THE BUND. SWING TO JAZZ / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

THE BUND. SWING TO JAZZ

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday (28 April 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 30 April 2018 with the title "A heady night of jazz by a Chinese orchestra". 

Once in a while, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra led by Yeh Tsung goes out of its comfort zone to perform jazz. There was an evening of mostly Gershwin in 2013, but this year's offering felt closer to home with the Roaring Twenties in Shanghai, China's “Paris of the East”, as its theme.

A misty air hung over the hall clothed in burgundy drapes, illuminated by crystal chandeliers, to conjure the feeling of exoticism and decadence. Yeh, ever the dapper dresser, leapt on the podium to conduct Law Wai Lun's Old Shanghai, the jazzy prelude to music written to accompany the black-and-white classic movie The Goddess.

This concert of short works and classic standards showcased the talents of Chinese jazz singer Coco Zhao and trumpeter Li Xiaochuan. They were backed by the locally-based trio of pianist Chok Kerong, drummer Tamagoh and bassist Christy Smith, who all had solo moments in the spotlight. The orchestrations by Law and Eric Watson were so idiomatic as to render the so-called cultural divide a non sequitur.

Many popular Chinese songs were adapted from originals in English, including Gei Wo Yi Ge Wen (Give Me A Kiss) by Earl and Alden Shuman, which was sung first. Zhao is an entertainer who puts one immediately at ease with his satin-smooth vocals, often raising the bar with spots of ad-libbing and extemporisation. 

Never wont to over-extend himself, he left the heavy-lifting to the unassuming Li, whose musings with a muted instrument were duskily bluesy but soon rose to a full-blooded ring in the highest registers. Together, they courted and charmed the audience in Chen Ruizhen's nostalgic Huai Nian (Yearning) and Chen Gexin's very familiar Night In Shanghai.

On his own, Li lit up the stage in Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade and Frank Foster's Shiny Stockings, more well-loved music where the spirit of swing and big band was well captured by soloist and orchestra. In Li's own Reunion, he was joined by SCO's Tan Man Man (erhu) and Han Lei (guan) in a heady triple concerto act. For sheer intensity, the smouldering blues of Miles Davis' Flamenco Sketches in slow bolero-rhythm was a hard act to follow.

Conductor Yeh also related his own personal connections with jazz, including growing up in Shanghai, being a distant relation to Yan Hua whose Blossom Under The Full Moon was performed, and his first paid job in St.Louis, Missouri. WC Handy's St.Louis Blues was a worthy tribute, as were two Harold Arlen numbers, Over The Rainbow and Blue Skies, which Zhao lapped up ever so gratefully.

The final number was Jon Hendrick's I Want Your Love, better known in its Chinese version Wo Yao Ni De Ai, which roused an unusually boisterous audience into full participation. They had to be coaxed with two encores, What A Little Moonlight Can Do and a reprise of Give Me A Kiss, before consenting to disperse after what was a heady evening.  

    

CD Review (The Straits Times, April 2018)

COKE Piano Concertos Nos.3, 4 & 5

SIMON CALLAGHAN, Piano

BBC Scottish Symphony / Martyn Brabbins

Hyperion 68173 / ****1/2

The music of almost-forgotten English pianist-composer Roger Sacheverell Coke (1912-1972) is destined for an unexpected but long-awaited revival. 

Young British pianist Simon Callaghan presents world premiere recordings of three of his piano concertos, which deserve more than an occasional airing. Coke was a contemporary of Benjamin Britten who shunned 20^th century modernisms and atonalism, but looked back to the late Romantic musings of Rachmaninov.

Thus there is little surprise that Coke's Third Piano Concerto (1938) and Fourth Piano Concerto (1940) bear certain resemblances to music of the Russian emigre whom he counted as a friend. Both play for about half-an-hour each, No.3 sounding like British film scores showpieces influenced by Rachmaninov, such as Hubert Bath's Cornish Rhapsody or Richard Addinsell's Warsaw Rhapsody. No.4 is a far darker and morose work with an opening redolent of that in Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto.

Coke's Fifth Piano Concerto (1947/50) exists only as a slow movement, which is for most part wistful and melancholic. Callaghan's very convincing performances can scarcely be bettered and one looks forward to the eventual discovery of its outer movements and earlier 'lost' concertos.    

CD Review (The Straits Times, April 2018)

CHOPIN+

MARTIN STADTFELD, Piano

Sony Classical 88985369352 / ****

There are many recordings of Chopin's 24 Études (Op.10 & 25), but young German pianist Martin Stadtfeld's album has a major difference. Inserted before ten of Chopin's studies are short original improvisations, which seem to sound stylistically foreign but segue seamlessly into the Chopin pieces. In certain cases, a Chopin Étude ends but the sound imperceptibly shifts into a different musical landscape, often in the same key but eventually modulates to another tonality for the next Étude to emerge.

This practice of “preluding” is not new, previously employed by historical pianists like Wilhelm Backhaus, and more recently in recitals here by Kenneth Hamilton and Steven Spooner. There is no jazz technique involved, but a playful use of pre-existing keyboard textures, chords and harmonic progressions. In a way, Chopin's well-known C minor Prélude (Op.28 No.20) seems like the ideal “preluding” subject, thus famously exploited by Rachmaninov in his Chopin Variations.

Stadtfelt's technical mastery in the 24 Études are as good as most of his contemporaries, although one might find the E major Étude (Op.10 No.3) too fast and unsentimental, while the F minor (Op.10 No.9) a tad indolent. This 70 minute recital is otherwise a fascinating listen.     

ONWARDS: A RUAN & ZHENG RECITAL / JONATHAN RAO & YVONNE TAY

ONWARDS: A RUAN & ZHENG RECITAL

JONATHAN RAO, Zhongruan

YVONNE TAY, Guzheng

Esplanade Recital Studio

Tuesday (17 April 2018)

Contrary to what some may think, there is not much repertoire that involves the ruan and guzheng, both very popular traditional Chinese instruments, as a duet. Thinking along the same lines, there are also not many works for guitar and harp together in the Western classical canon. This unusual chamber concert paired both plucked instruments, performed by Jonathan Rao on zhongruan and Yvonne Tay on guzheng, both exciting young soloists and members of the highly progressive Ding Yi Music Company.

The duo opened the evening's programme with Zheng Zhe Cheng's Song Of Li, which is a contemporary work that keenly contrasts the timbres of both instruments. Inspired by tribal music of the Li indigenous people, the play of dissonances and microtonal music lent a piquant feel to the music. Straight off, the ensemble work of both players were excellent.

Robert Zollitsch's Boat Against The Current pitted guzheng with sheng (Soh Swee Kiat) and percussion (Low Yik Hang), yet another interesting combination of instruments. As its title suggests, there is much vigour and rhythmic interest in the music, aided by side-drum and cymbal. There was stillness in its central section before shifting gears for a faster and animated close.

Just as unusual was Dong Li Qiang's Scattered Shadows, scored for ruan and percussion (with Cheong Kah Yiong joining Low). Another modern sounding piece, the mellowness of the marimba was well-contrasted with the more incisive ruan. The fine interplay between the three players ensured an exciting close to this highly rhythmic piece.

Perhaps the most emotional work of the evening was Wang Dan Hong's Ru Shi, a guzheng concerto with Yvonne accompanied on piano by Clarence Lee. This was the same work performed at last week's concert with the NAFA Chinese Orchestra, and it was no less stirring this time around. Based on film music about the life of a legendary courtesan, its vicissitudes drew both a virtuosic and passionate response from the soloist - she was literally in tears by its end. 

A dramatic pause at the climax of  Ru Shi,
but there was no premature applause this time!

Zero Limits by Chen Ting-Fang was conceived to challenge the performer in all aspects of ruan technique and it worked brilliantly. Beginning with an ambling pace, the work gradually accelerated and built up to a frenzied tempo, all the way to an explosive finish. This concertante work was also accompanied by Clarence Lee on piano.  

The most traditional work was Pan I-Tung and Kuo Min-Chin's Ambience of Guang Ling San, based on an ancient melody. This was music for meditation and contemplation, with both instruments in unison for much of its course. There was some doubling and simple accompaniment for what was essentially a monody, and it was also interesting to hear each instrument for its own unique qualities. 

The final work was specially commissioned for this concert, a world premiere of Phang Kok Jun's Onwards. One of the most prolific local young composers, Phang comfortably melds Chinese, Western and popular idioms to excellent effect, in this case a quintet for ruan, guzheng, piano and percussion. The music has a popular (and populist) slant, with a penchant for nostalgia. 

It is this backward glance that aspired to spur and guide the future, which begs the question: what does the future hold for traditional Chinese instruments? Given the sheer virtuosity and unquenchable spirit displayed by these young musicians, the sky's the limit, and onwards (to borrow the title of the concert) they march.

A shout out too for the evening's host,
whose spoken Mandarin is as
perfect as her spoken English.
That, too, is a rarity.

REDEFINING THE HARP / SASHA BOLDACHEV Harp Recital / Review

REDEFINING THE HARP

SASHA BOLDACHEV, Harp

with GABRIEL LEE, Violin

Blue Room, The Arts House
Friday (13 April 2018)

On an evening when majority of the Singapore concert-going public was attending Singapore Symphony Orchestra's West Side Story concert at Esplanade, a small but appreciative audience filled the Blue Room of The Arts House to witness the Singapore debut of young Russian harpist Sasha (Alexander) Boldachev. This concert was the final leg of his Asian concert tour, and was organised by the newly formed Cluny Creative Projects founded by local harpist Laura Peh.

The Zurich-based Boldachev performed a programme almost wholly of his own transcriptions, alternating between works of Russian and non-Russian composers. The concert began with J.S.Bach's well-known Toccata in D minor (BWV.565), which provided an arresting opening but without the fugue, the counterpoint of which would have made very interesting listening. This was followed by Mikhail Glinka's The Lark, a typically Russian romance tinged with longing and melancholy. Apparent from the first note, he is a virtuoso and arranger of the highest order, whose playing is totally musical and comes across as seemingly effortless.

The next set of pieces by Chopin and Prokofiev are better known in their piano versions, but the harp sounded totally idiomatic, especially in the former's Etude in A flat major (Op.25 No.1), also known as the “Aeolian Harp”. This reverse transcription (for harp of a piano piece trying its best to sound like a harp) was a marvellous example, as was the familiar posthumous Nocturne in C sharp minor, which was heard in its less-played alternative version.

Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu here sounded equally brilliant and scintillating as the original piano version, and when Boldachev added a few of his own virtuosic flourishes, it also lent a personal touch. The martial strides of Montagues & Capulets from Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet made for some startling contrasts. It was a surprise that he did not include the Russian's Prelude in C (Op.12 No.7), but that would have been an original harp piece, from Prokofiev's own hand.

Debussy's Clair de lune, with its gentle chords and runs of arpeggios, was also a natural, and here it was coupled with Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker. Its introduction includes a harp flourish, one which orchestral harpists the world over relish when their chance arises. The waltz was slightly abridged but its sweeping effect was no less effective.

After a short intermission, Boldachev was joined by Singaporean violinist Gabriel Lee, thus playing sympathetic accompanist in two repertoire violin pieces. Everyone loves Massenet's Meditation from Thaïs, where the heart-strings are pulled to a soaring climax, and the lyrical Melodie from Tchaikovsky's Souvenir d'un lieu cher (Memory of a Beloved Place). Sounding just as musical, Lee was happy to lap up all the lovely melodies and bask under the spotlight.

Boldachev was again on his own in Czech composer Hans Trnecek's transcription of Bedrich Smetana's Die Moldau (Vltava) from Ma Vlast. The evocation of gentle trickling at the mighty river's source was very beautifully handled before arriving the work's big tune which was gratefully reciprocated. The central folkdance section was not included in this edited arrangement but the melody's grand and joyous reprise provided a suitably virtuosic finish.

Gabriel Lee returned to complete the concert with two well known Astor Piazzolla tangos, Café 1930 from L’histoire du Tango (The History of Tango), which had a more sultry and introspective mien, contrasted with the infectious rocking rhythm of Libertango. There was a collective letting down of hair and elements of improvisation in this life-affirming music, and the combined showmanship in these popular pieces drew a sustained and prolonged applause.

Boldachev obliged with a very substantial encore, his own Fantasy on Themes from Stravinsky's Petrushka. Piano fanciers familiar with Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka will recognise all the tunes here, from The Shrovetide Fair, Russian Dance, Chez Petrushka to the final carnival of dances and a flashy finish.  A single word to sum up Boldachev's endeavours this evening: spectacular. 

 

NAFA CHINESE ORCHESTRA GALA CONCERT / Review

NAFA CHINESE ORCHESTRA

GALA CONCERT

Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre Auditorium

Thursday (12 April 2018)

The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts is the premier Singaporean tertiary institution for the study of traditional Chinese instruments. Its Chinese orchestra, rightfully, is also the finest of its kind among the local educational institutions. In a concert celebrating the institution’s 80^th anniversary helmed by veteran Chinese conductor Wang Yongji, the NAFA Orchestra, with its student body augmented by alumni and Singapore Chinese Orchestra members, rose to a rarefied standard of playing that lovers of Chinese music will all be proud of.

Like the Singapore Chinese Orchestra's concert the week before, this was a programme of excellent showpieces – with no kitsch – that displayed the best of the orchestra's abilities besides highlighting solo prowess. Lady composer Wang Dan Hong's works are a case in point. Opening the concert was her Ode To The Sun, which worked from a slow opening to a rousing allegro. A winsome dizi melody accompanied by plucked strings (pipas and ruans) later soaring to a high with raucous drumming, were highlights in this music which resembled that of an epic film.

Similarly emotive was an abridged version of Wang's Ru Shi, a concerto for guzheng which featured as soloist one of NAFA's most brilliant alumni Yvonne Tay, now a principal member of Ding Yi Music Company. This concerto was derived from music from Wang's score for the film of the same title, about the legendary courtesan, her trials and tribulations. The slow to fast form was again employed, culminating in a show of digital virtuosity, one which also employed modern technical devices. There was a faux ending, which induced some premature applause, a ruse to further its narrative to a definitive but emphatic close.

Qiao Haibo, Principal dizi in the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, played on no less than four instruments in Qu Xiaosong's Divine Melody. These included the dizi, xun (ocarina), xiao and shakuhachi, each producing a distinctively different timbre. Based on the poems of Qu Yuan, the music was atmospheric and lyrical, before following an increasingly furious martial beat to a rousing and heroic end.

In the second half, Zhou Chenglong's Nao Hua Deng (Playing Flower Lanterns) provided an imperious show for the orchestra's very impressive suona section. Theirs is a highly plangent sonority, ceremonial in intention and ritualistic in intensity. Subtler harmonies were also highlighted in the playing, that was later accompanied by an 8-member battery of percussion. It was revealed after the work that no less than four of its members were actually guzheng players standing in! Much detail of the music came through amid this racket, confirming the orchestra's mastery of this most piquant piece. 

NAFA's Head of Chinese instrumental studies, erhu player Sunny Wong Sun Tat, was the soloist in Jin Fuzai's concertante work When The Rivers Thaw In Spring. Arguably the best work of the concert, it was a rhapsodic wallow through the string instrument's extremes of registers. 

Inspired by Su Shi's poetry, it began lyrically and plotted its congenial course before arriving at an impressive cadenza. Disaster struck midway through the concerto when a string snapped. Wong coolly swapped an erhu with a front-desk member before excusing himself for two agonising minutes. Returning with an intact instrument, he blazed a path through this beautiful music to a splendidly animated close. If anything, the rupture galvanised all the players into an altogether excitable finish.

The final work was Peng Xiu Wen's arrangement of a Beijing opera favourite The Surging Of Turbulent Clouds. Highlighted in this more traditional number was solos from the sheng, suona and a centrally-placed jinghu, highest pitched member of the huqin string family. The rhythmic dance, aided by the incessant beat of a temple block made for a showy and grand close to the concert. There was also time for an encore, which was a medley which including amongst other tunes Di Tanjung Katong.

A very eventful and enjoyful concert, and one that foresees a very bright future for all these talented young musicians, and the strong case for the pursuit of great Chinese orchestral music.      

PRELUDE TO THE AFTERNOON OF A FAUN, STRAUSS' DON JUAN AND ALBERT'S TCHAIKOVSKY / Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra / Review

PRELUDE TO THE 

AFTERNOON OF THE FAUN,

STRAUSS' DON JUAN & 

ALBERT'S TCHAIKOVSKY

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Tuesday (10 April 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 12 April 2018 with the title "Pianist Albert Tiu steals the show". 

The Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra's final concert of the academic year resembled a graduation prom. Most of the lady players wore colourful evening gowns, adding a dose of glamour to a programme filled with glitzy orchestral showpieces. These are works which professional musicians are expected to play in orchestras, and the young players did a fine job under the helm of French guest conductor Olivier Ochanine.

Bravura was first order of the day in Richard Strauss' tone poem Don Juan. Needing little or no time to warm up, the orchestra immediately launched itself into its passionate pages. The romantic sweep and swashbuckling impressed, which was made even more special by the solo playing. The plaintive oboe in the work's dreamiest episodes was excellent, matched by solo clarinet in repartee, and the famous passage for French horns was truly a moment to wait for and savour. There were heroes and heroines aplenty.

The orchestra's versatility showed when it switched gears for Debussy's Prelude To The Afternoon Of The Faun with its languid and haunting opening. Long sinuous lines on solo flute set the mood where the ear entered a realm of sensuousness. The sensitive and evocative playing was accompanied by projected visuals created by media students Mervin Wong and Emilia Teo.

Great music and spirited playing do not need added visual dimensions, and the moving pictures of dispersing smoke, seeping water and close-up shots of plants and flowers were merely innocuous appendages. Other than an unintentionally comical cartoon of a faun, this seemed like an experiment in synaesthesia, an affliction where sounds induce coloured visual hallucinations. 

The longest work of the evening was Tchaikovsky's rarely performed Second Piano Concerto in G major, with Albert Tiu as soloist. Trailing in popularity to its predecessor by a long distance, it is also ungratefully taxing for the pianist.

Tiu however mastered its crunching chords, stampeding octaves, and tricky fingering with fearless aplomb, even if occasional over-enthusiastic orchestral playing masked some passages. More importantly, the ballet-like quality of the music shone through, culminating in a long and treacherously rhythmic piano cadenza which did little to faze Tiu.

The slow movement, played in its original unedited version, was a essentially a mini-concerto for piano trio. Concertmaster Askar Salimdjanov and principal cellist Jamshid Saydikarimov, both from Uzbekistan, conducted an exquisite pas de deux in an extended introduction before being sidelined by the piano in the concerto's finest melody. Resolution invariably occurs with Tchaikovsky, and a loving menage a trois with all soloists ensued. 

The infectious gaiety of the rollicking finale brought the loudest cheers and two encores. Still with Tchaikovsky, Tiu emoted with Mikhail Pletnev's transcription of the Andante from Sleeping Beauty, followed by his own arrangement of a fugal tango by Astor Piazzolla for the marvellously balanced threesome. The house simply rocked. 

  

Watch this performance of 

Tchaikovsky's Second Piano Concerto here:

CD Review (The Straits Times, April 2018)

STERNDALE BENNETT Sonata Op.13

SCHUMANN Symphonic Etudes Op.13

HIROAKI TAKENOUCHI, Piano

Artalinna A018 / ****1/2

William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875) was one of the notable musical figures of the Victorian musical establishment, whose star has now faded into near oblivion, completely eclipsed by his contemporary continental colleagues. He was a close friend of the early Romantic German composers Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann, with whom he shared a similar middle-class outlook to life and musical aesthetics.

Sterndale Bennett's sprawling Piano Sonata in F minor in four movements was composed in 1837 as a wedding gift for Mendelssohn. His style is unabashedly conservative, much in the genteel drawing-room manner of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, but its ambition is closer to Mendelssohn's own sonatas and Chopin's very early Sonata No.1, which are hardly played these days. Nevertheless, there is much to enjoy in its assiduous craft and pretty filigree. 

Its coupling, Schumann's far more popular Symphonic Etudes, dates from 1834 and was dedicated to Sterndale Bennett. London-based Japanese pianist Hiroaki Takenouchi plays the earlier edition, which does not include the five posthumous variations, but has a slightly longer and fussier final variation that might raise eyebrows. The obvious dedication and virtuosity displayed in his hands make both works well worth hearing.     

LEEDS INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2018 / 1st Round: Singapore Leg

LEEDS INTERNATIONAL 

PIANO COMPETITION 2018

FIRST ROUND / SINGAPORE LEG

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory

Sunday (8 April 2018)

Eleven young pianists performed at the Singapore leg of the First Round in the 2018 Leeds International Piano Competition. 40 artists had already been accounted for in Berlin, while another 17 will be heard later in New York City. A large audience had turned out, and thankfully none of those pesky, noisy and irritating toddlers who threatened to derail the Singapore International Violin Competition held earlier this year were admitted.

Six pianists played in the afternoon beginning with KSENIIA VOKHMIANINA (Ukraine) who has become very much part of the Singapore music scene having lived and studied here for quite many years. Despite being the first to perform, she displayed little or no nerves in an interestingly varied programme of Scarlatti and Rachmaninov. The quiet desolation of the Sonata in D minor (K.213) was sculpted with a crystalline clarity, then contrasted with the toccata-like A major Sonata (K.39), the staccatos dispatched with razor-sharp articulation. 

The lush romanticism and wide dynamics of Rachmaninov were accounted for in three Moments Musicaux from Op.16. A whirlwind of sound engulfed the E minor (No.4), again contrasted with the lyricism in D flat major (No.5). Even the crashing waves and sonorous chords of the final C major (No.6) were well nuanced with inner voices brought out. She showed that all was not about playing loudly. A wonderful start to the competition.

RHYTHMIE WONG (Hong Kong) also began with Scarlatti, a very fluent account of the G major Sonata (K.427), a mimicry of chirping birds interjected with surprise chords. Tchaikovsky's Dumka Op.59 came next, and if the opening sounded somewhat prosaic, the pathos of this lament did come out well in the short variations which is as virtuosic the Russian can get. The cadenza was executed brilliantly with a thrilling climax at its tail. 

Her account of Ravel's La Valse was an excellent approximation of its orchestral textures, which were built up from a mysterious, murky opening to a scintillating end-of-epoch kind of cataclysm. This music has to sound dangerous, as if teetering on the brink of disaster. Her control was never less than secure, with its fatal three-quarter waltz beat kept up to the desperate end. Anyone with the name of Rhythmie will ensure nothing less.

TAEK GI LEE (South Korea) chose a most probing of J.S.Bach Preludes & Fugues, the B flat minor (WTC Book One, No.22), and while I thought the prelude went a little too fast to display its gravitas, the fugue was judged just about right. Lee bends over so close to the keyboard that one feared he might hit his head against it. 

There were plenty of chances of that happening in the Liszt Dante Sonata (from the Italian book of Years of Pilgrimage), but he kept his cool in a most thunderous of readings. His projection was not jarringly in-your-face and the barely controlled violence – from octaves, chords and dissonant tritones - went on overdrive. This was not a one-dimensional performance, as the descent into the inferno was balanced with a near-perfect vision of heaven, enough to turn a skeptic into a believer. 

CHAO WANG (China) gave a good clean account of Beethoven's Sonata Quasi Una Fantasia in E flat major (Op.27 No.1). Its opening was kept simple and uncluttered for the 1^st movement while a perpetual motion swept through the scherzo. Best was the chorale of the 3^rd movement which returned like a long lost loved one in the fleet-fingered finale. 

Speaking of being fleet-fingered, there can be no deadlier study than Chopin's Etude in G sharp minor (Op.25 No.6), that infamous finger-twister in thirds. That's where he stumbled briefly, which was a pity because one knows how much effort and time is needed to pull it off without a hitch. The final piece was a true rarity, the scherzo-like Prelude No.8 by Frank Martin which was filled with humour and not a little diablerie.

The most substantial and interpretively demanding programme of the session was given by HAO ZI YOH (Malaysia). On paper, it appears innocuous enough but in reality this was a most exposed of recitals. Haydn's Sonata No.37 in D major opens with the quirky motif that is spoofed by Shostakovich in his First Piano Concerto. Here she brought out its themes with sparkling wit, and that was repeated in the finale which bubbled like sparkling champagne. In between was a slow movement of utter desolation. Haydn sonatas are never “easy” but made to look easy by great musicians. 

Chopin's Fourth Ballade is as familiar as one can get, but there was no sense of weariness in Yoh's performance which was applied with delicate and variegated touches, before rising to an impassioned high. There was a very long pause before the volcanic coda, which did not disappoint. Her “encore” was nothing less than Albeniz's Triana (from Iberia), that most treacherous of dances, which was blest with many felicitous nuances. Were there a few missed notes? Who cares, at least she gave it her best shot.

JINHYUNG PARK (South Korea) completed the afternoon programme playing first Beethoven's two-movement Sonata in F sharp major Op.78, which gave him plenty of chances to display his immaculate way with repeated notes. The 2^nd movement's quasi-Rule, Brittania! theme was nicely phrased, with surprising dynamic shifts which kept the spirit lively throughout. 

Next came Chopin's C minor Nocturne (Op.48 No.1), which sounded ponderous for most part until the passages of octaves and when the music got more excitable. Like his compatriot before him, Park's Liszt Tarantella (from Venezia e Napoli) was no less thunderous, and yet another chance to show off his facility with repeated notes.

The evening session opened with BOWEN LI (China) who performed Mozart's Variations in F major on Paisiello's Salve tu, Domine (K.398), which sounds like an opera buffo theme with a quaint aura of frivolity. It is hardly a classic, but heaved a breath of fresh air. Li seemed to enjoy every bit of it, relishing each variation as they came along. Beaming from ear to ear, his playing showed it. 

This soon turned to serious business in Bartok's only Piano Sonata, which is violently percussive in the outer movements. He kept a strict beat throughout, relishing in its incisively delivered chords and clusters, all timed to perfection. The slow movement was droll with bell-like tolls, and although I cannot attest to the parlando qualities that mimicked Hungarian speech patterns, it all seemed convincingly enough.

His compatriot YILEI HAO (China) chose an uncompromisingly arcane programme that would look more at home in the Husum Rarities of Piano Music Festival than in a conventional piano competition. Unfortunately that might cost him a place in the next round, but still we got a pleasant G major Sonata from Haydn (Hob.XVI:6) with deceptively simple themes and a slow movement of real pathos. 

From Scriabin came not one of the more familiar Sonatas and competition fodder (Nos.2,3,4,5 or 9) but the rarely played Tenth Sonata, one favoured by Horowitz himself. Hao made a rather good case for this “sonata of insects”, revelling in its trills and ecstatic outbursts which have been described as “kisses from the sun”. An adventurous spirit who deserves a chance to advance.

WEI TING HSIEH (Taiwan) was the Steinway Asian regional champion of 2012, and it was in this very hall as a 16-year-old where she was crowned. She opened with Mozart's Sonata in D major (K.576) with its hunting horn theme in the 1^st movement. Her playing was cultivated, with very clean lines and clear counterpoint. The slow movement evoked tenderness and not a little sadness, before romping home in a playful rondo. 

Even better was her account of Granados' Los Requiebros (Flatteries) from Goyescas, a performance of joyous colour and infectious rhythm beneath which the cycle's Amor y muerte (Love and Death) motif lurked surreptitiously. Her very clear articulation ensured that the rather dense thematic material never obscured its narrative of spouting superficialities.

HEE JUN HAN (South Korea) also began her recital with Mozart, the well-known Duport Variations, which exudated an air of classical formality.  Hers was pretty but correct account in all areas of deportment. A simple theme, as they all are, becomes transformed into a grand apotheosis before its grateful return for the final time. 

In terms of volume and heft, Han is equal to her Lisztian male compatriots in the Hungarian pianist-composer's Spanish Rhapsody, but her lack of accuracy especially at high speeds became a liability. As her forelocks got more dishevelled, thus obscuring her field of vision, so did her playing. Her ordeal had to end sometime, and that came as a relief for all concerned.

Closing the Singapore stage of the competition was our very own CLARENCE LEE, proud alumnus of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. He may very well be the first Singaporean to get selected to perform in The Leeds since the likes of Melvyn Tan and Seow Yit Kin in the 1970s. 

His hunting-themed programme opened with Mozart's Sonata K.576, the only work to be heard twice today. Lee's advantage over Hsieh is his maturity, which translated into a more well-rounded vision of the piece. Merely playing the notes correctly was not enough, and when he got to the melancolic aria-like slow movement, he made one truly care about this music. 

His show of musicality provided a different dimension in Liszt's Wilde Jagd (Wild Hunt) from the set of 12 Transcendental Etudes. Going for broke, caution was cast into the winds as thunderous chords and octaves rained in this mini-epic. What Liszt the Koreans hath wrought, Singaporeans are equal to the match, as proved with neither fear nor favour.      

Who will get to play in the Great Hall
of Leeds University in September 2018?

The results of the First Round will be announced on 1 May. Which of the eleven will be selected to be the favoured 24 for the Second Round in Leeds? Can we hope for a Singaporean (or Ukrainian based here) to advance? Watch this page.