MORE PRELUDES TO CHOPIN

NOCTURNES, WALTZES AND OTHER WORKS

KENNETH HAMILTON, Piano

Prima Facie / PFCD 134

This is the Cardiff-based Scottish pianist Kenneth Hamilton’s second Chopin recital disc built upon the subject of preludes. The prélude is a short piece meant to preceding a more extended work, but Chopin did not really plan it that way. He wrote 27 preludes, 24 of which were included in his well-known Op.28 set. He however never performed all of these in a single sitting (unlike what recordings and piano competitions suggest), instead picking a choice few for his recitals.

Hamilton’s juxtapositioning of preludes and longer pieces is both imaginative and ingenious. The most obvious pairing comes at the beginning, the C minor Prélude (Op.28 No.20) followed by the C minor Nocturne (Op.48 No.1). The two fit like hand and glove. Then it becomes less predictable when harmonic and key signature relationships do not play a part. Mood and emotion take over when the E minor Prélude (Op.28 No.4) comes before the A minor Waltz (Op.34 No.2). Both pieces explore different aspects of melancholy.  

Resolute chords link the Prélude in E major (Op.28 No.9) with the Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major (Op.61), two otherwise unrelated keys. Diametrically contrasted works – the coruscating B flat minor Prélude (Op.28 No.16) and the serene E flat Nocturne (Op.55 No.2) – hang on a single note. A high B flat unites both pieces. 

When can a prélude precede another prélude? When their keys are D flat major (Op.28 No.15, the Raindrop) are C sharp minor (Op.28 No.10, the Night Moth, both according to Hans von Bülow) respectively. Which is followed by the C sharp minor Waltz (Op.64 No.2), of course. 

There is much to enjoy in this programme, which also includes the popular E flat major Nocturne (Op.9 No.2) in a rarely heard and more florid alternative version, Variations Brillante (Op.12), the First Ballade (Op.23), and more préludes. 

A third volume awaits. Hamilton’s playing is up there with the best of Chopin intepreters, and it is his spirited advocacy of programme planning by preluding that makes this recital disc stand above the routine. 

BACH BEATS CORONA

Red Dot Baroque

Streamed on SISTIC Live

Sunday (6 September 2020)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 September 2020 with the title "Bach's life-affirming music for troubled times".

Musical groups in Singapore are slowly but surely getting a grip on the Covid-19 pandemic, with more online concerts being released on the Internet in lieu of live concerts. The latest was by Red Dot Baroque, Singapore’s only professional period instrument ensemble, with Bach Beats Corona.

The catchy title was borrowed from the ongoing worldwide movement performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s life-affirming music in these troubled times. The group’s founder and lead violinist Alan Choo played host by introducing the works, each performed by one to four players, all socially distanced and masked.

The concert opened with the Trio Sonata in G major (BWV 1039) for two flutes, viola da gamba and harpsichord. A delightul work which contains exactly the same music as the Viola Da Gamba Sonata No.1 (BWV.1027), its four movements alternated between a song-like countenance and contrapuntal busyness. Cheryl Lim and Rachel Ho on traverso flutes (baroque flutes) revelled in their starring roles, partnered by Mervyn Lee (gamba) and Gerald Lim (keyboard).

Each work was prefaced by a short movement in the same key from Bach’s Cello Suites, performed on baroque cello by Leslie Tan (from the T’ang Quartet). This included the familiar Prelude in G, Sarabande in C minor and Allemande in D major, all being movements possessed with a meditative quality. The last was played on a 5-stringed cello, producing a deep and long-breathed sonority.

The Violin Sonata No.4 in C minor (BWV.1017) is probably Bach’s best known accompanied violin sonata. If its 1^st movement sounded familiar, that was because it used the same theme as the hauntingly beautiful aria Erbarme Dich, Mein Gott (Have Mercy, My God) from Saint Matthew Passion. The instruments may be different, but the doleful spirit of contrition remained. Violinist Brenda Koh gave a sensitive reading, accompanied on obbligato harpsichord by Lee, a former child prodigy known as a polymath in all things baroque.

To illustrate Bach’s great sense of variety, the works chosen displayed a wealth of nuances and responses.  For example, there was a highly dramatic and almost improvisatory prelude that opened the Violin Sonata in E minor (BWV.1023), very unlike the other works. Violinist Placida Ho handled its surprising exuberance brilliantly, then keeping up the same exalted level in later movements. Here she was partnered by cellist Tan and harpsichordist Lim.

The 70-minute programme concluded with Trio Sonata in D minor (BWV.527) with violinists Choo and Gabriel Lee, backed by Tan and Lee on continuo. Originally conceived as an organ sonata, its three movement schema resembled the concerto form pioneered by the Italians, which Bach was undoubtedly familiar with. The duo voices of both soloists came through clearly in a spirited reading which could be described as a joyful romp.

This lovely concert is available to view on www.sistic.com.sg on a pay-as-you-please basis till 6 October 2020.

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Friday (11 September 2020)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 15 September 2020 with the title "Joyful symphonic fantasy marks orchestra's triumphant return".

The date September 11 will be remembered for historical reasons, but in Singapore this year it marked the return of concert life after six months in the wilderness. The global Covid-19 pandemic is still with us, but traces of the old normality are returning as the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) became the first musical group to present a live concert before a live audience.

Greeted by warm and appreciative applause, a pared-down 23-person chamber orchestra led by music director Yeh Tsung performed an hour-long concert for a socially distanced audience limited to just 50 persons. The first thought that came to mind: what a pleasure it was to witness music first hand rather than from a screen and through a pair of headphones.

Zhao Jiping’s rousing Celebration Overture opened the concert. Although its first pages were a blatant rip-off from Glinka’s Ruslan And Ludmilla Overture, there was still enough original material to sustain interest. The big erhu melody, later heard on concertmaster Li Baoshun’s jinghu, was memorable, as was Jin Shiyi’s suona solo that rose above the throng at its apotheosis.

 

Conductor Yeh compared the evening’s programme to a four-movement symphony. Thus legendary blind erhu player Hua Yanjun aka Abing’s Reflection Of The Moon On Erquan served as its slow second movement. Orchestrated for bowed strings by Wu Zhuqiang and Moses Gay, the ensemble played liked an expanded string quartet, with the melodic interest sustained by gaohus and erhus.

Some have compared this with Barber’s Adagio For Strings, but these works are actually very different. Abing’s Moon is atmospheric and meditative but not weepy, its evocation being nostalgia rather than tragedy or outright grief. The overall effect created was particularly beautiful.  

Still on popular melodies, Molihua (Jasmine) was relived in a form of a symphonic fantasy by master orchestrator Liu Wenjin. The highly recognisable tune was heard at the the outlet, and subject to a fine series of variations. Among the solo instruments highlighted were the dizi and Jin’s suona which became its most prominent voice.

The concert’s final movement was an abridged 10-minute version of Law Wai Lun’s The Celestial Web, a large-scaled work commissioned by the Singapore Arts Festival and premiered by the SCO in 2003. Gone however were the recitations, chorus and Tan Swie Hian’s words which hailed the universality of man, but Schiller’s Ode To Joy message came through in the music which opened with deliberate quotes from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Eclectic as this music was, with influences from Ravel, Gershwin and film music, it did not outstay its welcome. The opportunity to enjoy its intricate instrumentation, Zhao Jianhua’s erhu solo and a sentimental wallow towards the end was well worth the time. The general feeling of optimism continued into the celebratory encore Hua Hao Yue Yuan (Blooming Flowers, Full Moon) with a customary clap-along. What was there not to enjoy?

KAHCHUN WONG CONDUCTS

DEBUSSY, WAGNER AND SHOSTAKOVICH

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Streamed via SISTIC Live

Saturday (26 September 2020)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 28 September 2020 with the title "Excellent online concert by the Singapore Symphony".

Live concerts by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra will be making a return in October as the Covid-19 circuit breaker is gradually being relaxed. In the meantime, SSO has released a number of excellent chamber concerts online, the latest led by home-grown conductor Kahchun Wong who is the Chief Conductor of Germany’s Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra.

 

The concert began with Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun arranged for 11 players by Viennese composer Benno Sachs. Conceived for Arnold Schoenberg’s Association for Private Musical Performances in 1921, this was unusual by excluding the harp and scoring a piano and celesta instead. It nonetheless still opened with the familiar chromatic flute solo, which  principal flautist Jin Ta handled beautifully.

Also standing out were Rachel Walker’s oboe and Ma Yue’s clarinet which carried much of the melodic interest. The balance between woodwinds, strings and keyboards was finely judged, and there was even a sparkle when percussionist Lim Meng Keh tinkled on the zimbeln (tiny cymbals), lending an almost magical aura to the proceedings.

The richness of string sonority and unity of gritty resolve impressed all through its five linked movements, held on a taut but flexible leash by conductor Wong. The grim opening statement with the composer’s motto theme (D - E flat – C – B, which spelt his initials in German) was boldly hewn, with quotes from Shostakovich’s earlier works dropped like a trail of bread crumbs for listeners to follow.

PIANO AND ERHU PROJECT (PEP)

Volume Three

NICOLE GE LI, Erhu

COREY HAMM, Piano

DMA Discs TK 474

Globalisation was what made the meeting of seemingly disparate musical instruments - the erhuand pianoforté - possible. East meets West was the premise of PEP (Piano and Erhu Project), founded in 2011 by Chinese erhuexponent Nicole Ge Li and Canadian pianist Corey Hamm, and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The duo has already produced three discs of erhu and piano music, having commissioned over 70 composers to write for them. This is a genre creating a history for itself, and very much a labour of love.

That the Chinese two-stringed fiddle and European piano become cosy bed-fellows should not come as a total surprise. Just listen to this disc’s final track, a transcription of Sergei Prokofiev’s Scherzofrom his Flute Sonata, better known as his Violin Sonata No.2written for David Oistrakh. Also try Somei Satoh’s still and hauntingly beautiful Birds In Warped Time II, also originally for violin and piano. The erhu negotiates Prokofiev’s hairpin twists and turns, and sustains long lines in the Satoh with natural flair and great finesse. This is essentially violin and piano territory albeit with an Oriental accent.

Holding greater interest are the works specific to this medium. Three Pieces (2015) by Gabriel Prokofiev (Sergei’s grandson, presently residing in UK) was not written for PEP, but are idiomatic, simpler in form and without the idiosyncrasies of his larger scores. The American Marco Mellits contributes the two most diverse works of the programme, the soothing serenity of Mara’s Lullaby(2005) contrasted with Mechanically Separated Chicken Parts(2005), a minimalist take on a vigorous ostinato.

The balance of the programme are PEP commissions. Gao Ping’s Hu Yan(2017) comprise six short but varied movements, each with its own vivid tale to tell. The title refers to “random and careless words” or “utterances” (according to the composer’s notes), and one might add casual jests or gossip to these descriptions. There is a palpable feel of the Chinese in these pieces, with the erhu’s penchant for portamenti simulating the Beijing operatic voice, backed by percussion provided by the piano. 

Similarly, Lucas Oickle’s Firewall(2015) and Michael Finnissy’s Sorrow and its Beauty(2017) are slow movements where Chinese influences consciously come through. The title of the former is self-explanatory, a barrier of censorship surrounds China and nothing foreign (thus deemed suspicious) gets through. The apparent bliss continues into the latter’s flow of melancholic sound expression. Here, one is reminded of Chinese scenic brush painting and its visual virtues.

If anyone doubted that the disparate worlds of Chinese music, the Afro-American spiritual, Gershwin (Our Love is Here to Stay) and John Cage could ever be united, Stephan Chatman’s Remember Me, Forever(2015), accompanied by prepared piano, might change their mind. From Satoh to Chatman, the seamless wall of lyricism was an unmitigated pleasure. For those who understand Chinese, it should not be forgotten that Li’s given name in Chinese means “song”.

This is a lovely programme, compelling performed, and one looks forward to further volumes.

UNTAMED MELODIES

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Friday (2 October 2020)

Streamed online on Sistic Live

PRESIDENT YOUNG PERFORMERS CONCERT

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Saturday (10 October 2020)

Streamed online on Sistic Live

While the Singapore Chinese Orchestra has begun live performances, online concerts are still an important means of expression and communication. Conducted by Assistant Conductor Moses Gay, this digital concert exploited traditional Chinese instruments’ uncanny ability to mimick the sound of animals and nature.

There were eight works in total, with six featuring solo instruments. Pride of place went to works extolling the noble horse, with Gu Guanren’s Sturdy Steeds Gallop rousingly opening the show and Huang Haihuai’s familiar Horse Racing with Ling Hock Siang and Hu Chung-Chin’s neighing erhus keeping up the pace. A feisty dizi duel between Lim Sin Yeo and Lee Jun Cheng was the basis of Chen Zhongshen’s Grasshopper Teasing The Rooster, based on a Taiwanese song.

 

Hundreds Of Birds Adoring a Phoenix arranged by Wang Fujian was a tour de force of birdsong, with suona soloist Meng Jie in full-blown improvisatory glory doing the honours. How does one imitate the mighty roar of a tiger? It took five percussionists to enact An Zhishun’s Tiger Bracing For Attack on a variety of cymbals, wood blocks, tamtam, and Benjamin Boo leading on the dagu. The concert evocatively  closed with portrayals of a peacock (with sheng solo), camel caravan (zhongruan) and four movements from Liu Xing’s Animal Suite, the last being the Chinese answer to Saint-Saëns’ Carnival Of The Animals.     

For the first time ever, the annual President’s Young Performers Concert by the SSO became an online event. This year’s soloist Julia Tan was also the first percussionist to feature in this series. French percussionist-composer Emmanuel Séjourné’s Concerto for Marimba and Strings (2005), in two contrasting movements, was her showcase vehicle.

The music was gratifyingly tonal, with an elegaic slow opening movement allowing the award-winning Nanyang Academy and New York-trained virtuosa to luxuriate in the instrument’s mellow tones and harmonies. The balance between struck wood and soothing strings was close to perfection. The energetic finale was a blast, delighting in jazzy and dizzying dance rhythms, amply displaying the marimba and performer’s exuberant side.      

Flanking the impressive solo show were works for just strings. Samuel Barber’s famous Adagio For Strings opened the concert. If there were any music that portrayed profound sadness with a prolonged sigh, this was it. Conductor Tan kept the pacing on a taut leash, without allowing the music drag. Pathos not bathos dignified this well-judged reading, which rose to an impassioned climax before gently receding.  

Czech composer Josef Suk’s Serenade For Strings followed in the same hallowed tradition of his father-in-law Antonin Dvorak’s string serenade. Its lyrical and hugely enjoyable melodies were given a slick and shiny gloss, voiced by svelte string sound that has become an SSO hallmark. The slow 3^rd movement was an Adagio, mirroring the programme’s opening piece, but the heartfelt playing reflected nostalgia rather than grief. The outer movements were spirited and cheerful, closing the concert on an invigorating high. 

AT SCHLOSS VOR HUSUM

2019 Festival Highlights

Danacord 849 / TT: 75’02”

For the first time in its incredible 33-year run, the prestigious Rarities of Piano Music Festival at Schloss vor Husum in Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany had to be cancelled this year, all thanks to the global Covid-19 pandemic. However, the annual highlights disc from the 2019 festival, just hot off the press and faithfully issued by the Danish label Danacord, is a consolation worth having.

The 2019 festival was special in several ways. First, it featured the most number of pianists – fifteen in total - within its nine-day duration. Secondly, it programmed the most number of young pianists, including five scholarship students and two Young Explorers. No less than five pianists were Asian, with Clarisse Teo being the first ever Singaporean to perform in the festival’s illustrious history.

Thirteen pianists were represented in the 2019 highlights, with 18 tracks in total. Dip into any part of the disc, and one will be severely challenged to identify the works or composers.  OK, the only concession is the final track: J.S.Bach’s Ich ruf’ zu dir played by German pianist Markus Becker. However, its not the familiar Busoni transcription, but rather Max Reger’s much less known version. Such is the nature of rarities.

Most of the tracks are short, occupied by itsy bitsy pieces (gems and baubles alike) or movements from longer pieces, but there was time for two generous 10-minute selections. Sigismond Thalberg’s Fantasy on Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia was bel canto meets early Romantic notespinning. This could have been a vulgar romp (remember the Thalberg vs Liszt pianistic duel of 1837) but not so from the prodigious British Alkan maven Mark Viner, who amply brought out its barnstorming glories with stunning aplomb. Gustave Samazeuilh’s Nocturne comes from the opposite end of the Romantic spectrum, its dusky and impressionist hues (one thinks of Debussy and Szymanowski) evocatively voiced by Swedish Husum veteran Roland Pöntinen.  

And there are lots of dances, songs, romances and transcriptions. A Grand Valse de concert by Bizet (from Kotaro Fukuma), Mazurkas by Chopin student Julian Fontana (Cyprien Katsaris) and Benjamin Godard (Kenji Miura), two Essays on Forgotten Rhythms by Anton Arensky (Marco Rapetti), a charming Ice-Skating Rink Waltz by Balys Dvarionas (Onute Grazinyte), a serene bagatelle and syncopated prelude by Richard Danielpour (Xiayin Wang) just illustrate the sheer eclecticism of the selections.  

On a more sober side, Christian Nagel’s reading of Liszt’s Ave Maria (Chanson d’Arcadelt, not the Schubert song) from the festival’s first ever Late Night Recital was a refreshing balm of bell sounds after an exhausting evening of piano fireworks. By contrast, the finale of Anatoly Alexandrov’s Sonata No.4 proved to be the grittiest of all the selections, flying fearlessly from the hands of Singaporean Clarisse Teo (above).

If the arcane peripheries and less-trodden byways of the piano repertoire is your cup of tea, look no further. Try something very different!

SOME WORDS WITH NEIL FRANKS

Chairman of the Petworth Festival

Concert life has been severely disrupted by the global Covid-19 pandemic. Yet the Petworth Summer Music Festival goes on, but now in autumn! As they say, Keep Calm and Carry On!  How was this feat made possible?

We are in the most capable hands of one of the UK’s foremost Artistic Directors, Stewart Collins. Stewart was able to retain some of the finest names from our Summer festival with their agreement to perform here in October. It is also thanks to the great generosity of our array of individual and corporate sponsors who have so kindly stayed with us to allow us to keep the festival going

The music programme is now shorter and serves as a prelude to the Petworth Literary Festival. But what a mouth-watering selection of artists your team has gathered. Mitsuko Uchida, the Kanneh-Masons, Howard Shelley, Tasmin Little and the celebrity names goes on. What persuaded them to join the festival?

There are obviously very few concerts taking place around the world at the moment, especially in the main concert halls, London being no exception. We are fortunate to be able to hold our concerts in our usual venue which is St Mary’s Church in the historic West Sussex town of Petworth. Our festival is in its 42^nd year and has great regional support and a reputation for presenting some of the finest musicans, and so a combination of our history aswell as our ability to stream the concerts puts us, and consequently our musicians, on the global stage during this time in which musicians are unable to travel to present their performances as they usually do

Was it difficult to coax them to make the journey to West Sussex?

It sounds as though we’re remote, but in fact we’re only a one hour train journey from London!

There will be live performances at Petworth’s historical venues, such as in St Mary’s Church (above), in addition to a now-ubiquitous online presence. How do live performances move you, as contrasted with streamed online concerts?

As a life-long consumer of music, I have missed live performances very much indeed, as has everyone, and so I can’t wait to sit in St Mary’s and listen to these spectacular artists. The church has great acoustics, and we have the benefit of a wonderful Steinway concert grand piano. We have all survived on streamed performances for many months which has been the only option,  but also considering the fact that musicians have also missed live performances, we can be sure that the experience will be as moving for the musicians as it will be for our audiences. That will undoubtedly result in some memorable performances. We have already seen examples of the extraordinary expression and emotion from musicians in the very few concerts they have been able to present this year.  

Now here is a tough question: Which concerts would you pick as personal favourites for your global online audience to attend?

Indeed this is a hard question to answer, but the opportunity to hear members of Britain’s most famous young musical family, the Kanneh-Masons (below), is a great privilege. They will be performing much of the programme they played at this year’s Proms which was very moving, even in its “virtual” form, and so to hear them perform that programme live (especially the Rachmaninov Cello Sonata!) is going to be very special. I would highly recommend all music lovers to stream this event. I’m also very much looking forward to Mitsuko Uchida’s performance. As I mentioned earlier, the acoustics at St Mary’s, together with the magnificent Steinway Concert grand, is a very special combination. Of course the whole festival will be special but these are two of the highlights for me!

But don’t forget that this year, we’re combining with our Literary Festival during which we will be presenting talks from great writers and personalities such as the highly acclaimed journalist, Martin Bell, author Michael Morpurgo, Anthony Horowitz, one of the UK’s most versatile storytellers. So as you can see, we’re cramming in a huge amount into two weeks!

After your return to UK in 2013 following a long and successful business career in Singapore, how did you get to become the Chairman of the Petworth Festival? Can we in Singapore claim some credit for this?

Singapore was very much our home for 30 years and we had no idea where in England we might like to live, but we stumbled across this part of the country by pure chance, and it’s glorious countryside that includes the famous South Downs National Park, and historic towns including Petworth. We then discovered this rather wonderful festival. My predecessor had presided over the festival for ten years and was keen to find a replacement. Somehow he and his colleagues discovered we’d suddenly arrived from far-away places, and that music happened to be my favourite subject!

Singapore can most certainly claim significant credit as I had many great musical friends there through my years of singing with the Singapore Symphony Chorus as well as piano lessons with the most excellent teachers, Benjamin Loh and Boris Kraljevic. Singapore is obviously very much on the global stage and the numerous concerts and musical experiences kept me in touch with music at the highest level. I felt very fortunate that we were able to enjoy such great venues, of course especially the wonderful Esplanade!

I have always regarded the Petworth Music Festival to be one of England’s best kept secrets, but surely this is changing. Your comments?

We are a small town, but have a great cultural heritage including the world-famous Turner collection on display at Petworth House, one of the country’s many grand country houses, built in the 17^th Century. The town is also of national repute for its art galleries and antique shops. The festival enjoys the great support of the local communities that fill every concert and so, whilst our long history of great artistic directors has enabled us to invite such marvellous musicians, perhaps we haven’t had to draw people from far and wide. The miracle we’ve discovered this year is that there is now no limit to our audience capacity thanks to the technology of streaming, hence our efforts to let the entire world know about our rather special festival!

It is now not just an opportunity to let the world know about our festival, it is also our obligation to do everything we can to support musicians now and into the future. We fully intend to continue to present an array of great and famous names, but at the same time we will do everything we can to offer performance opportunities for young musicians. Our association with The Royal Academy of Music already provides that platform for some very fine young musicians from around the world

I must re-iterate that it is very much thanks to the support of our wonderful sponsors that allows us to present a festival of this calibre. Those sponsors consist of local families aswell as companies. As you might imagine, this festival is a year-round task, and so 2021 plans are well underway even before 2020 has taken place

The icing on the cake for this year’s festival will be if music and book lovers from Singapore tune into our concerts and talks!

THE PETWORTH FESTIVAL 2020

In the age of global pandemics, here is a rare music festival that still functions! Taking place in the downs of West Sussex, Petworth is a most charming English town with a marvelous music and literary festival. Both events are taking place in a single sweep from 16 October to 1 November, and for the first time, it has become available to enjoy by an online audience. Live concerts take place in Petworth’s historical 14^th century parish church of St Mary’s, and the events are streamed for a worldwide audience’s enjoyment.

There will be concerts by Howard Shelley and the London Mozart Players, Mitsuko Uchida, Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason, Tasmin Little and John Lenehan, just to name the classical performers. There will also be jazz concerts and literary / book readings by eminent writers.

To attend the online concerts, click on this page to choose your concerts or package:

https://www.petworthfestival.org.uk/whats-on/

Each token will allow one view of each concert. You can attend the concert live as it is taking place (all begin at 8 pm), or within 48 hours post concert.

Here are the highlights:

16 October (Friday)

HOWARD SHELLEY & London Mozart Players Ensemble

includes Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 and

Haydn’s Symphony No.94 “Surprise”: 1^st and 2^nd movements

17 October (Saturday)

SHEKU KANNEH-MASON, Cello

ISATA KANNEH-MASON, Piano

includes Beethoven’s Cello Sonata Op.102 No.1,

Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata and Frank Bridge’s Melody

18 October (Sunday)

MITSUKO UCHIDA, Piano

includes Schubert’s Piano Sonatas, D.840 & 894

PETWORTH SUMMER FESTIVAL

SPECIAL CONCERT

includes works by Wagner-Liszt, Poulenc & Gershwin

TASMIN LITTLE, Violin

JOHN LENEHAN, Piano

includes Richard Strauss’ Violin Sonata 

and works by Brahms, Lili Boulanger, 

Amy Beach & Tchaikovsky

Clare Teal and her Trio

An evening of jazz vocals

22 October (Thursday)

MILOS KARADAGLIC, Guitar

Works by J.S.Bach, Beatles, Albeniz and Granados

23 October (Friday)

PATTI BOULAYE

An evening of Aretha Franklin standards and R&B

24 October (Saturday)

CHARLES OWEN &

KATYA APEKISHEVA, Piano Duo

Works by Beethoven, Schubert & Brahms

IN A WORD, ENJOY!

HAYDN’S EMPEROR

AND TCHAIKOVSKY’S FLORENCE

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Thursday (8 October 2020)

OMM RESTARTS!

Orchestra of the Music Makers

Singapore Conference Hall

Sunday (11 October 2020)

What a joy it is to return to live concerts. Ever since Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s entry almost a month ago, other orchestras have also got on the act thanks to the National Arts Council’s live performance pilots. Concerts are, however, still limited to chamber-sized groups, attended by audiences of just 50 socially-distanced heads.   

Ten string players of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra presented two popular works of the chamber repertoire. Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in C major (Op.76 No.3) is the most familiar of his sixty-eight string quartets, largely because of its slow second movement. It is a set of variations on Haydn’s own Emperor’s Hymn, later adopted as Austria and Germany’s national anthem.

The arch simplicity of its melody and subsequent variations was well realised by the quartet of violinists Xu Jue Yi and Chikako Sasaki, violist Wang Dandan and cellist Wang Zihao. Incisiveness and clarity marked the opening movement, while humour filled the 3^rd movement’s  minuet and trio. The mood turned serious for the finale, but its storms and stresses were soon dispelled as daylight shorn at its conclusion, happily back in the key of C major.    

Just as enjoyable was Tchaikovsky’s String Sextet in D minor, also known as Souvenir de Florence. Here the six players - violinists Chen Da Wei and Nikolai Koval, violists Janice Tsai and Marietta Ku, cellists Yu Jing and Guo Hao – functioned like a mini string orchestra, one generating a rich plethora of sonority.

Despite its minor key, this was one of Tchaikovsky’s sunniest scores, reflecting the Mediterranean warmth of its inspiration. The musicians dived headlong into the music, with caution thrown into the wind. This made for exciting listening, balanced by sensitive and lovely solo playing from the first chairs.

It was a larger group of 23 string players when the Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) took to the stage, conducted by Chan Tze Law. Schubert’s dramatic lied Erlkönig (Erl King), as arranged by Lee Jinjun, resounded with Wagnerian vehemence and vigour, making for a stirring prelude. Young composer Jonathan Shin’s Folk Games put three local songs through a distorting prism, and who would have guessed that Rasa Sayang, Singapura and Chan Mali Chan could sound like Shostakovich or the Second Viennese School?

Two oboists and two French hornists joined the strings for the 1^st movement of Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major. Here, cellist Qin Li-Wei put on a dazzling display in a work far more technically demanding than initially suspected. This was topped by a brilliant cadenza written by Shin, that unapologetically overflowed into over-the-top Romantic-era virtuosity. Soloist and orchestra also threw in Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No.5 as a welcome encore.

John Rutter’s pleasing Suite For Strings, all four movements based on folksongs from the British isles, concluded an enjoyable evening. Live concerts are making a valiant comeback. Hopefully, these may soon be enjoyed by larger audiences they thoroughly deserve.

Ding Yi Music Company

Streamed on Sistic Live

From Friday (15 October 2020)

No local chamber group has done more for Singaporean music than Ding Yi Music Company. The roster of works by local composers, including commissions and premieres, is awe-inspiring and can fill a thick book. And that tome becomes even weightier with its first concert of 2020, conducted by music director Quek Ling Kiong, which showcases works by six women, five of whom are Singaporeans.

One should not regard this online concert as one with an agenda of female empowerment, but rather an affirmation of the sheer variety of contemporary composition offered by Chinese traditional instruments. The timbres are distinctive and the music does not even have to sound Chinese or Oriental to make sense.

Take for example the atonalist Joyce Koh’s Iskimmer (Shimmering Ice in Swedish), a world premiere, which opened the concert. By employing the yangqin, guzheng, sheng, double bass and percussion, she created a distinctive sound canvas in the work’s six short connected movements celebrating the variety of icy formations that may be appreciated in a Swedish winter. A chorale of sustained notes, which she titled Isskärva or ice shard chorale, was a recurring motif bringing unity to the work as a whole. With this almost reassuring fixture, the work’s atonalism became less lacerating or forbidding as its subject suggested.  

By contrast, Liong Kit Yeng’s Free-Spirited was unapologetically tonal, employing an unabashedly Chinese idiom in a slow-fast-slow form in what was a feel-happy work. Its general tonal radiance reflected an optimistic mood amid these uncertain times. Also fairly traditional was well-known Shanghai composer Wang Dan Hong’s Depiction of the Sea. This sea was not the watery kind but rather the landscape of sand dunes and a reflection of the ancient Mogao grottoes near Dunhuang, Gansu Province. The use of the xiao (vertical flute) and guzheng was hauntingly evocative of quiet desolation, which opened and closed the work. In between was an exhilarating fast dance in a typically Central Asian idiom.

 

Works for larger ensemble with a more modern persuasion occupied the concert’s second half. Emily Koh’s Resonate was originally conceived for Chinese ensemble and western wind ensemble to represent a confluence of  eastern and western musical cultures. Inflexions from Singlish, Mandarin and Teochew dialect, lots of portamenti, slides and slurs, were incorporated into this intoxicating blend. Piquant winds stood out amid the throng, including the dizi, sheng, and to cap it all Jacky Ng’s sonorous suona.

Chua Jon Lin’s Reminiscences of Yuan Xiao was the winner of Composium 2018, the international composition competition for Chinese chamber ensemble organised by Ding Yi. Although yuan xiao is the traditional eve of the Lunar New Year, this was not a work of raucous celebration but one of quiet reflection and solitude. Her source was traditional nanyin chamber music of Southern China, over which this otherworldly and beautiful nocturne was founded. The xiao, pipa, sheng and sanxian (three-stringed lute) were evocatively employed, with the last having the final word.  

Juilliard masters student Koh Cheng Jin’s symphonic poem Legend of Badang qualifies as an excellent example of Nanyang music. Its subject was the Herculian strong man of the Sejarah Melayu (Malay annals) and his heroic feats. The slow mystical opening brought the mellow guanzi (played by Jacky Ng) representing Badang into focus. The Indonesian influence would come in the fast martial section with furious Javanese drumming, culminating with Badang hurling an enormous boulder (later to be christened the Singapore stone) into the mouth of the Singapore River. A stirring work for certain, and premiered with the vehemence it deserved.

This very approachable concert is presented in Chinese (with English transliterations) and English (composers’ preambles), and is available for viewing till 1 November at live.sistic.com.sg  

PETWORTH FESTIVAL 2020 

This year has been a total washout for my insatiable appetite of attending concerts and music festivals. What the global Covid-19 pandemic has done to live music-making and the concert-going experience is unprecedented. In short, it has been shattering. Not being able to attend the Hong Kong Arts Festival (cancelled), the Singapore International Piano Festival (axed), the Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum Festival (postponed) and The Joy of Music Festival in Hong Kong (still taking place but travel restricted) has been a major downer for me, and would have been a source of depression.

However, the one bright light that proudly shines is England’s Petworth Festival, held in a West Sussex town which has a history that goes back to medieval times. Home to the 17^th century National Trust Petworth House, there are neither tall buildings, railway station nor Macdonald’s on its cobbled streets. But its summer music and autumn literary festivals have hosted some of the land’s top artists and writers. Due to the year’s circumstances, both festivals have now been combined as an autumn special, to form one exceptional fortnight of live and streamed events.

My two day whistle-stop visit to Petworth in the summer of 2018 was a revelation, and I wished I could have come back and stayed longer. This has not happened – yet - but being able to witness the performances, on my handy laptop and through headphones is nonetheless a much-welcome relief from the tedium and humdrum of a Covid lockdown.

Friday 16 October 2020 

HOWARD SHELLEY &

London Mozart Players Ensemble

The festival opened with a Haydn symphony, well sort of. In this period of social distancing, big orchestra performances have been ruled out, but in comes the idea that “small is good”. Thus what we got was impresario extraordinaire Johann Peter Salomon’s arrangement of Haydn’s Symphony No.94 in G major (better known by its nickname, the Surprise Symphony) for string quartet, flute, double bass and piano (serving as a sort of continuo). It is a septet, but good music remains, performed with the care and love one might expect in intimate chamber music.

Petworth Festival Director Stewart Collins addresses the audience in St Mary's

Opening with a slow introduction, the 1^st movement soon took off in the high spirits and wit that comes with the territory. The balance between the strings and piano chords was excellent, with the flute adding an extra line of timbre and texture. The main surprise here was the second movement’s theme and variations (remember that big abrupt tutti chord which gave the symphony its nickname?) being omitted.

The great British pianist Howard Shelley* then gave a scholarly but highly accessible preamble on Beethoven’s early style with relation to Mozart’s late piano concertos, and also played examples which helped in the appreciation of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. Accompanied by just a string quintet, one need not have worried about missing the full orchestra. The piano rumbled in its series of ascending scales without apology, and never looked back. Here was a performance that lacked nothing in brio and vigour, with Shelley in scintillating form leading from the keyboard.

The usual big cadenza by Beethoven was played, and even this sounded perfectly appropriate. The slow movement’s opening chorale for piano solo was an epitome of purity, from which a glorious lyricism unfolded. The Rondo finale turned from drama to sheer joy, but not before some tense moments which Beethoven put his listeners through. Overall, this work - and performance -  represented a triumph of the spirit. The audience in St Mary’s were served up a real treat. Whoever thought a live Beethoven piano concerto be heard with such vivacity and vividness in the midst of a global pandemic?

* The discophile world will forever be in his debt for his indefatigable work in Hyperion’s Romantic and Classical Piano Concerto series and championship of British piano music.

Saturday 17 October 2020

SHEKU KANNEH-MASON, Cello &

ISATA KANNEH-MASON, Piano

Billed as the highlight of the festival, the duo recital by two members of Britain’s first family of music was every bit as as good as their programme suggested, if not better. Cellist Sheku, winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, and his older sister pianist Isata opened with Beethoven’s Fourth Cello Sonata in C major (Op.102 No.1). One would feel their chemistry from the outset, with the cello voicing the first notes and the piano joining in for the 1^st movement’s slow introduction. Here were both instruments presented as first among equals, a status not previously recognised before Beethoven, and how. Sheku’s robust tone yet sensitive voice was well matched by Isata’s sure-fingered pianism through the sonata’s two movements.

The slow-fast-slow-fast form here is reminiscent of the sonata da chiesa of old, and made for splendid contrasts. Does anyone other than myself feel that a motif in the fast section of the 1^st movement sound like The Stars and Stripes Forever? Maybe John Philip Sousa was influenced by Beethoven? Whatever that maybe, there were lots to enjoy in the 2^nd movement’s interplay and counterpoint, which made this a fun outing.    

Frank Bridge may be regarded as a 20^th century composer (besides being the most important teacher of Benjamin Britten), but his Melodie remains firmly entrenched in the Romantic era. Its brief three-and-a-half minutes cast a sumptuously lyrical spell, beautifully voiced and served as the prelude to the concert’s main event, Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata in G minor (Op.19). Here the sibs unleashed a no holds barred performance that simmered, sizzled and then erupted into glorious life.

Ecstacy is written all over Sheku's face!

It was easy for the piano with its multitudes of notes to overwhelm the cello, but that never happened. Isata’s sensitive musicianship and Sheku’s passion made sure of that. While the opening movement and ensuing scherzo flexed muscle and sinew, it was the gorgeous slow movement that revealed the Russian composer’s psyché heart-on-sleeve. The duo milked it for what it was worth, and the result was heartrending to say the least. The finale’s tarantella-like dance followed off where the initial fast movements left which made for a breathlessly exciting finish, greeted by the loudest of cheers.  

On the strength of this hour-long recital, I dare say the Kanneh-Masons, Sheku and Isata, have what it takes to become Britain’s finest sibling duo since Yehudi and Hephzibah – and yes, I mean the Menuhins.  

Sunday 18 October 2020

MITSUKO UCHIDA 

Piano Recital

Are there people who remember what life during the Blitz was like? When Dame Myra Hess organised the legendary series of recitals at the National Gallery, what comfort and solace did those concerts bring? And how was the “Keep Calm and Carry On Regardless” spirit upheld? The world is now under the cosh again, not by Nazis but unseen enemies lurking in unmasked and unwashed corners, waiting to strike. It is in this modern day siege that the Petworth Festival keeps the morale up. This evening, another Dame M provided a healthy dose of healing.

I am grateful that Dame Mitsuko Uchida dropped Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations in favour of two Schubert sonatas. I have also little doubt that the Schuberts were a greater intepretive proposition, besides challenging the listener that bit more. And what a delight that was too.

The opening movements of Schubert piano sonatas are where the meat is. These are heavenly in length and double the pleasure when exposition repeats are observed. This is music that takes its time, and where time stands still. In Uchida’s hands, every note and every measure meant something.

In the Sonata in C major (D.840), big chords and octaves portrayed defiance and resoluteness, and with its calculated jarring dissonances, a dimension of physical pain and angst was also evinced. In the Sonata in G major (D.894), there was unremitting congeniality and warmth, and I am reminded of the pop song People (People Who Need People). That sounds daft, but the association will always be with me, and this performance became a soothing balm for my ears and bruised soul.

The quite substantial second movement of the C major, now cast in melancholy and pathos of C minor, was one that remained tantalisingly unresolved. With only two movements, Schubert never did complete the work (called the Reliquie because it was then thought to be his last). Would this be his greatest sonata had he not been silenced by an early death? Uchida performed it as if it was.

The three latter movements of the G major (sometimes referred to as the Fantasie) was almost a breeze. The contrasts were refreshing: an excursion into Schubert’s world of lieder in the slow movement, a scherzo with symphonic ideas, but special place had to go to the playful Rondo finale. Its dance-like moves seemed to look forward to ragtime, just like the finale of Beethoven’s Op.111 predicting a future in jazz and boogie woogie. Despite the serious tone in the earlier movements, tongue-in-cheek was never far away in Uchida’s reading, which made for a rhythmic and cheery close.

The chorus of bravos was justly rewarded with an encore, but just a very brief one: Aveu from Schumann’s Carnaval. This was a truly breathtaking and masterly recital, from beginning to end.       

Monday 19 October 2020

PETWORTH SUMMER FESTIVAL SPECIAL

The Petworth Festival has enjoyed a five-year relationship with the Royal Academy of Music, the partnership providing opportunities for RAM students and alumni to perform for friendly audiences outside well-trodden concert venues in the capital. This summer festival special concert relived pre-recorded content from earlier in the year, a showcase for younger performers to display their wares.

The concert opened with pianist Harry Rylance performing Liszt’s transcription of Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture, a sizzler filled with myriad orchestral effects downsized for the piano. Downsized or reduced are wrong words indeed, because the pianist is subjected to outsized and outrageous demands for choral, chordal and filigreed passages, all whipped up by just ten fingers. Rylance did a splendid job, thunderous for most part but also sensitive to fine and subtle details.

Next came the Vòreios Trio, comprising oboist Russell Coates, bassoonist Olivia Palmer-Baker  and pianist Shang Xiaowen, in Poulenc’s Trio for this unusual combination. Typical for the Frenchman, there was his mock-serious quasi-religious slow opening, followed by frivolity let loose without apology. The trio fully realised its potential for comedic humour in the outer movements, balanced by a slow movement of Mozartian simplicity and purity. Most of all, it was just a fine excuse to wallow in Poulenc’s bittersweet yet juicy melodies. Simply delicious!   

The evening concluded with Harry The Piano, not a cartoonish character but the sort of pianist all of us (who have pored over hours, years and decades of piano lessons) long to be. Harry Harris is his real name (I’ve checked) and he is the guy who hogs the piano at cocktail events and becomes the life of the party.

His medley of Gershwin tunes jam packs in Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris and hit songs like Fascinatin’ Rhythm, Love Is Here To Stay, Embraceable You, Do It Again, Summertime and I Got Rhythm within the span of just a few minutes. Playing audience requests, he does Climb Every Mountain in the style of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, I Feel Pretty à la Debussy, an Elton John hit in the manner of Rachmaninov, a jazzy Hallelujah Chorus (Billy Mayerl and the striders would have been proud) and Schubert’s Ave Maria as dressed up by Little Richard. That was a blast too. He is no lounge pianist but My Music’s Steve Race come back to life. We are so envious indeed.

Tuesday 20 October 2020

TASMIN LITTLE, Violin

with JOHN LENEHAN, Piano

It is hard to believe that Tasmin Little is retiring from the world of performing. This might very well be one of her last concerts, having given a world farewell tour (including a date with the Singapore Symphony in February) to call a close to a stellar international career of over 2000 concerts in thirty years. I am privileged to have seen her perform in Singapore, Sydney and Hong Kong, and why not include Petworth into this august list?

Tasmin Little in Singapore, playing Bruch's Violin Concerto No.1 with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Her programme with regular piano collaborator John Lenehan was all Romantic, opening with Brahms’ Scherzo in C minor from the so-called FAE Sonata written for Joseph Joachim by three composers (Brahms, Schumann and Dietrich). It is the only movement anybody remembers today, with the hot-blooded young Brahms sending sparks fly, amply reciprocated by the duo in a passionate reading. This was merely the prelude to the young Richard Strauss’ Violin Sonata in E flat major, the concert’s main piece, composed long before his great tone poems and operas.  

Here Little’s lyrical gifts come to the fore, with the work’s succession of luscious and flowing melodies given a gilded edge. Her tone is voluminous, sweet but not cloying, and intonation en point through its three movements. The slow movement is titled Improvisation, but its more of a meditation, its aria-like beauty shining through at every turn. The finale mirrored the first movement’s passionate throes, and with virtuosity to burn, the duo dispatched its pyrotechnics for a powerful close.

 

The next two works were by women composers: Lili Boulanger’s lovely Nocturne and Amy Beach’s Invocation (shorter and less well-known than her Romance, but just as pretty) were simply oases of calm and charm, played with a heartwarming sincerity. The closing piece, Tchaikovskyana, was a fantasy on popular melodies from the ballet Swan Lake, cunningly crafted by Little and Lenehan. In the hallowed tradition of such fantasies by Sarasate, Wieniawski and Ernst, this was a distillation of good tunes and virtuoso playing, throwing in snatches of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto and Violin Concerto for good measure. Naughty but nice, and brilliantly dispatched. To Tasmin, we bid adieu and thank you for the music.

Wednesday 21 October 2020

CLARE TEAL & Friends

I can’t say I know much about jazz singing, for this is music one should be chilling to and simply enjoyed rather than analysed or critiqued. So I will keep this short and say I tremendously enjoyed Clare’s soothing mezzo voice, swinging vibe, and ad libbing, supported by an excellent trio of pianist Jason Rebello, bassist Simon Little and Ben Reynolds on drums, who also lent their voices for some numbers.

 

For the record, the songs she styled included I Love Being Here With You (Peggy Lee), An Occasional Man (Jeri Southern), They Say Its Spring (Blossom Dearie), You’ve Changed (Billie Holiday), Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love (Ella Fitzgerald), If I Had A Ribbon Bow (Maxine Sullivan), It’s A Good Day (Peggy Lee), La Belle Dame Sans Regrets (Sting), The Song Is You (Doris Day), I Will (Lennon & McCartney), My Funny Valentine (Rodgers & Hart), Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall (Ella & The Inkspots), Don’t (Elvis Presley), It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing (Duke Ellington) and several which I’ve either missed or forgotten. After a long day of work, this was certainly the perfect sort of tonic to go home to and lounge about.

Thursday 22 October 2020

MILOS KARADAGLIC, Guitar

It is amazing to ponder that the Balkan republic of Montenegro, with a population of just over 600 thousand, can boast the talents of pro footballers Mirko Vucinic and Stevan Jovetic, the dear mutual friend of Neil Franks and mine – pianist Boris Kraljevic - and possibly the world’s most popular classical guitarist Milos Karadaglic. He came to Britain as a teenager, studying in the Royal Academy of Music before becoming a recording star and global sensation. His hour-long recital was a world tour of popular guitar repertoire that spanned the entire spectrum of the instrument’s capabilities.

Spanish music came first with a set comprising Granados’ Andaluza (Spanish Dance No.5, also known as a piano piece), Tarrega’s Lagrima (Teardrop, a short piece of quiet reflection and melancholy), Falla’s Dance of the Miller’s Wife (from The Three-Cornered Hat), replete with its vigorous orchestral effects. From the greatest Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos came his five famous Preludes, written for Andres Segovia, displaying a kaleidoscopic range of colours and moods which Milos keenly lapped up.

Keen in exploring myriad aspects of guitarism, there were two transcriptions by Japanese contemporary great  Toru Takemitsu of popular songs: Harold Arlen’s  Over The Rainbow (from The Wizard of Oz) and Lennon-McCartney’s Yesterday. The melodies may be unforgettable to say the least but the harmonies employed were unusual, even exotic, resounding beautifully in Milos’ hands.

 

The most substantial work on the programme was perhaps the least familiar (except for guitar aficionados), the Italian guitarist-composer Carlo Domeniconi’s Coyunbaba Suite. The work is unusual as it requires special tuning to relive an Oriental mode in the key of C sharp minor, with its four linked movements influenced by Turkish music. Milos cast a hypnotic spell with this mesmerising music, which traversed from quiet contemplation to white-hot passion and ecstacy. The guitar is an instrument which shares the most private and intimate of thoughts, and rarely has it secrets been so trenchantly revealed.  

Friday 23 October 2020

PATTI BOULAYE – ARETHA AND ME

Popular music is so ubiquitous that you recognise the songs even if you did not know what they were called. Such were my impressions when tuning in to British-Nigerian singer Patti Boulaye’s personal tribute to legendary American singer-songwriter Aretha Franklin. Aretha’s songs are so well covered that the originals are sometimes forgotten. Patti’s natural ability and enthusiasm is infectious, which translated well for The Queen of Soul’s standards like Think, I Say A Little Prayer, Spanish Harlem, Son of A Preacher Man, I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You and Baby I Love You.

Not everything heard this evening was by Aretha. There was Etta James’ I’d Rather Go Blind and At Last, and Bessie Smith’s Kitchen Man, which are of the similar genre. The less said about the cover of Nessun Dorma (from Puccini’s Turandot), the better. Pavarotti she is not, but at least Patti did it her way. Far more convincing was Dat’s Love or the Habanera from Carmen Jones (Bizet’s opera from the hood), which was more her kind of thing. Best of all was Amina from Patti’s musical Sun Dance which simply oozed the African vibe. Patti was ably accompanied by music director Alan Rogers who manned all the keyboards and extra sound effects.

The bewitching hour closed with more Aretha: Chain of Fools, Save Me and You Make Feel Like A Natural Woman, familiar favourites sealing an incredibly lively show for someone who’s mighty proud of being a grandma. Did someone say she is 66 years old? That is simply astonishing.  

 

Saturday 24 October 2020

CHARLES OWEN &

KATYA APEKISHEVA, Piano Duo

The final concert is this wonderful week at the Petworth Festival was a piano four hands recital by the duo of Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva. Both pianists are the co-directors of the London Piano Festival at King’s Place, an annual event which I must attend sometime during my lifetime, and I even own a couple of their CD recordings. Their Petworth offering was not Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring or Rachmaninov’s Suites but a Classical-Romantic affair which made more sense in the space of St Mary’s Church.

Charles Owen waxes lyrical about Beethoven and Schubert.

Beethoven’s Sonata in D major (Op.6) is an early work in just two short movements. The vigour and brio stirred in his spirit came immediately to the fore, which made interesting contrasts with Schubert’s Rondo in A major (D.951). This was a late work composed in his final year, one blessed with an unremitting congeniality. As rondos go, this was not the usual jolly dance but a gentle portrait of polite Biedermeier sensibilities. The duo, technically adroit but totally sensitive at every turn, gave a most musical reading which can scarcely be bettered.

Then came the substantial Brahms set, opening with his Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann (Op.23, and not Op.9 which is a totally different piece for two hands), based on a late piece written during Schumann’s final throes of insanity. This is the same theme of Schumann’s Geistervariationen (Ghost Variations), but Brahms’ is the far more interesting set, and the duo’s imaginative take sealed the deal. The 16 Waltzes (Op.39) may be considered amateur fodder, but it takes superior musicians to do the myriad subtleties full justice, which was what we got from Charles and Katya.

Charles and Katya could not have had a more sympathetic page-turner than Neil Franks, pianophile & Chairman of the Petworth Festival.

To close were four popular Hungarian Dances heard in their original form for piano four hands. Brahms was not a striver for authenticity (unlike Bartok and Kodaly) but he fully understood the Magyar gypsy spirit which comes alive in his 21 showpieces. For the record, the duo performed Nos.1, 7, 6 and 5, which are the best-known ones with all the beloved tunes. As they say, all good things must come to an end, but this had been a most enjoyable week of music, and the 2021 Petworth Festival cannot come any sooner!

The Engelsgrübe, one of the most  picturesque streets in Lübeck

The Heiligengeist Hospital in Lübeck was an operating refuge for the destitute from the Middle Ages till the 1960s.

Thursday 29 August 2019

ROBERTO PIANA Piano Recital (7.30 pm)

If the name Roberto Piana sounds familiar, that is because some of his excellent piano transcriptions (of Edith Piaf songs and Astor Piazzolla tangos) have previously been performed in Husum by his good friend Antonio Pompa-Baldi. We heard some of these today, part of a rather diverse Italianate and Mediterranean programme. Giulio Ricordi is better known as a publisher (the firm which had Verdi, Puccini and other opera composers on its books), but as a composer, his Romance Poudrée (Powdery Romance) is a little gem, a song-like serenade in D major which opened the evening.

Stefano Golinelli is a totally new name for me, with three movements from his Ricordanza di un tempo che fu (Remembrance of a Time There Was) being a combination lyricism and outright virtuosic display. This made a good companion for Piana’s own Hommage a Turina, which is just as hot-blooded that the Latino temperament can get. Amid the fiery Iberian rhythms, melodrama of pathos and tragedy, there was even time for a fugue! There were also short pieces by Pergolesi (transcribed by Rafael Joseffy), Reynaldo Hahn and Alberto Nepomuceno, all very pleasant. However, time could have been spared by omitting Ignaz Moscheles’ Fantaisie a la Paganini, possibly the worst piece of the entire festival. The attempts to translate violin technique to the piano and empty note-spinning made this a truly bathetic display despite Piana’s earnest pleadings.

There were seven Astor Piazzolla tangos to close, three originals and four Piana transcriptions. This was easy listening throughout, some of which confirm that the Argentine tango-meister was no one-trick pony but someone who should be taken seriously. Among the transcriptions were Imperial, Milonga del Angel and the ubiquitous Libertango. In the generous spirit of Husum, Piano played five encores, by Rimsky-Korsakov-Siloti (Song of India), Gershwin-Grainger (The Man I Love), Turina, Edith Piaf and Manuel de Falla (Ritual Fire Dance).   

It took me an almost 90-minute trek from Klanxbull to German artist Emil Nolde's house, but it was worth it!

The centrepiece of one of Emil Nolde's most famous paintings, once considered degenerate (entärtete) by the Nazi regime.

Friday 30 August 2019

XIAYIN WANG 

Piano Recital (6 pm)

Of the young generation of young Chinese pianists (which includes the likes of Lang Lang and Yuja Wang), the one I have been most wanting to hear is Xiayin Wang. Her recordings on the Chandos and Naxos labels have captivated my attention for years. Up close in person, she may not look as alluring as her glamourous cover photos but her playing is every bit as vivid and gorgeous as her recordings suggest.

Her range of sound and colour on the keyboard is enormous, as evident in her playing of American composer Richard Danielpour’s Bagatelles and Preludes (Book 2) which open and close her recital. The Bagatelles were dedicated to her, and the 11 variegated short pieces were made to sound like sparkling gems. The seven Preludes are longer and alternate from beatific calm to ragtime on steroids (Mean Kat Stride for example, Joplin and Bolcom may both take a seat). I predict these to be on the repertoire of young pianists pretty soon, much like Ligeti, Kapustin and Carl Vine.   

In between, Wang played Earl Wild’s Sonata 2000, an attempt of a Golden Age pianist to connect with the new worlds of beat, punk and Latino heat. He does not completely convince these ears, and that had nothing to do with Wang’s scintillating playing, which burnt a track in the madcap finale, called Toccata a la Ricky Martin. Her selections from Granados’ Goyescas – The Maiden and the Nightingale and Requiebros (Flatteries) – were by no means rarities, but her sumptuous readings were a balm to the ears.

Her encores were like chalk and cheese. Zhu Wang Hua’s To Our Glorious Future (and 50 million deaths, that addition is wholly mine) is pure 1949 Chinese realist-socialist claptrap, while Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm was definitely more our cup of tea. She has got to play in Singapore sometime.

CHRISTIAN NAGEL 

Late Night Piano Recital (10 pm)

For the first time ever, this festival held a late night concert, something to send listeners to a musical kind of dreamland. No Chopin Nocturnes or Ravel’s Gaspard were heard, but German pianist Christian G. Nagel (a former student of Peter Froundjian) performed an interesting hour-long palindromic recital. Allow me to explain. The concert began with German avantgardeists Dieter Schnebel and Karl-Heinz Stockhausen, followed by a series alternating several versions of Liszt’s Ave Marias with selections from Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’enfant Jesus, before closing with Stockhausen and Schnebel. In short, a programmatic sandwich.

The sounds he generated were varied and interesting, from sharp dissonances to solace-inducing warm tones, and the ever-reassuring clangour of bells. Of much interest was the penultimate Stockhausen piece (Natürliche Dauern No.10) which required the tinkle of small bells attached to the fingers of the right hand. To facilitate that unusual arrangement, Nagel fashioned a glove (a la Glenn Gould) with the bells sewn into the finger apertures. His smokily crafted encore of M-A.Hamelin’s Meditation on Laura (after David Raksin’s movie music) added an extra gloss to the already entrancing evening.

Carillons for Stockhausen!

Now I head off to Berlin!

Saturday 31 August 2019

Regretfully, my Husum sojourn comes to an end, one day early. Thus I would miss Danish record company Danacord owner Jesper Buhl’s talk on My Favourite Things and Cyprien Katasris’ recital of Polish music by Stanislaw Moniuzsko and students of Chopin. My wrong. But there had to be a good reason: the Singapore Chinese Orchestra performs this evening at the Berlin Konzerthaus Gendarmenmarkt. That should make another interesting story.

The Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum festival for 2021 has been announced! It takes place from 13-21 August 2021, featuring the same cast of pianists who would have performed at the 2020 festival. For more details, check out: piano-festival-husum.com

Be seeing you again in Husum!

The marvel of engineering that is the Rendsberg High Bridge

Tuesday 27 August 2019

ROLAND PÖNTINEN 

Piano Recital (7.30 pm)

I have been collecting the Swedish pianist Roland Pöntinen’s recordings (on BIS and many other labels) for decades, and it was great to actually hear and meet him in person. After the innocuous pleasantries of Swede William Seymer’s Sommarcroquiser (Summer Sketches), the first half comprised mostly transcriptions.

I hate to say this but not everything translated perfectly on the piano. Having loved Sibelius’ haunting Rakastava in its versions for strings and voices, the piano transcription by Leo Funtek just fails to sustain its long seamless and undulating lines. Similarly, Ronald Stevenson’s otherwise masterly transcription of the Adagio from Mahler’s Tenth Symphony sounds threadbare, and the 9-note chordal scream at its climax was somewhat a letdown, despite Pöntinen’s ardent advocacy.

The balance of  Pöntinen’s programme was excellent, including Fauré’s Barcarolles Nos.9 & 10 and Impromptu No.5 (all of which are rarely heard despite the Frenchman’s relative fame), Szymanowski’s Metopes - its steamy three movements (Isle of Sirens, Calypso and Nausicaa) inspired by Greek mythology, and a true rarity in Gustave Samazeuilh’s Nocturne. This nocturne was dedicated to Fauré and is filled with late-Fauréan harmonic ambiguities and Debussyan textures, a lovely piece that deserves to be better-known.

The evening closed with Villa-Lobos, the Brazilian folk-inspired A Tres Marias, and the last and best transcription of all: The Little Train of the Caipira, finale of Bachianas Brasileiras No.2 as arranged by American pianist-conductor Ira Levin. Now the last number is one heck of a showpiece, the firing of pistons, spouts of steam, chugging ostinatos, bells and whistles all sound totally idiomatic on the piano.  

His single encore was an excellent follow-up to the last piece, a Pöntinen original, étude ergonomique (à la maniere Thomas Newman), which delighted in an insistent F note ostinato.   

Hamburg: a view of the Rathaus, Nikolaikirche Spire and Elbphilharmonie from the Alster Lake.

Wednesday 28 August 2019

MARK VINER 

Piano Recital (7.30 pm)

On the strength of his recital, 30-year-old British pianist Mark Viner has surely inherited the mantle of the late Ronald Smith and Raymond Lewenthal, as well as the much-alive Marc-André Hamelin, as interpreter par excellence of the piano music of Alkan. Economy of notes and labour never encumbered the French-Jewish misanthropic pianist-composer (Birth-name: Charles-Valentin Morhange) whose horrendously difficult pieces even fazed the likes of Franz Liszt.

He performed four works by Alkan alone, culminating with his Symphony for solo piano (Études Nos.4-7 from his 12 Studies in Minor Keys), the companion to the notorious Concerto for solo piano. Granted this is a somewhat less fearsome work, but nobody but the most masochistic and intrepid would subject himself or herself to its multitudes of fast and relentless torrents of notes. To this end, Viner’s performance was a total triumph, making this sound seemingly effortless. I remember another stupendous performance from Liszt specialist Leslie Howard in Singapore some 15 years ago. Both will remain in my memory for a very long time to come. The other pieces swung between the extremes of sobriety and pomposity, namely Chant d’amour (from 12 Studies in Major Keys), Funeral March (Op.26) and Triumphal March (Op.27), the result being more sound and fury as we have come to expect from Alkan.

Besides, Viner also performed fantasies on Donizetti operas (Dom Sebastien and Lucrezia Borgia) by Liszt and Thalberg (piano rivals with quite divergent fates), demonstrating that bel canto and prodigious note-spinning were never strangers at all. The only departure from the Alkan-Liszt-Thalberg axis of extreme virtuosity was Cecile Chaminade’s Automne (her most famous piece, an étude and not such a rarity these days), performed with a lovely singing tone and understated good taste. Viner’s encore was a rarity among rarities: The Cross of Granite (La Croix de Granit) by little known Belgian Goeau (student of Joseph Jongen), a short but spiritual number that provided ultimate relief from the many, many notes that came before.

Sunday 25 August 2019

JONATHAN SUMMERS Matinee (11 am)

In a festival for pianophiles by pianophiles, Husum has offered an interesting variety of piano-themed talks for its weekend matinees. Jonathan Summers is the curator of the British Library’s classical music sound archive, and his hour-long lecture was a treasure-trove of rare recordings of little-known works by historical pianists of repute. There are no Horowitz or Rubinstein recordings (considered common garden by Husum standards) but gems by the likes of Guiomar Novaes, José Vianna da Motta, Bernhard Stevenhagen, Victor Staub, Walter Rehberg, Mark Hambourg, Michael von Zadora, names so rare that only Peter Froundjian would recognise. Whole tracks were played, and one is astonished by the distinctive sound and colour heard on mostly 78 rpm discs.

Piano Recital (7.30 pm)

The Italian pianist Marco Rapetti presented an evening of Russian music, one interestingly characterised by a distinct absence of Russian nationalism. He has, for me, exorcised the notion that Cesar Cui (member of the Mighty Handful, and infamous critic of Rachmaninov’s First Symphony) was a bad composer. If anything, parts of his suite A Argenteau sounds more like Wagner (Parsifal and Tristan come to mind), and there’s even a Toy Soldiers’ March that seems to have escaped from The Nutcracker. Causerie, arguably the suite’s best-known piece reaches Rachmaninov-like heights of ecstacy.

Then we have the First Sonata of the tragically short-lived Alexei Stanchinsky (1888-1914, whose turbulent life was even briefer than Scriabin’s), which has nifty syncopations, saucy harmonies, moving lyricism, portentous moodiness and a jazzy presto finale to close. In Rapetti’s very capable hands, this is something I would like to hear again. Rather un-Russian in feel are are pieces by Arensky, Conus and the early-Chopin influenced Scriabin himself. Alexander Scriabin’s Canon is dry and academy but his early Sonata in E flat minor, which could be labelled Sonata No.0 (preceding his ten numbered sonatas), is quite something else.

This might just be Scriabin’s longest sonata. Its rambling and not fully-formed, filled with Chopinesque cliches but has enough of early Scriabinisms (think of his early sonatas and preludes) to merit some interest. Its full of ideas, ecstatic outbursts, impetuous and tempestuous pages, and awkward page-turns. Rapetti could have done with an alert page-turner (no shortage in Husum!) if anything to forestall untoward breaks, but he nonetheless survived. There were four encores, by Ornstein (To A Grecian Urn), Shchedrin (In Imitation of Albeniz), Scriabin (a prelude) and Borodin (Au Convent from Petite Suite), thus closing with gentle bell sounds. In short, a quintessentially Husum recital: very curious but totally enjoyable.

The serene harbour at Flensburg.

 

One of Flensburg's most picturesque streets, once a red light district but now gentrified.

Monday 26 August 2019

MARKUS BECKER 

Piano Recital (7.30 pm)

This had to be the most intellectual programme at this year’s festival, founded on Bach, counterpoint, the fugue and thematic transformation. If a pianist were paid by the volume of notes alone, German pianist Markus Becker would be more prosperous than Lang Lang. I don’t know which combo has more notes, Bach-Busoni or Bach-Reger, but I reckon its the latter. In B-R’s Prelude and Fugue in E flat major, the piano attempts to relive the organ’s sonority. Throw in some over-indulgent pedalling, it comes as plethoric morass of sound. There are plenty of missed notes but Becker gives his all in this unbridled account that needs no apology.

Viktor Ullmann’s Variations and Double Fugue on a Theme by Schoenberg is one tough and thorny cookie to crack. The former student of Schoenberg’s, murdered by Nazis at Auschwitz, used one of his master’s atonal Kleine Klavierstücke (Op.19) and creates a grosse klavierstück in its place. The one thing about atonal works is that when a tone row gets heard repeatedly (as in a set of variations or gets worked contrapuntally), the ear gradually adapts and it does not sound so fearsome after all.

Hindemith’s Third Sonata is one of my favourites (thanks to Glenn Gould), so droll and quirky are its themes that its hard to dislike. While Becker may not have the devastating and evil wit of the loony Canadian, his is still a solid account that deserves plaudits.  

The piece de resistance had to be August Stradal’s transcription of Julius Reubke’s Sonata on the 94^th Psalm, orginally an organ work. This masterpiece by the short-lived student of Liszt (Reubke was dead at 24) is the Liszt sonata on steroids, and should be heard more often. The only problem: who would bother to learn all these notes? Becker did, and more than delivered on its masses and expanses of sound with a passionate vehemence that was hard to ignore. Reubke was a blazing meteor who burnt himself out too soon. His encores made for delightful contrasts: the Bach-Reger Ich ruf’ zu dir and the witty finale from Haydn’s Sonata in E minor (Hob.XVI:34).   

Shostakovich and Sviatoslav Richter were seen rummaging through the bargain CDs at the Danacord booth.

Here's the proof that the Russian legends are hiding out in Husum (and so is Elvis).

Saturday 24 August 2019

CLARISSE TEO 

Piano Recital (4.30 pm)

Nothing fills me with greater pride than witnessing a first ever-recital by a Singaporean pianist at  Husum. For me, Clarisse Teo’s hour-long recital is a Joseph Schooling moment, an artistic equivalent of Singapore’s first Olympic gold in 2016. This law-graduate turned concert pianist had me near speechless by her confidence and authority in her made-for-Husum programme of music by Xavier Montsalvatge, Vincent D’Indy and Anatoly Alexandrov. Who? Exactly. Even by Husum’s lofty standards, her programme was a rarity.

She took a little time to prepare herself at the keyboard, but when she set her fingers down, it was a non-stop roller-coaster ride of hair-raising notes. Montsalvatge’s Sonatina pour Yvette entranced with its quirky rhythms and piquant harmonies, and smiles were raised in the 3^rd movement’s cheeky quotes of Ah, vous dirai-je Maman! Obviously this was written for a child, but there was nothing childlike in its delivery.

Then we entered hardcore Husum territory with D’Indy’s Theme varie, Fugue et Chanson, a work far removed from the world of his Symphony on a Mountain Air. No folksy melodies, but a theme which did not sound memorable at first but soon grew with each variation. The fugue was complex enough (every composer had to prove himself with this obligatory exercise) but the final chanson was a happy return home. The ante was upped for the Russian Alexandrov Fourth Sonata, as thorny as any post-Scriabin essay would prove. Even if the ears soon wearied with its litany of dissonances, nothing suggested that Clarisse was tired. Her responses remained hyperacute all through to its climactic close.

Her sole encore came like a pleasant after-dinner mint, Carlos Guastavino’s Cantos Popolares No.4, a delightful palate-cleanser to soothe the gall and brimstone that came before. If I sounded somewhat over-enthusiastic, that ought to be the case. I’ll probably never visit the Olympic Games or football World Cup with Singapore to support, but this would be one of Singapore’s proudest musical moments. By the way, I’m also happy to report that the Singaporean population in Husum had increased by by 800% on this weekend!

 

KOTARO FUKUMA Piano Recital (7.30 pm)

The programme offered by the 2003 first prizewinner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition had to be the most eclectic programme I have witnessed in five years of visiting Husum. That’s a far cry from the usual piano competition fodder served up ad nauseum, which means the young Japanese Kotaro Fukuma has progressed beyond the mainstream. His programme began with Minako Tokuyama’s To No Mai, with echoes of Takemitsu and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Next was a melancholic piece from Liszt’s Album dun voyager, the First Nocturne and a Waltz by Bizet (piano music by Carmen’s composer are finally receiving their due), and appropriately a Hommage a Bizet by Theodor Adorno, of all people. This is a surprise by the philosopher and champion of atonalism, and how pleasant and lyrical the three movements sounded, perilously skirting at the edges of tonality.

The piece de resistance of Fukuma’s recital had to be the six posthumously-published Charles Trenet songs by Alexis Weissenberg (Mister Nobody in his younger and presumably wilder days) as realised by Marc-André Hamelin. This is heady and highly virtuosic stuff despite the relative simplicity of thematic material, and beautifully played too. One will not view Coin de rue or April in Paris in the same light again. Quite unusually too, he closed with Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Sixth Sonata, which is acerbic, savage and viscerally exciting, as one would expect from a one-time Shostakovich student. One might even discern a hint of jazz at its close, which complimented the earlier goings-on.

Fukuma gave three encores, a Clara Schumann nocturne, more Bizet (Heimat) and his own over-the-top version of the familiar waltz-song Je te veux, which is Satie meets Mr Nobody. Naughty but nice! 

RARITIES OF PIANO MUSIC

AT SCHLOSS VOR HUSUM 2019

Alas, this year’s festival of Rarities of Piano Music at Northern Germany’s Schloss vor Husum has been cancelled due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. Thus I have to console myself with great memories of last year’s festival. It has taken me a painfully long time to write this, but as they say, its better late than never.

Preamble

As with previous trips to the Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum, my sojourn begins with piano music in Singapore like some preparatory piece of homework. Over the weekend, I heard four young pianists in a gala concert of the Singapore Youth International Piano Competition. These included winners of the Japan Steinway Competition (Momona), Ettlingen Youth Piano Competition (Yu Lei), Epinal International Piano Competition (Lin Hao-Wei, only 15) and the Piano Island Competition (Singapore’s Pung Rae Yue). They were all excellent, representing a bright future for piano playing in East Asia.

As a corollary, it is staggering to see that there will be five Asian pianists playing this year’s Husum festival, some kind of record. Two will perform at the Scholarship Recital, two at the Piano Explorers Series, and one at the main festival proper. And to think that only four Asian pianists had previously performed at the festival, beginning with the Philippines’ Cecile Licad in 2005, followed by Jenny Lin (Taiwan), Hiroka Takenouchi and Etsuko Hirose (both Japan) over the years. This might point to a trend to come.   

The Nordsee Canal (Kiel Canal) as seen at Fischhütte

I arrive in Husum this year with absolutely no hitches. Gertrud Feldhusen, who befriended me at last year’s festival, met me at Hamburg Airport. Instead of risking the Deutsche Bahn (fraught with the usual delays), we take a road trip through the flat Schleswig-Holstein landscape and a climactic crossing by ferry over the Kiel Canal at Fischhutte.

At Husum, we are met by the television crew from NDR (Nord Deutscher Rundfunk, or North German Broadcasting) who are making a documentary on international visitors who venture to Schleswig-Holstein for whatever reasons. Apparently I appear to be a curious and somewhat interesting subject (exotic for certain, but interesting?), having travelled all the way from Southeast Asia to Schleswig-Holstein to listen to piano playing. Somewhat crazy, maybe. Anyway, we film at Hotel Wohlert (home away from home for the 5^th successive year), Hartmann’s Landküche (a favourite restaurant for country home-cooked fare), the Feldhusen farmhouse at Koldenbuttel and a dike on the North Sea coast. Varied and very nice locations, definitely.  

The Wattenmeer or North Sea coast as seen from south of Husum.

A documentary by Dörte Nielsen entitled Auf Weltreise nach Schleswig-Holstein (On a World Tour to Schleswig-Holstein) was released on 28 February 2020, and it may be viewed below for some laughs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9emG8OmQwLc 

PIANO RECITAL

by Husum Scholarship Holders (7.30 pm)

Last year, five young pianists from various German conservatories were awarded scholarships to attend the entire length of the festival. This year they repaid the faith thrusted upon them by playing a 20-minute recital each comprising piano rarities they have picked up along the way. Rarities are certainly not bread and butter in music schools, so it takes a certain adventurous spirit to indulge in them. The results are varied, variable but worth pursuing.

From Lithuanian pianist Onute Grazinyte, we got pleasant Lithuanian music (Dvarionas, Vitols and Remesa) and some Handel. From Japanese pianist Mari Namara came Toshio Hosokawa’s Mai (vigorous Japanese dance music) and a very spirited performance of Scriabin’s Seventh Sonata. Should Scriabin’s 7^th be considered a rarity? The last time I’ve heard it was at the 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition, and much further back in 2004 in Hong Kong, by a certain M-A.Hamelin. Three performances in 15 years - that makes it a rarity indeed.

Stephen Hough’s My Favourite Things and Poulence’s Novelettes are no longer rarities, but Japan’s Kenji Miura (who later won 1^st prize at the Marguerite Long International Piano Competition) offered two Mazurkas by Benjamin Godard. The best performances come from Elias Projahn and Jorma Marggraf, both Germans. From Projahn, his Liszt Fantasia and Fugue on BACH is suitably thunderous alongside two R.Strauss-Gieseking transcriptions. Leaving the best for the last, Marggraf’s reading of Szymanowski’s Third Sonata – brooding yet ecstatic – was most impressive. He feels this elusive idiom, allied with mind and fingers fully in service to this dissonant and suffocating piece.