in the 18 December 2016 issue of The Sunday Times (Singapore):

BEST

WAGNER’S THE FLYING DUTCHMAN

Richard Wagner Society Singapore

OperaViva & Finger Players

VictoriaTheatre, 23-30 October 2016

By no stretch of the imagination has Singaporebecome Bayreuth, but the first-ever local production of a Wagner opera was a success on many counts. Directed by Glenn Goei and Chong Tze Chien, and conducted by Darrell Ang, the Southeast Asian setting of The Flying Dutchman with the use of wayang kulit and shadow puppetry had a memorable outing. The Asian cast (with by Martin Ng as the Dutchman and Nancy Yuen as Senta) which performed on 28 October were no pushovers alongside their Western counterparts.

Visiting Soloists with national orchestras:

JOSHUA BELL

with

Singapore

Chinese Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall, 9 April 2016

YO-YO MA & SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE

with

Singapore

Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall, 11-12 Nov 2016

ANDRAS SCHIFF with

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall, 1 November 2016

2016 was a year when big name soloists collaborated with local orchestras, and audiences became beneficiaries in a host of musical feasts. American violinist Joshua Bell in Vivaldi, Saint-Saens, Sarasate and Chinese music, celebrity cellist Yo-Yo Ma playing Elgar and Zhao Lin, and Hungarian virtuoso Andras Schiff in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1 have all been firmly implanted in the collective memory.

Best Debuts

Mathea Goh plays plays unaccompanied Bach.

Felicia Teo Kai Xin
(with Jonathan Charles Tay) in
Donizettii's Rita

MATHEA GOH, Violin

Esplanade Recital Studio, 26 October 2016

FELICIA TEO KAIXIN, Soprano

Esplanade Recital Studio, 13 April 2016

Singapore Conference Hall, 4 Nov 2016

Esplanade Concert Hall, 18 November

16-year-old violinist Mathea Goh, this year’s recipient of the Goh Soon Tioe Centenary Award, gave stunning and mature performances of Bach, Ysaye, Grieg, Paganini and Ravel in her debut solo recital. Also making big splash upon her return from studies in New York was soprano Felicia Teo Kaixin, who impressed in Donizetti’s Rita (New Opera Singapore), Dick Lee’s The Journey of Lee Kan (Singapore Chinese Orchestra) and the Singapore Lyric Opera’s annual Gala Concert.

WORST

Amateur pianists with professional ensembles

SOTA Concert Hall,
31 January & 10 April 2016

Amateur music-making is to be encouraged, however parading non-professional piano players in public performances of concertos by Chopin and Rachmaninov alongside professional musicians is the height of hubris and folly. Two such performances at SOTA Concert Hall came to grief, with calamitous memory lapses necessitating an emergency page-turner coming to the rescue on both occasions.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

COUNTDOWN CONCERT 2017

The Philharmonic Orchestra

School of the Arts Concert Hall

Saturday (31 December 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 2 January 2017 with the title "Countdown concert a boisterous start to the new year".

Now into its 6th edition, The Philharmonic Orchestra's annual New Year's Eve Countdown Concert has become a cherished local institution. A full-house greeted the year's final musical event, and a formula that has served well was relived. Host-of-the-evening William Ledbetter, sporting a gold top-hat, was his usual bubbly self and TPO Music Director Lim Yau conducted Hector Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture as a spirited opener.

Bernice Lee's oboe solo provided a lovely prelude to the festivities that followed with a full-throated showing from the brass, led by a irrepressible trio of trombones. This was a good start, and the orchestra was just as impressive under the baton of prize-winning guest conductor Lien Boon Hua, recently appointed Assistant Conductor of the Polish National Radio Orchestra.

His first task was to navigate the ensemble through two Strauss favourites, Josef Strauss'Music Of The Spheres, a waltz as lilting and graceful as any of his famous elder brother Johann's, and the incessant chatter of Johann's Tritsch-Tratsch Polka. The latter was accompanied by projected slides of the orchestra's favourite moments of the year, with an inevitable salute to Joseph Schooling, Singapore's first ever Olympic gold medallist.

The dance rhythm was lovingly captured, and this continued into Bedrich Smetana's Die Moldau. A pair of flutes, skilfully helmed by Shirley Tong and Andy Koh, teased their way through the symphonic poem's evocative opening, leading into the broad melody which was gratefully lapped up by the orchestra.

Robust yet sensitive, the Bohemian spirit that pulsed through the splendid showing was repeated after the intemission's nuts and champagne, in two Slavonic Dances by Antonin Dvorak. Taken from the Op.72 set, the first dance's rousing fervour was contrasted with the quiet melancholy of the second dance.

Ledbetter reprised his annual circus ringleader act by getting the audience to follow his cowboy actions in Richard Hayman's Pops Hoedown. This year it was a rather tame sit-down affair, for fear of patrons seated in the Circle seats who had downed a little too much spirit. However, it was the busy percussion section that sounded the most tipsy.

As with previous concerts, there was a work of sobriety that gave time for reflection on the illustrious lives that departed in 2016. Former President S.R.Nathan, Thailand's King Rama IX, conductors Sir Neville Marriner and Pierre Boulez, pop culture icons George Michael and Carrie Fisher were among the names remembered as the orchestra played Jean Sibelius'Valse Triste.

For the final countdown, Respighi's ominous Pines Of The Appian Way was replaced this year by Georges Bizet's more cheerful Farandole from L'Arlesienne, now conducted by Lim Yau. Its driving beat, which got faster and more intense by the minute, steamrolled the seconds into 2017, and a much-loved cascade of gold and silver balloons.

There was enough time for one encore, the ubiquitous Radetzky March by Johann Strauss the Elder and its rounds of synchronised clapping. An auspicious new year for more good music beckons.

SHOSTAKOVICH

Symphonies Nos. 5, 8 & 9

Boston Symphony Orchestra

ANDRIS NELSONS

Deutsche Grammophon 479 5201 (2 CDs)

*****

Titled Shostakovich Under Stalin's Shadow, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's new cycle of symphonies by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) got off to a great start with the Tenth Symphony receiving the 2016 Gramophone Award in the Orchestral category.

The second release featuring live performances of three symphonies is no less fine, however it necessitates three changes of discs to listen to the works in a chronological order. This makes the best sense if one wishes to follow the trajectory of the Soviet composer's changes in fortunes with regards to the totalitarian regime's policy upheavals and quixotic tastes.

Begin with the Incidental Music to Hamlet (1932) on Disc 2, with Shostakovich's alternating witty with sombre music, and then flip to Track 6 of Disc 1 for the outwardly triumphant Fifth Symphony (1937). This had been warmly received by the authorities and public alike as “a Soviet artist's reply to just criticism”, despite its hidden barbs.

Then go back to Disc 2 for the grim wartime Eighth Symphony(1943) with its “toccata of death” movements and a strangely laid-back finale, before returning to Disc 1 for his biggest joke of all. The slapstick Ninth Symphony (1945) is a mocking sneer at final victory in the Great Patriotic War. Listen for the terrific brass of the Boston Symphony, their pride and joy in this memorable album.

MUSIC FOR A SUMMER EVENING

Nicholas Loh & Shane Thio, Pianos

Sng Yiang Shan & Eugene Toh, Percussion

Lee Foundation Theatre

Thursday (5 January 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 7 January 2017

The piano is a percussion instrument because it makes music when metal wires are struck by hammers. It is in fact the most highly-evolved of all percussion as it can be made to sing or sound like an orchestra. This innovative and very engaging concert of 20^thcentury music for piano and percussion proved that, and some more.

Its first half presented American avant-garde composer George Crumb's Music For A Summer Evening (1974), also known as Makrokosmos III, a reference to Hungarian composer Bela Bartok's Mikrokosmos for piano. Its five movements showcased the pianos – amplified and with their lids removed – played in every conceivable manner possible alongside a battery of percussion.

Crumb's enduring trademark was getting the pianists to play directly on the piano's strings, either by plucking, scraping, striking or “preparing” with foreign objects, thus not limiting its scope to 88 depressed keys. The effect was at once mystical and ethereal with an array of tinkling, metallic bell sounds, alternating with loud and violent crashes when the score demands for it.

At certain points, pianist Nicholas Loh had to drop a crotale (a small metal cymbal) heavily onto the strings, or slide a stick over the gourd-like guiro while letting its sound reflect against the strings. Percussionists Sng Yiang Shan and Eugene Toh were themselves busy with their “kitchen” department, which included shaking a large metal sheet, rattling a flexatone, sliding bows on cymbals and non-percussive activity like vocalising, playing a recorder and blowing on slide whistles. Everything save the kitchen sink.

All this seems to suggest a work of anarchic disorder and total chaos, but reality was something else. Well-structured and economically choreographed, there were many instances of transcending beauty eloquently expressed, including Messiaen-like birdcalls, and in the final movement Music Of The Starry Night, a Bachian chorale that echoed through to the work's serene and quiet end.

The second half was devoted to Bartok's masterpiece Sonata For Two Pianos & Percussion (1937), considered the “grandfather” of all piano-percussion works. Its three movements seemed comparatively straight forward and even conservative, but more than made up with its sheer density of themes and textures.

It mysterious opening was very well-judged with Toh's timpani slide and low piano octaves from Shane Thio, one of two pianists in its Singapore premiere over 20 years ago. The pace gathered and sonorities piled up in counterpoint for the 1^st movement's virile main theme. Despite the music's percussiveness which led up to the climactic syncopated fugue, there was no shaking off the notion of Bachian influence.

What about the middle movement's “night music”, comprising ostinato figures and incisive interjections? Resembling the scurrying nocturnal world of birds and insects, were these also not heard in earlier music? Loud applause and cheers greeted the conclusion of the Hungarian folk dance-influenced finale for the performers' fastidious efforts, but credit also goes to the symmetry of excellent programming by bringing Bartok and Crumb together.

GE GAN-RU Shanghai Reminiscences

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

TSUNG YEH

Naxos 8.570609 / ****1/2

Ge Gan-Ru (born 1954), a native of Shanghai and now resident of New York, has been described as China's first avant-garde composer.

There is however little avant-garde about his vast programmatic symphony Shanghai Reminiscences, premiered by the Shanghai Philharmonic in 2009 to mark the People's Republic of China’s 60^th anniversary. In two parts, My Childhood and CulturalRevolution, it is completely tonal and unfolds like a movie soundtrack based on a semi-autobiographical novel of the composer’s life.

Amid the quotes of old Chinese melodies heard in his youth and the sounds of temple bells and taxi horns, a solo violin played by Maya Iwabuchi represents the composer as he makes his journey to the West and an eventual return back home.

In Revolutionary March, the rampage by the Red Guards resembles a manic and minor key version of the Disney tune It's A Small World After All. Tagged on is Ge's Butterfly Overture, a sanguine tribute to Ge’s teacher Chen Gang, who was one half of the composing team responsible for the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto.

The performances by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra's Music Director Tsung Yeh (himself of Shanghainese origin), are vividly recorded.

THE TROUT

NanyangAcademy of Fine Arts Music Faculty

Lee Foundation Theatre

Thursday (12 January 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 January 2017

Chamber music is the most pleasurable activity for musicians and listeners alike. Originating from works written for royal court musicians, this later evolved into hausmusik (house music), played by members of 19^thcentury middle-class households for their own entertainment. A collegial spirit exists in chamber music performance, hopefully allied by excellent techniques and refined tastes.

There were strong doses of all that in this concert featuring faculty of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Music Department. It opened with 20^th century Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski's Trio D'Anches for woodwinds, written during the dark years of the Second World War. Far from being a sombre work, oboist Joost Flach, clarinettist Tang Xiao Ping and bassoonist Aw Yong Tian gave a lively and ebullient reading.

There were dissonances aplenty, and a spicy brand of humour ran through its ten minutes. The fast outer movements were tautly delivered with pin-point cues and accents, contrasted with a slow and doleful central movement, housing a canon where the oboe carried its tune. A dance-like finale with a witty end completed a fine reading.

Further contrasts came in the four-movement Horn Trio by Johannes Brahms, a well-known but not often performed work here. Its paucity is due to a lack of willing French horn players and a strenuously acrobatic piano part. Thankfully hornist Marc-Antoine Robillard was a total natural. Shaping the instrument's singing lines and possessing accurate intonation are often taken for granted.

Pianist Nicholas Ong's role was jumping through musical hoops, especially in the fast 2^ndand 4^th movements, accomplished with no little confidence. Violinist Foo Say Ming completed the threesome, which galloped through the “hunting-call” finale with a fearless panache. Anything slower would have been lead-footed, so their natural impulses were to go for broke. This was very well received by a noisy audience which had far too many fidgety children for its own good.

Too many children behaving poorly and treating
Lee Foundation Theatre like their private playground.
Their parents should be sent for re-education.
Photo taken during the intermission.

Foo was joined in the second half by violist Janice Tsai, cellist Lin Juan, bassist Wang Xu and pianist Lena Ching for Franz Schubert's popular Piano Quintetin A major, nicknamed the Trout Quintet. The performance was by no means note-perfect, but it possessed that pre-requisite of chamber music: lots of heart.

A smart and brisk pace rightly dictated the 1^st movement, helmed by Ching's incisive playing that was anything but mechanical. There were lots of moments to heave a breath and savour the scents, and Ching was always alert to her partner's notes and nuances. The alternating fast and slow movements were contrasted to good effect; the 2^nd movement's congenial indolence found a foil in the punchy rhythms of the 3^rd and 5^thmovements.

The work's heart was the 4^th movement, based on Schubert's lied Die Forelle (The Trout, hence the concert's title), which unfolded beautifully with each variation. Here the heart throbbed, and the warmth of camaraderie filled the hall with a glowing presence. That was, simply, the true essence of chamber music.

LAN SHUI – 20TH SSO SEASON

Singapore

Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (13 January 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 16 January 2017 with the title "20 years on, SSO under Shui Lan has come of age".

Twenty years seems like a short span in the life of an orchestra, or that of an orchestral conductor. The years have flown like a flash since January 1997, when Lan Shui conducted his inaugural concerts at Victoria Concert Hall as Music Director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

SSO Chairman Goh Yew Lin saluted
Maestro Lan Shui in his short speech.

For his 20^th anniversary gala, Shui chose to relive the same all-Beethoven programme that opened his tenure. For those fortunate (and old enough) to have attended those concerts, comparisons and contrasts make for interesting discussion. How has the SSO progressed, and how has Shui himself moved on from those heady early years?

The SSO is now a far better ensemble, with significant improvements in all sections. The players have matured as a whole, and weaker individuals have been replaced by superior instrumentalists. It was a gradual process but new benchmarks were recorded with each passing year.

The evidence was to be found in the Leonore Overture No.3, from its opening unison note, through its slow introduction which built purposefully to the exhilarating Allegro. Sounding more polished and striding with greater confidence, a feverish climax was reached with David Smith's excellent offstage trumpet solo, before a totally convincing conclusion.

In Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto in G major, the orchestra sensitively partnered the American Nicholas Angelich, a man-mountain of a pianist. His was a big-boned performance, projecting well above the throng, and without the jitteriness of the 1997 soloist Seow Yit Kin. The give-and-take partnership was most apparent in the brief slow movement, poetically described as “Orpheus taming the Furies”.

Brusque unison strings were pitted against soothing piano chords here, but the effect was a miracle of transparency, constituting the highlight of the performance. The finale that followed without break was a joyous romp from start to end, and the applause prompted Angelich to offer the only non-Beethoven music of the evening: the first piece of Schumann's Scenes From Childhood.

The concert's second half was Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, taken at the same breakneck speed as in 1997. Then, sleek and lithe readings of the German's symphonies were a relative rarity, sounding almost alien alongside traditional and more stolid interpretations. Today, Shui's approach is no longer considered radical. The new normal still yielded a thrilling performance, with the familiar first movement (Fate knocking on the door) setting the tone.

Trimmed of all fat, the Allegro con brio was a model of tautness and economy, with neither agogic pauses nor extraneous gestures. Similarly there was no room for sentimentality in the 2^nd movement, which flowed with an inner, quietly raging fire. The tricky 3^rd movement was adroitly negotiated before launching into the glorious finale, an urgent journey from tragedy to triumph.

Clocking in at a few seconds over 30 minutes, this felt like the swiftest and slickest Beethoven Fifth ever. Through its turbulent course, it was however never made to feel over-hurried or hectic. Some may disagree with this reading, but the spontaneous standing ovation and prolonged applause suggests that for most, Maestro Lan Shui and his band have indeed come of age.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, November 2016)

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, December 2016)

SSO Concert: BERTRAND CHAMAYOU PLAYS LISZT

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN YOUTH ORCHESTRA IN CONCERT / Review

CD Review (The Straits Times, December 2016)

TITANIC MASTERPIECES / Orchestra of the Music Makers et al / Review

Some Photos from SONG ZILIANG's PIANO RECITAL

THE ITALIAN BARITONE / MARTIN NG Vocal Recital / Review

O FORTUNA! / CARL ORFF'S CARMINA BURANA / The Joy Chorale & Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra / Review

CD Review (The Straits Times, December 2016)

CD Review (The Straits Times, December 2016)

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF MUSIC GALA-CONCERT / Review

BEST & WORST CLASSICAL CDS 2016

BEST & WORST CLASSICAL CONCERTS 2016

NEW YEAR'S EVE COUNTDOWN CONCERT 2017 / The Philharmonic Orchestra / Review

CD Review (The Straits Times, January 2017)

MUSIC FOR A SUMMER DAY / Nicholas Loh, Shane Thio, Sng Yiang Shan & Eugene Toh / Review

CD Review (The Straits Times, January 2017)

THE TROUT / NAFA Music Faculty / Review

SSO CONCERT: LAN SHUI 20TH SSO SEASON / Review