A KURT WEILL CABARET

A KURT WEILL CABARET
Gabrielle Maes & John Sharpley
The Hall @ The Arts House
Friday (29 October 2010)

Published in The Straits Times on 1 November 2010.

The German Kurt Weill (1900-1950) is a composer hard to pigeonhole. Does his music fall under classical, jazz, popular, Vaudeville or an inimitable all of the above? The abiding thread of his theatre music, the subject of this cabaret, was mostly satirical and often carried social messages.

Unstable years between the World Wars, the crumbling Weimar republic, Depression and Prohibition, all factored in his iconic collaborations with playwright and librettist Bertholt Brecht. An Homage To Wayward Women was the theme of Gabrielle Maes’ one woman tour de force in nine Weill songs accompanied on piano by composer John Sharpley.

Fallen women might have been a more apt description but one gets the hint. Alcohol, heroin, prostitution and bawdy language all featured in Maes’ chameleonic portrayals. The script was drawn from true to life sources, revealing the seamy and tragic side to the inner city, its grime and low living.

Playing the stuffy school-mammy, vamps and tramps to condemned serial killer, she shifted comfortably between roles and nine costume changes. Her theatrical voice was a model of clarity and when singing, made each part her own without imitating the nasal whine of Lotte Lenya, Weill’s widow and most celebrated interpreter.

Mack The Knife, Pirate Jenny and Tango-Ballade, all from The Threepenny Opera, were familiar numbers with their stinging words and insistent beat. The ever-present Sharpley coloured each with improvisations of his own, ensuring that nothing sounded repetititious.

Playing interludes between pieces, he also accompanied tango dancers Moneir Bardai and Karen Seah. Their two items showcased the duality of the dance form, both eroticism and brutality were milked to equally poignant effect. Chandran Lingam’s direction kept the show’s 80 minutes taut and fast-moving.

As a streetwalker

Alabama Song (looking very much

like Lotte Lenya here)

It was the showmanship (or is it show-womanship?) of Maes that moved the most. Love that has lost its lustre brought out a heartrending I’m A Stranger Here Myself. To close, she donned rags and false teeth for a wino panhandler’s suitably leering Alabama Song (from The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) as she exited the high-ceiling tavern-like venue to appreciative applause.

It was not Halloween yet, but the decrepit factor of Weill’s scenarios was chilling enough.

Applause for all

CD Review (The Straits Times, October 2010)

THE ORIGINAL THREE TENORS
The Rome Concert 1990
Decca 2738173 (CD & DVD)
****1/2

One of best-selling opera discs of all time was the first ever Three Tenors Concert, held on a July evening at the Caracalla Baths in Rome, on the eve of the 1990 World Cup finals. While the football was rubbish, the music soared. The abiding memory was that of José Carreras, Placido Domingo and the late Luciano Pavarotti belting out Puccini’s Nessun Dorma from Turandot, preceded by playful vocal jousting as to who could sing the longest trill in the Neapolitan favourite O Sole Mio.

This iconic concert helped demystify opera, making it accessible to millions who would otherwise not step into an opera house or concert hall. The downside was a proliferation of copycats (The Three Chinese Tenors, The Three Countertenors) and the rise of pseudo-opera singers.

Watch the DVD of the concert as well as The Impossible Dream, a documentary of the making of the concert, to get the experience of what the fuss was all about. The CD, which includes all the arias and medleys, may be popped into the car stereo. The tenors and their agents, who once remarked that they were not paid handsomely enough for the concert, can now live on its royalties.

NAFA Orchestra / Review

NAFA Orchestra
Lee Foundation Theatre
Tuesday (26 October 2010)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 28 October 2010.

More young orchestras are now undertaking ambitious concert programmes that were once the domain of professional orchestras. While it is laudable to aim high, the risks are also commensurate, sometimes to the expense of the music-making.

The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) Orchestra performed an extremely demanding all-German concert under its German music director Volker Hartung. While the results were mixed, the level of zeal and enthusiasm put into the effort cannot be denied.

The evening began with Wagner’s imposing Overture to The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. The band generated a big, raw sound, with the brass sounded mostly overawed, but more good could be taken home from the performance. Alert entries, good woodwind solos and a sense of togetherness, especially in the fussy counterpoint, welded the showpiece together.

Montenegrin pianist Boris Kraljevic, a NAFA faculty member, was soloist in Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor (Op.54). He is a sensitive performer who knows how to turn up the heat when required, which made for a reading that readily swung between dynamic extremes. He was not the only standout, as both solo clarinettist and oboist also had excellent showings.

While the opening movement was predictably big-boned, the dainty Intermezzo saw an unusual exchange between his mincing plaints and the orchestra’s schmaltzy replies. The finale had both soloist and orchestra on the ropes, living dangerously. While not note-perfect, Kraljevic kept his composure throughout this virtuoso’s circus with rocky steady tenacity, and the ensemble coped valiantly with notoriously treacherous off-beats.

They finished together in one piece, and the reward was the soothing balm of Kraljevic’s encore, a Schumann Romanze (Op.28 No.2) lovingly voiced.

The final and toughest challenge was Brahms’ elusive Third Symphony in F major (Op.90), a work unusual that all its four movements end quietly. So there was to be no blood, guts and glory to close. Instead, the ensemble got down to the hard work of making the music relevant. Conducting the whole concert from memory, Hartung coaxed a sympathetic reading that took the work at a brisk and goodly pace.

While rhythmic stolidity sometimes stood in the way, the attention to details and sweep from the strings in the inner slow movements provided memorable moments. The NAFA Orchestra is a work in progress, but one from which much encouragement may be drawn.

THE JOY OF CHOPIN and SCHUMANN Review

THE JOY OF CHOPIN & SCHUMANN
Sofya Gulyak & Jinsang Lee, Piano
University Cultural Centre
Sunday (24 October 2010)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 26 October 2010)

This bicentenary celebration of piano music by Frederic Chopin and Robert Schumann, both composers born in the year 1810, turned out to be a three-hour long marathon. In the company of two of the planet’s brightest young piano talents, hours passed like minutes.

The Russian Sofya Gulyak was the first woman to win top prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2009. She proved her mettle in Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto in F minor (Op.21) and Schumann’s Carnaval (Op.9). The former was accompanied in the chamber transcription by Uruguayan composer Carlos Levin, played by a string quintet formed by the National University of Singapore’s Centre for the Arts.

The quintet’s balance of experience and youth proved a mixed blessing, and the amplification of strings was not necessarily to their advantage. Ensemble was often ragged, staying in tune was a struggle and the first violin’s intonation often straying excruciatingly off pitch. It was Gulyak’s indomitable personality and musicality that held the work together, her sense of drive and cantabile admirable, aided by faultless fingerwork.

Left on her own in the Schumann, the composer’s dual personalities of Florestan and Eusebius were given full rein, exulting in passionate outbursts and gentle pleadings. The lead up to the final march and closing climax was thrilling edge-of-the-seat stuff, with all caution thrown to the winds.

The Korean Jinsang Lee, winner of the 2008 Hong Kong International Piano Competition, brilliantly combined the visceral with the cerebral. Instead of launching into Schumann’s Fantasie in C major (Op.17), he warmed up with Beethoven’s song cycle An Die Ferne Geliebte (To The Distant Beloved) in Liszt’s transcription. There was good reason to this impromptu inclusion, as the final Beethoven melody was quoted in the Schumann, its déjà vu appearance lent a moment of magical nostalgia.

The balance of the work was no less fine, with fearsome octave leaps at the end of the second movement overcome with stunning aplomb, and the finale’s rapturous musings and valedictory big tune finding a sympathetic conclusion.

Closing the memorable evening was Chopin’s First Piano Concerto in E minor (Op.11). The quintet acquitted itself far better in this outing, leading to a more cohesive and satisfying performance all round. Lee’s understated virtuosity was matched by his lyrical facilities, and it may be said that the fragile genius of Chopin and Schumann were more than well served.

The Joy of Chopin & Schumann was part of the NUS Centre for the Arts' ExxonMobil Campus Concert series, and proudly supported by The Chopin Society of Hong Kong.

ORPHEI DRÄNGAR / Review

ORPHEI DRÄNGAR
Esplanade Concert Hall
Thursday (21 October 2010)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 23 October 2010.

Simply put, Orphei Drängar, or Sons of Orpheus, is one of the world’s great male choirs. Its history goes back 157 years as a glee club from Uppsala University, Sweden, with which its strong ties remain. Yet this 80-man group led by Cecilia Rydinger Alin is far from a monolithic body, as its versatility and suppleness of ensemble is staggering.

Its two-hour long a cappella recital began with its official anthem Hear, Sons Of Orpheus, a lusty song written by no less than Hugo Alfven (of Swedish Rhapsody fame), one of its former directors. Then emcee Jacob Risberg, a chorus member, greeted the bemused audience in Mandarin, Malay and Tamil, one of many surprises to light up this enthralling show.

At once, one was struck by the richness and depth of sonority, distinguished by multi-layered textures that enveloped the hall like a giant satin shawl, lined with silk but firmed by steel. It was equally at home with light, as in Alfven’s Evening or Mendelssohn’s Gondolier’s Journey, and darkness, amply demonstrated in works by Anders Hillborg’s A Cradle Song and Otakar Jeremias’ Ostrava.

There were many shades of grey in the Hillborg, its otherworldly almost sinister dreamscape suggesting that sleep was no merely innocent activity. The Jeremias, a coalminer’s warning sung in Czech, carried such ominous socialist overtones that one wondered whether some political agenda was afoot.

Some of the concert’s most beautiful moments were in the company of soprano Elin Rombo (above), whose siren-like voice wafted hauntingly above the choir’s rhythmic ostinatos in Estonian composer Veljo Tormis’ Helletused, based on shepherds’ and children’s songs. She also starred in Dido’s Lament from Purcell’s famous opera, albeit in deeply-accented English, a Bellini aria and several Swedish songs by Peterson-Berger.

Time and space does not permit a complete listing of the riches on offer, but some were notable by their sheer power of communication. In Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque (Light of Gold), the singers placed themselves along the aisles and beside the audience, achieving the ethereal effect of a cathedral of sound, bathed in aural splendour. In Jan Sandstrom’s Singing Apes Of Khao Yai, waves of repetitive, almost minimalist chants filled the hall, above which a gibbon’s plaint sounded, sung by a tenor donning a monkey mask.

Can you spot the man in the monkey mask?

(He's in front of the conductor)

The evening’s generous fare closed with a ubiquitous drinking song, from Rossini’s Le Comte Ory, and three encores including the Beatles’ Yesterday. One almost wished tomorrow never came.

Orphei Drängar was presented by the Young Musicians Society.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, October 2010)

CHOPIN Piano Concerto No.1
Twelve Études Op.10 / Berceuse
NOBUYUKI TSUJII, Piano
Fort Worth Symphony / JAMES CONLON
Harmonia Mundi 907547

*****

History was made when 20-year-old Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, who had been blind since birth, shared 1st prize at the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009. These “live” recordings from the preliminary and final rounds captured something special - the triumph of the human spirit over handicap and adversity. Tsujii, who learnt his Chopin by ear with the help of a teacher, communicates with much urgency and immediacy. There is nothing that is mechanical or over-studied in his playing, even if his steadiness is at times unnerving.

In the concerto, he is attentively partnered by the Texan orchestra, and together they draw tumultuous applause from the audience. He whips off the Études, cruel finger-twisters even for the sighted, with a natural ease and stunning accuracy. Those who seek “perfection” will favour studio recordings of these works, but the spontaneity displayed here – in spite of some rough spots - is close to miraculous. One will already have favourites in Argerich, Pollini, Zimerman or Perahia, but this is worth keeping if only to remind us of the joy of being alive.

WEDDING CAKE
PASCAL & AMI ROGÉ, Piano Duo
Onyx Classics 4047
****1/2

This lovely album (subtitled Fours Hand & Two Hearts) celebrates the musical union of French pianist Pascal Rogé and his Indonesian-Japanese wife Ami Hakuno, who were married in 2009. Wedding photo shots have been reproduced in the booklet, but that should not distract from the quality music making. French fare, a Rogé specialty, is presented as light and intimate (Fauré’s Dolly Suite and Debussy’s Petite Suite), sometimes frothy and giddy (Saint-Saëns’ Wedding Cake Waltz and Poulenc’s La Embarquement Pour Cythere), but not without drama and well engineered chaos (Dukas’ Sorceror’s Apprentice and Ravel’s La Valse).

New to the catalogue is the World Premiere recording of the five movement Ami Suite by Japanese-American Paul Chihara (born 1939). Much in the spirit of the French, its dance and popular music-derived numbers, quoting innumerable sources such as Debussy, Poulenc and Wagner, are high on the fun quotient. The Rogés are having a right ball, and listeners have been invited to the party.

SHOSTAKOVICH Preludes & Fugues
KEITH JARRETT, Piano
ECM New Series 1469/70 (2CDs)
*****

Dmitri Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues Op.87 were composed for his young compatriot Tatiana Nikolayeva after she won the Bach International Piano Competition in Leipzig in 1950. A tribute to Bach’s genius, he follows the schema of The Well-Tempered Clavier, opening in simple C major and closing in sombre D minor. So what has legendary jazz pianist Keith Jarrett have to say about this music?

Initial scepticism turned into revelation in these thorny little gems. Many of the Preludes sound improvisatory in character, suiting Jarrett to a tee. Shostakovich used to dabble in jazz and popular styles as a pianist in silent movie theatres himself. The rigorous counterpoint in the fugues are masterly overcome, some (No.12 and 15 in particular) with stunning velocity and panache. Most importantly, he retains the irony and droll wit that is sine qua non Shostakovich. Alongside celebrated readings by Nikolayeva, Ashkenazy and Scherbakov, all Russians, Jarrett’s 1991 recording is no slouch.

The HAZE descends on Singapore

Its October, and the forest fires in Sumatra have begun.

A pall has descended on our island.

Is this Indonesia's revenge on its successful and cocky neighbour?

Skyscrapers shrouded in smog.

The view from the Swisshotel

can't be too good this evening.

How long will the flowers bloom?

Russia's YULIANNA AVDEEVA wins 2010 Chopin International Piano Competition

The march of the women continues. After Sofya Gulyak's triumph at the 2009 Leeds International Piano Competition, another Russian woman pianist has won 1st prize at the 2010 Chopin International Piano Competition. She is YULIANNA AVDEEVA. She is also the first woman since Martha Argerich in 1965 to win the coveted first prize at the Warsaw Chopin. And she'll certainly look good on the cover of a Deutsche Grammophon CD recording.

Performances from her recitals in Warsaw may be heard here:

http://konkurs.chopin.pl/en/edition/xvi/chronicle/14

The final placings are as follows:
1. Yulianna Avdeeva (Russia)
2. Lukas Geniušas (Russia/Lithuania)
2. Ingolf Wunder (Austria)
3. Daniil Trifonov (Russia)
4. Evgeni Bozhanov (Bulgaria)
5. François Dumont (France)
6. not awarded

Distinctions go to:
Nikolay Khozyainov (Russia)
Miroslav Kultyshev (Russia)

Hélène Tysman (France)
Paweł Wakarecy (Poland)

The Shanghai Quartet / Review

The Shanghai Quartet
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall
Tuesday (19 October 2010)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 October 2010.

Asian string quartets are not exactly a new phenomenon. The legendary Tokyo String Quartet has been thrilling audiences since the late 1960s, while the first prominent quartet to emerge from China, the Shanghai Quartet, was formed in 1983. Performing together for 27 years has lent this group a cohesiveness and homogeneity of sound that is hard to better.

Refinement and clarity were the first qualities to be discerned in Spanish composer Joaquin Turina’s Bullfighter’s Prayer (left). Rapt pianissimos in contemplation resounded as each part came through vividly, alternating with the gentle dance rhythms that provided contrast for this short but revealing opener.

Music from China came next as a short suite transcribed by second violinist Yi-Wen Jiang. Honggang Li’s viola provided a pizzicato accompaniment for the familiar Yao Dance, as the spirit of traditional Chinese instruments was rekindled. The lament-like melody of Shepherd’s Song evoked memories of some dumka from a homesick Dvorak, while the rousing dance of Harvest Celebration brought out driving virtuosity from the foursome.

The first half closed with Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki’s Third String Quartet (left), written for the quartet’s 25th anniversary in 2008. No longer the enfant terrible of the avant-garde, its quarter-hour was gratifyingly tonal, with a recognisable rhythmic motif permeating the work’s course. The quartet sympathetically negotiated a variety of emotions before settling on a sombre but reflective close.

The big showpiece was Schubert’s Quartet No.14 in D minor, better known as “Death and the Maiden”. The quartet’s incisive attack on the opening theme was awe-inspiring in its sense of drive and purpose, and it had the work’s full measure. Exchanging rapier-like thrusts with moments of aching tenderness, the emotional quotient was high throughout.

The slow movement’s Theme and Variations, based on a piano chorale theme from Schubert’s poignant Lied, was an object of rare beauty. First violinist Weigang Li was immaculate in his exquisite solos, while Nicholas Tzavaras’s cello sang without reserve. For the vigorous Scherzo and pacy finale, the music’s incessant ebb and flow was perfectly judged, as the quartet raced to a resolute ending greeted by a storm of applause.

A short Waltz by Dvorak, delectable rather than profound, was a nice way to end an enjoyable evening of chamber music.

ASIANS OUT of 2010 Chopin International Piano Competition

The names of the finalists for the 2010 Chopin International Piano Competition have been announced. For the first time since 1975 (the edition won by Krystian Zimerman), there will be NO Asian pianists in the finals of the Chopin International Piano Competition.

The ten finalists are (in alphabetical order):

1. Yulianna Avdeeva (Russia)
2. Evgeni Bozhanov (Bulgaria)
3. François Dumont (France)
4. Lukas Geniušas (Russia/Lithuania)
5. Nikolay Khozyainov (Russia)
6. Miroslav Kultyshev (Russia)
7. Daniil Trifonov (Russia)
8. Hélene Tysman (France)
9. Paweł Wakarecy (Poland)
10. Ingolf Wunder (Austria)

There will be 8 performances of Chopin's First Piano Concerto and two performances of the Second Piano Concerto.

The four Asian semifinalists who did not make the final cut were Dong Fei Fei (China), Claire Huangci (USA), Rachel Cheung (Hong Kong) and Sun Mei Ting (USA), from L to R respectively. This is in marked contrast with the fortunes of Asian pianists in the 2005 competition, who took 5 out of 6 finals places. By the way, there were three Asian pianists in the competition jury: Fou Ts'ong (China), Dang Thai Son (Vietnam) and Michie Koyama (Japan). There is only one Russian (Bella Davidovich) and five Poles in the jury. So there is unlikely to be any speculation of anti-Asian bias for this competition.

CD Retail Therapy in Hong Kong / Part 2

No question about it. Hong Kong is the classical music CD collector's paradise. When the music retail industry is so-called floundering, there is still a lot of life left in the former Crown Colony. Just head to the Lady's Market (Tung Choi Street) at Mong Kong (leave the MTR station at Exit E near Bank Centre, and walk down 2 short blocks), you'll find these three independent retailers with a wide range of classical CDs at knockdown prices.


Walk along the five-foot way on the right, and the first shop is MUSIC RAINING. Its speciality is Made in China pressings (by Polo Arts, all legal) of established labels, such as Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Red Seal, Sony Classical - great for collectors of classical nostalgia. Pollini's DG recording of Beethoven's Late Sonatas (2CDs) retail at HK$48, about SGD 8.60. No credit cards, only cash accepted!

The interior of Music Raining.

Just a couple of doors away is THE BEAT RECORDS. Prices are slightly higher here, but it is positively the cheapest place to buy the RCA Living Stereo 60 CD box-set, retailing at HK$ 680 (about SGD 122). All other independent retailers sell it at HK$720, while HMV is pricey at HK$899. No credit cards, only cash accepted.

Interior of The Beat Records.

Just a few more doors down is WIN WIN SHOP, probably the best of the three shops. It has the widest range of classical CDs and has a good range of box-sets. Most full-priced CDs retail at HK$108 (SGD 19.40), and Naxos goes for HK$46 (SGD 8.25). My pick of the crop is the 8 CD Alicia de Larrocha EMI Icons boxset at HK$280 (SGD 50).

Doorway of Win Win Shop

Interior of Win Win Shop.

HONG KONG: 11-15 October 2010

Victoria Harbour, as viewed from Tsim Sha Tsui.

Cultural Centre, Star Ferry Terminal

and Star House in the foreground (L to R)

Panorama of the HK Cultural Centre.

The infamous Chungking Mansion.

Robot (Halloween display) at Times Square.

The robot from the rear.

Hong Kong by night:

the great bank towers.

Hong Kong by night:

IFC 2 looming over the GPO Building.