Conservatory Piano Concerto Finals / Review

CONSERVATORY CONCERTO COMPETITION
PIANO FINALS
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall
Tuesday (10 November 2009)

Some of the best things in the world are free. Top of the heap has to be the free student concerts at the Conservatory. Four piano concertos in one evening, performed at a very high professional level, are the stuff of dreams. Remind me not to wake up. This year’s piano concerto competition final was unique – all four of the soloists were Singaporeans, an unprecedented event in the short history of the Conservatory. That’s our tax dollars being put to good use, I have been reminded.

First was Azariah Tan (left) performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1. Has there been a more sensitive musician than this young man who is afflicted with progressive deafness? His problem might explain why certain flourishes in Chopin’s florid writing sound louder than they should, but there is no doubting his ability to carve out flowing lines and achieve a singing cantabile. The slow movement’s Romanza was a prime example of this poetry put into practice. His mastery of prestidigitation – and there were many instances in the Rondo finale – was also awe-inspiring. This was a performance, aided by Bertrand Lee on second piano, that lacked nothing in colour or nuance.

With all the orchestral tuttis truncated, the Chopin concerto played for over half an hour. Cesar Franck’s Variations Symphoniques is only half that length, but what a compact masterpiece it is. Jonathan Shin (left) exhibited great subtlety and suppleness in its unshowy but nonetheless virtuosic piano writing. There were minute changes in dynamics within each extended phrase, and he was instinctual in realising these, varying the colour and shade accordingly. There was nothing superfluous or routine in the playing, which also benefited from very coherent and tight ensemble from the second piano by Zhang Aidi.

After the interval, Khoo Hui Ling (left) in her “Bandung pink” evening gown blew the audience away in Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F. She was totally at home in its urbane jazzy idiom, and allied the silky touches with fingers of steel. How her slender presence was able to surmount second pianist Akkra Yeunhattaporn’s beefy orchestral reduction was some feat of sound production and projection. In the bluesy slow movement, excellent pedalling lent the simulated portamenti and blues notes much tonal allure. The coruscating finale showed she totally possessed that all-important swagger and swing. Like the song that goes “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing”, Hui Ling has got lots of it, and a bit more.

The last item was Chopin’s rarely performed Fantasia on Polish Airs (Op.13), a work which only makes an appearance in Chopin integrales on recordings. It is early Chopin, full of his over-elaborate decorative writing and sometimes unabashed note-spinning. To Zhang Aidi’s (left) credit, she makes a wonderful case for this unashamedly folksy music. Her technique is close to flawless and even the most parochial of moments are made to sound heartfelt. Kudos to her for even including this in her growing repertoire.

Oh, the woes of having to choose from Azariah’s courage and musicianship, Jonathan’s virtuosity and subtlety, Hui Ling’s brawn and bravado, and Aidi’s finesse and adventurousness. Thank goodness I don’t have to play judge and jury here. For the record, the coveted First Prize went to Khoo Hui Ling, who goes on to join the string, wind, brass and percussion winners in the Grand Concerto Concert in February next year.

The finalists with their teachers Thomas Hecht and Albert Tiu,

conservatory dean Bernard Lanskey and guest judge Anna Sleptsova

(Photo by Julie Tan)

Whoever said “There’s no such thing free lunch” has not been anywhere near the Conservatory.

Singapore Musical News in American Record Guide

Its always great to read about Singaporean musicians in a overseas musical period. There are two glowing notices in the November-December 2009 issue of American Record Guide. First is our wonderful girl-next-door Siow Lee Chin's debut CD recording Songs My Father Taught Me:(Click on image to enlarge)

A summary of superlatives from the ever-supportive Robert Markow:

"Seldom have I heard Wieniawski's Concert Polonaise rendered with more flair and visceral enchantment. Rarely have I been more enchanted with Still's Gamin' and Beach's lovely Romance, both played with engaging charm and obvious affection."

"Her technique is flawless... yet it is used only for expressive purposes, never as an end in itself."

"She reveals herself as a fully-formed artist, assertive yet sensitive, infusing meaning into every phrase, taking elegance and finesse to heights seldom reached by her colleagues."

"The sound she draws from that Guadagnini is huge, sumptuous, and rich in every register, reminiscent of David Oistrakh at his peak, with the color of dark amber."

Also in the same issue, a review of Alone, a solo cello recital of 20th and 21st century music by Qin Li-Wei, which includes the World Premiere recording of Ho Chee Kong's Tembusu Evenings.
Is anyone still unconvinced that Singapore is in the midst of a musical renaissance?

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra: Tragedy to Majesty / Review

TRAGEDY TO MAJESTY
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra
Wang Ya-Hui, Conductor
Conservatory Concert Hall
Saturday (7 November 2009)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 9 November 2009.

Has there been a more apt title for a concert? Or a more astute piece of programming?

The route to glory helmed by Wang Ya-Hui (left) was an unusual one, beginning with the Singapore premiere of Italian avant-gardist Luciano Berio’s Requies, composed in memory of his ex-wife, the soprano Cathy Berberian. Its 15 minutes of reflection and contemplation was static yet chameleonic with its shifting timbres, harmonies and rhythms. Although reflecting Berberian’s amazing vocal range, the music while dissonant was strangely soothing, a restless soul finding final repose.

The performance was both sympathetic and cathartic, also a feat of instrumental cohesion. Much more conventional was Brahms’ Tragic Overture, with the orchestra in full voice. The declamatory opening two chords were marvellously delivered, and the song of the strings that followed evinced true pathos. The intensity and sheer sweep achieved in this reading suggests that convincing performances of the Brahms symphonies should not be too far off.

Two orchestral excerpts from Wagner’s Die Walküre served as encores, including the high decibel Flight Of The Valkyries and Magic Fire Music. The latter saw the hall bathed in cherry red light, definitely a case of taking the title too literally rather than a fit of synaesthesia.

The majesty came in the second half with Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto. To American pianist Thomas Hecht’s (pictured on banner) credit, he did not stop at that. The grandiloquent cadenza on the outset had a freedom which defined the rest of the performance. He did not merely interpret but lived Beethoven’s angst of deafness and despair, evidenced by the angry crashing chords, vehement octaves and paradoxically scintillating fingerwork.

Lovely strings set the B major nocturne of the slow movement in motion, and poetry reigned unabated before the life-affirming Rondo romp of the finale. As tragedy had inched towards majesty, pain had also transformed into pure joy. Although rough and ready in parts, the orchestral partnership was fully attuned with Hecht’s intentions which made for a riveting performance from start to end. Two solo encores, by Beethoven and Soler, sealed an enthralling journey from darkness to light.

SSO Concert: Choo Hoey Returns / Review

CHOO HOEY RETURNS
Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall
Friday (6 November 2009)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 9 November 2009.

For devoting 17 years of his career as Music Director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, it was only appropriate that Choo Hoey be invited back to conduct in its 30th anniversary season. And what leaps and bounds the orchestra he had painstakingly created and nurtured made in the interim.

True to form, Choo delivered yet another Singaporean premiere. Debussy’s Printemps (1887) predated the far more familiar Afternoon Of The Fawn by seven years. The orchestration by Henri Büsser also opened with an atmospheric flute solo, lovingly crafted by Evgueni Brokmiller. This ushered into a luxuriant sound world, straddling between Romantic and impressionist hues, one in which the orchestra was coaxed into a picaresque reading that gently arched from delicacy to ecstasy.

The orchestra then played accommodating partner to young British violinist Chloe Hanslip (left) in Tchaikovsky’s swashbuckling Violin Concerto. Here too much restraint seemed at odds with the diminutive Hanslip’s raging hormones, big tone and outsized gestures. The orchestra trailed in her wake for much of the quicksilver passages as she blazed a fiery path through hell and high water.

Although far from the perfect performance, it had lots of personality and adrenaline, while squeezing every last drop of Romantic excess thought possible. Choo took the supporting role in his stride, after all it was he who introduced the extravagant talents of Lang Lang, Di Wu and Jin Li in their first performances here.

The piece de resistance went to Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony, the sort of work that SSO excelled in its early years, and which showcased the orchestra on its first overseas tour to Scandinavia in 1985. Choo’s view of the work remains untainted by effect for effect’s sake, carving out an honest to goodness reading in which the orchestra responded with warmth and genuine sympathy.

The second movement had every thing going for it. Lush strings, delicate wind solos, concertmaster Alexander Souptel’s lovely cameo, and an insouciant pastoral opening ambling into blustery pathos, all made for an enjoyably scenic ride. The Slavonic dances that ensued and closed the work also had room for sentimentality, before reveling in a faux-pompous climax and ending.

Receiving a chorus of cheers from the audience, Maestro Choo – all of 75 years young – showed there was still much fire in his belly.

VCH Chamber Series / Spectrum: Cage + 5 / Review

VCH Chamber Series: Evening Potpourri
Victoria Concert Hall
Sunday (1 November 2009, 5 pm)
Spectrum: Cage + 5
Esplanade Recital Studio
Sunday (1 November 2009, 7.30 pm)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 3 November 2009.

Contemporary music appears to be winning over a growing audience, judging by the encouraging attendances at the weekend’s chamber concerts. If not, some consolation may be had that the hip image cultivated by the conductors, allied with strong musical values, seems to be drawing them in.

Darrell Ang (left), the epitome of new cool, helmed the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s chamber concert which was three-quarters modern. First, a J.S.Bach flute sonata, featuring Roberto Alvarez’s silvery tone, soothed the palate. Then the variegated textures of Benjamin Britten’s early Sinfonietta (Op.1) and Singaporean Kelly Tang’s atonal Wind Serenade took over.

The Britten was precocious with its use of bitty themes, developing into three varied movements contrasting strings and winds to marvelous effect, while the Tang was a model of concision and economy. Both paved the way for Aaron Copland’s popular ballet Appalachian Spring, written for Martha Graham, in its original version for 13 instruments. Ang’s quiet authority presided over a performance that mixed atmospheric slow moods with dances bursting with energy. It seemed a pity there were no dancers on stage.

The choreography at the Esplanade was provided by Kawai Shiu (left), the pony-tail sporting composer-conductor who directed the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory New Music Ensemble. His wide-ranging arm movements and gestures resembled some martial arts meister in pugilistic combat as the group mastered a series of treacherously thorny scores.

Again, a wealth of nuance, shade and rhythm defined the diverse music of Isang Yun (Korea), Wu Na (China), Douglas Knehans, Michael Torke (both USA) and Shiu (Hong Kong) himself. Some 32 years separated Yun’s Piece Concertante and Wu’s Culture’s Gift, but were united by a sense of nostalgia for their native cultures. The two Americans had a gift of pulse and kinetic impetus that propelled their music onward, while Shiu’s Three Seasons traversed from violence to an uneasy calm.

Instrumental virtuosity was at a premium throughout and if people needed convincing about the power of new music, that was provided in spades. The iconic John Cage’s Five Squared, performed by just five musicians, opened and closed the concert like some ceremonial ritual. That both identical performances sounded different seemed an uncanny illusion. The magic and chemistry about music is that over the 80 minutes or so, one’s mind had been irreversibly transformed.

Colours of Music: SPH 25th Anniversary Gala Concert / Review

COLOURS OF MUSIC:

SPH 25th Anniversary Gala Concert
Singapore Chinese Orchestra
TSUNG YEH, Conductor
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (31 October 2009)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 2 November 2009.

For the 25th anniversary of Singapore Press Holdings, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra served up a variety show that showcased an eclectic range of music while attempting to involve every possible sector of Singapore’s musical community. It was an ambitious undertaking, but one laudable for its inclusiveness and enjoyable for many reasons.

The concert opened with a “suite” of Western works arranged for Chinese instruments – Grainger’s Molly On The Shore, Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances and Bizet’s Farandole (L’Arlesienne Suite No.2) – which actually sounded convincing. Folk music and dances translates well across cultures, and Grainger and Bartok, both inveterate collectors of indigenous music, would have been pleased and amused.

Englishman Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending was treated to a most sumptuous performance by violinist Ling Yunzhi, a Yong Siew Toh Conservatory student. Her purity of tone, close-to-perfect intonation, and unobtrusive accompaniment from the orchestra, was matched by photochoreographer James Westwater’s (left) visuals of verdant virgin rainforests, flora and fauna in Vanishing Forest.

Kuan Nai Chung’s Singapore Capriccio is perhaps better named Rhapsody on Chan Mali Chan, a blatant but probably deliberate rip-off from Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody. Credit goes to pianist Lim Yan for playing knock-offs of the 18th and 19th variations with a straight face and not falling of his stool from outright hilarity.

Far more authentic were the bona fide Chinese pieces, Torrents Of The River and Night Thought, that featured superlative solos from Han Lei’s guanzhi (a reed instrument with a timbre somewhere between a clarinet and oboe) and concertmaster Li Bao Shun’s jinghu (the highest pitched stringed instrument).

Of the two specially commissioned works, Cultural Medallion recipient Iskandar Ismail’s Time Changes Light (left) is a symphonic poem with the virtuosic elements of a concerto for orchestra. Employing amplified sounds, Chinese motifs with Minimalist techniques, and a central section with solo cello and piano that simulated sentimental film music, the nine minutes did not overstay its welcome.

Engaging Moments – 25 Years Of Photojournalism was a joint effort by two composers, Eric Watson and Law Wai Lun, which accompanied Westwater’s collage of heart-warming Singaporean scenes celebrating ethnic diversity and harmony in work and play. The music was suitably self-congratulatory, aided by contributions from the SYC Ensemble Singers, no doubt fuelling the feel good factor. Pure NDP fodder, but isn’t that commemorating anniversaries all about?

Fond Memories of Sembawang Music Centre

It was with more than a tinge of sadness that I read the news that Sembawang Music Centre (SMC) would be closing down. Like Beethoven Record House, Sing Music, Tower Records and Today's Music (the little shop at Bukit Timah Plaza) before it, another music retailer in Singapore has bitten the dust, forced out by falling music sales and higher rentals.

I fondly remember SMC's first flagship at the then-unglamourous Sembawang Shopping Centre, then located in the vicinity of duck and fishing ponds (the nearest landmarks were Khatib Camp and Chong Pang Food centre), where the friendly mustachioed face of its proprietor Dave Boo would greet his customers. For classical music, SMC was not a Beethoven or Sing, but it actually tried.

At my first visit in 1991 or 1992, I had bought a Delos CD of Korngold and Ives Piano Trios, not exactly common garden classics . Later, Dave Boo would bring in the entire Chandos catalogue, each CD retailing at just $21. Here, I had my fill of Tippett, Alwyn, Walton and Neeme Jarvi recordings. For Dave, it wasn't just about good business, but about trying to cater to customers' tastes, and sometimes expanding it. Was he naive to have ordered all the rosetted and three star recordings from the Penguin Guide to Classical Recordings, many which would be left unsold? Maybe, but every visit to SMC would mean a hundred or more dollars spent but much listening pleasure.

I remember also getting him to order CDs for the Singapore Symphony Chorus: 40 recordings of Hindemith's When Lilacs Last At The Dooryard Bloom'd (the Robert Shaw recording on Telarc). No problem, Dave Boo delivered them all, and more. He also made a donation for the SSC's a cappella concert and its tour to Penang in 1993. There is an advertisement in the programme booklet, which proudly proclaimed SMC's motto: "Where Music and Good Friends Meet".

When I last visited Sembawang Shopping Centre, now an upgraded modern facility indistinguishable from many such newbies, SMC was no more. I asked a salesgirl at a neighbouring DVD shop about where it had gone, her reply was that she had never heard of SMC. Sad. Where has our history and collective memory gone? SMC, Dave Boo and their iconic shopping bag, sporting images of Cosette (Les Miserables) and Herbert von Karajan, a symbol of Dave's eclectic taste in music, will not be easily forgotten. Till music and good friends meet again.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, October 2009)

BEETHOVEN Early Piano Concertos
RONALD BRAUTIGAM, Piano
Norrköping Symphony
Andrew Parrott, Conductor
BIS SACD-1792

****1/2

Everybody knows and loves Beethoven’s five established piano concertos, however his first attempt at the form was at the tender age of 13. His Piano Concerto in E flat major (WoO.4) of 1784 is virtually unknown. This reconstruction by Dutch pianist Ronald Brautigam is worth listening to as it represents proto-Beethoven, before he became distinctive and distinguished. While the themes are the most part unmemorable, the piano writing is self-assured and traces of future greatness are discernable.

There is a quantum leap to the Piano Concerto in B flat major, which underwent several revisions before being published as his Op.19. A cheerful Rondo in B flat major, the original finale to the latter concerto, is also included. Brautigam, who also sports Beethoven’s wild hair, is most persuasive in all of these. This is ultimately fine chamber music, the promising beginning of an enduring legacy.

SHOSTAKOVICH
Cello Concerto No.2 / Cello Sonata
SOL GABETTA, Cello
Munich Philharmonic / Marc Albrecht
RCA Red Seal 88697359612

Rating ****

While Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto (Op.103) has firmly established itself in the concert repertory, its successor in G major (Op.126) from 1966 is virtually unknown. Its dark, death-obsessed and foreboding tone, paucity of memorable melodies and general lack of showiness render it a seriously tough nut to crack despite the championship of its dedicatee Mstislav Rostropovich.

Argentine Sol Gabetta’s effort attempts to smoothen the rough edges for hers is a rich and deeply sonorous voice, polished to a fine sheen. The only drawback: much of it sounds too polite, when there ought to have been shivers sent down the listener’s spine. With its shock value diminished, the composer’s keen sense of wit and irony is also blunted. No such worries for the earlier and far more congenial Cello Sonata (Op.40); Gabetta and Romanian pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa bring out the smiles and veiled scowls with equal alacrity.

TCHAIKOVSKY The Seasons
ILYA RASHKOVSKIY, Piano
Naxos 8.570787

****1/2

As a composer of the piano, Tchaikovsky was most comfortable working with miniature forms. The Seasons, each depicting the twelve months of the year, was written serially as part of a subscription series for a magazine. Although he treated it as a dutiful chore, it contains some of his best music, including the melancholic Barcarolle (June), wistful Autumn Song (October) and the famous Troïka (November). None of these are too demanding for the fingers or ears, and the Siberian-born pianist Ilya Rashkovskiy has the exact temperament to bring out their Russian essence and understated charm. The Sonata in C sharp minor (Op.80) is an early work despite its large opus number. Not the most memorable of works, but it contains a scherzo which becomes the third movement of Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony. Well worth exploring.

John Sharpley's KANNAGI, The Story of the Jewelled Anklet / Review

KANNAGI, THE STORY OF THE JEWELLED ANKLET
A joint-production by OperaViva Ltd.
& Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society
Sri Mariammam Temple
Sunday (25 October 2009, 7.30 pm)

The epic Singapore-centred opera Fences by John Sharpley and Robert Yeo is still under wraps, but opera lovers had a good view of a smaller production (of an epic story nonetheless) in Kannagi, The Story of The Jewelled Anklet – a chamber opera in 6 scenes - based on the Indian legend of Silappadikaram by Prince Illango Adigal.

To cut the story short: Kannagi, whose unfaithful husband Kovalan is unjustly executed for theft after selling off one of her jewelled anklets, reaps a harvest of death and destruction on the city of Madurai. Her subsequent deification unites all the facets of womanhood, restoring peace and balance in the universe.

The setting for this World Premiere was unique; the Wedding Hall of Sri Mariammam Temple with its elaborately decorated bridal platform, clothed with a proscenium of veils, and overlooking the temple courtyard was both apt and atmospheric. The carefully arranged petals on the stage, symbolising the broken band or anklet added an authentic touch.

The cast was small, comprising soprano Amanda Colliver (Kannagi), Kathak dancer Anjum Bharti (in a non-singing role as temptress Madhavi) and John Sharpley (pianist). The Overture – The Burning of Madurai – performed on the piano provided a stirring and dramatic opening, as well as the recurrent theme of destruction. The musical idiom was typical Sharpley – original music in his accessible tonal style, using Asian / Oriental scales without quoting actual ethnic melodies. Sharpley’s evocative playing in the Interludes separated each of the scenes in this hour-long melodrama.

The cast of Kannagi (from L):

Bharti, Colliver, Sharpley and Robert Yeo

Colliver delivered a one-woman tour de force in her performance, alternating between keen storyteller, the protagonist Kannagi (In the Flush of First Love), her antithesis Madhavi (What are my Arts for if not to Snare?), and the devastating force of Kali. Her arias also included aspects of coloratura and Sprechstimme, in short the full gamut of vocal and narrative devices. That injection of much-needed variation was necessary, in the absence of a truly memorable melody, excepting the final apotheosis. Here one would have appreciated the presence of a male voice in solo or duet, either Kovalan or the King of Madurai, even in a cameo role. Colliver’s task was also greatly aided by Bharti’s seductive movements, which made this diminutive and totally graceful dancer stand like a Colossus on stage.

Restored, Returned, Regained provided for a big bang of an ending, with all cosmic forces in alignment. Here a taped female chorus (in effect Colliver’s voice overdubbed many times) with piano and glockenspiel accompaniment and Colliver herself delivered the refrain of Shantih, Shantih, Shantih. As petals rained from the heavens, this was the one big moment that rang in the ears long after the opera had ended.

Kannagi is a truly worthy effort, one befitting the complementary and alternative role that OperaViva (headed by ultimate operaphile Leow Siak Fah) plays in the small Singapore opera scene. The long-awaited Fences should be a spectacle to behold.

Lots of lovely decorative touches

distinguished this production of Kannagi.

ANIMATO Piano Recital by Students of Benjamin Loh / Review

ANIMATO!
Piano Recital by Students of Benjamin Loh
Esplanade Recital studio
Sunday (25 October 2009, 4 pm)

Student recitals can be dodgy affairs. I recently attended a recital given by a 14-year-old student of a rather prominent locally-based piano pedagogue, where the Sonata in B minor of Franz Liszt was literally massacred. What in heaven’s name is a fresh wet-behind-the-ears teenager doing with one of the great repertoire works besides making a complete mess of it? And why? That was damaging enough for the student’s fragile ego, and even more so for the reputation of the teacher.

Thankfully, Benjamin Loh (left) – one of Singapore’s top piano teachers in private practice – has enough sense to showcase only concert-worthy talents in a public recital. All 19 students who performed in Animato! are certainties for distinctions in their ABRSM exams, and some have the potential of going even further.

There was a good variety of music heard over two hours, from Bach to Sculthorpe, from slower meditative pieces to outright showstoppers. The emphasis was not just on technical proficiency, but about shaping beautiful phrases and producing a lovely tone on a Steinway grand.

Space forbids a mention of every young pianist on show, but there were standouts. First, the “tiny brigade” of primary school boys paraded their wares with confidence – Jonathan Chua in the quicksilver Preludium from Bach’s English Suite No.2, Ryan Quek in Copland’s The Cat and the Mouse, Abel Ling in Ginastera’s Rondo on Argentinian Children’s Folk Songs and Gavin Bala (left) in Chopin’s G sharp minor Polonaise (Op. posth), the last wearing an infectious smile as he revelled in the filigree of repeated notes. The first serious contender was Luther Yap who impressed in the variegated colours coaxed from Peter Sculthorpe’s Night Pieces.

The girls also fared very well. Aileen Gozali (left) was a paradigm of good taste and fluidity in Mozart’s Sonata in D major K.576 (1st movement). Sim Shao Jean was all rhythm and spice in Ginastera’s Suite de Danzas Criollas, an all-round excellent showpiece. Yvonne Teo plumbed the inner secrets of Fauré’s Nocturne in B major (Op.33 No.2) while Rebecca Low did not flinch in the onslaught of notes provided by Mendelssohn’s Variations Serieuses. For out and out display, Chua Shan Jee’s bravura effort in the Moszkowski’s Caprice Espagnol took some beating. All she needs is to take a leaf or two from Stephen Hough’s irrepressible recording.

Leaving the best for the last, China-born Zhao Yang Ming Tian gave a magisterial reading of Tchaikovsky’s Dumka, one that brought out every ounce of Slavic pathos thought possible. While technically unimpeachable, where had he learnt to emote, brood and barnstorm like a Russian? Some of the credit will have to go to klaviermeister Benjamin Loh, of course, and the rest from – something not taught in the classroom or studio – pure inspiration.