CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2016)

EIGES Piano Music

JONATHAN POWELL, Piano

Toccata Classics 0215 / ****1/2

If one is familiar with the piano music of Scriabin, Rachmaninov and Medtner, the works of their contemporary Konstantin Eiges (1875-1950) would prove equally appealing. Born of Jewish ancestry in Ukraine, he studied both medicine and music, but devoted his life to music education. 

This first ever recording of Eiges' piano music by British pianist Jonathan Powell reveals a style common to Russian composers of the late Romantic era, stretching from the more traditional Glazunov and Liadov to the rising iconoclast Prokofiev.

Eiges acquits himself as a perfect miniaturist in the Skazki (Fairy Tales), Preludes and Poems, forms frequented by his more famous colleagues. Scriabin's febrile and volatile sensibilities, Rachmaninov's lyricism and passion, and Medtner's economy and development of simple motifs are all present. 

In the two more extended single-movement Sonatas-Poems, a heady union of Scriabin and Medtner is the result. More traditional are the Theme And Variations and Cuckoo, a short piece based on the familiar birdcall. Powell is a most persuasive advocate whose understated virtuosity and razor-keen reflexes are wholly in the service of this underrated and unjustifiably neglected music.

MY TRIBUTE TO YEHUDI MENUHIN

DANIEL HOPE, Violin et al

Deutsche Grammophon 479 5305 / ****1/2

This year marks the centenary of the birth of the great violinist and musical statesman Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999). British violinist Daniel Hope was a student, and whose mother served as Lord Menuhin's manager for many years. 

This touching tribute to his “music grandfather” includes music closely associated with Menuhin as well as pieces which teacher-and-student worked on together. It was Menuhin who gave the first performance of Mendelssohn's very early Violin Concerto in D minor, a work of Mozartian charm and simplicity which Hope plays with much sympathy and wide-eyed directness.

In Vivaldi's Concerto For 2 Violins in A minor and a selection of Bartok Duos, Hope is partnered by Simos Papanas and Daniel Lozakovitj, where he takes on the Menuhin mantle as mentor. Although Menuhin was unlikely to have known or heard the short pieces by Steve Reich, Hans Werner Henze, John Tavener, Jo Knumann or Bechara El-Khoury, the cosmopolitanism of the selection reflected his ethos and worldview. 

There is much poignancy to the last piece, Ravel's Kaddisch, a Jewish song of mourning which Hope performed in the very last concert Menuhin conducted, which made for a most moving tribute.       

BORIS GILTBURG Piano Recital / 23rd Singapore International Piano Festival / Review

BORIS GILTBURG Piano Recital

23^rd Singapore International Piano Festival

Victoria Concert Hall

Saturday (25 June 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 27 June 2016 with the title "Russian music in all its elegance and violence".

For the third evening of the Singapore International Piano Festival, Russia-born pianist Boris Giltburg offered an all-Russian programme. Needless to say, this former 1^st Prizewinner of the Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition (2013) had the requisite chops and technique for this repertoire.

What he chose to do with his uncommon abilities was what made his brand of virtuosity vital and relevant. In Rachmaninov's earlier set of Études-Tableaux (Op.33), he seemed to live out the festival's overall theme of “Kaleidoscope” in its eight varied pieces. A punchy march, full of bluster and swagger rowdily opened the proceedings.

Rachmaninov's obsession with bell sounds came to the fore in no less than four numbers, each imbued with different qualities. There were resounding echoes (in No.2), gentle tinkles (No.4), festive pealing (No.6) and finally the carillons of victory (No.8). The defining piece was No.3, where gloomy chords in C minor eventually made way for a transcendent theme in C major, later quoted in the slow movement of his Fourth Piano Concerto.

Boris Giltburg speaks to the audience about his
transcription of Shostakovich's String Quartet No.8

The most intriguing item of Giltburg's recital was his own transcription of Shostakovich's Eighth String Quartet. He made it clear on the outset that string textures were not to be simulated, but worked on the development of thematic material, namely his 4-note motto theme (D-E flat-C-B which spelt his initials in German) that appears in different guises.

Far from being monochromatic, the sombreness of its beginning soon bristled angrily in the percussive 2^nd movement before waltzing away in manic-fashion (3^rd movement) and being stopped cold with explosive bursts (4^th movement). Along the way, quotations from his First Symphony, Second Piano Trio, First Cello Concerto and opera Lady Macbeth Of Msentsk indicated this was a musical autobiography of sorts. Giltburg's riveting performance caught its anarchic spirit perfectly.

Two sonatas followed after the intermission. Scriabin's Fourth Sonata was given a flighty account, floating with gossamer lightness in the slow introduction before taking off like the wind in the frenetic Prestissimo Volando conclusion. Unlike Icarus who fell to earth, Giltburg actually made it to the sun in spectacular aplomb.

Just as incendiary was his view to Prokofiev's Eighth Sonata, the third chapter of his “War Trilogy”, and arguably the best. The surprising lyricism of its first page was merely a premonition of the escalating cataclysm to come. Giltburg mustered these contrasts expertly, making each transition to outright conflict starkly etched and totally believable.

Similarly, the gentle balletic minuet of the 2^nd movement became fodder to the lead-spitting finale, where its unceasing machine-gun rattle was only matched by Giltburg's no holds barred manoeuvres to its thrilling and devastating end.

The tumultuous applause was reciprocated with three encores, two Rachmaninov charmers (transcriptions of Kreisler's Liebesleid and Franz Behr's Lachtaubchen, the latter also known as Polka De V.R.) sandwiching Prokofiev's coruscating Suggestion Diabolique. In a nutshell, elegance and violence formed the tandem that defined Russian piano music.  

SHAI WOSNER Piano Recital / 23rd Singapore International Piano Festival / Review

SHAI WOSNER Piano Recital

23^rd Singapore International Piano Festival

Friday (24 June 2016)

Victoria Concert Hall

This review was published in The Straits Times on 27 June 2016 with the title "Impromptu pieces impress with depth and drama".

An “impromptu” is described as an action performed at the spur of the moment, without prior thought or anticipation. In classical music, the art of the impromptu or improvisation is hardly exhibited these days, except in rare cases of artists performing original cadenzas in a concerto. Even that is hardly spontaneous, as the said “impromptus” are usually much rehearsed and often scored.

The first half of Israeli pianist Shai Wosner's recital was devoted to the genre of impromptus. Beginning with Dvorak's Impromptu in D minor, its folk-like and salon charm benefited from his tonal warmth and velvety touch. Its central section had surprisingly piquant harmonies, paving the way for Gershwin's insouciant Impromptu In Two Keys, the American composer's playful experiment with bitonality.

Then came the two composers who defined the impromptu as a genre piece. Chopin's First Impromptu was set in perpetual motion with impeccable articulation, contrasted with the freer approach of the Second Impromptu, which began like a nocturne, then morphed into an imperious march before engaging in flourishes of right hand filigree. Here the feeling of “impromptu” became more palpable.

Schubert's set of Four Impromptus (D.935) are masterpieces, for which Wosner lavished a labour of love and fine detail. Never far from the composer's world of Lieder, the music radiated lyricism yet delved in the darker vistas of his tragically short life. This was no better illustrated in the opening F minor Impromptu, coloured with high drama and moments of innocence.

The popular A flat major Impromptu's chorale-like opening was beautifully voiced, and the Theme & Variations of the B flat major Impromptu displayed the full gamut of his musicality. A mastery of scales, fast rhythms and staccato playing also shone through in the Hungarian-styled final Impromptu in F minor.

The second half opened with Chopin's Tarantella (Op.43) in a workmanlike reading which seemed an incongruously random choice at the time. This was soon forgotten as soon as Schubert's Sonata in C minor (D.958), the evening's main work, got underway.

Its declamatory chords spoke volumes of angst and tribulation, one voiced with unflinching intensity. The contrasts between light and shade, soft and loud became amplified under his highly personal and intense glare. The playing was emphatic, phrasing often intentionally abrupt, but it never descended to banging or shouting.    

The aural oasis offered by the slow movement in A flat major, the sonata's spiritual heart, offered the recital's finest moments. Beginning like the Impromptu in the same key, its traversed a course of emotional pinnacles and depths that was breathtaking. A nervous and agitated Minuet movement soon gave way to the vertiginous finale in tarantella rhythm, which concluded on an exciting high.

As if to highlight a joyful symmetry of programming, Wosner's encores included Schubert's lilting Hungarian Melody in B minor and an original improvisation. In the manner of Schubert's German Dances, here was a true impromptu to complete the evening's fine fare.

Shai Wosner with SIPF Director
Lionel Choi and piano technician Walter Haass.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2016)

THE BERLIN RECORDINGS

SERGIO FIORENTINO, Piano

Piano Classics 0033 (10 CDs) / *****

The Italian Sergio Fiorentino (1927-1998) was possibly the greatest pianist nobody has ever heard of. His promising early career was curtailed by injuries sustained in an airplane accident, and he spent an inordinate span of his life teaching the piano. 

The great Arturo Michelangeli Benedetti referred to him as “il solo altro pianista” (the only other pianist), and these recordings made near the end of his life are a testament of a visionary musical mind coupled with transcendent technique.

His repertoire was immense, spanning Bach (original as well as his own transcriptions) to the late Romantics, with Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Franck and Liszt in between. Just hear his magisterial performances of sonatas by Liszt, Rachmaninov (both), Scriabin (Nos.1, 2 and 4) and Prokofiev (No.8) which capture the spontaneity and risk-taking of live performances which are rarely found in studio recordings. 

The bonus disc of Schumann's Carnaval and shorter pieces by Debussy, Scarlatti, Moszkowski, Fauré and more Liszt is sheer pleasure, comparable with the vaunted treasures of Horowitz or Rubinstein. Listen and believe!      

NIGUNIM

GIL SHAHAM, Violin

ORLI SHAHAM, Piano

Canary Classics  CC10 / *****

Nigunim is the Hebrew word for music-making, and it is the title of Israeli American composer Avner Dorman's Third Violin Sonata. In four movements and playing for almost 20 minutes, it is the longest work in this album of Jewish-inspired music by celebrated American violinist Gil Shaham and his sister Orli. 

Although the work does not quote pre-existing melodies, it is imbued with the universal feel of deep contemplation, inconsolable sorrow and unbridled celebrations associated with the trials and tribulations of God's chosen people.  

The term can be both sacred and secular. Its singular, Nigun, is the soulfully voiced slow movement of Ernest Bloch's well-known Baal Shem Suite, which encompasses different aspects of Hassidic traditions in music. In the same vein are Joseph Bonime's Danse Hebraique and Leo Zeitlin's Eli Zion, which are equally evocative as Russian Joseph Achron's Hebrew Melody Op.33 (his most popular work) and Two Hebrew Pieces Op.35. 

Although not Jewish himself, American film composer John Williams wins himself a special place for his score for Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning Holocaust movie Schindler's List, of which three pieces have been included here. The Shaham siblings' advocacy of their musical heritage is heartfelt and they are resonantly recorded.  

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2016)

DEBUSSY Piano Works Vol.1

DENNIS LEE, Piano

ICSM Records 007 / ****1/2

It has been a long time since Penang-born pianist Dennis Lee last made a solo recording. His all-Szymanowski recital disc on the Hyperion/Helios label from 1990 was a landmark as it ushered in a new era of rethinking and recording of the 20^th century Polish composer's music. He however enters into a crowded field with this first volume of piano music by Frenchman Claude Debussy (1862-1918). A most satisfying primer for listeners new to his music, it includes both “belle epoque” works alongside his trademark impressionism.

Particular astute is the programming of Estampes (Imprints, 1903) alongside Images Oubliees (Forgotten Images, 1894), the latter published as recently as in 1977. Jardins Sous La Pluie (Gardens In The Rain), the final piece of Estampes and its counterpart both quote the nursery song Nous N'irons Plus Au Bois (We Go No More In The Woods), which comes across differently in each guise.

The waltz La Plus Que Lente (Slower Than Slow) and Two Arabesques are elegantly performed, contrasted with the shimmering textures in Reflets Dans L’eau (Reflections On The Water) from the First Book of Images and L'Isle Joyeuse (The Joyous Isle), where the splashes of sound are indelibly captured. The recorded sound is warm and spacious, with Lee's sensitivity and virtuosity being very well served. 

SERENADE / THE LOVE ALBUM

ANNE AKIKO MEYERS, Violin

London Symphony Orchestra 

Keith Lockhart (Conductor)

Evosound EVSA334 / ****1/2

The crossover look of this album by American-Japanese violinist Anne Akiko Meyers is a canny marketing ploy. Fortunately there is nothing cheesy in her clever juxtapositions, combining a serious 20^th century violin concerto with arrangements of film music. 

It opens with Leonard Bernstein's de facto violin concerto, the Serenade inspired by Plato's Symposium, a treatise on the subject of love. Its five connected movements, each named after Greek philosophers, find a rare blend of lyricism and jazzy syncopations that almost approaches the spirit of his masterpiece, the musical West Side Story.

Seven composers were commissioned to arrange ten popular movie themes and show tunes, including Ennio Morricone's Cinema Paradiso and The Mission, Gershwin's Summertime and Someone Over To Watch Over Me, Leigh Harline's Wish Upon A Star, David Raksin's Laura and Bernstein's own Somewhere. 

The arrangements are lush and sumptuous, even cheeky such as the appropriation of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in Matthew Naughtin's take on Jakob Gade's Tango Jalousie. Meyers' plays with passion, and her luscious tone lights up this stimulating and ultimately entertaining anthology.

A TOUCH OF GOLD / More Than Music / Review

A TOUCH OF GOLD

More Than Music

Esplanade Recital Studio

Sunday (12 June 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 June 2016 with the title "Hat-trick for classical trio".

More Than Music is the name adopted by the local duo of violinist Loh Jun Hong and pianist Abigail Sin, whose intention is to introduce bite-sized works to audiences new to classical music. In their view, classics need not be over-serious or stuffy, and can be enjoyed for what they are rather than what they mean.

In their concerts, they speak briefly about each work and to expand the audience's listening repertoire, also introduce friends who play other instruments along the way.  Their guest this evening was trumpeter Lau Wen Rong, who is presently studying in New York's Juilliard School.

The concert's title turned out to be a misnomer as Lau's trumpets were not crafted from gold but silver, a joke that brought out chortles from the audience. Opening with Alexander Goedicke's Concert Etude, Lau blazed his way like a thoroughbred over a steeplechase, with a virile show of agility and athleticism.

He coaxed a gilded tone in the slow opening of Carl Höhne's Slavonic Fantasy, with lyrical beauty befitting a bel canto aria. Like many showpieces, the tempo soon gathered pace and momentum, obliging the trumpet a full gamut of technical stunts before speeding out headlong for a spectacular photo-finish. 

Not to be outdone, Loh performed Italian baroque composer Tomaso Vitali's famous Chaconne in the romanticised arrangement by Leopold Charlier. Loh is a born music story-teller, beginning with an elegiac mood before working the series of short variations through a wide range of emotions to a feverish climax.

A similar arch-like edifice was erected for Ernest Chausson's rhapsodic Poeme, where dark clouds and subterranean rumblings soon gave way to the glorious sunshine of its main narrative, before gently ebbing away. Loh brought out a rich sonorous tone befitting its spiritual peaks and troughs in a performance that will not be easily forgotten.

All through the evening, pianist Sin was the omnipresent and ever-alert accompanist. Her four solos were no less gripping. In two late Brahms pieces from Op.119, the ambiguous harmonic language and languorous mien of Intermezzo No.1 were well contrasted with the restless agitation and aching lyricism of Intermezzo No.2.

Two impressionist works completed the picture. Charles Griffes' Clouds with its ever-shifting harmonies and half lights was an exhibition of exemplary pedalling from Sin, and her nimble fingers did the honours for Debussy's splashy L'Isle Joyeuse, a voyage of Bacchanalian revelry.    

All three artists returned for the scherzo-like second movement of Eric Ewazen's Trio for trumpet, violin and piano. The threesome basked in its parade of energetic, angular and rhythmic jibes, filled with jazzy syncopations which they took in their stride.

All too soon the concert had come to an end, but there were two encores to sweeten the deal. Fritz Kreisler's leisurely Syncopation brought a most gemütlich (relaxed) of responses from Loh, and a gospel hall-like arrangement of Amazing Grace from Lau was an evocation of faith, pure and true.

3RD STEINWAY YOUTH PIANO COMPETITION Gala Concert

3RD STEINWAY YOUTH 
PIANO COMPETITION

GALA CONCERT

Victoria Concert Hall

Saturday (11 June 2016)

The 3^rd Steinway Youth Piano Competition culminated with a Gala Concert at Victoria Concert Hall, following two elimination rounds that involved almost 150 young pianists from Singapore. There were three categories based on age-groups, with the finals of each taking place earlier in the day. The Gala Concert featured three pianists from each category performing a chosen showpiece that best highlighted their abilities.

First, there were the usual speeches and pleasantries involving Steinway Singapore and major sponsor Bank Julius Baer, and slick video presentations featuring each of the nine finalists spouting sweet nothings and platitudes. When asked who their favourite pianists were, one cited Liszt, and another Mozart and Kabalevsky (really?). Had they heard Mozart or Liszt perform on Youtube, or knew that the Soviet composer Dmitri Kabalevsky was a politically-connected apparatchik and rather unpleasant personality? Others named Lang Lang (always a dubious choice) and Krystian Zimerman (much better), but no Argerich, Horowitz or Rubinstein? Let us hope they played better than they talked.

First to perform were the Category 1 pianists, essentially children, with 8-year-old Jolene Chow, also the youngest finalist, opening the show with the 3^rd movement from Kabalevsky's Sonatina in C major. Highly confident, she displayed a most fluent and fluid of techniques. Her very crisp articulation stood out in this rather banal music, and was able to bring out more dynamic shades and colours thought possible. An excellent start to the competition.

Next was Chan Yan (10 years old) whose choice of Tchaikovsky's May from The Seasons was not an outright showpiece. Its slow opening was however well-handled, with a certain nobility in her phrasing avoided tedium that often comes with more leisurely pieces. The faster central interlude which flowed lyrically also provided good contrasts with the outer sections.

Jaden Tan (10) was the only pianist in the evening to play Mozart, the 1^st movement from his Sonata in B flat major (K.333). It is said that professionals find Mozart too difficult and amateurs find Mozart too easy. There was an outright facility to Tan's playing, which flowed like oil (Mozart's favourite description) and he produced a pleasant sound. With time, he will learn how to make Mozart's fast movement come across less like like “sewing machine music”.

My pick: Jolene Chow, for her natural flair and complete lack of nerves.   

Category 2 featured the tweens to early teens, and Yap Hwa Sheng (12) opened with an excellent account of Albeniz's Castilla (Seguidillas). His rhythmic accuracy, pin-point articulation and placing of accents in this tricky number was a joy to behold. A stronger and more sparkling performance was be hard to find.

Elizabeth Tan (13) followed with Mendelssohn's Andante and Rondo Capriccioso Op.14. The slow introductory section brought out a singing tone, leading to the scherzo-like fast section with its fairy-light flittering of wings. There were some minor mistakes and the pace slagged a little in the centre, but she finished strongly with a flurry of octaves and chords.

Standing heads and shoulders above the competition was Lim Shi Han (14), both physically and figuratively, whose choice of the Hymne and Toccata from Poulenc's Trois Pieces was an inspired one. The was muscular heft in the opening chords of the Hymne, bringing to mind the pomp of Poulenc's Gloria, was balanced by a mastery of dynamic changes in the contrasting quiet moments. She unleashed a tour de force in the clattery Toccata, for which she lacked nothing in agility and endurance, bringing her performance to a brilliant conclusion. Here, her advantage of age and maturity clearly showed.

My pick: Lim Shi Han, for an excellent and wonderfully nuanced show in music not commonly heard.

Category 3 was the most mature age-group, and the competition also seemed the keenest here. First to perform was Joel Tan (15), whose choice of Albeniz's Triana from Iberia ranked as the technically most difficult work on show for the evening. He coped very well with its rhythmic and dynamic intricacies despite starting off tentatively, bringing the work to boil in the climax of a polished and accomplished reading. With time, he will get better in this masterpiece which for some years was a compulsory set piece in the demanding Hong Kong International Piano Competition.

Nicole Ng (16) displayed the maturity required for a work not as obviously showy as Brahms Capriccio in G minor (Op.116 No.3). There was an appropriately passionate and impetuous response for its opening, which was well-contrasted with the chordal slower central section. There were a few wrong notes, but that should not diminish the stature of this performance.

The last pianist to perform was Wang Huang Hao Jia (15), whose choice of Granados' Allegro de Concierto highlighted all his strong suits. A more outwardly showy but less challenging work than the preceding Triana, it seemed like putty in his hands. The glittering opening fluorish was not just a blind display of flying fingers, and the slower bits were played with a knowing sense of drama and expectant emotions before unleashing a final ebullient salvo to close the evening on a high.

My pick: Wang Huang Hao Jia for a consummate mastery of a how a brilliant showpiece should sound.

The international jury headed by Mina Perry (extreme left on photo above) awarded the following prizes:

Category 1

1. Jolene Chow

2. Jaden Tan

3. Chan Yan

Category 2

1. Lim Shi Han

2. Yap Hwa Sheng

3. Elizabeth Tan

Category 3

1. Wang Huang Hao Jia

2. Joel Tan

3. Nicole Ng

Bingo, on three counts! The pianist selected to represent Singapore was Wang Huang Hao Jia who will competed in the East Asia regional finals in Kuala Lumpur in July. The winner of that round will go on to perform at the Steinway Festival in Hamburg later in the summer.

Well done, young pianists! The future of piano music in Singapore looks very bright indeed.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2016)

BUTTERFLY LOVERS PIANO CONCERTO

NINE POPULAR SONGS 

OF THE 30'S & 40'S

Hsu Feiping, Piano

Chen Dong, Baritone

Hong Kong Philharmonic 

Kenneth Schermerhorn (Conductor)

Marco Polo 8.225829 / ****

There is a pleasing symmetry to this disc of Chinese music, recorded in 1985 by the fledgling Hong Kong Philharmonic for the small Hong Kong-based label that was destined to become a world leader: Naxos. Leveraging on the success of the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto from 1958, Chen Gang – one half of the duo that composed it – wrote a piano concerto in 1985 from the same music. 

Slightly longer than its violin counterpart, it contains a virtuoso solo cadenza past the 18-minute mark which does not feature in the original. This first recording by the late Xiamen-born pianist Hsu Feiping is had a less elegiac feel and is possessed with a heroic edge, bringing it closer to the spirit of the Yellow River Concerto.  

Coupled with it are nine popular Chinese songs by Chen Gang's father Chen Gexin. These are sung by baritone Chen Dong, Chen Gang's brother, who is more of a crooner than operatic hero. Watch out for some approximate intonation and dodgy English in the hit Rose, Rose, I Love You. 

Even more familiar is the Chinese New Year favourite Congratulations (Gongxi Gongxi) heard at its correct tempo, which is very fast indeed. In songs like Eternal Smile and Live Through The Cold Winter, he brings out a nostalgic air that make this disc an enjoyable collectible.

J.S.BACH Mass in B minor

Soloists with Concerto Copenhagen

Lars Ulrik Mortensen (Conductor)

CPO 777 851-2 (2 CDs) / *****

Although Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was not a Roman Catholic, his setting of the Latin liturgical mass remains a classic in the time-tested musical form was well as a personal statement of his own Lutheran faith. 

There have been many excellent albums of his Mass in B minor through the decades, but this recording by Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Concerto Copenhagen is unusual as it employs one voice per part in the choral movements accompanied by period instruments. Thus there are only ten singers (five concertino soloists, backed by just five ripieno voices) in this version.

This practice and its scholarship remain controversial, but it is totally conceivable that Bach did not exclude its possibilities, as this recording persuasively demonstrates. Far from sounding thin or small-scaled, each and every of the movements are projected with clarity and depth. The voluminous and congested sonorities of modern orchestra versions have also been eschewed for lighter and more transparent textures. 

From the opening Kyrie Eleison to the final Dona Nobis Pacem, this is a glorious performance, filled with detailed insight, interpretive vigour and even grandeur. A sitting through its 104 minutes will help redefine what the words “divine” and “beautiful” really mean.  

TEDD JOSELSON & KEISHIRO SAWA Piano Recital / Review

TEDD JOSELSON &

KEISHIRO SAWA Piano Recital

Reuben Meyer Concert Hall

Sunday (5 June 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 7 June 2016 with the title "Electrifying showcase of promising talent and technical prowess".

A new 420-seat concert hall was inaugurated at the Sir Manasseh Meyer International School in Sembawang with a piano recital by Belgian-American pianist Tedd Joselson, now a Singapore permanent resident. Sharing the stage and Steinway grand piano was 13-year-old Japanese protégé Keishiro Sawa, and the duo opened with Franz Schubert's Rondo in A major.

Product of the blissful Biedermeier period of Vienna's history, the work evoked grace and congeniality which came through lovingly. Sawa's primo role was delicately articulated in the treble notes, well balanced by Joselson's warmly-voiced secondo part, which offered the melody on many an occasion. It was gratifying to see and hear both teacher and student emerging as equals.

The balance of the first half was devoted to solos by Sawa. His prodigious fingers served Schubert's étude-like Impromptu in E flat major (Op.90 No.2) well and he mustered sufficient heft to overcome the bounding chords of Brahms' Ballade in G minor (Op.118 No.3). Dizzying running notes in two Chopin études were spun off with nonchalance despite several minor slips, but he could do with more charm and smiles in two of Chopin's 'easier' waltzes.

In the larger canvas of Chopin's Third Ballade, Sawa faced his biggest interpretive test. He was equal to its technical demands, and the ability to bring out inner voices was admirable for his youth. Here is a clearly promising talent who can go far, pursuing his art as a freshman in the School of the Arts.

The afternoon's highlight was Joselson's performance of Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition. The Russian nationalist composer's original score has often been criticised as being monochromatic, thereby inspiring efforts by many pianists to rewrite or “improve” on its pages. The Ukrainian-American pianist Vladimir Horowitz's own edition is the most outlandish and celebrated of these.

In 1997, Joselson gave his Victoria Concert Hall audience a whiff of Horowitz's decadence, and it was more of the same this time around. Keeping all of Mussorgsky's movements and original architecture intact, he added new layers to threadbare harmonies, amplifying each phrase and gesture, and doubling bass notes if necessary. The opening Promenade was briskly taken but now laden with a musty coat of incense.

Could the bow-legged scampering of Gnomus be rendered more grotesque than it actually is? Yes, but not all movements were subjected to that treatment, as some could have sounded over-fussy. Joselson's edition straddled comfortably between the original and Horowitz's excesses, and it worked even if there were mishits or missed notes.

More importantly, it was never going to be staid or boring, and the astonishing sequence leading from the sepulchral Catacombae, through Baba Yaga's Hut On Fowl's Legs to the final The Great Gate Of Kiev was one electrifying journey. As carillons feverishly built up to the deafening last chords, Joselson had the audience in his hands. The spontaneous standing ovation yielded two encores, two perky Marches for four hands by Beethoven, with Sawa once again by his side.  

HOMECOMING II / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

HOMECOMING II

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (4 June 2016)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 6 June 2016 with the title "Happy stirring of East and West".

There were four World Premieres at this concert that also featured the debuts of T'ang Quartet and pianist Melvyn Tan with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. Conducted by Music Director Yeh Tsung, there was a theme of nature and musical impressionism running through its programme.

The concert began with Phang Kok Jun's arrangement of Ho Chee Kong's Garden Veils, a serene evocation of Singapore's self-professed reputation as the “Garden City”. The mellow song of cellos opened, soon replaced by erhus accompanied by the gentlest of pizzicatos. The voice of nature soon bloomed, showing that Chinese huqins and Western strings could happily co-exist in a musical ecosphere. A short and retiring guanzi solo at its close was also a nice atmospheric touch.

The T'ang Quartet, comprising violinists Ng Yu Ying and Ang Chek Meng, violist Lionel Tan and cellist Leslie Tan, performed in two concertante works. Zhu Lin's Pastorale in Five Episodes scored for string quartet, winds and percussion was a fantasy built upon Jimbo's Lullaby from Debussy's Children's Corner Suite. Why not, since that pentatonic melody was laden with myriad possibilities.

The quartet presented the theme and its fragments, colourfully traversing a farmyard scene, festive dance and funeral procession before closing quietly with dizi and marimba in support. Here was a toy elephant's cradle song transformed into a gentle reverie for suckling piglets.

Totally contrasting in timbral sonorities was Gao Wei Jie's Fantastic Landscape of Rainforest for string quartet, plucked strings and percussion. More austere and dissonant, the idiom was pointillist and modernistic, with Bartokian ostinatos providing the driving impetus. There were moments for repose when Leslie Tan's cello sang unabated, before an abrupt and animated end.  

Also heard for the first time was John Sharpley's Stirrings: Scenes from a Rainforest, a suite of six short and varied movements. His exploitation of tonal colour was a treat, whether the subject was a tropical squall, the awakening of dawn or raging fire. In Song of the Rainforest, Li Baoshun's gaohu was the soulful protagonist while Huang Gui Fang's sanxian delightfully lit up the somewhat tipsy Dance of Oneness including Some Rice Wine. In the final Canopy Dreams, birdsong from winds and percussion provided a mysterious close that recalled Messiaen's spirituality.

Melvyn Tan rounded up the concert as soloist in Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major. His nimble fingers served the trickily syncopated piano part well, fluid and limpid in turn, and crisp and percussive when needed. This version with Chinese instruments however proved problematic as the very specific sound which the Frenchman had sought was subverted at every turn. And it did not help when the opening crack of the whip (by snapping two pieces of wood together) arrived fractionally late.

Rubato was served up in spades for the Mozartian slow movement, a liberty which could pass in a live concert, but the sheng as surrogate for cor anglais was straining credibility a little too far. The Presto finale proved a mess for a number of solo winds who found hard to keep up, an uncharacteristic blip in an otherwise technically impressive concert. Tan performed two solo encores, Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu and Liszt's Un Sospiro, which garnered the most enthusiastic applause.