MIRRORS
CHUREN LI Fortepiano Recital
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall
Wednesday (7 October 2026)
Churen Li, alumna of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, gave a solo recital on a fortepiano, the forerunner of the modern pianoforte. It was a rare outing for the Paul McNulty instrument donated to the Conservatory by its founding chairman Goh Yew Lin. It has a gentler and more delicate sonority, and there are no foot pedals, yet Churen was able to find a myriad range of colours opening her recital with Mozart’s Fantasy in D minor (K.397).
Its broad improvisatory opening was taken with a freedom that was unusual for classical era works, but it worked well, varied by the faster sections with cadenza-like flourishes. This piece was left incomplete by Mozart, and Churen played the traditional ending provided by August Muller. Next came Haydn’s popular Sonata in C major (Hob.XVI:50), its good humour finding fertile soil in Churen’s interpretation. Ornaments were sparing and subtly used as to be unobtrusive, and the finale, famous for its “wrong” notes was milked to full effect. This was a performance that smiled from ear to ear.
In complete contrast was Haydn’s Variations in F minor (Hob.XVII:6), one of his more serious creations, which received the finest performance of the evening. It is often difficult to sustain interest in its longuers but Churen did exactly that by varying its range of colours as the work progressed in degrees of complexity. The final reward was a inexorable sense of release in the major key, providing a very satisfying denouement. Is this Haydn’s greatest solo keyboard work? Perhaps, as Churen made it sound so.
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| Now a Steinway concert grand was hauled into the concert. |
The recital’s second half opened with Beethoven’s ubiquitous Sonata in C sharp minor (Op.27 No.2) or the Moonlight Sonata. Concertgoers might remember Andras Schiff stepping on the sustaining pedal of the Steinway grand and never letting go. The shimmering effect of the moon reflected on Lake Lucerne was achieved without pedal in Churen’s case, which sounded totally magical. Sustaining the notes on the keyboard alone did the trick. The second movement was a crisply minted country dance, but the Presto Agitato finale was where the fortepiano was beginning to show its limitations (Beethoven needed a bigger instrument!) but its storm-tossed pages still resounded with sound and fury.
The final segment of the concert saw Churen joined by fellow alumni violinist David Loke and cellist Christopher Mui (from the Singapore Symphony) in three of her originals works arranged for piano trio. Moonrise after Beethoven opened on fortepiano with the familiar triplets of the eponymous Sonata, but with altered harmonies. The flight of fancy in its improvisations entered Ravelian territory, including piano figurations of the slow movement of his G major concerto, now on the concert grand. Straddling between two keyboards did the trick. Naughty but nice.
Prelude after Bach was a short but touching take on the opening movement of the Cello Suite in C minor. Literally a sigh of a piece, the melody was given to David’s violin, who showed he could be as eloquent as the cello. Fantasy after Mozart was based on the siciliano slow movement from the Piano Concerto No.23 in A major (K.488), which also included an aside into Chopin’s Prelude in E minor (Op.28 No.4).
The encore Fantasy after Schumann, was inspired by yet another wonderful melody, from the slow movement of Schumann’s Piano Quartet (Op.44). Wallowing in beautiful tunes was the game, and Churen, now established as one of Singapore’s most versatile pianists, knows exactly what was needed. Long may this continue.
