SINGAPORE
INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2019
Several years ago, I lamented
that Singapore
had held more Formula One Grand Prix events than international music
competitions. To date, Singapore
has had two international violin competitions (the Singapore International
Violin Competition, held in 2015 and 2018), much trumpeted events organised by the
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, and involving Singapore Symphony
Orchestra, Esplanade and the National Arts Council, pretty much the heavy
machinery of the local arts scene.
Quietly and without any fanfare, an
entity called the Singapore International Piano Competition 2019 appeared on
the horizon. I was alerted to it by the Alink-Argerich Foundation (AAF)
website, and also checked out its own webpage. Organised by the Global
International Musicians Association (GIMA) based in mainland China,
it appeared to have few Singapore
links other than the Singapore Nanyang Educational Research Centre, to which
participants wired their entrance monies into a local bank account.
The four-day event which included
the competition proper, masterclasses and recitals was held at the Yong Siew
Toh Conservatory and Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre. Participants ranged
from children to adult professional pianists, and were judged by a jury which included
several well-known concert pianists and well-regarded pedagogues from China,
Hong Kong and the ASEAN nations.
Sunday 26 January
The first day’s competition was
held in three venues at the Conservatory. On an indolent Sunday afternoon, I
wandered between these to get a sampling of piano artistry on display. It
appeared that the older and more mature participants got to perform at the main
Concert Hall, while children packed the cramped confines of the Stephen Baxter
Recital Studio. A third category held at the Orchestral Hall saw performances
limited to works of single composers.
The kiddies’ competition held
little interest to me, appearing little more than an assembly line of cute, prettily
attired children trotted out to perform very short pieces, watched (and filmed)
by proud and concerned parents. This was more like those “music festivals” held
in the name of outreach and community participation that commonly appear all
over the continent. It took me almost a minute to realise that one little girl
was banging out Edward MacDowell’s To A Wild Rose, so lacking was her
guidance in phrasing and dynamics.
Slightly better were the Composer
categories. I stumbled upon a rather good performance of the 1st
movement from Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata by an older student, probably
in his late teens or early twenties. That was the “Prokofiev Class” category,
then came the “Tchaikovsky Class”, which comprised three girls playing Harvest
Song (August) from The Seasons, each worst than the last.
This was followed by the “Rachmaninov Class”, this time three girls playing the
stormy Moment Musical No.4 (Op.16 No.4). Suffice to say, there was more
proficiency than actual inspiration or artistry.
The most time was spent at the
Concert Hall. Here the students, mostly teenagers, performed short recitals,
which consisted of one to three works. The standards were wildly variable, from
very good to “American Idol” laughably bad. One unfortunate girl gave a
perfunctory Chopin “Aeolian Harp” Etude followed by a Bach Prelude
and Fugue in the same key of A flat major. She got lost in the fugue, and
after several attempts at re-entry, abandoned it outright. Awaiting her were
the terrors of Chopin’s Second Scherzo, which needless to say was
downright awful. I can imagine Simon Cowell saying, “You are the worst pianist
I’ve ever heard”.
Saving the day were two
Singaporean youngsters. Jem Zhang Yifan (above) who gave a very polished account of
Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, appearing absolutely fearless in its
finger-twisting cadenzas, crunching chords and coruscating octaves. Just as
good was Loh Peiyi (below) in Chopin’s Ballade No.2 in F major. She clearly
understood its sharp contrasts of placidity and tempestuousness, and had the
fingers to make it happen.
The young man who had earlier
impressed in the “Prokofiev Class” (above) now performed all three movements of the
entire Seventh Sonata. Here was a real performance, one of blood and
guts, peaks and troughs. He was not going through the motions but actually
living out the music’s angst, toils and excesses. He would certainly be ready
to take part in some major competition.
Other than in the kiddy category,
the competition was sparsely attended. The players received hardly any
applause, deserved or otherwise, and some segments of the audience were just
terrible. One father stormed into the hall chasing after an errant son,
creating a terrible ruckus, oblivious to the Mozart Rondo in A minor
(the quiet one) being performed. And he was shouted at by an official before he
piped down. Whoever said piano recitals were not dramatic?
 |
| As crowded and noisy as a Shenzhen marketplace. |
Monday 28 January
The venue was now the Singapore
Chinese Cultural Centre, where the concert artist category of the competition
was held. I only had time to attend the Gala Recital by Chinese pianist Jin Ju,
a member of the competition jury. Based in Imola (Italy),
she had been a 3rd prizewinner at the Tchaikovsky International
Piano Competition before the Gergiev years. That alone seemed like a guarantee
of quality, and she did not disappoint.
In an all-Chopin recital, she
opened with six Mazurkas (Op.56 and 63), revealing a fine touch supported
by an ever-present pulse in these short folk dances in three-quarter time.
Using pedal sparingly, her right hand filigree was crystal-clear, and when more
pedalling was needed, the rustic drones came out sonorously. Tempos got a whole
lot faster in the three Waltzes of Op.64, which included the ubiquitous “Minute”
Waltz, which ironically does not often get heard in recitals. The petit
chien chasing its own tail has hardly been better portrayed in this swift
and slick reading. The first half closed with the Barcarolle Op.60, with
its cantabile melody gloriously relived.
The second half’s Third Sonata
in B minor (Op.58) was a tour de force. Often played to death, this
warhorse however received a new lease of life in Ju’s hands. Her technique was
totally secure, and yet she brought out the opening movement’s second subject
with disarming beauty. The etude-like scherzo flew like the wind, while the
slow movement’s gravitas provided the sonata’s spiritual heart. The rondo
finale was thrillingly built-up, culminating in the most thunderous of
finishes. In short, this was an electrifying performance where true technical
virtuosity was unfailingly in service of the music.
There were three encores, the
posthumous Nocturne in C sharp minor, its seamless beauty contrasted
with the ferocious triplet runs of the Étude in G sharp minor (Op.25
No.6). The recital closed dramatically with the Prélude in D minor
(Op.28 No.24), the pianistic equivalent of a fireworks display. If Ju has been
hailed as the “Argerich of the East”, that is not far from the truth.
 |
Parents doing what proud parents do best:
photographing and filming their kids! |
Tuesday 29 January
Work had prevented me from
attending much of the competition and recitals of the preceding two days, thus
my assessment of the pianistic goings-on thus far have been unfortunately
incomplete. The final evening’s prize-giving ceremony and recital more than
adequately provided the gaping lacunae of my experience of the competition.
 |
Former Cliburn laureate Wang Xiaohan
is the competition Artistic Director. |
There was the usual
speech-giving, award presentations and obligatory photograph-taking which
distended the event to nearly three-and-a-half hours. Thankfully the music made
up for it. There were performances from some of the jury members, and more
importantly the prize-winners themselves. Jury members Raymond Young and Hui
Ling (both from Hong Kong) were delightful in all four movements from Debussy’s
Petite Suite, while Singapore-based Elaine Wu Yili (below), in her late 80s,
gave a feisty reading of the Schumann-Liszt Widmung, undimmed by age or
frailty.
From the new generation of young
pianists, there were very assured performances of Kabalevsky, Liszt, Chopin,
Kapustin and Carl Vine. The last came from the most prodigious of youngsters,
Xu Leyu, who showed that extreme youth was no impediment to extreme virtuosity.
She had the fiendishly difficult music down pat, toying with it as if it were
playdough. One wonders what she would accomplish in a few years’ time.
 |
| Jem Zhang Yifan in Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.2. |
 |
| Chen Zhenxi with the finale of Kabalevsky's Third Sonata. |
 |
A young Thai girl impressed with two short pieces
while playing with a pedal extension. |
 |
The prodigious Xu Leyu in
Carl Vine's First Sonata 2nd movement. |
 |
| Loh Peiyi in Chopin's Second Ballade. |
 |
More fireworks in a Kapustin Etude
from Op.40 by Luo Jie. |
The final three performances came
from the winners of the Concert Artist category of the competition, the most
senior category and the crème de la crème. 20th century music
was on the menu, and no prisoners were taken in works like the Fugue
from Samuel Barber’s Sonata, Scriabin’s Fifth Sonata and Ravel’s La
Valse. These were close to flawless performances, exactly to be expected in
a competition of international stature.
 |
Winners of the Concert Artist category
walk home with their well-deserved cheques. |
 |
3rd Prize: Chung Hok Chun (Hong Kong)
in Samuel Barber's Sonata: 4th movement. |
 |
2nd Prize: Hsu Ting-Chia (Taiwan)
in Scriabin's Sonata No.5. |
 |
1st Prize: Liu Ziyu (China)
in Ravel's La Valse. |
I foresee the Singapore
International Piano Competition to be a fixture in the Singapore
arts calendar for years to come. Although it is organised outside of the
island-state, it has the support of local partners and sponsors. For it to
grow, it needs to further collaborate with local educational institutions such
as the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and/or Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, the
National Arts Council and a local professional orchestra in order to have a
piano concerto grand finale. With all other organisational structures in place,
the SIPC can hopefully stand tall alongside the Singapore International Violin
Competition. The growing arts scene in Singapore
deserves nothing less.
