CD Reviews (The Straits Times, October 2014)

SCHARWENKA Piano Concertos

ALEXANDER MARKOVICH, Piano

Estonian National Symphony / Neeme Järvi

Chandos 10814 (2 CDs) / ****1/2

How the fortunes of Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924) have fallen over the decades since his death, for once he was feted as a piano virtuoso and founder of musical conservatories. Even his Polish Dance in E flat minor (Op.3 No.1), once popular among amateurs, is rarely heard these days. This double CD album (priced as one disc) hopes to revive the memory of the Polish composer whose four piano concertos combined the virtuoso flourishes of Liszt and nationalistic fervour of Chopin, and like Rachmaninov, all cast in minor keys.

It does not matter which CD one begins with, as the foursome spans between 1876 and 1908 and displays little or no tendency to evolve with the times. Perhaps the best known, however little, is No.1 in B flat minor, which was famously recorded by Earl Wild in 1969. It has a scintillating Scherzo and is cyclical in form, as the opening theme also closes the concerto. All four are extremely accessible and make enjoyable listening. Russian pianist Alexander Markovich’s no holds barred approach and thunderous pianism is not always subtle but the full-blooded Romanticism of these scores shine through. Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi is a committed proselytiser of rarely-heard music, and the Estonian National Orchestra whole-heartedly supports this well-conceived venture.

GREAT RECORDINGS

Berlin Philharmonic

Deutsche Grammophon 479 2231 (8 CDs) / *****

Want to sample the greatness of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/? Look no further than this mini box-set that provides a cross-section of its discography from the late 1940s to 2005 under the batons of seven great conductors. There is only one duplication with the 50 CD Centenary Edition, that of current chief conductor Simon Rattle leading Brahms’s Piano Concerto No.1 with soloist Krystian Zimerman. More representative of the orchestra’s legacy of discipline and pristine sound may be found in recordings by Herbert von Karajan (Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony), Claudio Abbado (Mahler’s Ninth Symphony) and Carlo Maria Giulini (Beethoven’s Choral Symphony), the obvious plums of this set.

Further Austro-German music come from Wilhelm Furtwängler (overtures and orchestral highlights from Wagner operas) in 1949 and 1951 mono recordings, Karl Böhm (Schubert’s Unfinished and Great Symphonies) and a very satisfying outing with Rafael Kubelik (Schumann’s Second and Fourth Symphonies). Fans of Anne-Sophie Mutter will delight in her very precocious teenaged account of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Karajan. The original sleeve-art has been replicated but no write-up or history of the orchestra has been included. Priced at about $4 a disc, this set is still an excellent and hugely enjoyable bargain.  

SYNERGY IN MUSIC 2014 / Vadim Repin & Russian Maestros / Review

SYNERGY IN MUSIC 2014

Vadim Repin & Russian Maestros

Victoria Concert Hall

Tuesday (28 October 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 30 October 2014

Synergy In Music is an annual concert presented by the Russian energy giant Gazprom featuring Russian musicians as a gift of friendship and cooperation between the world’s biggest nation and Singapore. This year’s offering saw a return of renowned violin virtuoso Vadim Repin with five colleagues as equal partners in chamber music.

The over-two-hours long concert also showcased Victoria Concert Hall as a premier chamber music venue, where just a small group of players could fill the 650-seat space with a glorious and full-toned sonority. There was a change in the order of programme such that the most serious works were played first, beginning with Prokofiev’s late Sonata for two violins in C major.

That there was little separating Repin and Tatiana Samouil was a credit to the musicianship involved, both musicians finely attuned to its elusive idiom of lyricism and dissonance. Their intonation was close to spotless and the ensemble so tight as to be indivisible. Its sequence of four alternating slow and fast movements resulted in the audience applauding prematurely after the lively 2nd movement.

Next was Beethoven’s String Trio in C minor (Op.9 No.3) which bristled in its moments of con brio (with life) and breathed longeurs that looked forward to his later quartets. Samouil, violist Igor Naidin (member of the famous Borodin Quartet) and cellist Alexander Buzlov gave a well-judged reading that captured the young German’s preening ambition and subtle humour, ending with a quiet cadence when one was expecting fireworks.

The first half closed emphatically with Repin and violist Andrey Usov in the well-known Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia, which comprised a series of very short variations played over a ground bass. Again, two became one in a veritable feast of counterpoint. 75 minutes had elapsed almost imperceptibly.

Cellist Evgeny Rumyantsev joined the group in the second half, which belonged to Tchaikovsky’s String Sextet, better known as Souvenir of Florence. Its chamber ensemble version even rivals his Serenade for Strings in popularity and wealth of good tunes. The overall sunny and cheerful disposition also makes it unusual for a composer known for his morose and tragic musings.

Here Repin clearly assumed the role of leader and soloist, playing the main melodies while being accompanied by his five partners. He did so with a natural flair and gusto. The only hint of melancholy came in the slow movement, where he and cellist Buzlov shared the spotlight and their intertwined voices became an impassioned love duet.

The last two movements showcased fast playing, but the unity as a group was never in doubt as the heat of the moment rose in tandem with the tempo of the music. Finishing on a febrile high, the appreciative audience was rewarded with a built-in encore, Variations on Carnival of Venice. Repin was the troubadour, crafting an arsenal of nifty tricks on his instrument accompanied by pizzicato strings, before walking off the stage as if saying, “Till the next time”.   

THE THANK YOU RECITALS / Chopin Society of Hong Kong / Review

THE THANK YOU RECITALS

Chopin Society of Hong Kong

Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall

Saturday & Sunday 

(25 & 26 October 2014)

Thanks or no thanks to the student demonstrations taking place throughout the civic, business and shopping districts of Hong Kong S.A.R., the 4^th Hong Kong International Piano Competition (originally scheduled to be held from 10 to 27 October) had to be postponed to 2016. The reasons are obvious: any stage of disruption in the competition process would have derailed the entire event, and the safety of the participants and jury (Ashkenazy and Co.) could not be guaranteed. This is especially so because City Hall is just a few hundred meters from the Admiralty / HMS Tamar demonstration site, and any gunfire and explosions would have been easily audible, and we’re not talking about Prokofiev’s piano music.

While jury chairman Vladimir Ashkenazy was conducting the otherwise-idle Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in free concerts at the HK University in support of the students’ just cause, the Chopin Society organised three free recitals on 24-26 October featuring past First Prize Winners of the Competition, namely Ilya Rashkovskiy (2005), Jinsang Lee (2008) and Giuseppe Andaloro (2011).

Having just arrived from Macau, I was able to catch the second and third evenings of what would be considered a truncated version of The Joy of Music Festival. The attendances were good, just as good as if the competition had taken place in peace and tranquillity, and the response was typically warm-hearted and full of goodwill. The “Thank You” was directed at the good people of Hong Kong (known to put up with loads of governmental and political shite, not to mention the air pollution) and the ever-supportive competition sponsors.

Jinsang Lee opened his recital with unknown and undiscovered Schumann. Almost every note was unfamiliar to me, including a Sonata for Children (Op.118), a movement that would have been Schumann’s Fourth Sonata, the late Gesange der Fruhe (Songs of Dawn), and an earlier version of the finale to the Third Sonata in F minor. Lee played from a score, but his responses were totally musical, from the idiomatic phrasing to the singing tone that is characteristic of Schumann’s music. Just a point of interest, that finale quoted Clara Wieck’s theme that was the subject of variations in the famous third movement, and the original finale is almost as brilliant as the final and definitive version.

Jinsang Lee and his bride Jiwon Kang.
They got married on 9 October 2014.

As a complete contrast to the first half, Lee performed a selection of Poulenc (Pascal Roge terriotory) including the First Nocturne, and two Improvisations, the ones in tribute to Schubert (a Landler) and Edith Piaf. These were beautifully crafted and one was willingly transported to Gay Paree, before he was joined by Ilya Rashkovskiy for Poulenc’s madcap Capriccio for two pianos, yet another one of his cheeky and delectable confections. Still on France, the two winners converged on a single keyboard for Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite. The Balinese-inspired third movement Laideronette, Empress of the Pagodas was pentatonic heaven, with Lee striking the low strings inside the piano to simulate a gong.

Back on two pianos, the duo closed with Saint-Saens’s Danse Macabre and Shostakovich’s Concertino in A minor. The camaraderie between the two was excellent, with give and take being a hallmark of chamber music making. Two became three when Giuseppe Andaloro joined in for an uproarious encore by Vincenzo Panerai, a quick march with lots of hands-crossing and flipping the score over at the half way mark. One could tell that all three pianists were having a great deal of fun.

On the final evening, Giuseppe Andaloro had to grapple with multiple styles in his recital which included three Rachmaninov contrasting Preludes, Stravinsky’s Tango, Scriabin’s Vers la flamme, Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.13 and three Messiaen Preludes, not an easy feat. He got the notes down pat, but the frequent shifts in musical idioms and dynamics rendered the sum somewhat less than the individual parts. One however cannot but marvel at the Horowitzian energy and incandescence he lent to that little Scriabin incendiary masterpiece.

For the second half, Andaloro provided a treat of a different kind, his own arrangements of Beatles songs (Come Together, Imagine, Across The Universe, Yesterday and Norwegian Wood among them). The last song included plucking the strings inside the piano for a quite magical and quasi-Oriental feel. This was followed up with a Lisztian paraphrase of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which almost makes one forget the original. The piano duo segment was shorter, with Jinsang Lee joining him in Milhaud’s Scaramouche and Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance for a glittering close.

Andaloro’s solo encore was significant, a World Premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Mirroring, the work commissioned for the piano competition that had been scuttled. It is an etude-like work on A-B-A form ((hence the mirror reference) where A represented prestidigitation in the manner favoured by Ligeti and B a series of sonorous chords. It is a rather effective showpiece and morceau de concours that would hopefully not be lost to posterity because of the events of Occupy Central.  

The HKIPC is down but not out, and the 4^th edition has been pledged to take place in September-October of 2016. In the meantime, a big “Thank You” is in order for the Chopin Society of Hong Kong for sharing the joy of music happen, even (and especially) in a time of dissidence and strife.

Three 1st Prize Winners of Hong Kong:
Jinsang Lee, Giuseppe Andaloro & Ilya Rashkovskiy.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, October 2014)

DAVID GARRETT

The Early Years

Deutsche Grammophon 479 2936 (5 CDs) / ****1/2

Like a certain Vanessa-Mae, David Garrett is today acknowledged as a highly successful crossover violinist with definite pop-star appeal. Like EMI Classics which trotted out Vanessa-Mae’s childhood classical recordings, the German yellow label has done the same, but Garrett’s portfolio appears more substantial and far better marketed. The German-American, born in 1980 as David Christian Bongartz, was recorded between 1993 and 1997, revealing an astounding maturity in repertoire works. Listen to his refreshingly unmannered and regal way in Bach’s Second Partita, with a leisurely, almost timeless look at the Chaconne, which lasts almost 20 minutes!

The firebrand, who studied with Ida Haendel and Itzhak Perlman, also delivers the goods in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and the little known but engaging E minor Concerto of Julius Conus, partnered by the Russian National Orchestra and Mikhail Pletnev. The obligatory virtuoso fare continues in Paganini’s 24 Caprices, with Schumann’s piano accompaniment, a highly enjoyable account with Italian pianist Bruno Canino. Also gratifying are his encounters with Mozart and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Claudio Abbado – the two D major concertos (No.4, where he plays his own cadenzas and K.271a), a sonata and the Adagio K.261. A final disc of short pieces and encores with pianist Alexander Markovich, only recently released, completes this portrait of a prodigy. One wonders what might have been had Garrett continued on this trajectory. 

MERCURY LIVING PRESENCE

The Collector’s Edition Volume 2

Universal Music 478 5092 (55 CDs) / ****

After the roaring success of Volume 1 of the Mercury Living Presence Collector’s Edition, Volume 2 follows up with those recordings that have not been earlier cherry-picked. The collector’s dilemma is this: Will the general listener be equally drawn to Antal Dorati’s Bartok, Beethoven, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky recordings, Paul Paray’s famous French music sojourns with the Detroit Symphony, diverse wind band repertoire from the Eastman Wind Ensemble under Frederick Fennell and the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra with Howard Hanson in contemporary American music? Chances are only the interminably curious will muster enough interest to go through the entire contents of this cornucopia.

The must listens: a thrilling Stravinsky’s The Rite Of Spring from the Minneapolis Symphony (Dorati in 1953), all of Dorati’s Bartok recordings, Ravel and Debussy with Paray (from 1955 to 1961), the Chicago Symphony in Hindemith, Schoenberg, Kodaly and Bartok (Rafael Kubelik and Dorati in 1953-54) and the bonus disc of John Corigliano’s Piano Concerto and Richard Strauss’s Parergon for piano left hand (with pianist Hilde Somer). If there is more time, sample the excellent wind discs, harpsichord recitals by Rafael Puyana, the Howard Hanson symphonies (conducted by the composer) and a delightful cello recital by Janos Starker in Chopin, Mendelssohn, Debussy and Bartok. All these feature the then-revolutionary trademark house sound of the label perfected by founders Robert and Wilma Cozart Fine. Inquisitiveness and patience will be more than amply rewarded.     

THE FOUR SEASONS OF BUENOS AIRES / VCH Chamber Series / Review

THE FOUR SEASONS 

OF BUENOS AIRES

VCH Chamber Series

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (19 October 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 October 2014 with the title "Charming with four seasons".

Sunday afternoons have come alive again at Victoria Concert Hall, with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s chamber concert series moving back to the historic performing venue from the School of the Arts. There are concerts featuring big names coming up, but the orchestra’s own musicians, greeted by a sizeable audience, are more than capable of putting up a good show.

This afternoon’s concert offered music for chamber trios, opening with Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. Listeners would be more familiar with Leonid Desyatnikov’s arrangement for solo violin and chamber orchestra, usually coupled with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The piano trio version performed was more modest, but included all the main themes.

Departing from the sequence stated in the programme notes, the trio of violinist Chen Da Wei, cellist Yu Jing and pianist Yao Xiao Yun started with Spring and ended with Winter. The melodic lines were shared alternately by cello and violin, while the piano provided the steady beat which distinguished each movement as a tango, the sultry dance with all its sensual connotations.

Something is missing when Piazzolla’s own instrument the bandoneon (the Argentine accordion) is absent but the trio milked the music’s sentimentality for all its worth, with seemingly improvised cadenzas providing an element of showiness. In Winter (Invierno Porteno), a quote from Vivaldi’s Winter was included as the work closed in reassuring solace. The trio added Dvorak’s familiar Humoresque as an equally inviting encore.

The second half was longer, featuring Mozart’s Divertimento in E flat major (K.563), which despite its diminutive title, lasts some 40 minutes. This mature work was contemporaneous with his final trilogy of symphonies, but longer than all of them. Its multi-movement form was more akin to his Serenades, and inhabited with the same light-heartedness. 

The trio of violinist Lillian Wang, violist Tan Wee-Hsin and cellist Chan Wei Shing brought out a very warm sonority, no doubt aided by the hall’s bright acoustics. Any fear that the work’s duration might weary the listener was allayed by the work’s melodic interest and wealth of ideas. The second movement Adagio provided a semblance of sobriety but the load was lightened by Wang’s disarmingly beautiful tone on her violin.

There were two lively and jocular Minuets separated by an Andante, which turned ut to be a charming set of variations on a rustic country dance, ending well before it outstayed its welcome. The finale had none of the frenetic busyness of most conclusions but was an elegant rondo whose theme sounded better with each return. This performance smiled from ear to ear, which pretty much summed up the true spirit of hausmusik, which was to provide more than an abundance of pleasure.  

CHAMBER MUSIC OF LEONG YOON PIN / Review

CHAMBER MUSIC OF LEONG YOON PIN

Lee Foundation Theatre

Thursday (16 October 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 18 October 2014 with the title "Composer's understated genius".

It is said that a composer’s reputation suffers the most a few years posthumously, after the eulogies have quietened down and memories dimmed. It is a credit to the faculty, alumni and students of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts that they have not allowed the legacy of Leong Yoon Pin (1931-2011), Singapore’s pioneering composer, to slip away.

His extensive library of scores, writings and memorabilia had been donated to NAFA, and this concert revived chamber music that had not been performed for decades. It revealed an individual voice that reflected Leong’s Asian heritage, Western formal training and eclectic influences. He was not a showy or flashy composer, but an introverted personality who bared his soul in a profound mastery of technique.

Celestial Peach Garden (1994) has the same scoring as Bartok’s Sonata for two pianos and percussion, but does not imitate the Hungarian’s nationalist and folk-inflected voice. The 12-minute long essay is more aligned with Benjamin Britten’s idiom of blending dissonance with melody.

An extended procession of soft piano chords opens the work before unleashing a heaven-storming duel of piano and percussion that relives the Monkey God’s battle with deities inspired by Chapter 5 from the Journey to the West. Pianists Shane Thio and Nicholas Loh with percussionists Ng Sok Wah and Sng Yiang Shan coped with the score’s thorny yet intricate passagework admirably for an invigorating performance.

Sketches for oboe and piano (1985) were performed by the same artists who gave its world premiere, Joost Flach and Thio. The three movements were based on scenes captured by the composer in New Zealand. The Beach was a reflective and serene pastorale, almost impressionist in colour, contrasted with the violent and abrupt shifts of dynamics in Mineral Spring, which depicted bubbling volcanic mud pools. The closing Goats on a Slope was a playful country dance that further tested the technical prowess of the able duo. 

A more lyrical side of the composer was displayed in a selection of six songs settings of local poetry from the 1960s and early 1980s, sung by soprano Cherie Tse and mezzo-soprano Shireen Sanbhnani accompanied by pianist Loh. Awaiting had a dark, contemplative edge which was well-captured by Tse, while Sanbhnani impressed with her command of Chinese in the more light-hearted Marine Parade and The Firefly. 

The best work was left for last, Interfusion for piano quintet (1989), performed by pianist Thio, violinist Ng Wei Ping, violist Lim Chun, cellist Li Jingli, bassist Wang Xu, and conducted by Zechariah Goh Toh Chai. This is the same group of instruments used in Schubert’s Trout Quintet, but Leong was to express joy in a totally different way. In an unusual mix of atonalism and minimalism, he was to find a genuine coherence and resonance.

In its Adagio, each instrument was assigned an individual refrain of its own. Heard in isolation, they would have sounded fragmented, but put them together, here was literally the voice of a symphony. The closing fugue and interwoven counterpoint provided an indescribable high that could only be an expression of unbridled happiness. It behoves this and the next generation of musicians to rediscover and share in the quiet and understated genius that was Leong Yoon Pin.

Photographs by the kind permission of NAFA.

BEETHOVEN'S FIFTH / Penang Philharmonic Orchestra / Review

BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH

Penang Philharmonic Orchestra

Dewan Sri Pinang, Georgetown

Sunday (28 September 2014)

An edited version of this review was published in The Star on 16 October 2014 with the title "The Penang classical scene is building up momentum with the Penang Philharmonic Orchestra".

Penang is already well-known internationally as a UNESCO World Heritage city, and for its tantalising and mouth-watering hawker food. Someday it might be even famous for its music. This is a very bold prediction that I make, but it has a precedent – in Singapore. Today, the Lion City has the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay, occupied by world class ensembles like the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and its best amateur counterpart the Orchestra of the Music Makers. Concerts and artists in Singapore are noticed and reviewed internationally for the quality of the music-making. That can happen in Penang too, but it needs time, lots of hard work and the firm commitment of state or governmental support.

I had the fortune of spending an afternoon in the company of the Penang Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), an amalgamation of Penang’s amateur symphony orchestras that have for decades performed spottily over the calendar year. Several years ago, these were merged into the PPO, which enjoys funding from the state government. It now has a definitive concert season, and an administrative cum performing home in The Star, Pitt Street which houses a small concert venue. For major events, PPO performs at the 1000-seater Dewan Sri Pinang, which is a space similar to the Singapore Conference Hall, where the Singapore Chinese Orchestra performs.

Dewan Sri Pinang by night.

Dewan is a cavernous multi-purpose hall more suited for political party conventions, and has a dryish acoustic that does not flatter the best of orchestras. For this concert, the stage was sealed off and the PPO brought into the stalls. This ensured that the orchestra played very close (within sneezing distance) of the audience, which was an advantage to all concerned. The acoustics became less of an issue, and musical communication became paramount.

The Penang Philharmonic in rehearsal.

From what I learn, Penangites have never had the privilege of enjoying a Beethoven symphony or a Rachmaninov piano concerto cycle. This concert conducted by Singaporean conductor Chan Tze Law (Principal Guest Conductor of the PPO) and featuring guest soloist Filipino Albert Tiu (professor of piano at Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory) was a first step towards fulfilling this reality. In many ways, the results were very encouraging and a big stride in the right direction.  

The Penang Philharmonic conducted by
Chan Tze Law (Photo: The Star)

The concert opened with Rossini’s Overture to The Barber of Seville, a staple of sure-sell curtain-raisers. On conductor Chan’s downbeat, the orchestra responded with the two opening chords perfectly in sync. This was the very signal of intent that the young ensemble was going to work things out together, with one single cohesive mind. The thinness of sound will be filled in with time and experience, but it is the spirit that was dominant throughout the performance that will stand the orchestra in good stead. It captured well the comedic elements of the music, and a head of steam soon built up with each patented Rossinian crescendo. A good start it certainly was.

Those familiar with pianist Albert Tiu will know what to expect from him in Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto in C minor. His blend of passion and fire in the bittersweet work and virtuosic flourishes are par for the course, and the excitement he generates makes each performance special. The way the PPO responded to him and conductor Chan’s direction was fully in the service of the music. How the strings sang in the first movement’s opening theme over Tiu’s barrage of arpeggios made this moment stand out, leading to an impassioned climax. The solo French horn towards the end was also excellent, yet another indication that the young musicians not only play well as a group but also individually as well.

More was to follow in the slow movement, and again the solo clarinet and woodwinds did themselves proud while supported by the piano’s ruminations. The strings again distinguished in the lush restatement of the main melody with the piano’s chords in full tilt. There were lots of tricky bits in the finale, most notably the fast central interlude and the furious fugato. The orchestra kept time perfectly in the treacherous passages where even professional orchestras sometimes find themselves unstuck. All this leads to the grand apotheosis with the big tune, and this was where the new Steinway D shone; Tiu’s emphatic chords resounded above the throng and the balance at the concert’s most exciting moments came close to perfection. This is not an easy concerto to accompany, but the PPO did a very good job. This is as close to professional as a group of young musicians can possibly muster.

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in C minor filled the second half of the concert. Like the Rossini that began the concert, the famous opening four notes and its repetitions were hammered spot on cue. Where hesitation or accidents may happen, these were safely negotiated as the young musicians followed every beat and step of the conductor, and there was no letting up in this essentially monothematic movement. The lingering oboe solo was also handled expertly, a brief respite before the orchestra began its onslaught of Fate knocking at the door.

If the orchestra betrayed any signs of inexperience, it would have been in the second and third movements. The slow movement is the most difficult to pull off because of its meandering variations, which need to breathe in its ebb and flow, and sustained lines which can weary younger players. The third movement with its elusive shifts in pace from a quietly surreptitious slither to a goose-stepping march (a variation of the 1^st movement Fate motif) also proved a real challenge, but it cannot be said that the players did not try their best.

The transition into the blazing finale was well worked out, as the orchestra responded to conductor Chan’s directions almost instinctually, and the expansion of sound provided a chill to the spine as the broad striding theme of the last movement got underway. Here was a mirror of the first movement, with very disciplined playing but one that strained and tugged, and surged ahead on a well-controlled leash. The brass was on superb form for the joyous expression of ultimate triumph, and they did not need further encouragement. What of the very steady timpani player, whose beats marshalled the forces like a battlefield general? A final burst of adrenaline brought the symphony to a highly satisfying close, that was greeted with a chorus of cheers. The audience was rewarded with an encore: Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance in G minor (Op.46 No.8).

The Penang Philharmonic has the potential of going very far, even turning professional sometime in the near future. Penang has a growing, enthusiastic yet discerning audience which does not deserve anything less.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, October 2014)

LAZAR BERMAN

The Deutsche Grammophon Recordings

DG 482 0593 6 (10 CDs) / ****1/2

Those fortunate to have caught Russian pianist Lazar Berman (1930-2005) in concert and recital in Singapore during the mid- to late-1990s witnessed an old keyboard lion at the tail end of an illustrious but politically chequered career. His technique had already frayed at the edge but he was still able to make the piano roar with a clangourous and majestic sonority. This box-set documents his short but meteoric partnership with the German yellow label, which lasted only five years (1975-80) and covered a narrow repertoire of Romantic and Russian music. First listen to the concertos – Tchaikovsky’s First (conducted by Herbert von Karajan) and both Liszt concertos (with Carlo Maria Giulini) for a glimpse of his broad sweep and firm grasp of the epic.

For the solos, the three books of Liszt’s Années De Pélérinage (Years Of Pilgrimage) are a must-listen, where passion and poetry find a heady confluence in his hands. His Rachmaninov is limited to the early Six Moments Musicaux Op.16, which he championed brilliantly, the Corelli Variations and a small selection of Préludes. Mussorgsky’s mighty Pictures At An Exhibition receives a trenchant exposition, which is repeated in Prokofiev’s Second and Eighth Sonatas. For some reason, Prokofiev’s Romeo And Juliet (Op.75), Chopin’s mature Polonaises and Shostakovich’s Preludes Op.34 were not recorded complete. For old-school Russian school pianism in an unabashed grand manner, Berman is still the man to beat.

ROZSA Film Music

BBC Philharmonic / RUMON GAMBA

Chandos 10806  / *****

It was the looming threat of the Second World War that sent Hungarian composer Miklos Rozsa (1907-1995) fleeing from Europe to London and later Hollywood where he established himself as one of the great movie composers. Between 1937 and 1985, he composed for 95 films, garnering 13 Academy Award nominations and 3 Oscars. This instalment of Chandos’s highly-acclaimed Film Music series draws from four movies, displaying his exotic and lushly-orchestrated scores to spectacular effect.

Over half an hour is devoted to Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book (1942), of which the suite with narration was made in the manner of Prokofiev’s Peter And The Wolf. Even without the words, the score is highly evocative even if it sounds more like music for a story set in China rather than India! These were the days before the rise of ethnomusicology. Arguably more convincing was his music for epics on Middle Eastern themes, such as The Thief Of Baghdad (1939-40), which effectively uses techniques he learnt from compatriot Bela Bartok’s music.

Most familiar is his suite from Ben-Hur (1960), which truly deserved an Oscar for its portrayal of its quasi-Biblical subject. One can already envision Charlton Heston’s escapades, his romance with Haya Harareet and the rousing Parade Of The Charioteers. These performances by the BBC Philharmonic under Rumon Gamba elevate film music to the realm of concert classics.    

A FEW WORDS WITH ZUBIN MEHTA, Music Director For Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

A FEW WORDS WITH 

MAESTRO ZUBIN MEHTA

MUSIC DIRECTOR FOR LIFE, 

ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

On 11 November 2014, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) gives its Singapore début in a concert at the Mastercard Theatre of Marina Bay Sands. Leading the orchestra is its Music Director for life, the eminent India-born conductor ZUBIN MEHTA, who has distinguished himself in the world’s great concert stages, including The Three Tenors concert in Rome and Los Angeles, and Zhang Yimou’s spectacular production of Puccini’s Turandot in the Forbidden City, Beijing.

I had a chance to speak with the Maestro speaks for a short telephone interview for THE PEAK (below).

As lifestyle magazines go, there is little space for details which music-lovers are interested in, but here is a transcript of the full interview.

You had originally planned to study medicine but then switched to music. How did this come about?

My parents wanted me to be a doctor, but I defaulted! I attended pre-medical classes in Bombay, but chose to be a musician instead. My parents were very supportive. My father Mehli Mehta (left) was a violinist, founder of the Bombay String Quartet and Bombay Symphony Orchestra, and for 35 years the conductor of the American Youth Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles. He was a most important influence, and arranged for me to study at the Vienna Academy of Music in 1954.

Vienna had a compact and closely knit community of musicians which was conducive for the pursuit of music. I studied piano and double bass, and orchestral conducting in the class of Hans Swarowsky.

Being an Asian studying music in Vienna during the 1950s, essentially a world community dominated by Europeans, must have been a daunting prospect. Did you face any obstacles being accepted as a musical equal, coming from a different culture?

There were not many Asians in Vienna during those days - only a few Japanese students - and I was the only one from India. I felt no anxiety or discrimination, and was accepted whole-heartedly by the Viennese musical community.

My first concert as a conductor was organised by the Jeunnese Musicales, which had started in Belgium. The first professional engagement was with the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Vienna, which paid me a little bit. It was an all-Brahms concert with the First Piano Concerto and First Symphony.  The soloist was Alfred Brendel. I met him in a bookshop and asked him if he would like to play.

The next concert was all-Schoenberg: the First Chamber Symphony and Pierrot Lunaire.  If you had talent, you will be engaged again. I conducted that orchestra for two seasons before being asked to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. About (the late Italian conductor) Claudio Abbado, we spent two years in Vienna and became friends for life. We never had an ugly word with each other.

Your close relationship with Israel and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra dates from the 1960s, a period of uncertainty when the existence of Israel as a nation was under threat. Could you describe how this bond was formed?

I first conducted the IPO in 1961. I had been asked to substitute for the great Hungarian-American conductor Eugene Ormandy. Apparently the orchestra had heard of me, and I immediately accepted! The concert programme included Kodaly’s Dances of Galanta, Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements and Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony, and that was how it all started. In 1967, my close friends Daniel Barenboim and his wife Jacqueline Du Pré (left) were there for the Victory Concert at the end of the Six Day War which I conducted. Barenboim performed Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto on the piano, Du Pré played Schumann’s Cello Concerto, and we finished off with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

In 1969, I was made Music Director and later Music Director for life. This is not a contract, but an honour. I could be terminated next week!

You have conducted in Singapore on at least three occasions, with the New York Philharmonic at the National Stadium (1984) and in front of the City Hall steps (1989), and more recently with the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino at the Esplanade (2005). What sort of memories does Singapore hold for you?

Only very good and positive ones!  I love your city for its order, organisation, discipline and cleanliness. My dear friend Shalom Ronly-Riklis, former Associate Conductor of the IPO, had conducted in Singapore on many occasions and told me all about Singapore. When I finally came, and coming from India, I could not believe this was Asia!

My first concert in 1984 was at a small hall, I think the Victoria Concert Hall. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew attended that concert, and I told him to please build a really big concert hall for Singapore. Now you have the Esplanade Concert Hall, and conducting there in 2005 was a wonderful experience.   

Q: China has now accepted Western classical music with open arms, with the formation of symphony orchestras, new concert halls and millions of students studying music. Do you think that same “revolution” will take place in India, the world’s second most populous nation?

It is slowly happening now in India. We have a professional symphony orchestra (Symphony Orchestra of India) in Bombay and the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation (founded in 1995, above) that teaches young children to play Western instruments. We will see the results in the next generation.

Q: Music and the arts can be a force of change for the better in world affairs. Does the Israel Philharmonic have a role to play in helping to resolve present Israel and Palestine conflict?      

We have to try our best. My hope is for the orchestra to play in Ramallah, Palestine when it becomes a country, which will be very soon. We will go and perform as a sign of friendship and peace.

WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS to catch VADIM REPIN at "SYNERGY IN MUSIC 2014" presented by GAZPROM on 28 October 2014

WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS

TO WATCH SYNERGY IN MUSIC 2014 

PRESENTED BY GAZPROM

Exclusive to followers of Pianomania:

Win a pair of tickets to

SYNERGY IN MUSIC 2014

(Starring Vadim Repin & Friends)

presented by GAZPROM

Programme includes Tchaikovsky’s string sextet Souvenir of Florence. Full programme details and ticketing may be found here: 
http://www.sistic.com.sg/events/synergy1014

Tuesday 28 October 2014

7 pm, Victoria Concert Hall

Two lucky winners will stand to walk away with a pair of tickets each when they correctly answer the following questions:

1. Which major international violin competition did Vadim Repin win in 1989?

    A. Tchaikovsky       

    B. Wieniawski                 

    C. Queen Elisabeth  

    D. Paganini

2. Vadim Repin made a recording of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov piano trios on Deutsche Grammophon with cellist Mischa Maisky and pianist________.

    A. Martha Argerich         

    B. Lang Lang    

    C. Boris Berezovsky    

    D. Nikolai Lugansky

Send your answers and name to: Gazprom@ketchum.com.sg

Closing date: 20 October 2014

Winners will be notified via e-mail, and you can collect your tickets at the door on the day of the concert.