AN 1825 HOPSCOTCH
Tang Tee Khoon, Violin
Alasdair Beatson, Piano
Esplanade Recital Studio
Saturday (10 May 2025)
This review was published in The Straits Times on 13 May 2025 with the title "Virtuoso playing by Tang Tee Khoon and Alasdair Beatson".
Two hundred years ago, in 1825, the world of classical music moved well into the Romantic era. With Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony premiered the year before, musical history would never be the same again. This was the premise of a very demanding recital of German Romantic violin sonatas by local violinist Tang Tee Khoon, founder and artistic director of Chamber Music and Arts Singapore (CMAS), and excellent Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson.
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| Beethoven, Mendelssohn & Schumann. |
That the duo focussed on repertoire that is not often heard in concert, a decision that would have adversely affected the box-office, was also telling. Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No.10 in G major (Op.96 from 1812), which opened the concert, is far less often performed than his Kreutzer Sonata (Op.47) and that is our loss.
It began with a whisper from the violin, echoed by the piano, its congeniality being a far cry from the blood and guts passion of earlier sonatas. This music is for sensitive souls performing for sensitive listeners, and the chemistry between Tang and Beatson showed from the outset. When both musicians listen to each other intently, the results are immediately palpable.
The hymn-like slow movement oozed lyricism, later seguing into a brief Scherzo with crisply delivered chords. It was the finale’s theme and variations on a jolly subject that surprised the most. Seldom has Beethoven sounded this disarming and non-belligerent, and it was with this good humour that the duo scored the highest marks.
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| Photo: Clarence Aw |
By comparison, Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Sonata No.3 in F major (1838) was a showcase for virtuoso chops. The first movement’s main theme was resolute and heroic, a showy prelude heralding the musical sorcery to come. While the prayer-like central movement was a typical “song without words”, the finale flew on fairy wings, its feathery lightness being a hallmark of the technical prowess demanded. The twosome’s charming reading could scarcely be bettered.
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| Photo: Clarence Aw |
The concert’s second half was occupied by Robert Schumann’s very substantial Violin Sonata No.2 in D minor (Op.121) from 1851, more than a good half-hour of overflowing passion. A late work written at a time of psychiatric crisis, the embattled composer literally poured out his heart, and received the performance it deserved.
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| Photo: Clarence Aw |
From the series of slashing opening chords, both Tang and Beatson showed they clearly meant business. An overwhelming sense of agitation and urgency obsessed the music, with the Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) generated never flagging for a single moment. This tension continued into the second movement with flashy piano chords accompanying the violin’s plaints.
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| Photo: Clarence Aw |
Gentle violin pizzicatos opened the lyrical slow movement, its apparent quietude and simplicity later interjected with reminders from the preceding movement. Beneath the surface calm, not all is well was the intended message. The perpetual motion of the finale was a return to the maelstrom, as both performers rallied to an impressively resounding finish. It was a pity that such artistry was not witnessed by a larger audience.
