BraviSSimO! July 2009 / Online

Just hot off the press, the July 2009 issue of BraviSSimO!, the newsletter of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

You can access the online edition here:

http://www.sso.org.sg/images/stories/whatson/bravijul09.pdf

Included in this issue:

SSO's trip to Beijing

Exclusive photos from Beijing

Interviews with Noriko Ogawa & Nicole Cabell

Laura Fygi helps raise funds for SSO

Exclusive photos from Singapore International Piano Festival 2009

Young Virtuoso Recital @ PianoFest

Win a $30 Kinokuniya Book Voucher

Win an SSO CD: Under The Sign Of The Sun

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, July 2009)

PARTNERS IN TIME
From Bach to Bartok
TASMIN LITTLE, Violin
JOHN LENEHAN, Piano
BIS CD-1744

****

This unusual recital disc profiles the partnership of the violin and piano through the ages of time, from the Baroque into the 20th century. The works on display are also unconventional, beginning with the pseudo-Baroque of Fritz Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro on a Theme by Pugnani, full of Romantic exhibitionism, before settling on J.S.Bach’s E major Sonata (BWV.1016), not the most obvious of choices. British violinist Tasmin Little plays with great ardour and spirit throughout, unafraid of exercising generous vibratos regardless of period instrument conventions.

After the gentle classicism of Mozart’s C major Sonata (K.296), she champions Grieg’s little-known Sonata No.2, a totally enjoyable outing that is less overtly nationalistic than its famous successor. Tchaikovsky’s Melodie (from Souvenir d'un lieu cher) is one of music’s most lyrical utterances, and justly receives it due. The 20th century segment is however under-represented with Bartok’s folksy and un-modern Romanian Dances. Anything by Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky or Szymanowski would have been preferable, but there is little denying this album’s totally listener friendly approach.

CHARLES IVES Piano Trio,
Violin Sonatas & Songs
EMI Classics 2344502

****

It is one of the strangest quirks of history that Charles Ives (1874-1954), an insurance broker by day, is considered the “father” of modern American music. As a young man, he experimented with dissonances and atonality independent of European modernist movements. His music also freely used popular American melodies commonly heard in fairs, festivals, church services and marching bands, albeit in short snatches and sometimes distorted and wittily parodied.

The Piano Trio (completed in 1911) is one of his most characteristic works, its riotous middle movement humorously titled TSIAJ, short for This Scherzo Is A Joke. It is akin to a game of spotting as many songs you can in a melange of apparently random sequences. His violin sonatas are more accessible essays; No.4 is titled Children’s Day At The Camp Meeting and quotes Christian hymns. These performances by musicians of the New York Philharmonic with pianist Israel Margalit are idiomatic and enjoyable. Seven Ives songs – all short and pithy – also get sensitive readings by soprano Deborah Voigt and pianist Brian Zeger. Well worth the acquaintance.

HAYDN Keyboard Concertos
ANDREAS STAIER, Pianoforte
Freiburger Barockorchester
Harmonia Mundi 2961854

****1/2

The keyboard concertos of Haydn fall chronologically and stylistically in between J.S.Bach and Mozart, exhibiting qualities of both a solo and ensemble instrument. Performances on harpsichord and modern piano are common, but the early pianoforte comes closest to the music’s spirit. Light, lithe and bubbly describe Haydn’s three most popular keyboard concertos; the G major concerto (No.4) sparkles from start to end, contrasted with the understated elegance of the F major concerto (No.6).

The best known and most demanding is the “Hungarian” Concerto in D major (No.11) published in 1784, which concludes with an ebullient Hungarian-styled Rondo, now thought to be of Croatian origin. Andreas Staier who performs on a copy of a 1785 Walter pianoforte and supplies his cadenzas does not underplay its brilliance, which was the last word in virtuosity until the arrival of Beethoven. Even if Haydn’s star has been eclipsed in recent times, his music remains hugely entertaining.

METAMORPHOSIS by Singapore Youth Festival Orchestra / Review

METAMORPHOSIS
Singapore Youth Festival Orchestra
Chan Tze Law, Conductor
Victoria Concert Hall
Tuesday (28 July 2009)

With so many new and young orchestras and ensembles emerging here, one often wonders where these come from. Look no further than two national institutions of the Ministry of Education: the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) and the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO), where thousands of school students have honed their instrumental skills over the years.

The Singapore Youth Festival Orchestra was the logical union of the two, the SNYO augmented by musicians from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, SAF Music and Drama Company, school orchestras and the outstanding Orchestra of the Music Makers.

The début of this über-youth orchestra was as demanding as it was impressive. Tasked with partnering Qian Zhou (left), violin professor at the Conservatory, in the Brahms Violin Concerto in D major (Op.77), the opening orchestral tutti was itself a statement of intent. Its rich, confident and beefy sound matched Qian’s authority of delivery every step along the way.

There was genuine cut and thrust in the outer movements, culminating in Fritz Kreisler’s punishingly difficult cadenza that Qian dispatched with great aplomb, and a very exciting Magyar-flavoured finale. This was not mere accompaniment but a bona fide collaboration where teacher and students are first among equals. The orchestra also had its own star in the silky oboe of Howard Ng, who tenderly coloured the sublime slow movement.

Twentieth-century German composer Paul Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber was the veritable concerto for orchestra, one where solo and grouped instruments were given opportunities to shine. These were accepted with great relish and virtuosity. The solo flute in the Andantino was a gem and the fugal inversion of the Turandot Scherzo, open season for trombones, French horns and trumpets, totally rocked in its jazzy swagger. Here conductor Chan Tze Law (left) merely laid down his baton, and the young musicians did the rest like seasoned pros.

The concert closed with the ear-shattering recorded cannon bursts and carillon clangour of Tchaikovsky’s celebrated 1812 Overture. While there was much to enjoy in the obligatory rowdy bits, true admiration was to be found in its quiet opening. The ten cellists and nine violists found a svelte sonority that was seamless and breathtaking. Surely such refinement is the reserve of professional orchestras, not mere kids. However for young people who do not know the meaning of mediocrity, the sky’s the limit.

OFFSHOOTS by re:mix / Review

OFFSHOOTS 

by re:mix
FOO SAY MING, 

Violin & Conductor
Esplanade 

Recital Studio
Sunday 

(26 July 2009)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 28 July 2009.

For those who imagined that the hip chamber outfit re:mix could only play short pieces and morsels of kitsch were in for a surprise. Offshoots was probably its most demanding programme to date, especially for its leader and conductor SSO violinist Foo Say Ming.

The Italian violinist-composer Giuseppe Tartini is probably best remembered as a one-hit wonder. His Devil’s Trill Sonata in G minor is played by every virtuoso violinist in expense of his other works. In an arrangement by Riccardo Zandonai, re:mix exuded a warm, rich and creamy sound, one that filled Esplanade Recital Studio with a grateful sonority.

Foo’s (left) solo violin gradually eased its way into the fore, and soon dominated centrestage. He possesses an easy-going virtuosity, one that does not bring attention to himself, yet commands calm authority. His take on the trill-laden cadenza was however on a cautious side, but the totally acceptable trade-off was close to impeccable intonation.

An electronic keyboard that substituted for a harpsichord grated on the ears and nerves. Esplanade should thus invest in a harpsichord as more baroque music will be heard in years to come.

The Singapore premiere of John Adams’ Shaker Loops provided the most palpable visceral thrill. Minimalism at its most sophisticated, the repetitious patterns and hypnotic looped rhythms offered a potent jolt to the senses, yet a strangely calming effect. Even if one did not warm to 25-minutes of tour de force string-playing by re:mix, watching Foo’s Terpsichorean moves in his direction also afforded some pleasure.

Finally the World Premiere of Singaporean composer Kelly Tang’s (left) Two Contrasts for solo violin and strings provided yet more delight. Tailor-made for its performers, this 13-minute violin concerto is a summation of everything re:mix stands for: its attitudinous stance and no-holds barred repertoire.

The sultry opening Preludio mixed quasi-Piazzolla slinky moves with the blues, followed by an out-and-out romp of a Toccata. The latter suggested but did not quote from virtuoso violin concertos, but true to its Bach-like title, exulted in a short fugal section. Music lesson and entertainment combined, this sounded exactly like what in his element Foo – also a distinguished violin pedagogue – was born to play.

"STARRY FLOP": PIANIST LI YUNDI IS SHOCKINGLY BAD / The Straits Times

Here is the article on the Life! section of The Straits Times (27 July 2009). Please click on article to read.

Agree or disagree?

Your comments please (click below), or you can write to stlife@sph.com.sg

SSO Concert: Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 with Li Yundi / Review

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.1
LI YUNDI, Piano
Singapore Symphony Orchestra / LAN SHUI
Esplanade Concert Hall
Friday (24 July 2009)

This was the concert everybody was waiting for. With tickets sold-out many weeks in advance, piano fanciers had keenly anticipated the return of Chinese superstar pianist Li Yundi after a hiatus of seven years. He had performed a solo recital at Esplanade’s Opening Festival in 2002 and was expected to return with a big splash. The reality was quite the opposite.

But first, the audience was obligated to sit through the forty-odd minutes of Hungarian composer Karl Goldmark’s Rustic Wedding Symphony. This five-movement work had its heyday several decades ago, and was even recorded by the likes of Bernstein and Previn. Overlong by half, it has its moments of naïve folksy charm (think Smetana’s Bartered Bride) with the best music coming in the fourth and fifth movements. Performed with much enthusiasm and verve, the orchestra made a best possible case for it, and one would not mind listening to it again albeit in small doses.

If only the same could be said of Li Yundi’s ham-fisted assault on what is possibly the world’s most popular concerto. His performance may be summed up in two words: shockingly bad. From its outset, it seemed that his intent was to pummel out everything the score had to offer, as if to out-Lang Lang Lang Lang. Coupling a cold harsh tone brutally extracted from a brittle-sounding piano and muddled peddling, poor Tchaikovsky was left looking like some battered bride.

Li (left) certainly loves the bravado that the octave passages offered, but with neither musical thought nor sound judgment applied, these had the subtlety of a bull in a china shop. Dropped or misplaced notes accumulated – so many as to keep any panhandler well fed – and the coup de grace came with a royal hash in the first movement’s cadenza.

Things did not improve in the second or third movements, with wild instincts running roughshod over the delicate prestissimo episode in the former, once famously described as a “scherzo of fireflies”. There was also a major desynchronisation between pianist and orchestra in the exciting run up to the finale’s grand coda. Wham, bam, thank you, m’am.

The ending was loud and emphatic to be sure. To add insult to injury, the frankly over-generous applause offered was rewarded with a horribly chopped-up and crudely played Schumann-Liszt Widmung (Dedication) as the sole encore. Word has it that he had a plane to catch. Destination: Nowhere?

This travesty of a performance may have been a one-off. However with so many young Chinese pianists – Wang Yuja, Chen Sa, Chen Jie, Wu Di and recently crowned Van Cliburn competition winner Zhang Haochen – emerging and not to mention the omni-present Lang Lang, Li Yundi looks in dire need of reinventing himself.

ACS(J) STRING ORCHESTRA MEETS THE SSO / Review

ACS(J) STRING ORCHESTRA 

MEETS THE SSO
Victoria Concert Hall
Thursday (23 July 2009)

It is a well-known fact that the Singapore Symphony Orchestra is extremely selective with whom it collaborates. It was thus a pleasant surprise to find Singapore’s national orchestra sharing the stage with a primary school orchestra. The beneficiary was Anglo-Chinese School (Junior), with the proceeds of the concert going to the elite school’s Arts Alive Fund.

Hosted by actor and old boy Adrian Pang, the concert opened with the boys of the ACS(J) String Orchestra (left), smartly attired in black with navy blue trimmings, conducted by Mervyn Goh. The discipline and alertness of the ensemble was immediately apparent in Paul Lewis’ Suite Navarraise. Wavering intonation aside, it was in sync for most part, and sensitive to changes in tempo for a work that thrived on its earthy and rocking Spanish rhythms.

The greatest challenge came in accompaniment, an area where more time and effort may be devoted in future. In Vivaldi’s Cello Concerto in A major (PV.35), it was SSO cellist Chan Wei Shing’s solo that stood out while the accompanying strings scrambled to support him. Kudos must however go to young cellist Linch Lim who mustered everything he has learnt to harmonise with the soloist.

The Singapore premiere of Samuel Adler’s Concertino for Strings gave the group ample opportunities to flex a big sound, lilt to the siciliano rhythm of the slow movement, and provide a spirited flourish to close the concert’s first half. For an ensemble which included several P1 and 2 students (aged 6 and 7), this itself is an amazing effort to be truly proud of.

The big boys and girls of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by Music Director Lan Shui came on for the second half in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. The soloist was 16-year-old Pan Yi An (left), for whom the work was an ultimate piece of chamber music.

Although musically satisfying and ultimately tasteful, one could have wished for more of Beethoven’s brio and heaven-storming tantrums. The chorale-like slow movement found Pan at her most comfortable. She is a poet rather than a barnstormer. The Rondo finale saw her struggling with the ascending scale passages but there was still much to enjoy in the performance as a whole.

The loudest cheer came after six musicians from ACS(J) Strings joined the SSO for a rousing performance of the ACS Anthem (The Maple Leaf Forever) by Alexander Muir, orchestrated by old boy Kelly Tang, and lustily sung by a hall filled with ACSians. With SSO musicians as role models, these youngsters will surely emerge as sons of a better age.

Michael Sheppard Piano Recital / Review

MICHAEL SHEPPARD Piano Recital
Victoria Concert Hall
Saturday (18 July 2009)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 20 July 2009.

When one refers to American classical musicians these days, chances he or she has a Chinese, Korean, Japanese or Eastern European name. Thus it is refreshing to see an Anglo-Saxon American pianist in recital, and an unusual programme that steers away from the over-trodden Beethoven-Liszt-Rachmaninov axis.

Baltimore-based Michael Sheppard follows in the illustrious tradition of Earl Wild, Leon Fleisher and Van Cliburn, combining solid musical values with a hearty show of keyboard virtuosity. “Familiar” classics opened the recital, with Haydn’s Sonata No.32 in B minor, one where the modern concert grand is given full rein of its dynamics. Sheppard’s crystal clear and penetrating sound brought out its curious mix of disquiet and vertiginous display.

Gradually, Sheppard led his flock to places off the beaten path. The juxtaposition of Chopin’s lilting Barcarolle and South African Peter Klatzow’s Barcarole (note the subtle difference in spelling) was a brilliant one, astutely contrasting light and shadow. The latter took off from Liszt’s somber La Lugubre Gondola, and departed on a funereal journey through myriad harmonic landscapes. Sheppard’s own Invitation to Travel carried on the geography lesson, subjecting the simple opening phrases to a grand tour of variation and fantasy.

Transcription and improvisation plays a substantial part in the modern pianist’s arsenal. His transcriptions of three Samuel Barber songs – sensitively and sympathetically played – showed that Barber-Sheppard is worthy to be named alongside Schubert-Liszt, Rachmaninov-Wild and Rodgers-Hough.

Each half of the recital concluded with an operatic piano fantasy. Sigismond Thalberg (left) used to be a huge rival of Liszt, but his works are now largely forgotten. The championship of Thalberg’s Don Pasquale Fantasy, based on themes from Donizetti’s opera, is a worthy one, if only to highlight a favourite device of his – the simulation of three hands on the piano. This piece of pianistic hi-jinks was repeated in Summertime, with the melody flowing from both thumbs, in Earl Wild’s Grand Fantasy On Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

Sheppard’s stupendous reading comes closest to the composer’s own brand of dare-devilry, reveling in forearm clusters in I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin, for example, and finishing off with a punishing upward octave glissando. His encores were a pleasant surprise; a high-class cocktail improvisation of Over The Rainbow, and something totally different – Schubert’s Musical Moment No.3. As they say, variety is the spice of life.

This recital was presented by DynamicWorkz.

SSO Concert: President's Young Performers Concert / Review

PRESIDENT’S YOUNG PERFORMERS CONCERT
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
DARRELL ANG, Conductor
Esplanade Concert Hall
Thursday (16 July 2009)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 18 July 2009.

A solo appearance at the annual President’s Young Performers Concert by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra is arguably the highest accolade a local musician under the age of 30 can aspire to. While even an invitation to audition for the series is an honour, actually performing on the vast Esplanade stage with VIPs in attendance is quite something else.

Eleven-year-old pianist Mervyn Lee Cheng Hui could not have had a better concerto début with Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D major. Exhibiting neither emotion nor nerves, his self-assured take - coloured with a subtle variety of shades and dynamics - would have made someone double or triple his age proud. Crafting his own cadenzas, itself a dying art of extemporisation, these surprised with sudden shifts in harmonies and nuances. All this confirms that he is fully in tune with the cunning wit of Haydn, and suggests a budding composer-to-be.

Canada-born soprano Anisa Kureishi, now a permanent resident here, was gowned in pristine white, and had the angelic presence to sing a vision of a child’s heaven in the finale (Das himmlische Leben, or The Heavenly Life) of Mahler’s idyllic Fourth Symphony in G major. Her deportment and intonation were impeccable throughout, but voice projection and conveying of the expressions beyond mere words were little more than a very talented fourteen-year-old could manage.

A commanding but seemingly compliant persona is needed to be convincing. That is exactly the reason why most recordings and performances, barring notable exceptions, involve mature singers (one thinks of Frederica von Stade or Barbara Hendricks, for example) who bring depth but act child-like rather than children portraying their own age.

Darrell Ang (left), himself a youth by conductor’s standards, presided over the orchestra like a veteran. The balance of the symphony, Mahler’s lightest, shortest and least neurotic, passed like a pleasant dream. Its leisurely rolling slopes and valleys were traversed between gentle contemplation and persuasively heaving but not thunderous climaxes. Every phrase was carefully judged, with little or none of the cathartic extremes that usually typified Mahler’s oeuvre.

The theme of youth had earlier begun the concert with Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite. Sumptuously orchestrated, each fairytale-inspired movement was performed with much colour and characterisation. From furtive birdcalls, gamelan chimes, gauche waltzing to miraculous transformations, fantastic imagery was never in short supply. All one needs is to abandon all worries and doubt, and let the music do the story telling.

The Philharmonic Orchestra: Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale / Review

STRAVINSKY The Soldier’s Tale
The Philharmonic Orchestra & Actors
LIM YAU, Conductor

JAY ESPAÑO, Director
Esplanade Recital Studio
Sunday (12 July 2009, 7.30 pm)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 July 2009.

In a unique collaboration between local classical musicians and actors, Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale (Histoire du Soldat) – a 1918 theatre piece for two actors, a narrator, a dancer and seven musicians - was fertile soil for experimentation and discovery.

The story is a simple but ageless one, a down-and-out soldier sells his violin to the Devil for a book that spells fortune and wealth, and loses his soul forever. With Lim Yau (left) conducting a small band from the Philharmonic Orchestra on one side of the stage, the music was one of pared down simplicity but strictest rhythmic rigour.

Stravinsky’s (left) then-obsession with jazz and popular dance forms found fruition in this score, which vibrantly accompanied and helped convey the story and mood beyond mere words. The solos were performed at a high level, particularly Kathleen Koh’s pivotal violin, Li Xin’s insinuating clarinet and strong percussion support from Tan Chui Ling.

Centre of stage was dominated by Christopher Ong Yadao’s Devil and Kamal Abdul Rahim’s Soldier. The burly Yadao surely looked too young to play the part, but surprised with his chameleon-like ability to convincingly shift between roles - an old man with a butterfly net, cackling hag, king and a priest with an evil smile. His brand of malevolence was to taunt and tease, suggest and beguile, rather than to strike plain terror. Kamal’s Soldier was earnest but foolishly optimistic, and hence the perfect bait.

Charles Ramuz’s text was faithfully retained throughout, with some nods for local interest including a sales pitch in kampong Malay and reference to the Sultan of Brunei’s riches. Matt Grey’s narration was clear and moved the plot well.

Dancer Theresa Chan played the ailing Princess, revived by the soldier to dance the tango, waltz and ragtime. She also doubled as stagehand and in the final part, her few lines was enough temptation to lure the Soldier back to the Devil’s domain, and to their ultimate demise. Like the biblical Eve, she acted as the Devil’s left hand. Even if “the Devil always gets his man”, man’s downfall is often borne by a weakness for the fairer sex.

SSO Chamber Concert: Schubert's Trout Quintet / Review

VCH CHAMBER SERIES
SCHUBERT’S TROUT QUINTET
Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (12 July 2009, 5pm)

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s chamber music series at Victoria Concert Hall began in 2003 as an exercise to sharpen the musical skills of individual players performing in small ensembles. By this year, celebrity musicians such as American-Chinese violinist Cho-Liang Lin and Russian conductor Lev Markiz have come as guests, bringing these concerts to an even higher level.

Local musicians have also found themselves a faithful following. It was refreshing to see Shanghai-born pianist Yao Xiao Yun (left), who two weeks ago brilliantly graced the Young Virtuoso Recital of the Singapore International Piano Festival, return to collaborate in chamber music. Her offering was the extremely demanding piano part in Anton Arensky’s First Piano Trio in D minor, one that dominated the proceedings, alternating between Russian melancholy and brooding with Mendelssohnian wit and charm.

Her string partners, violinist Chen Da Wei and cellist Chan Wei Shing, who carried much of the melodic lines - and hence the pathos – were in sync with her throughout. The balance was close to ideal, none better heard in the 3rd movement’s Elegia, a tear-jerker in the best Tchaikovskian tradition.

Northern doom and gloom gave way to the sunny climes and gaiety of Schubert’s Trout Quintet in A major. Here it should be noted that Arensky (above) died from the ravages of alcoholism while Schubert those of syphilis. Its unusual scoring gave double bassist Yang Zheng Yi the role as a resolute anchor and rhythm section while his colleagues had all the tunes.

Central to this was pianist Liu Jia’s (left) contribution, which was immaculate in that it never sought to shock and awe despite its starring role. Such is the essence of chamber music, where one-upmanship is shunned and consensus arrived before the first note. Violinist Chan Yoong Han is a natural leader, and when the loud opening chord resounded with gusto, one was reassured that the performance was going to be a strong one.

As it proved, the audience was silent and gripped for the longest part, alert enough to ignore the false endings and erupt with vociferous applause and one raving chant of “bravo” when it ended. More of the same again please.

SSO Concert: Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto Extravaganza with Stephen Hough / Review

TCHAIKOVSKY
Piano Concerto Extravaganza
STEPHEN HOUGH, Piano
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
YOEL LEVI / KRZYSZTOF URBANSKI, Conductors
Fridays (3 & 10 July 2009)

An edited version of this review was published by The Straits Times on 13 July 2009.

The great Russian composer Tchaikovsky wrote four piano concertos, but it has always been the First Concerto (Op.23) that is over-performed and loved by audiences the world over. Its successors have suffered in comparison; their major key modes missing out on the Slavic pathos so abundant in the B flat minor. And it also takes a rare and superlative pianist to pull them off convincingly, if given the chance.

Briton Stephen Hough (left) who performs all the concertos at the BBC Proms this year gave Singaporeans a sneak preview of those “Cinderella” concertos. The Second Concerto in G major (Op.44) risks sounding overblown and bloated, but Hough’s attack in the resolute opening chords allayed those fears, yet displaying much sensitivity in the more reflective passages. The 1st movement cadenza, one that tops its predecessor in bluster and sheer notes, came through with great panache, its thrilling scales-laden lead-up to the orchestral tutti particularly gripping.

The most sublime moments were shared by Hough, violinist Alexander Souptel and cellist Roberto Trainini in the slow movement, which was performed without cuts. In this mini “triple concerto”, Tchaikovsky’s melodic writing seemed unsurpassed. While the finale’s romp featured ironically one of his most vulgar themes, Hough’s scintillating runs octaves and runs saved the day.

The Concert Fantasy (Op.56), also in G major, is an arguably better work, and unique in the concerto repertory. The orchestra performs for just a few minutes at the beginning and end of the 1st movement, in between a humongous cadenza that overshadows all else. Hough had much resource to spare, and found subtlety amid the barnstorming. One particularly tricky passage combining right hand filigree with left hand melody defined his brand of pianism – the virtuoso as poet. Contrastes, the 2nd movement, juxtaposed the Slavic dumka (a lament) with a Cossack dance to brilliant effect, with cellist Trainini’s (left) duet with Hough a total delight.

The Third Concerto in E flat major (Op.75), in a single movement and receiving its Singapore premiere, was the weakest of the lot. It seemed destined that even Hough’s dedicated advocacy – which included yet another long cadenza and lots more bravura – would not save it from its dense orchestration and pretty much deserved obscurity. Do not expect to hear it again from the SSO anytime soon.

Hough’s lovely encores on two evenings were quite something else. His own transcription of Deng Yu Hsien’s Pining for the Spring Breeze (Wan Chun Feng, or Ban Choon Hong in Hokkien) raised an audible heave of recognition from the audience, and Grieg’s Notturno in C major (from Lyric Pieces) provided an oasis of solace from the evening’s torrent of decibels.

The balance of both concerts showcased more Russian music. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade is the classic SSO warhorse and calling card, one where concertmaster Souptel’s violin sang unfettered while the orchestra painted vivid scenes of oriental fantasy under Israeli conductor Yoel Levi’s baton. The Young Pole Krzysztof Urbanski (left) impressed with his fine control and leadership in Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite and Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No.1.

If there were two moments that revealed the coming of age of the 30-year-old orchestra, it was in the fine string tremolos and rapt pianissimos achieved at the beginning of the Finale in the Stravinsky, and the poignant and seamless Death of Åse (Grieg). Loud and fast have become so “yesterday”.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June-July 2009)

STEPHEN HOUGH IN RECITAL
Hyperion 67686

Rating *****

Crafting a piano recital is a special art which risks being lost, mostly due to contemporary audiences favouring the spectacular over the subtle and sublime. Thank goodness for pianists like Stephen Hough, whose exemplary taste is matched by his adventurous programming. This simply-titled disc features two mini-recitals, one “serious” and one “light” for contrasts.

The first couples Mendelssohn’s masterly Variations Serieuses with Beethoven’s last Sonata in C minor (Op.111), which itself comprises a great set of variations in its final movement. Hough’s view is a journey of defiance, wonder and ultimately autumnal consolation. The second recital is a celebration of waltzes, from Weber’s deceptively tricky Invitation to the Dance, through the Gallic sensibilities of Chopin and several French composers, and the infernal rhythms of Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No.1. His naughty-but-nice encore? A transcription of The Waltzing Matilda, never a waltz in its original form, but now attaining respectability finally!

LIGETI Piano Music
FREDRIK ULLEN, Piano
BIS 1683/84 (2CDs)

Rating ****1/2

The piano music of the late Hungarian György Ligeti (1923-2006) has become all the rage thanks to his 19 Études being regularly played in international piano competitions and recitals. Composed in three books between 1985 and 2001, these are the late 20th century counterparts of Chopin, Liszt and Debussy studies. Fanciful titles (translated from French) like Autumn in Warsaw, Sorceror’s Apprentice, and Devil’s Staircase belie a fiendish difficulty, and the endurance required in mastering them. Their mechanistic repetitive patterns, massive discords and interweaving textures provide for a spellbinding listen, albeit in small doses.

The second disc includes the 11 short movements of Musica Ricercata (1951-53), arguably Ligeti’s finest piano work, and pieces for 4 hands and 2 pianos, with overdubbing. Here, Swedish neuroscientist turned keyboard virtuoso Fredrik Ullen plays both parts. The early music recalls the folk-like nationalistic influence of Bartok and Kodaly, but Ligeti’s fiercely independent and strident voice shines through. Followers of 20th century pianism need not hesitate.

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.1
MEDTNER Piano Concerto No.1
YEVGENY SUDBIN, Piano
Sao Paulo Symphony / John Neschling
BIS SACD-1588

Rating *****

It is a mystery why the piano concertos of Russian Romantic composer Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) are not more regularly performed or recorded. Being phenomenally demanding and the unfair reputation as a poor man’s Rachmaninov do not encourage many pianists to learn them. Medtner owes a debt of influence to Brahms; his themes, architecture of form and development are more Teutonic than Russian. The opening theme of the sprawling First Piano Concerto, an inversion of its counterpart in Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto, provides a clue. The 35-minute work unfolds majestically in one movement, aided by young Russian Yevgeny Sudbin’s grandiloquent and scintillating pianism. Tchaikovsky’s warhorse First Piano Concerto – performed with equal gusto – is thrown in to sweeten the deal. If such convincing advocacy does not win friends for Medtner, nothing will.

CHOPIN 24 Préludes / Sonata No.3
NIKOLAI DEMIDENKO, Piano
Onyx Classics 4036

Rating ****1/2

The Russian pianist Nikolai Demidenko is one of those artists who does not attempt something unless it can be done differently. This applies to the 24 Préludes (Op.28) of Chopin, composed during a troubled period of his relationship with the cross-dressing lady writer George Sand. Eschewing brilliance for its own sake, he takes a world-weary view, especially with the slower numbers. Rarely has the D flat major Raindrop Prélude sounded this tragic, its mournful tolling of bells far overshadowing its trite meteorological nickname. A sense of vehemence occupies the virtuosic B flat minor and final D minor Préludes, and nothing sounds superficial.

The popular Third Sonata follows in this thread, and there is no ecstatic joy that one expects in the thrilling finale. The measured pacing in certain parts contains something more profound than that. What secrets Demidenko and his Fazioli piano divulge in this revelatory recording is anybody’s guess.

4th Singapore International Piano Pedagogy Symposium: William Westney Piano Recital / Review

Piano Recital by
WILLIAM WESTNEY, Piano
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory
Friday (26 June 2009)

Performances at the 4th Singapore International Piano Pedagogical Symposium may be excused for taking on a didactic slant. Par to the course, American pianist and lecturer William Westney’s recital began on a scholarly note. Johann Friedrich Burgmüller (1806-1874) is probably best known by piano students - and their beleaguered teachers - as the faceless German composer of keyboard studies and graded exam pieces.

However under Westney’s hands (left), a string of ten supposedly hackneyed Characteristic Studies Op.109 may be viewed in a different light. Various technical devices were explored, mirrored in their picturesque titles: silky right hand scales in Pearls, playful grace notes and staccato playing in Sylphs, and a seamless cantabile in Gondolier’s Refrain. Schumann-like in melodic appeal, these were not without charm and even delighted with the odd show of student-ish virtuosity.

Gradus ad Parnassus, albeit in big strides, Westney scaled the rarefied sound world of Gabriel Fauré with a Nocturne and Impromptu. Despite their dreamy Chopinesque titles, perfume-scented harmonies, piquant textures and dynamic twists belied an inner agitation and turmoil which he delivered with much aplomb.

Following Fauré, the transition to George Shearing’s bluesy strains in his arrangement of Harold Arlen’s Over The Rainbow became almost a natural progression. The Bartokian opening to Earl Wild’s take on Gershwin’s Fascinatin’ Rhythm also provoked ripples of mirth, as it lurched and insinuated its way to increasing tipsiness.

Still with Wild (left), the nonagenarian American legend’s greatest transcription is arguably his Fantasy on Porgy and Bess, an operatic conflation equal to the best of Liszt and Thalberg. Westney’s grandstanding performance brought out all the glorious melodies from Gershwin’s opera (Summertime, It Ain’t Necessarily So) in a medley which employed the jazzy sequence Jasbo Brown Blues as a Promenade à la Mussorgsky.

Like a laugh-a-minute stand-up comic, he also revelled in its naughty bits, including outrageous forearm clusters in I Got Plenty O Nuttin’ and a sly quotation from Wagner’s Tristan And Isolde just before Oh Lawd, I’m On My Way. Totally relaxed and unstuffy, it was refreshing to see piano teachers – both performer and listeners – sharing in the fun.

The 4th Singapore International Piano Pedagogy Symposium was organised by the Singapore Music Teachers Association (SMTA).