EVOCATIONS
KHOO HUI LING Piano
Recital
Esplanade Recital
Studio
Sunday (4 August
2013 )
There are some young local
pianists whom I have been tracking over the years. Khoo Hui Ling is one of them.
She played at the first SSO Music Marathon in 1998 at the age of ten, and I
heard her perform at the 2005 National Piano Competition. In a competition
where there were a lot of youngsters furiously banging out the Hammerklavier, she stood out with her
musicality in “smaller” works by Bach, Debussy and Haydn. She was awarded
an Honorary Mention in the Senior Category of the concours. Later at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, she won the
Piano Concerto Competition with a stunning account of Gershwin’s Concerto in F, a performance of much
flair and outright exuberance.
Now a student at the University
of Oregon
Beethoven’s Sonata in D major (Op.28), the Pastoral,
is not often heard these days, probably because it isn’t serious or probing as
some of the others. A pity, as its delicious and homespun quaintness can be a
delight under the right hands. Hui Ling brought out its jocular humour and
deliberately foursquare rhythms well, the bagpipe-like drones in the first and
fourth movements, contrasted with the droll procession of the second movement,
and the clippity-clop rhythm and surprising pauses of silence in the brief but
humorous Scherzo. Beethoven obviously
knew when a joke outlasted its intended effect, and when to stop.
The second half was another
display of contrasts by works of a particular composer. Debussy was represented
by his prélude Les sons et les parfums
tournent dans l’air du soir (Sounds
and Scents Mingle in the Evening Air) from Book One and L’isle joyeuse.
Listen how just the right amount of pedalling can make a little piece sound
atmospheric and hazy in the former, and how a little restraint can prevent the
trills and rhythmic figures of the latter from being deluged with a wave of
over-indulged murkiness. While the voyage to the mystical isle of Cythera
was rumbling with effulgence, one could have hoped for its ecstatic climax to
be further milked, but there was still much to enjoy in this outing.
Two contrasting faces of Chopin
were well-illustrated in two Mazurkas
from Op.17 and the dramatic First Ballade
in G minor (Op.23). I can’t quite figure out why the famous A minor Mazurka (Op.17 No.4) is called “The
Little Jew” in Hui Ling’s little speech before she played, but I can guess it
has to do with the melancholic quality of the sighing motif, a falling minor third,
which colours this little gem. While the short Polish dances evinced quiet
contentment and simplicity, all the stops were pulled for the Ballade, which displayed lyricism and
violence to equal measure. The fearsome coda was launched with great vehemence,
and employing minimal pedalling the final page with its upward sweep of scales came
across almost cut and dried. I would have enjoyed just a tad more resonance,
but I respect her choice to make the finale as stark and strident as possible.
Strident would be the apt
description of Aaron Copland’s El Salon
Mexico, in a transcription by the young Leonard Bernstein. Hui Ling has a
penchant for American music, and here it is in all its glory with Latin
romances and a drunken barroom brawl rolled into one musical canvas. She looked
like she really was having a good time in this piece, the music punctuated with
that big cluster-stamp on the bass for grand effect. And when the last one
arrived, she stood up, put all her weight and gave it one thumping whack, to
close the work on a rowdy high.
Her encore was a Chopin Mazurka, a subtle way to end a recital,
making one look forward to more from this fine musician.
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| Khoo Hui Ling with her patron Kris Tan, founder of the Kris Foundation All photos courtesy of Chrisppics+ |
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