SINGAPORE THROUGH THE GLASS / re:mix with FOO SAY MING / Review

SINGAPORE THROUGH THE GLASS

re:mix with FOO SAY MING, Violin

Esplanade Concert Hall

Sunday (26 April 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 28 April 2015 with the title "Singapore's colourful seasons".

There was once a trend to perform Vivaldi's Four Seasons in juxtaposition with Piazzolla's Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. Violinist Foo Say Ming was the first in Singapore to attempt that tandem, and he later added the Singapore Seasons by four Singaporean composers to that mix. 

This concert by crack string ensemble re:mix, in conjunction with the SG50 celebrations, now couples the Singapore Seasons with four short films by local directors, interspersed by movements of Philip Glass's American Four Seasons in its Singapore premiere.

Glass's second violin concerto does not present anything new from his earlier output. He has truly created an artform besides making a fortune by generating repetitive patterns based on triads, rehashed endlessly to please his legions of fans. Each of its four movements began with a neo-Bachian violin solo, which Foo stated and shaped with coherence if not always in perfect intonation. The main body of strings later joined in for the movement proper, which resembled his film music by way of conjuring moods and emotions.

Putting down his violin, Foo then led the ensemble in Kelly Tang's Spring! with Zen Yeo's film of dynamic Singapore in alternating fast and slow sequences projected on the biggest screen ever erected in Esplanade Concert Hall. This visual and aural treat was made more special as the film closely paralleled the musical tempos. The music was cheery, based on Chinese-styled themes, while the film built on the premise that Singapore's rapid and inexorable progress was built upon the grassroots of hardworking women (and men).

Clearly the stars of the show were to be the local segments, with the Glass movements serving as interludes. The variety of each film and the feelings evoked by the music and images within far outstripped the static and often-limited material offered by the American, and soon one longed for the latter to end and the former to begin.

Denise Lee's Barely Restrained, was nervous and edgy in its pacing, and Idzwan Othman's film with close-ups of body parts, foliage and scurrying insects, focussing on the nation in a micro level, seemed totally apt. Likewise, Derek Lim's Weep was a funereal dirge in the best tradition of musical mourning, and one turns to Beethoven, Richard Strauss and Hindemith as plausible antecedants.

The imagery in Ler Jiyuan and Yap Teng Wui's film was haunting, of sandcastles washed by lapping waves, abandoned HDB apartments, cemeteries and long-forsaken landmarks. Lim wrote, in his notes, about his grandmother's funeral procession, and this most moving episode was about nostalgia and a seemingly futile yearning for a past that will never return.

Interestingly, as the Singapore Seasons got darker in colour and mood, Glass's Seasons began to gain in pace and vibrancy. The last of which provided soloist Foo with many a virtuosic turn, supported by his players to the hilt, which in turn was heartily applauded by the audience.

The final Singapore film by Shawn Lee Miller shot the nation by night, an almost ambiguous statement that portrayed an LRT ride and seamy Geylang in the same light. Chen Zhangyi's Ariadne's Lament had similarly shadowy intentions, with an impassioned viola solo by Janice Tsai as the final word in a cycle which ended in an eerie quiet.

To cheer things up, Foo and his charges played two encores, and the mood once lightened with Kelly Tang's surefire arrangement of Tian Mi Mi, with the melody of Dayung Sampan dressed up as “The Simpsons meets Pizzicato Polka”. Could there be anything more Singaporean than that?

PIANOWORKS '13 / National Junior College Piano Ensemble / Photos and Reflections

I do not usually go to concerts organised by schools and that has been my loss. When Singaporean composer and pianist Denise Lee invited me to attend a concert by the school piano ensemble she coaches, I agreed to go partly to enjoy the music, and partly to relive my student days, though not as a pianist (I was a terrible one) but as an organiser of piano concerts (still streets better than my piano playing even today). This is surely a sign of middle-age catching up when you begin to look back on your student years with more fondness than embarrassment. 

Back in 1982, I helped organise Raffles Junior College's first Arts Festival concert. In those days, all you needed to do was to round up a few Music Elective Programme students who could play the piano, extract a few minutes from their ABRSM Grade 8 or LRSM Diploma programmes, mix and match repertoire, and voila, you have a semblance of a concert. Next, you hire a grand piano from one of the many piano companies on Serangoon Road, and hold the concert in the school hall (with terrible acoustics, plus the piano is placed on the floor rather than on stage in order not to get in the way of the ballet dancers). Today, things are more sophisticated, as this concert by the National Junior College Piano Ensemble proved.

Every self-respecting educational institution in Singapore has a piano ensemble of its own. The ostensible aim is to promote and improve standards of piano playing, and give young pianists (who are otherwise soloists) a chance to work with other musicians. Hopefully they will learn to enjoy piano repertoire in the process, leading them to become future audiences for piano recitals and festivals (and that is my fervent prayer).

The programme presented by these young people was ambitious to say the least. There were no solos but works for two pianos played on 9-foot Steinways at Esplanade Recital Studio. The concert began with Busoni's transcription of Mozart's Magic Flute Overture, and then movements from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Shostakovich's Suite, Debussy's En blanc et noir and Samuel Barber's Souvenirs came on. 

All the pieces were played from memory, which was most impressive except when the pianists got into a fix. With no recourse of a score to rely upon, that meant some moments of fumbling around before finding their way. That could be distressing to say the least. Fortunately most of the kids got through their pieces unscathed. The ensemble's teachers Denise and Seow Aik Keong had their own piece too, a polished reading of Chopin's rarely played Rondo in C major Op.73.   

Also rather impressive was the fact that two of the school's percussion players were roped in to perform the finale of Bartok's Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion. Despite an initial tentativeness, the foursome of Sylvia Chan, Tong Hien Chi and the  percussionists (unfortunately not credited) acquitted themselves very well, hurtling over the music's thorniest passages with relative ease. It was a performance to be proud of. 

The balance of the concert was filled with mostly Russian music, including movements from Arensky's Suite No.1, Rachmaninov's Suite No.2 and Kabalevsky's Third Piano Concerto. There was even time for a Piazzolla tango, played by two boys, Paul Yuen and Isaac Ho. Again these were more than competently done, however I do have the niggling feel that the pianists were so busily absorbed in getting their own parts right that they do not always listen to their partners (something akin to most marriages), but with time, more practice and patience comes the road to perfection and ultimate happiness.   

The piece de resistance of the evening had to be two thirds of Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos, accompanied by no less than the school orchestra (every self-respecting school in Singapore has one too) conducted by Han Oh (one-time violist of the T'ang Quartet). It must have been daunting to play this so soon after Katia and Marielle Labeque with the SSO, but the four young ladies on the keyboards had little concept of fear. 

To say they played well would be an understatement. The Mozartean slow movement came through beautifully from Sylvia Chan and Tong Hien Chi (they must be the ensemble's star duo) while the coruscating finale was dispatched with much flair by Deborah Koh and Claire Marie Lim. The orchestral playing, though not always subtle, was alert and committed.

It was a long evening, but for the 13 students (10 girls and just 3 boys) it was an effort to be remembered for a long time to come. After all, how many people can say they performed on a Steinway grand piano at the Esplanade?

All photos courtesy of NJC Photographic Society.  

Introducing the LEE-HENDRIJANTO PIANO DUO

Introducing the 

LEE-HENDRIJANTO 

PIANO DUO RECITAL

Lee-Hendrijanto Duo Recital
4 August 2011, Thursday, 7.30pm
Esplanade Recital Studio
Tickets at $20 (free seating, $12 for students, 

$6 with Tote Board subsidy)

For tickets, please contact: deniselee.sh@gmail.com

Programme:

TCHAIKOVSKY (Arr. ECONOMOU) 

   Nutcracker Suite

DEBUSSY Prélude l’apres midi d'un faune

ANANDA SUKARLAN 

   The Humiliation of Drupadi

BERNSTEIN (Arr. JOHN MUSTO) 

   Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

GERSHWIN-LEE-HENDRIJANTO
   Original Variations & Paraphrase 

   on 'I Got Rhythm'
   (featuring guests pianists 

   Frances Lee & Song Ziliang)

Pianomania is fortunate to have Singaporean composer-pianist Denise Lee speak with us about the début of her new piano duo, in tandem with Indonesian composer-pianist Elwin Hendrijanto.

Denise is Singaporean, while Elwin is Indonesian. How did the two of you get to meet?

We met at the Royal College of Music, London, where we were studying. In fact, we both started College as first-study pianists, but quite swiftly got increasingly involved in composition. I was working in the classical contemporary idiom, while Elwin discovered a massive talent for film composition. However we both remained committed to piano playing, and have been leading very hectic lives trying to develop both areas as much as possible.

When was the first time you discovered that the both of you could "click" as a piano duo?

This concert marks our first artistic collaboration. We had never really worked seriously together as pianists before, but had become familiar with each other's playing and musical personalities through concerts, endless discussions, and of course, through the music we write. In casual reading sessions at the piano, it didn't take too much effort to understand what the other was doing, which was encouraging! As pianists, we also much preferred performing chamber music to solo recitals. We decided it would be a nice idea to do some concerts together back home in Asia - one in each of our home countries - and thus this concert was created.

Performance on two pianos requires a great degree of give and take. How did you manage problems of coordination and balance in this special artform?

As with anything involving music, I think the golden rule is to simply use your ears, and to use them scrupulously well. Balancing sound at the piano, let alone two pianos, requires a solid understanding of the nature of the instrument, as well as the way sound itself works. I find that in this respect that being a composer is implicitly useful. Paying close attention to detail in pedalling goes a long way, as does with articulation. Coordination has not been a major issue given our general music like-mindedness, but I do find that conviction and clarity in phrasing helps the other pianist understand your musical intentions.

Your concert pieces, strongly influenced by dance and drama, is a very interesting one. How did you arrive at such a programme?

From the outset, we were adamant about not giving a concert with the standard classical repertory In Singapore. As an educator and musician, I often think people who are not yet properly initiated into the world of art music are not given sufficient opportunities to do so in a non-alienating manner. We felt it important to create a program with immediate appeal, and yet containing music of uncompromisingly high quality. We also wanted to celebrate the wide variety of colours and styles the piano is capable of articulating.

Music associated with dance and drama naturally embodies a certain directness about it, and is often evocative. Such qualities provide something tangible for the listener to enjoy, which is one thing the newcomer will find tremendously helpful, and more importantly, encouraging to them as a listener. Tchaikovsky Nutcracker is a wonderful curtain-raiser, with its attractive character pieces. The Debussy provides an opportunity to recede into a subtler, more softly-hued sound world, while Ananda Sukarlan's piece reveals yet another harmonic palette. The jazz-inclined second half explores rhythmic excitement and a harder edge, with plenty of drama and dance energy thrown in for good measure.

Tell us a little about Ananda Sukarlan's (left) new work, and the Gershwin Variations for 8 hands.

The Humiliation of Drupadi, written in 2009, is one of several ballet collaborations between Chendra Panatan and composer-pianist Ananda Sukarlan. It is based on an ancient Indian Mahabharata epic, but the harmonies are reminiscent of gamelan music, thus pointing towards the Indonesian origin of this music.

As for the Gershwin, we felt it would be a shame if a duo recital by two composers did not feature something of their own. We decided that the best way for a collaborative composition - one that allowed for individual stylistic flexibility, yet overall coherence - would be a variation form of sorts. I Got Rhythm was chosen for its simple and direct charm, and the ease with which it lends itself to elaboration and paraphrase. Gershwin's own set of variations for piano and orchestra testifies to this. 

For two composers working in vastly different fields - myself in concert music, and Elwin with screen composition - this proved to be a madly fascinating endeavour. Fortunately, it was also one which we both enjoyed very much. Initially, we sketched out the overall design together, agreeing on the big shapes and rough characteristics of each section. Then we wrote our individual variations, put them together, and smoothed out the bumps. The result is quite an eclectic mix, but one we hope presents a positive union of our musical personalities.

As a composer yourself, what do you seek for in writing something new based on something already quite familiar?

The advantage of using pre-existing material as base material for a composition is that it becomes a quite easily perceived reflection of the composer's unique stylistic characteristics. With something familiar - and therefore, taken for granted - one can focus on the composer's treatment of raw material. I think this can reveal really interesting insights to one's musical approach. I speak for the composer as much as the listener. This has been a fascinating exercise that has exposed certain artistic inclinations I have, the awareness of which is invaluable.

So this is going to be your official debut. What does the duo plan to do after this concert? What next?

Both of us have an interest in outreach, and would like to organise more performances with repertoire such as this. Hopefully, this will not only help develop a habit of concert-going in the younger generation, but also chip away at the perception that art music is some esoteric, impenetrable world, only available for appreciation to a select few.

We also hope to draw on our ability as composers to add an innovative and creative edge to our future performances. We also want to centre our musical partnership in our immediate region, so hopefully somewhere not too far from home!

Denise Lee was interviewed by PianoManiac.

TURN! TURN! TURN! / re:mix / re:view

TURN! TURN! TURN!... 

re:mix / FOO SAY MING, Violin
Esplanade Concert Hall 

Sunday (1 May 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 3 May 2011 with the title "Great synergy for all seasons".

About ten years ago, violinist Foo Say Ming performed Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons Of Buenos Aires with The Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, which caused a minor sensation.

This year, Foo and his crack string ensemble re:mix have taken a further step by commissioning four new seasons by Singaporean composers. Played without a break over 90 minutes, the twelve seasons drew from the strengths of each work, resounding with a synergy that was both unusual and refreshing.

First, the traditional sequence of Spring to Winter was disposed of. The concert instead began with Piazzolla’s Autumn, where Kenneth Lee’s cello immediately perked up the ears, singing with an immediacy that was a perfect foil to Foo’s solo fireworks. The first Singapore season was Denise Lee’s Barely Restrained, a kinetically charged toccata that never let up on its energy for a second.

Its buzzing minimalist shifts generated an uneasy tension, suitably echoed by the pelting rainstorm of Vivaldi’s Summer, where violinist and ensemble were buoyant, responsive to each other and breathing as one through its course. Vivaldi’s vigorous Autumn and Piazzolla’s warmly shaded Summer then gave way to two successive local seasons.

Before one jests about overcast and cloudy skies, Chen Zhangyi Ariadne’s Lament – Love and Derek Lim’s Weep could have been two chapters from the same meteorological guide. Chen’s serene, sustained strings with Janice Tsai’s lovely viola solo came as an all-too-brief interlude before Lim’s ashen and lachrymose elegy, like petals and leaves falling off colourful garden blooms in time-lapse photography as the sky gradually darkens.

Denise Lee, Chen Zhangyi, 

Derek Lim & Kelly Tang (L to R)

Before long, one reached the final trilogy, opening with Kelly Tang’s brightly celebratory Spring!, with lively quasi-Chinese themes and a fugal culmination for good measure. Drawing from twin cultures, his string writing may be cheekily described as Vaughan Williams goes to Shanghai.

Shane Thio’s harpsichord improvisation then linked Piazzolla’s Spring with Vivaldi’s familiar La Primavera, but performed in reverse order, beginning with the third movement and closing with the rousing opening. Was there some method to this apparent madness? Clues may be drawn from the arty programme booklet, which cited Pete Seeger’s 1959 song Turn! Turn! Turn! and the biblical book of Ecclesiastes.

After all, there is a time to break the rules, and a time to be different.

A MUSICAL TRAIL / SONG ZILIANG Piano Recital / Review

A MUSICAL TRAIL
Song Ziliang, Piano
Esplanade Recital Studio
Friday (3 September 2010)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 6 September 2010.

It sometimes pays to pursue your studies in completely different worlds, immersing in diverse cultural spheres. Young Singaporean pianist Song Ziliang, who trained in Moscow and London, prefaced his pieces in an eclectic recital by addressing the audience in both English and Russian.

As if that was not impressive enough, his playing assimilated a wealth of musical influences, more than repaying the debt of faith invested in his scholarships, sponsored by local charity Trailblazer Foundation.

The Bach-Busoni Chaconne that began the evening revealed a probing mind, one allying an acute ear for wide-ranging sonorities with a meticulous technical facility. That the concert venue had a booming over-reverberance helped generate an organ-like brilliance to the playing.

For Brahms’ Three Intermezzi (Op.117), he quietened considerably, lending an autumnal repose to these late and mellow gems. His view of Chopin’s Fourth Ballade had passion and anguish in full measure. Without forsaking the melodic line, its compelling journey built to a tumultuous climax, overcoming the fearsome coda with thunderous confidence.

In Ravel’s deceptively tricky Valses nobles et sentimentales, he made an effort to inject into each of the eight dances a life of its own. Quixotic, sensual, coquettish and impetuous impulses were part of his variegated palette, yet he fluently strung them together as a satisfying whole.

The Russian Alexander Scriabin’s Fifth Sonata saw even more swinging between extremes, from a barely-aroused languidness to soaring flights of fancy. Packing in an overkill of notes, the result was often congested and plethoric, but the primal screams in this poem of ecstasy were vividly realised.

Song Ziliang with his fellow London

college student Denise Lee.

Most recitals would have ended with this cliffhanger, but the addition of young Singaporean composer Denise Lee’s Within The Horizon (2009) to close was a special touch. If Scriabin had lived a several decades beyond his 43 years, he might have envisaged something of this rarefied soundscape.

Being inspired by views of the horizon off the Cornwall coast, described by the composer as a belt rather than a line, hers was a spectrum of aural effects. Of Messiaenic birdcalls, vaporous mirages and distant squalls, the overall vision was one that rewards further listens.

The Russophile in Song yielded a further encore, Van Cliburn’s delectable arrangement of Moscow Nights. Bolshoi kharasho, they might say in Russian, or “grandly good”!