CHOPIN’S ETUDES & PRELUDES
LOUIS LORTIE Piano Recital
Victoria Concert Hall
Friday (10 March 2023)
CONCORDIA QUARTET
WITH MELVYN TAN
Victoria Concert Hall
Saturday (11 March 2023)
This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 March 2023 withe the title "Bravura displays from pianists Louis Lortie, Melvyn Tan".
Two internationally-acclaimed veteran pianists, well-known for many splendid recordings on compact disc, performed on consecutive evenings at Victoria Concert Hall over the weekend. The first was Canadian pianist Louis Lortie, presented by Altenburg Arts, making his Singapore debut with an all-Chopin recital. Completists would be more than satisfied experiencing all of Chopin’s 24 Etudes (in two books) and 24 Preludes in a single sitting.
A task of Herculian proportions, the transcendental technical difficulties in the Etudes and ever-shifting moods of the Preludes required both endurance and sheer stamina. Lortie had all of these, and more. It takes the bravest souls and stoutest hearts to launch headlong into the arpeggio thickets that is the C major study (Op.10 No.1), and then negotiate rapid slithering chromaticisms of the A minor number (Op.10 No.2).
Both pieces strike fear by their mere mention, but for Lortie, the fun had just begun. Chopin’s Etudes are the ultimate marriage of digital dexterity and lyrical poetry, not didactic exercises but tonal masterpieces. The slower numbers in E major and E flat minor (from Op.10) and C sharp minor (Op.25 No.7), also known as “Cello” for its mellow low voice, became true songs without words.
Ultimately, feats of dare-devilry, such as roulades of thirds in G sharp minor (Op.25 No.6), stampeding octaves of the B minor (Op.25 No.10), the blizzard that enveloped the A minor (Op.25 No.11) or “Winter Wind”, was what thrilled the audience most and left mouths agape. The Preludes (Op.28), an enticing mix of simple and complex pieces, was another odyssey of discovery, completing the recital with stunning aplomb. Lortie’s encore of Chopin’s hauntingly beautiful Nocturne in D flat major (Op.27 No.2) showed that not everything had to be blistering or thunderous to be memorable.
The second pianist was Singapore’s very own Melvyn Tan, now a British citizen, who performed Austrian Erich Korngold’s Piano Quintet in E major (1921) with the homegrown Concordia Quartet. His very engaging preamble about the child-prodigy composer and his highly lucrative film music career was only topped by the performance, which exuded heart-on-sleeve passion from every pore.
Photo: Malcolm Ng
Neo-Romantic in spirit, the music fused Viennese decadence with Hollywood opulence. Dissonant and occasionally pungent harmonies never lapsed into outright atonality, while a melodic thread was always sustained through its absorbing half-hour. While violinists Edward Tan and Kim Kyu Ri, violist Martin Peh and cellist Lin Juan worked in close tandem with Tan, there was little doubt that the pianist ran the show.
Photo: Malcolm Ng
His highly detailed part dovetailed solo passages with stretches where piano became so intertwined with strings as to be indivisible. Even when huge chords and octaves were demanded, and duly delivered, Tan and the quartet were in one mind throughout. The central movement, a set of variations on an earlier song, provided the work’s most sensuous moments while the playful finale romped home with irrepressible elan. Putting a twist to an oft-quoted jibe concerning Korngold, this performance was more gold than corn.
The quartet’s unusually adventurous programme also included an intensely incisive yet sensitive reading of Prokofiev’s First String Quartet, likely to be the Singapore premiere. Its acerbic strains were balanced by the folksy sentimentality of Two Waltzes by Dvorak, making for an enthralling evening enjoyed by all who attended.
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