PRIMARILY PIANO: DEBUSSY'S PRELUDES / Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Piano Studio / Review

 

PRIMARILY PIANO: 

DEBUSSY PRELUDES 

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Piano Studio 

YST Conservatory Orchestral Hall 

Tuesday (2 April 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 4 April 2024 with the title "Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Students tackle Debussy's Preludes with care".

The two books of Preludes by French composer Claude Debussy (1862-1918) are landmarks of twentieth century piano repertoire. These 24 pieces (12 in each book) represented a departure from cultivated tonal formalities of the age by embracing nebulous forms and ambiguous harmonies of the future. 

Debussy first wrote the pieces, and later added descriptive titles in French. These cemented his reputation as the musical “impressionist”, a sobriquet he disliked. 

It is rare to hear all the Preludes in a single sitting, previously undertaken here by visiting French pianists Philippe Cassard (2003) and Monique Duphil (2006). This evening’s well-attended recital was offered by 23 students from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory’s piano studio, students of Albert Tiu, Ning An and Lim Yan. 

Kuo Lyu-Cen

Chen Bo-Yu

Venus Chai

Book I (1909-10), the more popular and often-performed, opened with Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi), Voiles (Veils) and Le vent dans la plaine (Wind in the Plain), three works which encapsulated Debussy’s delicately crafted sound world. Deft pedalling, sensitive balancing of treble and bass voices, and feathery lightness were keenly observed by Kuo Lyu-Cen, Chen Bo-Yu and Venus Chai. 

Soh Wei Qi

Wang Chien-Jou

Cheryn Pandora

Debussy’s most fancy titles, such as Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (Sounds and Scents Mingle in the Evening Air) and Book II’s Les fées sont d’exquises danseuses (The Fairies are Exquisite Dancers) and La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune (Terrace for Moonlight Audiences) were also his most impressionistic in feel and texture. These received imaginatively evocative readings from Soh Wei Qi, Wang Chien-Jou and Cheryn Pandora. 

Edenia Maureen

Wong Jean Ying

Liang Ray-Heng

Xian Ruofei

Darrell Lim

For contrasts in colour and mood, it was hard to beat the sequence leading from Les collines d’Anacapri (Hills of Anacapri), Des pas sur la neige (Footsteps in the Snow), Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest (What the West Wind Saw), La fille aux cheveux de lin (Girl with Flaxen Hair) through to La cathédrale engloutie (Engulfed Cathedral). Within a matter of minutes, one experienced jollity, desolation, violence, innocence and monumentality through the capable hands of Edenia Maureen, Fong Jean Ying, Liang Ray-Heng, Xian Ruofei and Darrell Lim. 

Lee Ann

Vernis Chua

Goh Kai Cheng

Rhythmic patterns defined La sérénade interrompue (Interrupted Serenade) and Book II’s La puerta del vino (The Wine Gate) and Les tierces alternées (Alternating Thirds), the first two influenced by Spanish music. The Hispanic spirit came alive through Lee Ann and Vernis Chua, while Goh Kai Cheng gave the smoothest possible account of the tricky etude-like latter number. 

Panyakorn Lertnimitphan

Ashley Chua

Toby Tan

Papan Lertchanvit

The art of syncopation and jazz informed Book I’s La danse de Puck (Puck’s Dance) and Minstrels, and Book II’s Général Lavine – excentric and Homage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C., portrayals of comedic or ethnic-African characters. Panyakorn Lertnimitphan, Ashley Chua, Toby Tan and Papat Lertchanvit were alert and sympathetic to their rhythmic thrust without resorting to caricature. 

Lin Sin-Yue

Maw Li Awng Mi

Chakrit Khanonvej

Lin Shih-En

Book II (1912-13) had the more complex pieces, with Debussy using three staves instead of two in scoring. The most impressionist were Brouillards (Mists) and Feuilles mortes (Dead Leaves), which saw Lin Sin-Yue and Maw Li Awng Mi bring out an array of colours and shades. For sheer simplicity, Bruyéres (Heaths) and Canope (Canopic Jar) were spare in keyboard writing yet loaded with poetry. Chakrit Khanonvej and Lin Shih-En had the honour of unlocking their secrets. 

Cheryl Pandora

The final prelude

Cheryl Pandora (Cheryn’s elder sister) was the lucky pianist assigned to play two preludes, including splashy Ondine, guardian of the watery realm and the most spectacular piece of all, the closing Feux d’artifice (Fireworks), which literally swept across the entire keyboard. This kaleidoscopic two-hour long piano excursion had it all.

We're not gangsters.
We are YST students!

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, December 2010)

NEW YEAR’S CONCERT 2010
Vienna Philharmonic / Georges Pretre
Deutsche Grammophon 478 2113 (2CDs)
****1/2

More lollipops and Sacher tortes from the city of the “Waltz King”, Johann Strauss II and his family. Will anyone really tire of hearing the Blue Danube Waltz followed by rhythmic clapping to the Radetzky March? These are de rigeuer in this ritzy annual event where omission is tantamount to sacrilege. French conductor Georges Pretre returned for his second fling, but the programme is more conventional than usual.

There is a token French work in Jacques Offenbach’s Rhine Fairies Overture, remembered mostly because it is the origin of his famous Barcarolle (which later appears in The Tales Of Hoffmann). Otto Nicolai, founder of the Vienna Philharmonic, is represented by his effervescent Merry Wives of Windsor Overture. There is also a nod to the Dane Hans Christian Lumbye, known as the Johann Strauss of the North, for his bubbly Champagne Gallop.

So what if works with soppy titles like Wine, Woman and Song, Stormy Love and Dance, A Woman’s Heart and One Heart, One Mind aren’t as high brow as a Brahms symphony? Their charm factor is high and as far as orchestras go, nobody does it better.

COLIN MATTHEWS
The Debussy Préludes
Hallé Orchestra / Sir Mark Elder
Halle 7527 (2CDs)

*****

The two books of Préludes for piano by Claude Debussy are such wondrously colourful gems that they beg to be orchestrated. Leopold Stokowski’s luxuriant transcription of The Engulfed Cathedral is justly celebrated, but the re-workings by English composer Colin Matthews (born 1946) of all 24 pieces come closer to Debussy’s own spirit and sound world. The Frenchman was never an atonalist but some of these pieces - especially the desolate Footsteps In The Snow or the spare Canope - sound eternally modern. Deft use of brass and percussion, with emphasis on light and shade, all come into play to make this cycle a memorable one.

The Préludes are split over 2 discs (priced as one) but do not follow the usual sequence. Matthews’ own order, mixing and matching from both books, alternating fast and slow numbers, works equally well. Matthews throws in a postlude, an original work of his own entitled Monsieur Croche, a dynamic portrait of the French composer, who had used that nom-de-plume. The Manchester-based orchestra under Sir Mark Elder are exemplary and have the field to themselves.

LANG LANG Live in Vienna
Sony Classical 88697719012 (2CDs)
****

This is Lang Lang’s début recording on the Sony Classical label after his high profile switch from Deutsche Grammophon. Typically choosing repertoire to suit his exuberant and emotionally charged persona, the results are a qualified success. He begins with two Beethoven Sonatas, the early C major (Op.2 No.3) and the popular “Appassionata” (Op.57). While the outer movements expectedly burst forth with energy and vitality, he drags out the slow movements, almost to the point of parody. Does Beethoven really benefit from this protracted and narcissistic approach? Or is this Lang Lang putting his personal stamp on the music?

The second disc is less contentious. Taking a leaf from his mentor Daniel Barenboim, he plays the First Book of Albeniz’s Iberia, generating a riot of colour and sound. He is even better in Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata, finding lyricism and brutality in equal measure. Its no-holds-barred Precipitato finale and three Chopin encores send the audience into a wild frenzy. And the recorded applause on disc is the longest in living memory, surpassing even Horowitz and Rubinstein. Go figure.