NOBU-LITY / NOBUYUKI TSUJII Piano Recital / Review

NOBU-LITY

NOBUYUKI TSUJII Piano Recital

Esplanade Concert Hall

Tuesday (25 June 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 27 June 2013 with the title "Believe your ears". 

When the young blind Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii was awarded joint First Prize at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, public opinion was divided and polarised. Legions of new fans were touched by his courage and musicality, but there were nay-sayers who felt he was a student-level player who got lucky with the sympathy vote.

Whatever one’s view, only a live recital - as opposed to Internet webcast - would be a true arbiter of his abilities. In that respect, Tsujii did not disappoint. There were however factors that militated against his success. He needed help to get to the piano stool. There was fidgeting before he began, and then that constant bobbing and nodding of his head as he performed, uncoordinated with the rhythm of the music.

By choosing a piano voicing that favoured a dry timbre and brightness over mellowness, there were to be little room for error, especially when he used the sustaining pedal minimally. This was unusual for the music for Debussy which thrives on generous but judicious pedalling and much subtlety. Thus the Two Arabesques sounded cut and dried, but the crispness had a better effect for the dances in the Suite Bergamasque.

Only in the familiar Clair de lune did he apply a sheen of resonance that just about worked. As the pieces got more complicated, as in the three pieces of Estampes (Imprints), the playing got better. There was nary a smudged texture in the Orient-influenced Pagodas, while the Spanish rhythms of Evenings in Granada were superbly judged, with its guitar-like interludes a pleasant diversion.

In the fluid brilliance of Gardens in the Rain and L’Isle Joyeuse (The Joyous Isle), he brought out a startling clarity that seemed at odds with the impressionist intent usually practised. The inexorably build-up to the latter’s climax was one of the evening’s highlights.

The audience’s familiarity of Chopin proved no hindrance, as he made each piece sound freshly turned, beginning with the scintillating Grand Waltz in B flat major (Op.18).  The Second Scherzo in B flat minor (Op.31), with accident-prone leaps on both hands that terrify even the sighted, was accomplished with a conjuror’s sleight of hand. The large screen behind the piano with projections of his hands does not lie.

He closed the recital proper with two Polonaises in A flat major, the elusive Polonaise-Fantasy (Op.61) coming through with much nobility, and seldom as the “Heroic” Polonaise (Op.53) been launched with such fearsome disregard for safety. The repeated left hand octave passage in the latter was stunning in its steadiness and as one might have guessed, did not put a finger wrong.

The sold-out house was rewarded with five encores, including a short greeting of thanks in English and a heartfelt performance of his own elegy in memory to the victims of the 2011 Fukushima earthquake-tsunami tragedy. As a goodwill ambassador for music or any other cause, Tsujii has few equals.   

Nobu meets with the Japanese ambassador to Singapore Mr Yoichi Suzuki and Mrs Suzuki.

Young fans of Nobu have no better role model to emulate.  

Members of the Johore Bahru Nobu Fan Club (Malaysia) came in full force to attend the concert, everyone wearing a Nobuyuki Tsujii Asian Tour tee-shirt.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2013)

ALEXIS WEISSENBERG

The Champagne Pianist

EMI Classics 679086 2 (10 CDs) / *****

This handsome box-set provides a timely reassessment of the recorded legacy of legendary Bulgarian-born pianist Alexis Weissenberg (1929-2011). He had suffered bad press durin his later years, accused of an overly objective and unemotional view of the classics. This could not be further from the truth. The popular piano concertos, Tchaikovsky’s No.1 and Rachmaninov’s No.2 (timed at 40 minutes and 38 minutes respectively), take on an unusually expansive scale, despite having the usually business-like Herbert von Karajan at the helm. These do not sound sluggish or cautious in the least. Likewise in Rachmaninov’s No.3 with Leonard Bernstein, its staggering 47 minutes begin very leisurely but rightly builds up a head of steam by the time the 1^st movement’s cadenza is reached.

This cross-section of Weissenberg’s oeuvre shows him at his most eclectic. His own freely improvised cadenzas for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21 make very interesting listening. His view of both Chopin concertos is unsentimental, and Brahms No.1 comes across as mightily stolid. These are contrasted by a flashy Prokofiev No.3, and a penchant for syncopated idioms, with Ravel’s G major Concerto and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and I Got Rhythm Variations in full tilt. His disc of Bach transcriptions, with a view to monumentality rather than authenticity, is excellent.  The encore album of assorted short pieces is also enjoyable, closing with his teacher Pancho Vladigerov’s jazzy Improvisation. His unique insights – urbane with a touch of the eccentric – are unlikely to be repeated.  

SPHERES

DANIEL HOPE, Violin

Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin

Deutsche Grammophon 479 0571 / ****

This concept album by British violinist Daniel Hope is founded on “music of the spheres”, the harmony of the worlds that transcends time, place and universes. He ponders: is there music beyond our insignificant existence, and what is the sound of the cosmos? All this nebulousness is translated into 75 minutes of still, quiet, serene and tonal music, easy listening for the ultimate chill out.

The usual suspects are here, including J.S.Bach (his Prelude in E minor) and Arvo Part (the ubiquitous Fratres). Whatever one thinks of the soppiness of Ludovico Einaudi (I Giorni and Passaggio) or Karl Jenkins (Benedictus from The Armed Man), they certainly could write tunes to save their lives. Also throw in some minimalists – Philip Glass (Echorus, a homage to the humanity of Yehudi Menuhin) and Michael Nyman (Trysting Fields from the Peter Greenaway movie Drowning By Numbers) into the mix.

Sound bites from younger composers like Lera Auerbach, Elena Kats-Chernin, Max Richter, Gabriel Prokofiev (Sergei’s grandson), Alex Baranowski, Aleksei Igudesman and Karsten Gundermann, touched with New Age sensitivities and here you have it all. Hope plays with much sensitivity and beauty. That the best music comes from Fauré’s choral piece Cantique de Jean Racine says it all; the whole seems less than the sum of its parts.

YOUR SMILING FACE / re:mix / Review

YOUR SMILING FACE

re:mix

Esplanade Recital Studio

Sunday (23 June 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 25 June 2013 with the title "Modern re:mix of vintage tunes".

It is little secret that the chic local string ensemble re:mix is the master of nostalgia. After all, its music director Foo Say Ming, artist advisor Phan Ming Yen and leader Lim Shue Churn belong to a generation pushing middle age, people who remember when RTS (Radio Television Singapore) programmes were in black and white and transmission closed on the stroke of midnight.  

Its programmes relish in old music and vintage movies. Your Smiling Face (Huan Yan) was an iconic 1970s Taiwanese romance film that starred Sibelle Hu, with music sung by Chyi Yu, beloved largely by Chinese-speakers of a certain age.  Do forgive a younger generation of Singaporeans brought up on Korean soaps and K-Pop, which rising young composer Chen Zhangyi belongs to.

Despite his youth, Chen is an old soul in disguise, or at least he sounds like that. His musical arrangements of the oldies songs, have a retro feel despite coming across as modern. The three part suite that opened the concert, comprising Everlasting Love (Bu Liao Qing), Sands of Sorrow and New Everlasting Love, resembled a pastiche of three–movement concerto grosso from the baroque.

Soloists who comprised pianist Beatrice Lin, violist Lim Chun and violinist Foo were set apart from the main body of strings. Their concertino roles included an opening flourish and cadenza on the piano and generous helpings of melodic interest. The ripieno strings were not just mere accompanists, but provided a richly textured and layered support over which the soloists were allowed to shine.

In the same vein was Drei Gesänge der Chyi Yu (Three Songs of Chyi Yu), a triptych based on the afore-mentioned movie. The first movement Walking in the Rain revelled in a Bachian fugue, while the central Olive Tree was a sort of pizzicato polka. In the finale Your Smiling Face, the Prelude from Bach’s Third Violin Partita was cleverly weaved as counterpoint into the main theme. Much more sophisticated and less contrived than those “Beatles Concertos” of old.

The final chunk of the 70-minute concert was the Singapore premiere of a chamber version of the indestructible Butterfly Lovers Concerto. Woodwinds, French horn, harp and piano were co-opted for this - love it or hate it - rather effective showpiece that draws upon the same tear-jerking emotions that had come before.

Its success was also due in large part of Foo’s passionate solo playing, that incorporated flying hair, foot stamping and animated bodily movements. His sensitive partnership with cellist Kenneth Lee in the Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai duets also provided touching moments. Although this was the seventh live performance of Butterfly Lovers to be heard within the last three months, its appeal does not seem to be waning in the least. Foo’s forthcoming CD recording with re:mix should be worth waiting for.         

  

THE RITE OF SPRING: A PEOPLE'S STRAVINSKY / Reflections

THE RITE OF SPRING:

A PEOPLE’S STRAVINSKY

The Philharmonic Orchestra / Lim Yau

Arts Fission Company / Angela Liong

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (22 June 2013)

I was originally going to write a review of this concert for The Straits Times, but the editor had a dance reviewer to cover it instead. As I still had my ticket, I enjoyed the concert on a non-reviewing capacity. Here are some of my reflections which I had promised to share on this blog. 

One century after the riotous first performance of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring), young orchestras in Singapore have been queuing up to perform it. The Orchestra of the Music Makers led by Chan Tze Law fired the first salvo at the Singapore Arts Festival in June last year. The Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra conducted by guest Eiji Oue made its emphatic mark on Esplanade barely two months ago. Now was the turn of The Philharmonic Orchestra (TPO) and Lim Yau, and never has the work been in greater currency here than ever.

TPO’s account was not a one-off, but rather a culmination of a series of Stravinsky concerts conducted by Lim entitled One Hundred Years Later, which began with The Firebird in 2010 and Petrushka one year later. Interspersed in between were further performances, also conducted by the indefatigable maestro, of The Soldier’s Tale (TPO), the Symphony in C major, Symphony in Three Movements (TPO), Symphony of Psalms (Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Choruses) and the ballet Apollon Musagetes (SSO). Clearly Lim Yau is Singapore’s new Stravinsky proselytiser, much as Choo Hoey was in the 1980s and 90s.

TPO’s Rite was to be more than just a concert. It had to be, given that the ballet in two parts does not last more than 35 minutes, or half a CD’s worth of time. To this end, the collaboration with The Arts Fission Company, one of Singapore’s more innovative independent dance troupes under the direction of Cultural Medallion recipient Angela Liong, was a coup of sorts. This production was to include not just professional dancers but also common folk. After all, the rites celebrated by primeval Central Asians, the original subject of Stravinsky’s ballet, was an affair involving real flesh-and-blood people; adolescents, elders, shamans and, yes, vestal virgins.

The Chosen One, and the bond-maidens (Photo: Guek Peng Siong)

The sacrifice of pure blood, to appease pagan gods of the land and seasons, is still practised albeit with modifications in some parts of the world today. Without being judgemental on certain religions, cults and cultures, the thrust of the message was to remind the more enlightened peoples of the world (Singaporeans among them, I suppose) that injustices against the weak and oppressed (like female circumcision, child marriages, honour killings, white slavery and the like) are still being carried out in the name of religion, tradition, culture and commerce.

The Chosen One is given her hood which seals her fate (Photo: The Pond Company)

The dancers and movers were attired in ceremonial red, the colour of blood, in costumes that resembled those of hill tribes in Southeast China or Indochina (no human sacrifice has been recorded here, or at least we think so, and thus politically acceptable). Among them were six professional dancers from Arts Fission, a group of young girls (thus satisfying Stravinsky’s description of “dancing lolitas”), and by far the largest group - of elders and sages, and their minders. The stage was extended to accommodate the orchestra and the dancers, but the latter had only a narrow strip of space from which to operate, and that somewhat hindered their manoeuvrability. Just enough space, I would hasten to add.

Both dramaturges, Lim Yau and Angela Liong, appeared on stage to give a preamble on the history and inspiration of the work (in English, and Mandarin for the sake of the many heart-landers in the audience), and the action began. The group of girls gambolled onto the stage, and one of them is ensnared with a red sash against her will and dragged away, and the music began with the solo bassoon. I will not go into detail about the orchestra’s performance, but suffice to say, the playing was very accomplished, with the solos confidently dispatched and all the sections admirably coping with the music’s thorny dissonances, treacherous cross-rhythms, and abrupt shifts of meter and dynamics. The score looks hellish enough, and what it must be for each player to encounter the music for the first (and last) time; every rehearsal and the actual performance must have been a trial of sorts, but the ensemble outdid itself. Having mastered The Firebird and Petrushka was certainly good preparation for the Rite.

The Oldies and their parasols (Photo: The Pond Company)

The choreography generally emphasised violence and cruelty, and that was accomplished with minimum of fuss and personnel. What was missing somewhat was the sheer spectacle of it all with a grande corps de ballet, and that was made up by the elders seated in the choir gallery behind the orchestra. On the signal of the Procession of the Sages, they literally tottered in with their walking aids and their younger minders (to forestall apoplexy, sudden cardiac arrest and fractured hips – those Esplanade steps are indeed treacherous). That was a spectacle in itself, leading to one member of the audience sitting behind me to blurt out audibly in Hokkien, “They are coming now…”  Thank you for the commentary.

The oldies played their part well, which consisted of simple ritualistic movements, all faithfully carried out in mostly in perfect synchrony. And there was a mass opening of umbrellas (also bright red) to further the ruddiness of the gallery, the symbolism of which is completely lost to me. I can only think the involvement of the sages (the oldest being an nonagenarian of 92 or 93) was symbolic of the fact that old habits (including ritual homicide) die hard, and one needs someone from the older generation to declaim, “Let’s stop this killing nonsense, and life will still carry on anyway. Let’s become sceptics and atheists.” Alas, that is not to be the case.

The dancers from Arts Fission Company (Photo: The Pond Company) 

Other than the above serial commentator (always in Hokkien, and his name is probably Lim Peh, and no relation to Lim Yau), the audience was generally respectful and well-behaved. There was no inappropriate applause between the two parts, despite The Adoration of the Earth ending on a loud cataclysmic note. And the ovation at the conclusion of The Sacrifice was long enough to ensure multiple curtain calls. The music was played continuous and without interruption except for two moments in The Sacrifice, where the orchestra stopped for a few second to allow certain vital movements to take place. That was unfortunate as it disrupted the momentum and direction of the performance. A second performance would have seen that kink ironed out, unless that was deliberate.

The performers take their bow. (Photo: The Pond Company)

Overall, I greatly enjoyed the experience and wondered if this would have been a good addition to the Singapore Arts Festival had it taken place this year. It certain engaged the community at large, bringing many people (including the Lim Pehs) to attend an arts event in which they would have otherwise missed. The concert ended at 8.35 pm, which gave me ample time to scoot off to the School of the Arts where the Singapore International Piano Festival was taking place, to see Benjamin Grosvenor in recital. No rest for the wicked, so they say.

Photos by courtesy of The Pond Company (www.thepond.com.sg) and Guek Peng Siong.

Performers take a bow (Photo: Pianomania)

DANIEL-BEN PIENAAR Piano Recital / 20th Singapore International Piano Festival / Review

DANIEL-BEN PIENAAR Piano Recital

20^th Singapore International Piano Festival

SOTA Concert Hall

Friday (21 June 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 24 June 2013 with the title "Bach with pizzazz".

The thought of J.S.Bach’s Preludes and Fugues, frequent subjects of piano examinations and competitions, often sends young people recoiling with horror and into post-traumatic stress with the memory of futile music lessons and the inevitable knuckle-rapping. Thus the notion of sitting through 24 of these in a single concert is a daunting prospect, sure recipe for tedium and indigestion.

Or so we thought. Bach specialists on the piano like Angela Hewitt and Andras Schiff have made it a life mission to perform both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier en bloc to adoring devotees worldwide. And so has debutant to the Singapore International Piano Festival, the South Africa-born and London-based pianist Daniel-Ben Pienaar, who offered the entire First Book in one sitting.

Each book begins with a paired Prelude and Fugue in sunny C major, and works its way through alternating major and minor keys by ascending a semitone with each number, and closing in the sombre key of B minor. The first Prelude is the most familiar, a play on the simple C major triad. Yet when Pienaar played, it sounded radically different. Absurdly fast was the first thought that came to mind.

However it is known that Bach left no tempo or dynamic markings, thus allowing the performer the freest rein to indulge in whatever fancies. Clearly this was the invitation to an account that is unencumbered by convention or tradition, one that assailed and piqued the senses. Like the late Glenn Gould before him, Pienaar was determined to make the listener hear with different ears.

And it worked, largely because he is a sensitive soul allied with the keenest sense of imagination. Without going into the minutiae of each piece, the set was delivered as a breezy whole that kept one riveted throughout. The contrapuntal playing was projected with utter clarity. Nothing sounded preserved or pre-cooked, and he rarely applied the same seasonings to each piece.

Varying the tonal palette, he could make the piano sound as light as a harpsichord in the fast toccata-like preludes. Applying more pedal, he also created organ-like sonorities for the slower fugues, and because the piano was foreign to Bach’s era, each number became a transcription freshly minted.

As to the various moods conjured up in the evening, there was a cornucopia’s worth. Moody elegies alternated with joyous and energised dances, and the improvisatory feel applied to many of the pieces gave the uncanny impression of a jazzman at work. Whoever thought that of crusty old Papa Johann Sebastian?   

Pienaar’s return with the Second Book of the WTC 48 is keenly awaited.      

   

YEVGENY SUDBIN Piano Recital / 20th Singapore International Piano Festival / Review

YEVGENY SUDBIN Piano Recital

20^th Singapore International Piano Festival

SOTA Concert Hall

Thursday (20 June 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 22 June 2013 with the title "Sudbin amazes at piano fest opening".

The 20^th edition of the venerated Singapore International Piano Festival opened with a recital by a pianist that reflects the spirit and ethos of the nation’s premier keyboard event. Young Russian Yevgeny Sudbin is on the rising arc of a considerable concert career. He is an artist unafraid to take on unusual and adventurous recital programmes to challenge and to provoke.

Although the underlying theme of this festival was “Music and Movement”, with an acknowledged nod to the dance genre, Sudbin centred his recital on varying states of mood and mind. With it, he pondered on life, with its joys and toils, and mortality. An entire half of Franz Liszt’s music encapsulated this viewpoint.

Opening with Funerailles (from the cycle of Poetic And Religious Harmonies), its tolling bells were deliberately oppressive rather than exultant. Through this arose an air of nobility, representing his downtrodden Hungarian kin and their call to arms. The hair-raising episode of stampeding octaves was judged to perfection, which was later echoed by the Tenth Transcendental Study in F minor that closed the set.

In between both works was pure poetry, flowing lyricism in Petrarch’s Sonnet No.104 which decried Pace non trovo (I Find No Peace), and the ever-expanding chords of Harmonies du soir (Evening Harmonies) which reassured all was well in the world. The audience’s insistence of applauding between each piece must have distracted, interrupting Sudbin’s train of thought for the beginning of the closing etude in order to take a bow. A minor memory lapse was an unfortunate result.

There were thankfully no such intrusions in the second half, which began with a portrayal of grief in two minor key Scarlatti Sonatas – beautifully realised - and Sudbin’s own transcription of the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem. In the latter, he explored harmonies and resonances more far-ranging than Liszt himself.

The final part of the recital was devoted to the pleasurable state of ecstasy. Debussy’s L’Isle Joyeuse delighted in series of trills and rhythmic thrills, exhibiting an innocent happiness with a rapturous tumble to the bottom of the keyboard. Quite different was Scriabin’s Fifth Sonata, sometimes called “The Poem of Ecstasy”, for its fulminant, carnal outbursts and flame-throwing to the highest registers.

Sudbin possessed the requisite technique and rapier-quick reflexes to make both pieces work. Comparisons with the legacies of Richter and Horowitz are not out of place here. Three encores, by Scriabin, Scarlatti and Sudbin’s own tongue-in-cheek and uproariously vulgar conflation of Chopin’s Minute Waltz (by way of Hungarian show-boater György Cziffra and Ravel’s La Valse) had the audience in stitches.

The reaction of amazement and sometimes disbelief is one regularly encountered in this festival over the last two decades. Long may that continue.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2013)

NOBUYUKI TSUJII

LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL

EuroArts DVD 2059088 / *****

The young Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, blind from birth, was already a celebrity in Japan before he shared First Prize at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. After that, he became a universal icon. This video recording of his Carnegie Hall début on 10 November 2011 showed that his victory was no fluke, a genuine and prodigious talent totally beyond doubt. He learnt his music by ear, with each work painstakingly pieced together with the help of teachers and an instinctual grasp of diverse musical idioms. There is no performance in his recital that does not sound convincing.

One suspends belief on witnessing the opening piece, Improvisation & Fugue by the American John Musto, specially commissioned for the competition. His mastery of its seemingly atonal themes and jazzy riffs is a feat that demands repeated viewing. The Beethoven Tempest Sonata (Op.31 No.2) that follows possesses the requisite drama and fire, while he tosses off the technicalities of Liszt’s Un Sospiro and Rigoletto Paraphrase with the greatest of ease. That his view of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is more characterised and trenchant than many sighted pianists is also significant. There are three encores which reveal a more mellow and sentimental side to his artistry. If this DVD does not inspire you or warm your heart, nothing will.

Nobu's piano recital at Esplanade Concert Hall on Tuesday (25 June) has been sold out.

GERSHWIN / SAINT-SAENS / RAVEL

BENJAMIN GROSVENOR, Piano

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic / James Judd

Decca 478 352 7 / *****

The 2012 Gramophone Award-winning young British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor’s début concerto recording confirms the plaudits he has been receiving of late. This is a collection of easy-on-the-ear piano concertos that demands elegance, finesse and intelligence to pull off, not just a surfeit of bravura. Saint-Saëns’s Second Piano Concerto was once described as a journey “from Bach to Offenbach”. It can sound vulgar and frivolous, but in his hands, comes across as witty, even thoughtful. Ravel’s jazz-inflected Piano Concerto in G major benefits from his rapier-keen reflexes in the fast outer movements, and a graceful dreaminess for the Mozartian slow movement.

That leaves Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue, in its original 1924 version for jazz band, which he owns with a swing and swagger than would make jazzmen jealous. As a gratifying touch, he offers solo encores after each concerto. The choices of Godowsky’s transcription of Saint-Saens’s The Swan, Ravel’s minute-long Prelude (crafted as a conservatory sight-reading piece) and Percy Grainger’s take on Gershwin’s Love Walked In have an exquisite touch and reflect his catholic tastes. Grosvenor’s next album, whatever it may be, will be keenly awaited.

BOOK IT:

BENJAMIN GROSVENOR Piano Recital

@ 20^th Singapore International Piano Festival

Saturday 22 June 2013

School of the Arts / 8 pm

Tickets available at SISTIC (Selling out fast)

 

PANORAMAS from LONDON

A classical view of the City of London,
from the south bank of the Thames.

Its the June vacations, a good break from school and homework for my son, and so we took a week-long holiday to London, once the greatest city in the world. Its still great in many respects, especially its rich history and concert life, but this holiday was about sightseeing. On our last trip here in 2005, my son was too young to remember anything except the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, so this time we were determined to see much more. 

The view of St Paul's Cathedral and Millennium Bridge
from the upper gallery of Tate Modern.

A great view of London from the top gallery
of St Paul's Cathedral, looking southwest.

A view of the Barbican and financial district of London,
looking northeast from St Paul's.

A view of the Thames, looking southeast.

Tower Bridge and the Shard, from the Tower of London.

The formidable Tower of London.

Peaceful Tower Green, where most of the
private executions took place.

Trafalgar Square, with the church of St Martin
in the Fields (extreme left) and Nelson's Column (right).

Street buskers doing their thing in Covent Garden,
just in front of St Paul's (Actors') Church.

At the Tate Modern: Cy Twombly's twirls.

Vietnam, an indictment of war at Tate Modern.

The Cast Court at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

MORE PANORAMAS from LONDON and ENGLAND

The Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum.
Greece wants them back, but the Brits are not budging.
Given the Greek economy, tis probably better to stay put.

Here are more panoramas from our short holiday to London. Besides the usual sightseeing, there was enough time to see a little bit of the country and visit old friends in Essex.

More marbles at the British Museum.

Not everything is there, but one gets the idea.

The Great Hall in the Tudor wing of
Hampton Court Palace.

Beautiful gardens outside the Georgian wing
of Hampton Court Palace.

The "Secret Garden".

Rapeseed fields in Essex.

Little country town of Hatfield Heath, Essex.

A most British of institutions,
a vintage car show at Hatfield Heath.

The green of Matching Green.
This little hamlet was home to painter Augustus John
and oilman/athlete/pianist Neil Franks Esq. 

The lovely 15th century home Lascelles, Matching Green,
now on sale at around GBP 2.5 million.
That's cheap by Singapore standards.

London's Greatest Little Concert Hall: WIGMORE HALL

I just love Wigmore Hall. For me, it is London's greatest little concert hall, if not London's best concert hall of all. One could spend an entire season just attending concerts here, without missing the glitz and glamour of London's bigger venues. Formerly known as Bechstein Hall, it was built in 1901 and is roughly the same age as Singapore's Victoria Concert Hall. The 545-seater hall on Wigmore Street (just off Oxford Street) is best known for its piano recitals, song recitals and chamber concerts.

This short trip to London only allowed one evening to attend concerts, and Wigmore Hall was where I chose to go. Luckily for me, I was able to attend two recitals on Friday 14 June 2013. The first was a solo piano recital by Irish pianist Finghin Collins, followed by a tribute to Dame Myra Hess's legacy of wartime lunchtime concerts at the National Gallery, presented by Patricia Routledge and pianist Piers Lane. Needless to say, it was a memorable night out on the town.

The facade on Wigmore Street.

   

One of London's most recognisable icons.

The hall and its famous performing stage.

"The Soul of Music"
has become the symbol of Wigmore Hall.

Wigmore Hall's Steinway.

Photographs of luminaries at the Green Room,
including Edwin Fischer, Daniel Barenboim,
Sir Clifford Curzon, Louis Kentner and Julis Katchen.

More photographs and big names.
On the left is the portraits of long-time director Sir William Lyne.
Scriabin performed here in 1915.

Not just Keeping Up Appearances:
Pianomaniac meets Patricia Rouledge,
aka Hyancinth Bucket (pronounced "Bouquet")

Piers Lane has made many CDs
which have pleased me no end.