A CELEBRATION OF
KEYBOARDS
MERVYN LEE Piano Recital
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory
Orchestral Hall
Tursday (13 November 2014 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 15 November 2014
It
is always fascinating to follow the progress of child prodigy musicians,
because few if any actually realise their enormous early potentials in adult
years. Many fizzle out and lose interest along the way, or are lost to
competing professions and preoccupations.
Sixteen-year-old
pianist Mervyn Lee, who at 10 was the youngest ever soloist to perform at the
President’s Young Performers Concert in 2009, looks to be making good progress.
A student of both Yio
Chu Kang Secondary School
In
an 80-minute long recital that reflected the broad palette of his interests, he
performed first on a Carey Beebe harpsichord. Music by 16th and 17th
century masters Johann Froberger and Jan Sweelinck usually resides in the
domain of baroque specialists, but Lee displayed a natural flair and sensitive
touch. In the former’s Toccata in G
major, certain liberties taken with tempos and exactness in fugal passages
found a happy medium, while a robust humour inhabited the latter’s pastoral variations
on More Palatino.
He
was next heard on a modern Bösendorfer grand piano in Muzio Clementi’s Sonata in F minor (Op.13 No.6). He
coaxed a mellow, velvety sonority in its dark-hued pages, yet was able to
command an orchestral intensity when called for. There were stark dissonances
and surprising modulations in the slow movement, but it was ultimately lyricism
that held one’s attention. The Presto
finale was merely an illusion, aided by undercurrents of unease which Lee
brought out well.
A
Steinway grand was wheeled out for the rest of the concert. While he was
technically accurate in Chopin’s Polonaise
in E flat minor (Op.26 No.2), further gravitas could be sought in its pages of
smouldering disquiet. In Edward MacDowell’s Etude
subtitled Schattentanz (Shadow Dance), the elfin lightness and
mercurial flittering were marvellously captured.
When
one expected a degree of brutality in Bartok’s Romanian Dance No.1, Lee achieved his musical goals without
hammering or brute force, much like how the composer played himself. The solo
segment closed with Charles Griffes’s Scherzo
from Three Fantasy Pieces, where his
variegated touch in this dreamy impressionist soundscape impressed.
The
second half was devoted to Mendelssohn’s Second
Piano Concerto in D minor. Although less popular and far less-performed
than the First Piano Concerto, its
more lyrical bent suited the teenager better. Instead of treating it like a
virtuoso showpiece, his approach was that of ultimate chamber music.
One
could sense how in tune and sync Lee was with his accompanist Teh Jiexiang on
second piano, and the two blended seamlessly. The prestidigitation in the outer
movements seemed to serve one purpose: that is to support arch-like the
glorious slow movement. Here, where the volume lightened and the notes stood
still albeit for a few minutes, Lee found the work’s song-like heart and soul.
That is what striving to become a true musician and artist is all about.
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