RARITIES OF PIANO MUSIC AT SCHLOSS WOOLLERTON ON NATIONAL DAY 2019

How did you spend National Day? Mine was in the company of good friends and music lovers. Here was the opportune moment to unveil my new musical salon at Schloss Woollerton in the company of old fellow music critics (Phan Ming Yen and Kevin Tan) and some of Singapore's finest young musicians. 

The party was not limited to just pianists, and we also included a cellist for good measure. What did we get to hear performed on my "new" Knight piano from Emmanuel & Sons? The evening was dedicated to rarities, much in the hallowed style of the Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum festival held every August in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Here was our humble attempt, and hopefully a start of more efforts to come!

Cellist Loke Hoe Kit, fresh from his Singapore premiere
of Saint-Saëns's Second Cello Concerto
opened the evening with
Glazunov's Chant du Menestrel and Bloch's Prayer.

Clarisse Teo, who will make her debut at the actual
Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum festival
on 24 August, offered Vincent D'Indy's
Thème Varié, Fugue & Chanson.

A gecko's eye-view of the house concert.

Donald Law performed
Leos Janacek's Sonata I.X.1905
commemorating the death of a worker in Brno.

Clarence Lee forsook Liszt and Rachmaninov
to play Amy Beach's Dreaming, and had
everybody stumped as to who the composer was.

An enthusiastic audience.
Note the national flags flying outside.

Now it was Clarence's turn to accompany Hoe Kit,
in the slow movement of Grieg's Cello Sonata.

Encore time: Clarisse performs
Cantos Populares No.4 by Carlos Guastavino.

After an aborted attempt at Gershwin's An American in Paris,
Clarence and Donald completed Johann Strauss Jr's
On The Beautiful Blue Danube.

Phan Ming Yen and yours truly,
founders of the SSO Piano Marathon,
completed the evening with
Johnn Strauss Sr's Radetzky March.

Cat Fendi sends his National Day greetings to his former hosts,
Katie, Mr & Mrs Tan Kah Tee, Khor Ai Ming and Tamagoh.

Nothing is complete without dinner
at an nearby tzi char establishment!