pianomania

TOUCH 2024

National University of Singapore

Piano Ensemble (NUSPE)

Esplanade Recital Studio

Monday (8 April 2024)

One of my favourite activities as an undergraduate at the National University of Singapore during the mid to late 1980s was to escape to the Centre for Musical Activities (now Centre for the Arts, or CFA), where I sampled records in its LP collection, attended music talks and occasional concerts.

The Centre for Musical Activities (CMA) then,
now the Centre for the Arts (CFA) Studios.

A particular concert which caught my interest was the one by the Piano Ensemble (NUSPE), where one got to enjoy piano repertoire performed by fellow students. The overall standard was mostly middling to pretty good, not much to write home about, but sharing with them a common interest in piano playing was a wholesome hobby, and that was enough for me.

Imagine my pleasure to be invited to the annual NUSPE concert, titled Touch 2024, to find that the world of amateur piano pursuits has completely evolved. This recital involved 28 young pianists, performing on two pianos 14 works most of which may rightly be called rarities.

There was absolutely nothing by Rachmaninov, Liszt, Mozart, Schubert or Schumann. The very interesting repertoire may instead be classified under three unusually distinct categories: works by woman composers, works from the Americas, and works from the present / former Communist bloc.

Am I in Husum (another word for piano heaven)? No, its just the Esplanade Recital Studio but piano rarities are in the air. And performed at a very high level. 12 of the 14 duos accomplished the onerous task of playing completely from memory some very technically difficult music, and there were no performance which were indifferent or half-baked. Everyone was well prepared and out there having a good time.

What were the works performed? For starters, the woman composers were Mel Bonis (Scherzo Op.40), Amy Beach (Old Time Peasant Dance from Suite Founded Upon Irish Tunes), Cecile Chaminade (Intermede, Op.36 No.1) and Germaine Tailleferre (Jeux de plein air or Outdoor Games).

Koh Xin Ruo & Samantha Kuek
playing Mel Bonis

Sugimoto Takami & Lim Cheng An
go to the Beach.

Let it never be said that women are lesser or inferior to men. These pieces represent wonderful music, well-crafted and full of charm, totally enjoyable within the hands of Koh Qin Ruo and Samantha Kuek (Bonis), Sugimoto Takami and Lim Cheng An (Beach), Shen Congzhe and Zhao Zijie (Chaminade), and Ng Jing Ting and Liu Xin Yi (Tailleferre). Of these, the two varied movements of Tailleferre (the only lady member of Les Six) left the strongest impression.

Shen Congzhe & Zhao Zhijie
charmed in Chaminade.

Ng Jing Ting & Liu Xin Yi
made the strongest impression with Tailleferre.

Hoang Man Duc & Zhang Ming
entertained with Piazzolla.

From the Americas came perhaps the two most familiar pieces, Astor Piazzolla’s Adios Nonino, a tango dedicated in memory of his father played with flair by Hoang Man Du and Zhang Ming, and most entertaining of all, William Bolcom’s ragtime fantasy The Serpent’s Kiss (from The Garden of Eden), complete with foot-stomping, rapping of piano wood and audible tongue clicking from He Yuxin and Zhang Ziyu.

He Yuxin & Zhang Ziye
had a great time with Bolcom.

Kelly Amanda & Zheng Yilin
in more rhythmic Copland.

Aaron Copland’s Danza de Jalisco (from Latin American Sketches) from Kelly Amanda and Zheng Yilin was a engaging first cousin of his more extended El Salon Mexico.

Chua Zi Tao speaks about his new work.

Chua Zi Tao & Phua Guan Wei
give a world premiere.

The sole local work was the World Premiere of young composer Chua Zi Tao’s A Musical Box from a Distant Land, which he cheekily referred to as “the quietest piece in the whole concert”. Performed by the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory undergraduate himself and Phua Guan Wei, the work was an oasis of static stillness, with soft chords and birdsong permeating the air, a refreshing breath of fresh air away from the hustle-bustle of keyboard pyrotechnics.

Gwendolyn Heng & Wu Ziye
opened the evening with Khachaturian

Verrin Bo & Celine Tan
with Arutiunian & Babadjanian's
Armenian Rhapsody

From the former and present Communist / Soviet bloc nations were Armenian Aram Khachaturian’s Fantastic Waltz (elegantly played by Gwendolyn Heng and Wu Ziye), the jointly-composed Armenian Rhapsody by Alexander Arutiunian and Arno Babadjanian, with each composer separately writing the primo and secondo parts. Verrin Bo and Celine Tan gave one of the evening’s most convincing performances.

Lai Ruo Yan & See Xian Hui
go to Vietnam!

From Vietnam came the Singapore premiere of Dang Huu Phuc’s Con Ga Rung (Wild Chicken) and Trong Com (Rice Drums) from Lai Ruo Yan and See Xian Hui, two short pieces that delighted in ostinato rhythms and pentatonic melodies. Imagine Bartok in Saigon, and one gets the picture.

Mao Huangqing & Zhao Yushan
commune with Kabalevsky.

Chua Zhan Au & Joshua Ngeow
Defending the Yellow River.

The former Soviet Union saw Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Youth Concerto, a pleasing Socialist Realist potboiler. The first movement has sappy tunes but was well-played by Mao Huangqing and Zhao Yushan. In a similar vein was the populist finale Defend the Yellow River from the China Central Philharmonic Committee’s infamous Yellow River Concerto. Shamelessly jingoistic and copying from Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Grieg, and throwing in The East Is Red for good measure, a suitably bravura account was afforded by Chua Zhan Au and Joshua Ngeow, which closed the evening on a flag-waving high.

The late Nikolai Kapustin will be pleased
his music's being played in Singapore.

Best performance of all!
Tang Chong Ren & Ma Yuchen in Kapustin.

Wait! Stop press! I have not even mentioned the best performance of the evening. That had to be Tang Chong Ren and Ma Yuchen’s no holds barred recital of Nikolai Kapustin’s Fourth Piano Concerto, which has to be a Singapore premiere. Scored in jazz and popular dance idioms, this freewheeling work received as rhythmically vibrant and unbuttoned reading as could be hoped for. That the duo mastered this completely from memory was just a staggering thought.

If anyone had said these pianists (and the other 26 for that matter) were Conservatory students, I would have been none the wiser. A hearty molto bravissimi to all!

N.B. The NUS Piano Ensemble is now tutored by Dr Choi Hye-Seon, vocal coach / accompanist at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory.

We're not gangsters.
We're from NUS!

The nice professionally taken photos were by Marcus Soh Zheng Yang. The others, you can lay the blame on Pianomaniac.

ZOLTAN FEJERVARI

Piano Recital

Victoria Concert Hall

Saturday (6 April 2024)

MORE DEMONIC AND DIVINE

KENNETH HAMILTON

Piano Recital

Esplanade Recital Studio

Tuesday (9 April 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 12 April 2024 with the title "Lyrical readings of Romantic composers".

Piano music of the Romantic era was on the cards in two recitals given by visiting artists. Last Saturday evening saw young Hungarian pianist Zoltan Fejervari’s Singapore debut, presented by Altenburg Arts. The repertoire offered is well-represented on record but how often does one encounter these in recital?

Photo: Ung Ruey Loon

Russian great Piotr Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons should have been called The Months, as its 12 pieces – from January to December– were commissioned by a subscription musical journal. He dutifully churned these out every four weeks, but Fejervari showed in sensitive and feeling performances this was no hack job.

Although these were mostly salon-like miniatures crafted with amateurs in mind, he brought out longing and nostalgia, not least in March (Song of the Lark), June (Barcarolle) and October (Autumn Song). August (The Harvest) and November (Troika) posed considerable technical challenges but were whipped off with greatest of ease.

Photo: Ung Ruey Loon

Johannes Brahms’ final Four Piano Pieces (Op.119) provided more profound utterances. The first two explored ambiguous tonalities looking ahead to 20th century modernism, where Fejervari found an implicit poetry, while the last two – a playful Intermezzo and heroic Rhapsody– reverted to virtuoso form.

Photo: Ung Ruey Loon

Robert Schumann’s Humoreske (Op.20) is almost a rarity, comprising varied mood pieces tightly strung together. Lyricism, alternating with whimsical diversions, was his brand of “humour”, possessed with the unpredictability of not knowing what comes next.

Despite such seemingly diffuse ideas, Fejervari’s masterly reading was one that sought fantasy, probed for truths but ultimately found beauty within. His quiet encores of Schumann’s Night Piece (Op.23 No.4) and Janacek’s Madonna of Frydek from On An Overgrown Path were just sublime.

Photo: Ung Ruey Loon

A typical Kenneth Hamilton pose,
with gesticulating hands doing the talking.

Scottish pianist Kenneth Hamilton is a regular visitor here, his recitals being entertaining discourses on Romantic era and Golden Age pianism. Tuesday’s show juxtaposed divinity and devilry by alternating and contrasting works of close contemporaries Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt.

Chopin is the musical goody-two-shoes. His Nocturne in E flat major (Op.55 No.2) unfolded like an operatic duet with intertwined voices. The Prelude in C sharp minor (Op.45) was an oasis of calm, and the Barcarolle (Op.60) as rapturous love song seemed to bear that notion out. Hamilton’s playing was vivid and luminous, unafraid to dig in with heartfelt emotions.

Liszt is classical music’s bad boy, but was he really? The Scherzo and March (previously titled Wild Hunt) was unruliness personified, its brutish assault on the senses being calculated for maximal effect. Hamilton let fly without apology, with fistfuls of wrong notes part of the territory. Polish and politeness would simply not do here.

The chaste and contrite Andante Lagrimoso, from Poetic And Religious Harmonies, saw profound sadness morphing into spiritual comfort. Far more nuanced than people give him credit for, more conflicting forces came to bear in Liszt’s Reminiscences de Robert le Diable, which grafted the transcription of Cavatine from Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera with its riotous Infernal Dance.

This Singapore premiere had it all, with gushing lyricism and lush harmonies devolving into the unadulterated vulgarity of unabashed note-spinning. With added passages and flourishes rendering the original even more brilliant, Hamilton took this musical circus act in his stride, closing with the kind of din intended to shock and enthrall.

As before and now, how the audience loved it. Hamilton’s encores were both by Chopin, a fussily filigreed edition of the famous E flat major Nocturne (Op.9 No.2), and the Heroic Polonaise (Op.53) with far more raging octaves thrown into the mix. By now, the aesthetic divide between Chopin and Liszt had become irrevocably muddied.

ONE YEAR LATER:

REMEMBERING DENNIS LEE

THROUGH HIS CD RECORDINGS

It has been one year since the passing of the pioneering Malaya-born concert pianist Dennis Lee. A native of Penang, he was the first Malaysian pianist to make an international career from concertising, teaching and judging piano competitions. He and his wife, fellow-pianist Toh Chee Hung, were based in London but made regular visits to Singapore and Malaysia for performances and teaching.

While we all have fond personal memories of Dennis, it was his piano recordings that will withstand the posterity of time for the rest of the listening public. He made precious few recordings for an artist of his stature, but quality rather than quantity defined his output. There was nothing he recorded which was less than his personal high standards, and much can bear scrutiny alongside the best in the highly competitive recording industry.

Released in 1991 was arguably Dennis’ greatest recording of all, a recital of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski’s piano music (Hyperion CDA 66409). His was one of the first Szymanowski piano recordings to have come out on CD (way before the likes of Anderszewski, Zimerman, Blechacz, Roscoe and Tiberghien) and was warmly received by critics and listeners alike.

The varied programme included the Scriabinesque Four Etudes (Op.4), the rarely-heard Lisztian Fantasy (Op.14), and the great cycles inspired by mythology, Metopes (Op.29) and Masques (Op.34). The playing is sensitive yet febrile in intensity. Its success saw it being reissued on Hyperion’s budget label Helios (CDH 55081) during the noughties.

The Helios reissue is still available.

Prior to this classic saw Dennis as a junior partner to great French pianist Philippe Entremont in a selection of Ravel’s piano works for four hands, including the Mother Goose Suite and Habanera on two pianos from Sites Auriculaires / Rapsodie Espagnole. These were recorded in London for Columbia Masterworks in 1974. Entremont needed a second pianist, and it so happened that he and Dennis shared the same concert agency. The recording I have was a budget reissue on Sony Classical (SB2K 53528), which was autographed by both pianists. These may now be found in Entremont’s big box of solo recordings, also issued by Sony.

Piano duo music occupied much of Dennis’ concert life, and his most celebrated partnership was with Singapore-born pianist Toh Chee Hung. The husband-and-wife pairing became the most prominent piano duo in this part of the world, a Southeast Asian version of the famous Israeli Eden and Tamir duo. Piano Music for Four Hands (DL-001) from 2002 was a self-produced disc which relived a cross-section of the duo’s repertoire.

Pride of place is Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, and the programme includes sonatas by Mozart (D major, K.381), Hummel (E flat major, Op.51), and selections from Moritz Moszkowski’s From Foreign Parts (Op.23) and Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, capped off with the encore Qui Vive (Grande Galop de Concert) by the little-known Wilhelm Ganz. This is piano duo playing at its finest.

There is an early-1980s LP recording that features Dennis, Chee Hung and former Singapore Attorney-General Tan Boon Teik playing Mozart’s Concerto for Three Pianos (K.242) with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Choo Hoey, issued as a fundraiser for the orchestra. This is likely to be the only recording of the duo in a concertante work. Immaculate fingerwork and ensemble are to be discerned, notwithstanding a certain amateur pianist’s contribution. The final Rondo was later excerpted for a 2000 commemorative CD of the orchestra’s 21st anniversary. These are true rarities likely only to be found in private collections.

It was a pity that the duo did not make any further recordings, but one is grateful that the Singapore Symphony Group captured a live performance at the 2005 edition of the Singapore International Piano Festival. Impressions and Encores, a limited-edition CD which showcased highlights from that festival, replicated some earlier repertoire (Dvorak and Ganz) but included Schubert’s Variations on an Original Theme (D.803) and the Ravel transcription of Debussy’s Fetes (from Three Nocturnes). These are masterly performances that bear repeated listening.

Speaking of Debussy’s piano music, this was a project that occupied the last decade of Dennis’ musical and recording career. Issued by the UK-based Independent Creative Sound and Music (ICSM) Recordings label, we are fortunate to have two discs of this wonderful music. Debussy Piano Works Vol.1 (ICSM 007) released in 2015 contains the First Book of Images, posthumously-published Images oubliees (Forgotten Images), Estampes, Two Arabesques, La plus que lent and L’isle joyeuse.

Piano Works Vol.2 (ICSM 015) from 2020, issued during the Covid-19 pandemic contains both books of Debussy’s Preludes. Only ill health prevented him from completing the set, which would have included the Second Book of Images, 12 Etudes and assorted short pieces. His illness was no impediment to his musical imagination and vision, not to mention technical virtuosity, judging how fine these final recordings are. These will certainly stand the test of time.

Dennis did not live to autograph
my copy of his final CD recording...

... however, he did leave me a
souvenir of our very first meeting
some 34 years ago.

Dennis Lee was a friend and inspiration to us all who love music in Singapore and Malaysia, and those who knew him in the rest of the world. Even though he is no longer with us, his recordings serve as a constant reminder of his artistry and ultimately, his humanity.

KREISLER,

STRAVINSKY & MOZART

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (12 April 2024)

This review was first published by Bachtrack.com on 15 April 2024 with the title "Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider impresses again in welcome Singapore return".

The year 1997 was when Danish violinist-conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider last appeared in Singapore. Then known as just Nikolaj Znaider, the newly-crowned winner of the Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition gave one of the most memorable performances of Bruch First Violin Concerto with the Singapore Symphony at Victoria Concert Hall in recent and past memory. Now returning in a dual role of soloist and conductor, the chamber-sized concert he led was another classic in the making.

The neoclassical first half opened with Austrian violin virtuoso Fritz Kreisler’s Violin Concerto in C major, composed in 1927 and subtitled “in the style of Vivaldi”. This was much in the same vein as his pastiches of baroque composers, such as “long-lost” pieces by the likes of Pugnani, Porpora, Couperin, Leclair and others. These were later revealed to be from his own hand. At a time when early music scholarship was less well-established, such hoaxes could be pulled off.

More aptly described as “in old style” (im Alten Stil), the characteristic most resembling Vivaldi was length, its three movements playing around ten minutes or so. It would take a stretch of imagination by mistaking the luxuriant solo part, and accompaniment by lush strings and organ for the real thing. Szeps-Znaider exuded a warm and fulsome tone for the opening Allegro energico, contrasted by the aria-like Andante doloroso, its heart-on-sleeve emotions being more a comforting balm than evoking pangs of sorrow. The finale was positively Mozartean, its swift main theme having more than a passing resemblance to the finale of Mozart’s Symphony No.39.

It would be remiss not to have heard more from Kreisler’s 1741 Guarneri del Gesu, used to premiere this very work, Elgar’s Violin Concerto and others. Szeps-Znaider thus obliged with more of his ravishing tone in Kreisler’s tender arrangement with string accompaniment of Mexican composer Manuel Ponce’s lovely Estrellita.

Also in the first half were the eight movements from Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite (1949 edition), with woodwinds and brass augmenting the strings. The opening Sinfonia echoed the Kreisler first movement with its festive spirit, and the Serenata delighted in Rachel Walker’s oboe and guest concertmaster Erik Heide’s violin with its delicate sicilienne. A musical arc soon development in pace and drama all through to its buffo conclusion. It would take cloth ears not to respond to Allen Meek’s trombone slides in the penultimate Vivo and David Smith’s trumpet high kicks for the riotous Finale.

The concert closed with Mozart’s Symphony No.38 in D major, nicknamed the “Prague” as it was premiered in the Bohemian capital in 1787. Emphatic, cleanly delivered opening chords and an elaborate introduction were statement of intent, that the orchestra under Szeps-Znaider pulled no punches. A world away from period-instrument sensibilities, this performance had full-on vibrato, with unabashed flexing of muscle and sinew. The Allegro section was choc-a-bloc with familiar motifs, some of which would later appear in the Jupiter Symphony and The Magic Flute. If this were one’s first encounter with Mozart, one would be instantly hooked.

The slow central movement was the symphony’s heaving heart, being one of deeply-breathed expansiveness. Did anyone else think that its second subject might have been the inspiration of the “original” theme in Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations? The constant reprises in various forms certainly make that a plausible notion. A most buoyant and light-footed Presto concluded the symphony with the thought that the Singapore Symphony has now become a model Mozart orchestra. Whoever thought that a possibility five years ago?

Star Rating: ****

The original review on Bachtrack.com may be found here:

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider impresses in welcome Singapore return | Bachtrack

OUR VOICES, OUR SONGS

Singapore Choral Artists

School of the Arts Concert Hall

Sunday (14 April 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 April 2024 with the title "Choral delights from all over the world by Singapore Choral Artists".

Singapore Choral Artists (SCA), established in 2021, joins a rich tradition of local a cappella groups performing at a professional level, including the Singapore Youth Choir Ensemble Singers, Philharmonic Chamber Choir and another recent addition, Resonance of Singapore. SCA’s latest concert, led by veteran choral conductor Nelson Kwei, provided nearly two hours of aural delights from the world over.

Its first half comprised Western compositions, dominated by sacred and liturgical music. The 21-member choir (11 women and 10 men) opened with Lithuanian Vytautas Miskinis’ Pater Noster (The Lord’s Prayer) and Hungarian Gyorgy Orban’s Nunc Dimittis (Now Lettest Thou Depart), both in Latin, establishing the chorus’ strengths at the outset.

The ensemble sounded larger than the actual number of singers, and control of voices largely excellent. Contemporary choral music is far more diverse and dynamic than the traditional SATB (soprano/alto/tenor/bass) configuration of old strophic hymns, essentially evolving into vibrant vehicles of multiple constantly moving parts.

This was no better illustrated in American Eric Whitacre’s Sainte-Chapelle which opened with men’s unison voices, a throw-back to Gregorian plainchant, then branching into the myriad riches of polyphony. The 13th century Parisian edifice of awe-inspiring stained-glassed splendour could not have had a more glorious musical representation. Delivered with passion, the music rose to a high in Hosanna in Excelsis before closing with the calm of Gloria Tua.

That chapel was supposed to have held Jesus’ crown of thorns, the subject of Tchaikovsky’s The Crown of Roses, a more traditional Slavic song of bittersweet sacrifice sung in English. Also in English were Ivo Antognini’s Come To Me, Edward Elgar’s Serenade and McKay Crockett’s arrangement of Marta Keen’s Homeward Bound, sung with innocence and heartfelt conviction.

People who text / message during concerts
are better at home watching Korean drama.
Really sia suay.

The second half was devoted to songs and arrangements by Singaporean composers. The choir changed to Southeast Asian costumes and men performed on bare feet. Sung in Mandarin, arrangements by Ethan Mark Chua and Phoon Yew Tien of Qing Ping Diao (after Tang dynasty poet Li Bai) and Azaleas respectively were lovely muses on the beauty of women.

Arranged by conductor Kwei was Indonesian song Potong Padi (Harvesting Rice) in Malay and Luo Da You’s The Golden Age in Mandarin, the latter luxuriating in the dulcet tones of men’s voices. Women’s voices had their spotlight in Xiao Xiao Yang Er Yao Hui Jia (The Lambs Return Home), innocence expressed in Americ Goh’s arrangement.

Kenneth Tay’s luminous Ave Regina Caelorum (Hail Queen of Heaven) in Latin, which could have belonged in the first half, stood like the odd person out. The evening concluded with the Singapore premiere of Zechariah Goh’s Da Feng Ge (Song of the Great Wind), comprising three songs inspired by characters in Chinese history, with the the titular song, a paean of victory and regret, accompanied by a vigourous drum-beat.

If there were to be a lingering memory, the encore of Latvian Eriks Esenvalds’ Only In Sleep, with a soprano voice wafting above the throng like an angel ascending to heaven above, was just that.

HEARTSONGS

More Than Music

Esplanade Recital Studio

Monday (15 April 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 April 2024 with the title "Chamber group More Than Music hits you in the heart".

More Than Music, the chamber group founded by violinist Loh Jun Hong and pianist Abigail Sin, has now become more than a duo. Augmented by heavy-hitters of the local classical music scene, their partnership was joined at its latest concert by violinist Chan Yoong Han, cellist Ng Pei-Sian, both principals in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and violist Martin Peh of the Concordia Quartet.

Opening the concert with movements from serenades by two 20th century Hungarian composers was a novel idea. The first movement from Zoltan Kodaly’s Serenade for two violins and viola (Op.12) was founded upon folk music, with vigorous rhythms and lilting melodies. It was fascinating to see the viola, for a change, having the big tune and accompanied by violins.

The first three movements from Erno Dohnanyi’s Serenade for string trio (Op.10, for violin, viola and cello) – march, romance and scherzo – were more conventional, closer in idiom to that of older composers Brahms and Dvorak. From the threesome of Chan, Peh and Ng, one got absolute cohesion and pinpoint ensemble, which sizzled in the rapid-fire closing movement.

Pianist Sin was heard for the first time, in partnership with Ng in Claude Debussy’s Cello Sonata. The three-movement late masterpiece was performed in its entirety, sounding worlds away from his trademark impressionist style. The Frenchman had opted here for leaner and clearer textures, where melodies came to the fore in preference to nebulous harmonies and thick counterpoint.

Ng’s cello singing lyrical lines, with Sin’s transparent keyboard work in support, was the triumph of this often-elusive work. While the central movement’s Serenade delighted in comedic pizzicatos and quirky guitar-like effects, the earlier fluency was restored in the finale as the duo romped home to an emphatic close.

Violinist Loh and pianist Sin were finally united in American pianist-composer John Novacek’s Intoxication from Four Rags, a sped-up and off-kilter ragtime variation of Turkey in the Straw, closing the first half on an animated high.

The main work of a programme centering on music’s heart ware was Antonin Dvorak Piano Quintet No.2 in A major (Op.81), long regarded as one of the classical repertoire’s three greatest piano quintets (Schumann and Brahms being the other two). It takes a heart of stone not to respond to its wealth of melodic invention, folksy rhythms and all-round congeniality.

That was exactly what all five musicians delivered on the evening, a reading of tautness and cohesion, yet one that radiated a shared warmth borne by near-telepathic communication. The first movement’s introduction from piano and cello feigned a bask in indolence, but that was ultimately dispelled with the entry of the other strings.

Thus began an exhilarating ride into the heart of Bohemia’s fields and forests. Even if its second movement was a deeply felt Dumka, a Slavic lament that reached deep into one’s soul, it was the infectious high spirits exhibited in the Scherzo and Finale that won the day. Cue loud and long applause, and one knows exactly why chamber music is so loved and cherished.

PLUCKED STRINGS

Ding Yi Music Company

Esplanade Recital Studio

Wednesday (17 April 2024)

DOUBLE FEATURE

Chen Le & Friends

National Library Board Building

Friday (19 April 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 22 April 2024 with the title "Ding Yi, Chen Le & friends explore the intricacies of Chinese tunes".

There is no better way of getting close to Chinese musical instruments than attending concerts of Ding Yi Music Company’s chamber music series. These often involve interesting and unusual repertoire, stimulating and empowering the listener after each show.

Seven contrasting works in this 90-minute concert offered a deep dive into the piquant world of plucked strings. The guzheng is haunting when heard on its own, as Yvonne Tay proved in Liu Le’s serenely beautiful Sound of Emerald. Even in the plain heterophony of The Deep Night (arranged by Liu Dehai), five unison instruments – two pipas, one each of zhongruan, guzheng and yangqin– provided a satisfying simplicity.

Sonic textures varied when more instruments entered the fray. The world premiere of Cao Wen Gong’s Sweetness in Every Step upped the ante, with accompaniment by cello and percussion. In Liu Xing’s Dance, Chua Yew Kok’s pipa and Wong Wai Kit’s zhongruan gave rhythmic impetus with unusual results. This animated romp had a beat closer to Western jazz than Chinese music.

Two concertante works were showcases of solo virtuosity, with Tan Jie Qing’s yangqin first putting a shine on Wong Fei Yun’s Ten-Mile Red Dowry. This dramatic work opened slowly, then gradually ramped to a fast dance before receding into quietude.

Zhang Ying, pipa principal of Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, was the memorable guest in Luk Wai Chun’s Moments between Ledges and Frets. Belying its mundane title, this was an imperious display of pipa as both string and percussion instrument. Accompanied by 14 players and conductor Dedric Wong, its ten minutes of contemporary idioms defied expectations by providing both a visual spectacle and entertaining listen.

The work that truly summed up the evening was Li Bo Chan’s Sorrowfully and Quietly. Five plucked instruments (including two ruans) placed centrestage coursed through ruminative and playful moments before a surprise. It was Bekhzod Oblayorov’s cello - a bowed string instrument - that had the big tune at its conclusion.

Unlike Ding Yi’s clear intentions, the world premiere of Double Feature (2024) by Nanjing-born and locally-based composer Chen Le was left nebulous, perhaps deliberately. Was this a concert work or a piece of theatre? Was Chinese or Western music being played?

Held at National Library’s ground floor foyer, its six movements opened with Hu Tao Jiazi playing violin exercises. She was later joined by soprano Zhang Jie singing in Mandarin and English, which included a spot for audience participation.

This was merely a prelude to the entrance of Beijing opera artist Ren Wei Chen, playing Chang Er (moon goddess of Chinese mythology), clearly the production’s star, accompanied by the composer on piano. Her elaborate make-up and period outfit bedecked with jewelled finery were matched by an intense Chinese operatic voice, gazing eyes and sleek swirls with sashes circumscribing wide arcs of graceful motion.

Both vocalists, understandably, did not sing together, instead alternating their acts of divergent idioms. The absence of projected texts and transliterations was a handicap, so one had to be content with enjoying the stunning visuals. That was until Chen systemically removed accessories and head-piece, disrobing nearly completely to reveal under the facial paint - a man!

With climax over and done with, what remained was more violin music, now accompanied by piano four hands (Chen with Zhao Ling Yan), in a quasi-New Age, quasi-minimalist idiom. LaSalle College of the Arts’ head of contemporary music Timothy O’Dwyer made a cameo improvising on saxophone, having no relation with the earlier 45 minutes.

Despite interesting ideas, Double Feature is a work in progress, falling short of the sum of its parts.

BRAHMS REQUIEM

AND SCHUMANN CELLO CONCERTO

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (20 April 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 22 April 2024 with the title "Concert celebrates triumph of having lived".

There is good reason to couple Robert Schumann (1810-1856) and Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) in a same concert. The older German composer and his wife Clara were mentors to the young upstart, with the latter two maintaining a passionate platonic friendship till the end of their days. The spiritual connection between their music is real, shown in this Singapore Symphony concert led by Hans Graf.

Schumann’s Cello Concerto opened the evening, with locally-based Chinese-Australian cellist Qin Li-Wei as soloist. Composed during his troubled late years, the concerto’s mellow and lyrical quality found a perfect advocate in Qin. Absent was outright Romantic-era virtuosity, in its place limitless song, sympathetically partnered by pared-down forces.

The brief central slow movement saw the added voice of SSO principal Ng Pei-Sian’s cello, accompanied by gentle pizzicatos, which was sublime. The sprightly finale with accompanied cadenza provided the composer’s last flourish before his terminal descent into insanity. The warm reception accorded Qin was rewarded with two encores, both in G major, an ultra-smooth rarity in David Popper’s Etude (Op.73 No.22) and the ever-popular Prelude from J.S.Bach’s Suite No.1.

There is a special relationship between the Singapore Symphony Chorus (SSC) and Brahms’ masterpiece, A German Requiem. It was with this work that the chorus made its debut in 1980 under Choo Hoey’s baton, albeit sung in English.

In this more authenticity-driven age, Ein Deutsches Requiem would only be performed in its original German. SSC augmented by juniors from Singapore Symphony Youth Choir, numbering over 100 singers, was accompanied by SSO boosted by thirty string players from the Singapore National Youth Orchestra. All in all, a love-in for the Singapore Symphony family.

Eschewing fire and brimstone of the Latin requiem mass, this was one of comfort and solace, with texts drawn from the Lutheran bible. In the opening chorus Selig sind, die da Leid tragen (Blessed Are They That Bear Suffering), the chorus’ hushed entry, every consonant clearly enunciated, provided a measure of the excellence to come.

It has been quite a journey for
longest-serving SSC member alto
Ng Beng Choo (front row, second from right),
who has been singing since 1980!

The indefatigable chorus sang in all seven movements, with no break in between. They more than coped in big choral fugues, notably in the second movement Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras (All Flesh Is As Grass) and the penultimate Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt (For Here We Have No Continuing City), known for being particularly taxing.

In the popular Wie lieblich sind dein Wohnungen (How Blessed Is Thy Dwelling Place), one could be mistaken for already being in paradise. Kudos go to choral directors Eudenice Palaruan and Wong Lai Foon for their sterling work.

Both vocal soloists were also excellent. Danish baritone Bo Skovhus’s throaty delivery of Herr, lehre doch mich (Lord, Make Me To Know Mine End) and Siehe, ich sage euch ein Geheimnis (Behold, I Show You A Mystery) had a special resonance, the latter’s words also shared in Handel’s Messiah. Swedish soprano Susanna Andersson sang in one movement, Ich habt nun Traurigkeit (And Ye Now Therefore Have Sorrow), which was beauty itself.

By the final chorus Selig sind die Toten (Blessed Are The Dead), the consolation was one need not face mortality with trepidation, but instead celebrate the triumph of having lived.

IN HARMONY 41: COLOURS

SAF Central Band

Esplanade Concert Hall

Sunday (21 April 2024)

It’s been ages since I last attended a wind band concert. The Philharmonic Winds used to be my fix until it lost National Arts Council major grant funding sometime pre-pandemic. I was thus happy to be reacquainted with wind band music through the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band in its annual concert In Harmony. It's very well-attended 41st edition at Esplanade Concert Hall was led by director of music ME5 Ignatius Wang and renowned British conductor Douglas Bostock.

I had been reminded that the SAF Central Band is Singapore third largest full-time professional orchestra, after the Singapore Symphony and Singapore Chinese Orchestras. Its history actually predates the other two, having origins as a British army ensemble dating from 1958, one year before Singapore achieved internal self-government. Its first band masters were British, but local conductors who led the outfit since were trained in the United Kingdom, graduates of the Royal Military Music colleges. All its members are professional musicians, and this concert was further augmented by some familiar names from the Singapore Symphony and local classical music scene.

First timers to wind band concerts will be pleasantly surprised to learn that the repertoire – a parallel universe running alongside the classical scene – does not consist of just military marches or ceremonial music, but encompasses music worthy of any serious concert stage. This evening’s offerings were proof of that.

The concert’s first half was led by the young and charismatic Ignatius Wang, looking spiffy in ceremonial military uniform with full regalia, mirroring the orchestra’s equally smart turnout. Zubir Said’s National Anthem Majulah Singapura opened the evening, followed by Kenneth Hesketh’s Masque (2000), which began life as a Scherzo for orchestra. Right away, the orchestra unfurled its wide range of colours with pin-point articulation and warmth of sonority. The dynamism and cinematic quality of this short overture was reminiscent of the best of John Williams.

Frank Ticheli’s Lux Perpetua (2020) was next, a heart-felt elegy in memory of two close friends tragically lost in an auto accident. Fragmentary strains of tuned percussion in high registers are heard over a background of brass chorales straining to emerge. Emanating warmth at each turn, the music would gain in pace and volume, transforming into the blazing eternal light of its title, before a gentle and quiet close. The band’s radiant reading was a touching tribute.

Spanish composer Ferrer Ferran’s Red Dragon (2008) opened with a crash not unlike the Danse Infernale from Stravinsky’s Firebird, following which would be the concert’s most dissonant music. Snarling brass with woodwind murmurings of disquiet colour this portrait of feral and brutish invincibility, as personified in the dragon. One will be forgiven for thinking that the driving rhythmic ostinatos bringing the work to a savage close would also be totally at home in The Rite of Spring. With this, the virtuosity of the players is undisputed.

The second half was conducted by Douglas Bostock, a well-known figure in both international symphonic orchestral and wind band circles. David Bedford’s Sun Paints Rainbows on the Vast Waves (1984) fully exploited all possible timbres of the instruments by displaying a dazzling array of textures and figurations. Its idiom is somewhat minimalist, referring to the minute changes in spectral wavelengths as the music evolved, but also impressionist, bringing to mind the sound worlds of Debussy and Ravel.

The orchestra was augmented with cellos, harp and piano in Philip Sparke’s A Colour Symphony (2014) which closed the concert proper. Here, colours represented in its five movements are equated with varied moods and temperaments. White opened with a horn solo, and the ensemble soon established a milieu of harmony and happiness with its reassuring musings. Yellow was scherzo-like and playful, its modal (verging on pentatonic) melody resembling a Vaughan Williams folksong arrangement.

Blue was scored for woodwinds, harp and piano, a slow movement with a gospel vibe, not unlike chorales sung in small-town churches of heartland America. Red for brass and percussion was volatile and choleric, an incessant snare-drum beat providing the driving impetus. Finally, Green symbolising all that is good with Mother Earth gave this very accessible and enjoyable symphony a vibrant and vivacious conclusion.

Bostock and the band had two encores up their collective sleeves. Derek Bourgeois’s joyful little Serenade, with pianist and harpist “goofing off” (all in good-hearted fun) until the final cadence, was followed by a delicious piece of Graingeriana in Philip Sparke's Garboldisham Jig from Four Norfolk Dances.

This marvelously presented and very enjoyable concert, with tickets free of charge for all comers, was not just the perfect advertisement for wind band music, but for music itself.

All band leaders have a sense of fun!

PAUL YE Piano Recital

Victoria Concert Hall

Monday (22 April 2024)

JEFFERSON DARMAWAN

Piano Recital

Esplanade Recital Studio

Thursday (25 April 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 27 April 2024 with the title "Two pianists, but one pulls off flawless show".

This season has been raining piano recitals, and the tide will not be stemmed for a long summer ahead. Monday evening saw the Singapore debut of Chinese pianist Paul Ye, presented by Kayserburg Pianos. Performing on a Kayserburg concert grand specially flown in from Guangzhou, he opened with Ludwig van Beethoven’s very popular Sonata No.23 in F minor (Op.57), better known as the Appassionata Sonata.

Ye displayed the requisite bravura to make this indestructible warhorse tick, not least in its furious finale of perpetual motion. He was equally at home in three Chinese pieces, including the famous Ode to the Yellow River (from the infamous Yellow River Concerto), Liu Zhi’s My Motherland (with spectacular guzheng-like sweeps) and best of all, Wang Jianzhong’s A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix with its clever mimicry of birdsong.

Photo: Kayserburg Piano School

He however had mixed fortunes with a second half of Frederic Chopin hits. Two Waltzes, in B flat major (Op.18) and E flat major (Op.34 No.1), were slickly delivered with delicious rubato applied. The Barcarolle (Op.60) was mostly over-pedalled, smudging many a lyrical line. The familiar Scherzo No.2 (Op.31) went swimmingly but the less-often heard Scherzo No.3 (Op.39) suffered an uncharacteristic lapse, sending him into a nightmarish repetitious loop that seemed interminable.

Redemption was at hand in Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise (Op.22), which had a singing quality and rhythmically exciting romp to close. His three encores homed in on popular culture, with music by Hans Zimmer (Interstellar), Klaus Badelt (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Yiruma’s River Flows In You, bringing him the cheers from a large and noisy audience.

When box-office figures do not dictate, an artist is given more license to practise creative programming. Such was the case of Jakarta-born Jefferson Darmawan, professionally qualified pianist who is also a scientist / research officer at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

His recital on Thursday saw the Singapore premiere of Russian pianist-composer Nikolai Medtner’s Sonata in E minor (Op.25 No.2), also known as the “Night Wind” after a poem by Fyodor Tyutchev.

This is the longest and most taxing of Medtner’s 14 sonatas, a single movement playing for some uninterrupted 35 minutes. That Darmawan committed all this to memory was admirable enough, but what beggared belief was the extremely demanding execution that came close to being faultless. He had fully grasped the concept of sonata form, working on its two recurring motifs in a manner that was both convincingly logical and inexorable.

Its technical challenges, too many to name, were negotiated without fuss, and there was never a resort to longeurs. Time just passed swiftly when everything goes so singingly. The obligatory Chopin came in the form of three Etudes from Op.25, which were more than comfortably surmounted.

The all-French first half of Darmawan’s programme opened with Gabriel Faure’s Nocturne No.6, another rarity where an elusive lyricism emerged from seemingly chromatic pages. More familiar were the five movements from Maurice Ravel’s Miroirs, impressionist masterpiece where he summoned the imagination to vividly conjure evocations of night moths, mournful birds, ocean swells, Spanish dances and myriad bell sounds.

His encores were just as varied, a canny nod to his homeland in Leopold Godowsky’s clangourous Gamelan from Java Suite, and the graceful central Minuet movement from Ravel’s Sonatine. If pressed to choose between which pianist this listener would return to for another recital, the choice is clear: Darmawan wins with both hands down.

JOURNEYING TOGETHER:

SHAO EN & SCO

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday (28 April 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 29 April 2024 with the title "SCO reunites with conductor Shao En for a lively evening of classics".

If one needed a reminder of what Chinese orchestral music is all about, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra provided a timely showcase led by veteran Chinese conductor Shao En. Well-respected in both Western classical and Chinese music spheres, his well-curated programme focussed on time-honoured classics and a modern look at age-old traditions.

The first three works could be classified as light classics, optimistic and cheerful short pieces which extolled virtues of the toiling farming masses. Xu Jingqing’s Flowers Blooming Everywhere was a lively dance, which got faster as it progressed.

Arranged by Peng Xiuwen were two other similarly joyous works, Shi Wanchun’s very brief Days of Emancipation and Liu Tianhua’s Towards a Bright Future. One might baulk at the claptrap of such socialist-realist titles, but there was no denying the sumptuous orchestrations, vivacity and vigour of the playing that really meant it.

The best moments in the concert’s first half were two nocturnes with descriptive titles which went to the heart and spirit of Chinese music. The ancient tune Moonlit Night on a Spring River, as orchestrated by Qin Pengzhang, Luo Zhongrong and Liu Bin, was quiet and atmospheric, distinguished by refined textures and exquisite solos from Yu Jia (pipa) and Yin Zhiyang (dizi).

Just as beautiful was Autumn Moon over the Han Palace, another ancient tune, in Jian Fengzhi and Huang Xiaofei’s orchestration. Despite an imposing orchestral opening, the show was stolen by SCO concertmaster Li Baoshun, swapping his gaohu for the rich mellowness of a diyin erhu. His highly sonorous solo was lightly accompanied, further enhancing the artistry involved.

The concert’s second half was built upon visions of antique musical traditions as viewed through lenses of modern musical techniques. Nobody knows exactly what court music during the Tang dynasty and earlier sounded like, thus Night Banquet at the Shu Palace, a 1980s project as reimagined by three composers Zhu Zhou, Yu Shi and Gao Weijie, attempted to address the issue.

The bamboo flute of Zeng Zhi featured prominently in a sequence of ceremonials and dances, which got progressively pacier with each section before closing quietly. Given the pre-existence of the Silk Road, one might even sense Indian, Central Asian and Middle Eastern influences in the mix.

Arguably the more memorable work was Guo Wenjing’s Dianxi Folk Tunes, three highly rhythmic movements inspired by Yunnan folk and tribal culture. Throbbing percussion and strident winds dominated A Va Mountain, occupied by peoples who practised animistic religions. Tuned percussion dictated the pace and beat of Jino Dance, the variations of which resembled at times the improvisational freedom of jazz.

Dissonance and primitivism ruled in the final Sacrifices.Fire.Spirit, a movement of suspense and violence, common to many such scores from the 20th century. It could only have had one grand-forebear: Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

Photo: Singapore Chinese Orchestra

The very well-received concert closed as it began, a cheery encore of Huang Yijun’s Hua Hao Yue Yuan (Blooming Flowers, Full Moon).

BUTTERFLY’S DREAM

The Opera Pot

Black Box @

Stamford Arts Centre

Sunday (28 April 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 30 April 2024 with the title "The Opera Pot takes flight with adaptation of Madama Butterfly."

Given the sad state of government funding for grand opera in Singapore, big opulent spectacles have been hard to come by. Even the national flagship Singapore Lyric Opera has had to scale down its major productions.

One sole consolation for opera lovers is the increased activity of little opera companies, the latest newcomer being The Opera Pot, part of The Creative Sync arts company. Its maiden voyage was Butterfly’s Dream, a chamber-sized retelling of Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly through stage and cinema.

Directed by Mah Su-Yin, the opera’s original two-and-a-half hours involving ten soloists, chorus and orchestra was readapted for just four singers accompanied by piano. Its modern setting is 1950s Nagasaki, during the post-war American occupation of Japan, when a teenaged geisha is married off to an American naval officer. Short-lived passion gives way to long-term fateful consequences.

Running for 90 minutes without intermission, the clever selection of key moments of musical theatre pared away the luxuries but retained critical factors that made for good story-telling. Its compactness enhanced rather than detracted from the drama. This production was, however, a creative coup in other respects.

Chief of these was the singing in Italian, with soprano Wendy Woon helming the titular character Cio-Cio San, whose pitiful plight of love lost and duty abandoned was totally identifiable. Her passionate hit aria Un bel di left one wondering if her unshaken faith was a case of misplaced innocence or pure delusion, or both.

Opposite her was Malaysian tenor Alan Lau as the feckless Lieutenant Pinkerton, whose smarminess was immediately apparent by trodding on tatami without first taking off his shoes. Their love duet together, Viene La Sera / Vogliatemi Bene, was the stuff for raising goosebumps. Unlike most Pinkertons, his final regret was palpable, evoking sympathy rather than contempt.

Photo: Ken Ang

The other singers were Australian baritone Greg McCreanor as a confident but cautious Consul Sharpless and Japanese mezzo-soprano Chieko Trevatt as kimono-wearing maid-servant Suzuki, the latter being the best of four actors on stage. Although she had a few lines to sing, her non-verbal cues more than encompassed the unfolding tragedy.

The absence of an orchestra was rendered moot by Vincent Chen Wei Jie’s musical direction on piano, who was a towering presence in support. The simple yet effective set comprised a central low table, ikebana set and clock backed by six screens. The narrative from the viewpoint of Suzuki was aided by mostly black-and-white film projections which were visually stunning.

The death of Butterfly.

Excellent lighting design by Debbie Tan Zi-Yang aided the noir setting pursued in the direction, which was unobtrusive but easily taken for granted. Butterfly’s final act of seppuku (no stabbing but a violent flick of a fan) was represented by the stage symbolically bathed in blood red hues.

Judging by this success of a debut, one cannot wait for what The Opera Pot cooks up next.

EVERYBODY LOVES A SOIREE:

THE FRENCH EDITION

Sometimes it isn't easy to organise a soiree, simply because it difficult to find a date in which everyone is free to attend. However it helps with the main people who perform reside in the same condo, and can have regular musical rehearsals. Such was the case of our superb host Goh Ching Lee, once of the Singapore Arts Festival (when it was still relevant for music lovers) and cellist Loke Hoe Kit, who are the Havelock soiree's mainstays and sine qua non.

Attendees were sworn to secrecy
about the French concerto performed.

The theme this time on Sunday (28 April 2024) was French - the music that is, which included a rare airing of a rare French cello concerto, the mandatory Cesar Franck sonata (or Frank Sinatra) and other Gallic delights. The company was always a delight, with arts administrators dominating the healthcare people, and there were also new musical partnerships being forged. We don't know when the next soiree will be, but this one was a blast.

The first movement of a French cello concerto
whose composer is shrouded in secrecy,
in case people misappropriated the rights
of performing it in Singapore first.

Ching Lee played the first two
of Poulenc's Novelettes.

A first ever collaboration
between NTU lecturer / neuroscientist
Rachel Chen and the Pianomaniac.

The final movement of the Frank Sinatra.

Here's the grub from Canton Paradise,
and no need to be French here.

SSO CEO Kenneth Kwok
baked a seriously delicious cake.

Rachel and Hoe Kit discover they both played
in the Singapore National Youth Orchestra,
while Ching Lee plays Liszt's Un sospiro.

Here are some Chopin Nocturnes
where the violin takes the melodic lines.

Some movements from
J.S.Bach's Suite No.3

A wefie to go home with after a
memorable soiree with great company.

About the "secret" French concerto, it's by a member of Les Six who is not Poulenc, Honegger, Auric, Durey or Tailleferre.

TCHAIKOVSKY AND PROKOFIEV -

HANS GRAF AND BENJAMIN SCHMID

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (2 May 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 4 May 2024 with the title "Sumptuous night of Russian music".

Outside of politics, Russians are beloved in Singapore, especially their composers. What else would explain two consecutive evenings of music by Piotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Prokofiev at Esplanade Concert Hall by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by music director Hans Graf?

The indestructible war-horse that is Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture opened the all-Russian concert. This is familiar music inspired by William Shakespeare’s tragedy, incorporating scenes of Friar Laurence, the feuding Montagues and Capulets and most famous of all, the Love Scene, within a 20-minute essay.

Clear and fluid woodwinds defined the tone in this well-disciplined performance, one so polished to a fine sheen that it could have done with a quantum of blood and guts. The gushing love theme, well-known in popular culture, was certainly not bland on account of the fine string-playing. One, however, suspected that its more rapturous and carnal emotions may have been kept at arm’s length.

The evening’s concertante showcase was provided by Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.2 in G minor. By the 1930s, the former enfant terrible of Russian modernism in the West had his fear factor diminished. Having returned to the Soviet Union, he was already composing accessible music deemed inoffensive to Stalin’s totalitarian regime.

Schmid’s sumptuous tone and pristine intonation shone through in the totally exposed opening solo built upon the G minor triad. The second subject’s melting lyricism and the lovely slow movement, a graceful dance with accompanied by gentle pizzicatos, would further confirm his artistry.

By the finale’s savage but still tonal romp, his mastery of the music’s dare-devilry was complete. The solo encore of Heinrich Biber’s Passacaglia (from the Mystery Sonatas), also in the key of G minor, provided a canny spot of symmetry.

The evening closed as it began, with more familiar Tchaikovsky, his Fifth Symphony in E minor. As before, it took some time for the music to ignite. Ma Yue’s solo clarinet helped set the initial droll tone of the work’s recurring motto theme, one which varied as the movements progressed.

Under Graf’s steady guiding hand, the tension was built up incrementally but there was to be no hysteria or histrionics, only polished playing.

Austin Larson’s radiant French horn solo lit up the brooding slow movement and when the motto theme returned, it was with added vehemence and almost violent undertones. The third movement’s elegant waltz that followed was well-contrasted with the finale’s show of defiance and might.

The latter’s development was taken at a furious pace, providing the symphony’s most gripping and exciting moments. A once-dormant colossus had been awakened, with the motto theme now striding and swaggering without apology to its triumphant close.

Greeted with loud cheers and applause, here was proof that SSO’s primer of Russian concert music had been a success, with high culture transcending prideful politics.

Star Rating: ****

You can read the original review, published in Bachtrack.com here:

Politics aside, Russian composers are still beloved in Singapore | Bachtrack

MEGAN LOW Violin Recital

with Cherie Khor (Piano)

Esplanade Recital Studio

Sunday (5 May 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 7 May 2024 with the title "Award-winning violinist shows eclectic artistry".

The Goh Soon Tioe Centenary Award is an annual monetary prize benefiting young string players at the dawn of their professional careers. Named after Singapore’s pioneering musician, pedagogue, conductor and entrepreneur Goh Soon Tioe (1911-1982), notable past recipients have included violinist Alan Choo and guitarist Kevin Loh, who have become musical pioneers in their own right.

Violinist Megan Low, the 2023 awardee and final year student at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, looks to join this illustrious roster. Her 90-minute solo recital partnered by pianist Cherie Khor was an impressive showcase of eclectic artistry and understated virtuosity.

Opening with Johannes Brahms’ Violin Sonata No.1 in G major (Op.78), any hint of visible stage anxiety or nerves was dispelled by a quiet confidence that shone through. The highly-exposed melodic line came across with purity of tone and excellent intonation.

Although much of the German composer’s chamber music is dominated by dense piano textures, Low was never cowed and the performance became a true partnership of equals. The sonata’s final movement, based on his darkly intense Regenlied (Rain Song), exuded a nervous tension that never flagged until its subdued end.

Photo: Gilbert Chan

Low’s solo segment dropped the usual suspects of J.S.Bach, Paganini and Ysaye, instead opting for Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk’s Caprice (1964). This thorny 5-minute exercise encompassed all of the former composers’ tricks of the trade, including chromatic passages, multiple-stopping and piquant pizzicatos, before rounding off with a vigorous folk-dance.

Photo: Gilbert Chan

Accomplished with heady aplomb, this led to another rarity in Fritz Kreisler’s Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta, possibly its first public performance in Singapore. Opening with a dizzying cadenza of almost indeterminate tonality, the music eventually settled in a comfortable E flat major.

Here the romance began, its easy gemütlich (pleasant and cosy) air lovingly voiced by Low, later giving way to that echt-Viennese of movements, the irrepressible waltz. Composed in 1932, its harmonic opulence and carefree mood - brilliantly captured - belied the years of darkness and doom to come.

The sense of foreboding eschewed in the Kreisler would appear in Henryk Wieniawski’s Faust Fantasy, based on popular themes from Charles Gounod’s eponymous opera. Some consider this work discursive and overlong, but the duo kept the narrative alive with playing that was always on the edge.

An opening piano solo gave way to the violin’s cadenza that established its virtuoso credentials, before waxing lyrical in a series of arias. The demonic aspect reared its head in Mephistophele’s Song of the Golden Calf (Le veau d’or), where the temperature rose to such heights as to prompt a premature outburst of applause from the audience.

The definitive close came with the familiar Waltz (Ainsi que la brise legere), where Low obliged with its outrageous sequence of harmonics and scales. It was not all immaculate but the audience got the idea, according the performers with the most vociferous approval possible.

Photo: Gilbert Chan

Witness two of Singapore's greatest pianists perform. Melvyn Tan and Churen Li represent two different generations of Singaporean pianism. Melvyn left Singapore as a pre-teen to study in UK (Menuhin School and Royal College of Music) during the 1960s, while Churen was entirely home-grown, having completed her undergraduate years at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and further degrees at Yale and Cambridge.

In their first collaboration together, one could scarcely tell their age-gap (about 40 years) but just appreciate two great musical minds at work, in this ground-breaking performance of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring on two pianos.

One could only wonder what it was like witnessing Stravinsky and Debussy playing this music in a reading at Satie's home. The performance on 27 October 2023 at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, part of the Performers(') Present Symposium would come close to it, or perhaps even better that.

ENJOY!

(4) Melvyn Tan x Churen Li: Dances & Dreams – Rite of Spring｜ YST Performers(') Present 2023 - YouTube

MOTHER’S DAY CONCERT 2024

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Friday (10 May 2024)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 13 May 2024 with the title "Singer Chyi Yu lights up SCO's Mother's Day Concert".

One fixture on the concert calendar the Singapore Chinese Orchestra has cornered is Mother’s Day, falling on every second Sunday in May. SCO’s Mother’s Day Concerts are typically events with light music, usually of a nostalgic kind. Led by principal conductor Quek Ling Kiong, this year’s offering had several differences.

First, the concert did away with loquacious hosts preaching unending filial piety, relying instead on Quek’s straight-talking manner, not without humour in his own right. Second, the programme separated serious music from popular fare, with an intermission intervening in between.

Opening with Lullabies arranged by Sim Boon Yew, this medley strung together cradle songs from different cultures. Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms’ famous examples sat cheek-by-jowl with several Chinese ones before closing with the American favourite Hush, Little Baby. A departure from the first piece being a rousing one, this ran the risk of prompting listeners to near slumber.

Just as sweetly rendered was Zhao Jiping’s Homeland Nostalgia from Cantonese Rhyme Along The Silk Road, which incorporated three Cantonese melodies, including Beautiful Clouds Chasing The Moon. Important solos by Zhao Jianhua (erhu), Fontane Liang (harp) and Yu Jia (pipa) lit up the proceedings.

The Nanyin classic The Plum Blossom Story that followed, arranged by Law Wai Lun, was in the form of a pleasant symphonic poem. Its melodic charm and colourful orchestration may not be readily associated with Mother’s Day, but the feel-good quotient and animated close made it a suitable choice.

The second half of popular music was the main reason why both evenings had been sold out. Also arranged by Law was Stars in the Sky, a delectable medley of five hit-songs by famous Taiwanese composer and song-writer of indigenous Amis origin Li Tai-hsiang (1941-2014). These included Answer, Walking In The Rain, Sunshine Avenue, Olive Tree and Farewell.

Olive Tree, with its quasi-modal melody redolent of 1970s pop/folk songs, was his stand-out work. Arranged by Ong Jiin Joo, it received a separate performance by well-known Taiwanese chanteuse Chyi Yu. Once Li’s protege and sometime sister-in-law, this contemporary of the late Teresa Teng, now in her mid-60s, has retained much of her vocal prowess and stage presence.

In Lo Ta-yu’s The Song of the Boat, arranged by Phang Kok Jun, the music’s progressive crescendo was well sustained by Chyi despite the orchestra’s rise in volume. For Chan Yiu-Chuen’s Flower of the Woman, notably covered by the late Anita Mui, Chyi impressed with dulcet tones and excellent pitch.

All this made the inclusion of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Memory (from Cats) seem superfluous, but Chyi’s pronunciation was more than acceptable, hitting the sweet high spots with aplomb.

Closing the evening was the concert’s only overt tribute to mothers, Wang Mon Ling’s Mother, My Love To You, with the audience whipping out their handphones and shining along. Her encore of Li’s Stars in the Sky that followed, accompanied by harpist Liang, drew the heartiest and loudest applause.

SMETANA AND DVORAK

VCHpresents Chamber

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (17 May 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 20 May 2024 with the title "Warm evening of Bohemian rarities at SSO's chamber concert."

Was it good planning or mere coincidence that this year has been a boon for lovers of Bohemian music? Concertgoers might remember superb performances of Antonin Dvorak’s chamber works: Japan’s Aoi Trio in his Third Piano Trio (Op.65) and More Than Music & Friends in the Second Piano Quintet (Op.81).

Sunday will see the Singapore debut of the Prague-based Pavel Haas Quartet in music by Josef Suk, Bedrich Smetana and Leos Janacek, but this evening’s offering by members of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra should be remembered equally fondly.

Smetana (1824-1884) is known as the “Father of Czech musical nationalism”, with tone poem Die Moldau (or Vltava) from the orchestral cycle Ma Vlast (My Country) being his best-loved work. Attended by a well-filled house, the 200th anniversary of Smetana’s birth was commemorated with the rare performance of his Piano Trio in G minor (Op.15).

Composed after the tragic death of his daughter from scarlet fever, the music exuded sadness, opening with violinist Ye Lin’s impassioned solo. Throbbing chords from pianist Albert Tiu added to the pathos while cellist Christopher Mui’s lyrical lines provided a more calming influence.

The threesome worked very well together, even if the work often highlighted the violin. Ye’s robust tone and flawless intonation seemed symbolic of Smetana’s representation of feminine pride and dignity, which was lent a poignancy through his daughter’s loss.

The Scherzo was more light-hearted, with a folk dance-like quality, later transforming into something more stately without making a grand statement. The Presto finale fired on all cylinders, with pianist Tiu’s prestidigitations dictating the pace. Cellist Mui’s big melody almost stole the show, before the main theme ground into a slow funeral march.

OK, who just farted?

Everything's alright,
it was just the VCH ghost!

The brilliant close to the trio got the plaudits its deserved from an unusually mature and sophisticated audience, on a rare evening which had neither fidgety children, errant handphones nor inappropriate clapping between movements.

The rarities continued into the second half with the Second String Quintet in G major (Op.77) by Dvorak (1841-1904), performed by violinists Chan Yoong-Han and Sayuri Kuru, violist Gu Bing Jie, cellist Ng Pei-Sian and bassist Yang Zheng Yi. The unusual scoring with string quartet backed by double-bass translated into music of genuine congeniality, not unlike that experienced in Franz Schubert’s Trout Quintet.

Thus its four movements radiated warmth and mellowness which never overstayed their welcome. The opening movement bristled with vigour, contrasted by a Scherzo which was not so much a joke, but a play on listeners’ expectations. Tempo and rhythmic shifts, skilfully handled by the players, had one wondering whether this was a dance, or something more serious.

The slow movement oozed Slavic intensity. Violinist Chan and cellist Ng strove to maintain its melodic lines and did so gloriously. The finale’s driving rhythms, with ensemble at full throttle, ensured this Bohemian rhapsody closed with highest possible of spirits.

EVERYBODY LOVES A SOIREE:

IN THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

Another month, another soiree. This one was, however, slightly different, being guests of Germany's Head of Culture, Press and Public Diplomacy in Singapore, Ying Huang at her lovely townhouse in Joo Chiat.

It's been a hot and sultry month of May, and what better way than to celebrate it with a liederabend (evening of song): a performance of Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love, Op.48, with words by Heinrich Heine), its first song being Im wunderschoenen Monat Mai (In Wonderful Beautiful Month of May). The singer was young local tenor Shaun Lee, partnered by none other than Ying herself.

They performed all 16 songs, and Shaun was praised for his sung German by the many German speakers in attendance. Ying was a keen virtuoso accompanist as well, mastering much of Schumann's tricky but idiomatic piano writing.

It was a lovely evening with wine, cheese, crackers, muffins, curry puffs (Polar, no less) and pizza, but most important of all was the company of like-minded people who love culture and the finer things in life.

It was most sporting to have the
printed texts in both German and English!
Cultural diplomacy at its best.

There was even time left over for
Ying and Pianomaniac to sight read
movements from Schubert's Trout Quintet.

It's close to midnight,
when the cats come out to play.

THE PAVEL HAAS QUARTET

VCHpresents Chamber

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (19 May 2024)

This review was first published on Bachtrack.com on 20 May 2024 with the title "Pavel Haas Quartet’s triumphant, all-Bohemian Singapore debut".

This has been a bumper year for Bohemian music in Singapore. Either visionary planning or pure happenstance might explain the performance glut, including Dvorak’s Piano Trio No.3 (by Aoi Trio, Japan) and Piano Quintet No.2 (More Than Music, Singapore), Smetana’s Piano Trio and Dvorak’s String Quintet No.2 (Singapore Symphony musicians), all within a space of few months. Now cue the Singapore debut of multiple Gramophone Award-winning Pavel Haas Quartet from Prague, undoubtedly the jewel in the crown.

Established in 1992, its present iteration of violinists Veronika Jarůšková (the sole remaining founding member) and Marek Zwiebel, violist Šimon Truszka and cellist Peter Jarůšek showed exactly why the quartet’s recordings have been so highly rated. Live and in person, PHQ sounds even better. In Josef Suk’s Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale “St Wenceslas” serving as a prelude, refined and smooth-as-silk playing was immediately apparent, from the opening viola voice and when the others joined in. Gossamer lightness soon built up arch-like in intensity, to a passionate climax resembling Samuel Barber’s famous Adagio. As Czech nationalism’s rallying cry during the Second World War, there could not have been a more poignant statement.

The main programme showcased two autobiographical works, the first being Bedřich Smetana’s First String Quartet, “From My Life”, a heart-on-sleeve account of personal trials and tribulations. The opening E minor chord, resolute and defiant, set the dramatic tone, coming with brutal honesty without being histrionic. One could just admire and wallow in the rich sonorities, with suppleness and malleability of textures being added extras. The second movement’s Allegro moderato a la Polka was pure and unadulterated joy, punctuated by pauses which bear special significance later on.

The slow movement was treated as the work’s vital beating heart, with lyrical solos from cello and first violin, and a big passionate chordal statement to hammer home the point. As the foursome literally flew out of the traps for the finale, what could put a halt to its irrepressible gaiety? The hitherto carefree ride would encounter that fateful pause, the terminal speed-bump, with Jarůšková’s violin “stricken” with high-pitched tinnitus. This was Smetana’s musical representation of irremediable deafness, borne of untreated syphilis. With this final damper, the work closed on subdued pizzicatos. In this unforgettable performance, PHQ showed what life was all about.

The second autobiographical work was Leoš Janáček’s Second String Quartet or Intimate Letters, inspired by an unrequited love for a married woman 37 years his junior. The married Janáček wrote over 700 letters to Kamila Stösslová, whom he met in 1917, until his death eleven years later. Unlike Smetana, Janáček’s secrets were not so readily revealed. His stock-in-trade musical idiom, of repeated short motifs, harmonic dissonances, jagged ostinatos and a rare transcendent lyricism, would dominate in this four-movement underrated classic.

Sul ponticello (bowing near the bridge) effects lent a wiry and uncomfortably edgy resonance, colouring the mood of the score. Also ear-catching were moments alternating between discordance, melody and whimsicality, seemingly random but reflecting the composer’s conflicted state of mind, flailing between turmoil and torment. While not an easy listen, PHQ’s virtuosity and unstinting advocacy made for a totally gripping experience. After so much freneticism, the sole encore was a welcome balm, in Dvorak’s Ó duše drahá jedinká (Thou Only, Dear One), the ninth of his Cypresses.

This review is dedicated to the memory of Jiri Heger (1946-2023), former principal violist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and true-blooded Bohemian. He would have absolutely loved this concert.

Star Rating: *****

The original review on Bachtrack.com may be read here:

Pavel Haas Quartet’s triumphant, all-Bohemian Singapore debut | Bachtrack

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