ELEGY AND ECSTASY
DANCES OF LIGHTS AND SHADOW
Lin Hengyue & Nattapol Tantikarn
Esplanade Recital Studio
Saturday (1 November 2025)
The husband-and-wife piano duo of Lin Hengyue and Nattapol Tantikarn first met as students at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, where they attended the studios of Albert Tiu and Thomas Hecht respectively. Their offical debut as a duo, a 70-minute recital without intermission, was a showcase of how foreign talents (they came from China and Thailand respectively) have truly enriched our local musical scene.
Opening with Camille Saint-Saens’ The Swan from Carnival of the Animals in an arrangement by Greg Anderson (of the renowned Anderson and Roe Piano Duo) was pure pianistic elegance personified. The seamless melody gilded by fine filigree made the original for cello accompanied by two pianos sound almost staid in comparison.
What followed was a rare performance of Anton Arensky’s Suite No.1 (Op.15), of which the central movement – the Waltz - is the Russian composer’s most famous piece by far. Hearing that in context was important as the music was imbued with the very same qualities which made Arensky’s most notable students – Rachmaninov and Scriabin – famous.
The duo performed with great sensitivity, relish and togetherness. Seated adjacent to each other but with keyboards facing opposite directions helped in their communication. The Romance sang with utmost lyricism, while the Waltz lilted with a grace that was hard to ignore. The Polonaise, filled with rhythmic vigour, brought the work to a most satisfying conclusion. Those who love Rachmaninov’s two Suites (Op.5 and 17) will find much to enjoy here.
From Greg Anderson again came his arrangement of the Ballet from Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus and Euridice, popularly known as the Melody from Orpheus, often heard in Giovanni Sgambati’s solo version. The Anderson arrangement for four hands offered both division of labour as well as subtly added voices, again impossible to dislike.
Nattapol proved to be an excellent arranger himself as he performed improvisations on Minuets in G minor and G major by Christian Petzold, once thought to be by J.S.Bach (these were included in his Anna Magdalena’s Notebook). Entitled Romances, these simple melodies were dressed up with delightful ornamentations that suggested the work of a jazzman. Similarly, the Stranger in Paradise song of Alexander Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor was subjected to jazzing up, and the outcome was no less enjoyable.
No further dressing was needed for two of Antonin Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances. Sounding as one, the familiar E minor dance (Op.72 No.2) was taken at a swifter tempo than one normally associated with this dreamy number. The dance in A major (Op.46 No.5) was sprightly, and rightly so.
A new rule: the music of Argentine composer Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) should be heard more often, at least as often as his famous compatriots Astor Piazzolla and Alberto Ginastera. Hengyue and Nattapol showed why, as his Tres Romances Argentinos based on Argentinian dance music were simply ravishing.
The insouciant charm of Las Ninas (The Girls) was contrasted with the virile moves of Muchaco Jujeno (The Boy from Jejuy), while the sheer exuberance and vigorous syncopations of Baile (Dance) rang out – as if saying “play me!” This closing suite perfectly mirrored the dances of Arensky, with South American rhythms taking the place of Eastern European ones.
The duo’s encore, the 18th Variation from Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, was simply the two-piano score, where both pianists got a chance to sing out its big melody. Lin Hengyue and Nattapol Tantikarn were excellent in all their pieces, and with time, they will continue to mature. More importantly, they brought back fond memories of the land’s finest piano duo for many decades: Dennis Lee and Toh Chee Hung.
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