CONCERTO, CONCERTO! / The Chamber Players / Review

CONCERTO, CONCERTO!

The Chamber Players

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Sunday (28 February 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times  on 1 March 2016 with the title "Joyous music showed off camaraderie".

The Chamber Players has been in existence since the early 1980s, which makes it an ensemble almost as old as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Besides providing working adults and non-career musicians chances to perform at a high level alongside professionals, it also fills in gaping lacunae in listening repertoire for the concert-goer.

After all, how often does one get to hear concerto grossi by Pietro Locatelli or Arcangelo Corelli? This concert of concertos traced the early development of the concerto form and the rise of leaders and soloists among musicians. The ensemble for a concerto grosso already makes a differentiation between soloists in the concertino group and the general ripieno group.

In Locatelli's Concerto Grosso (Op.1 No.9), one could discern violinists Lee Shi Mei and Una Lauw having parts of their own separate from their string colleagues, even as the ensemble gelled together as one whole. Alternating slow and fast movements provided contrasts in this cheerful music which not so much taxed the players but spurred them on.

For Corelli's Concerto Grosso (Op.6 No.1), the concertino group of Lee, Lauw and cellist Wendy Stimpson became better defined in their roles. The general ensemble took their cues from Lee, who acted like a concertmaster of sorts. Three of the movements opened with slow introductions and that was where the rough patches laid. When it came to faster music, the pulse became easier to follow and the playing tidied itself accordingly.

After the intermission, violinist Lee and violist Jonathan Lee took centrestage as outright soloists in Mozart's popular Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major (K.364), a curious hybrid between symphony and concerto. The opening tutti was energetically driven, with both Lees playing in unison with the strings before branching into their own demanding solos.

Their chemistry was a joy to behold, blending together as one with razor-sharp synchrony and spot-on intonation. The violist was the more physically expressive of the two, with animated bodily movements and all-eyes on the violinist who was a steadfast anchor throughout. In her free moments, Shi Mei also took to conduct the ensemble with her bow.

Two oboes and two French horns were scored for added textural colour. While the former were chaste and restrained, the latter came across as a touch exuberant, clearly enjoying their moments in the fray. Nevertheless, a fine balance was achieved between strings and winds allowing for the soloists to shine.

The Andante slow movement yielded the achingly beautiful lines while the Presto finale had its share of harried and hashed spots. However it was a common passion that propelled the joyous music to its ecstatic close, and that camaraderie – the sine qua non of good chamber music-making itself - was clearly palpable.        

   

BASICALLY VIOLA! / Jeremy Chiew & Friends / Review

BASICALLY VIOLA!

Jeremy Chiew (Viola) and Friends

Esplanade Recital Studio

Monday (30 March 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 2 April 2015 with the title "Savouring the low-key viola".

The viola and its practitioners have been subject to music's most cruel jokes since time immemorial, mostly having to do with the instrument's low key profile next to the glamourous violin and the prowess (or otherwise) of its players. But make no mistake, some of the world's greatest musicians including Mozart, William Primrose and Yuri Bashmet were violists themselves.

This chamber concert presented by Chamber.Sounds and showcasing young Singaporean violist Jeremy Chiew, underlined the integral and indispensible role of the viola in chamber music. Importantly, it represents the middle voice in chamber combinations such as the string trio and string quartet. Bookending this evening's 90-minute offering were performances of piano quartets, a genre less often heard than the piano trio or piano quintet.

Gustav Mahler's early and incomplete single-movement Piano Quartet in A minor would scarcely be recognisable as typical Mahler. Watered down Brahms or a follower of Brahms would be closer to the mark, but the ensemble of Chiew with violinist Lee Shi Mei, cellist Lin Juan and pianist Lim Yan brought out an edgy account of late Romanticism that was well-balanced in terms of instrumental timbres.

The central bloc of programming was reserved for Chiew to demonstrate a variety of possiblities on his instrument, beginning with four movements from J.S.Bach's Suite No.1 in G major (BWV.1007), originally written for cello. He crafted a steady and robust tone, illustrating how clear melodic lines with a single voice may be achieved in these short dance pieces.

The art of pizzicato came to the fore in Garth Knox's Nine Fingers from Viola Spaces, when he dispensed with the bow and plucked his way through this rhythmically exacting exercise. There were different ways of plucking too, each producing a varying effect in the spectrum of twangs depending on the direction and how much pressure or vigour was applied by the fingers.

Pianist Lim Yan was able partner in Chiew Keng Hoon's highly chromatic and almost atonal Fantasy (1985). Chiew, who is the violist's father, would have been proud of both musicians' high level of concentration and articulation in its astringent pages that were reminiscent of those by Paul Hindemith, the great 20^th century German composer and violist who wrote some of the best works for the instrument. 

Henri Vieuxtemps' Elegie Op.30 also found a passionate response, its yearning long-breathed melody becoming increasingly dramatic and agitated as the work progressed. The grand finale was devoted to Schumann's Piano Quartet in E flat major (Op.47), with the same complement of musicians that opened the concert.

Its serious Beethovenian beginning and declamatory four note motif were stated trenchantly, signalling the common intention of the performers to keep the pace taut and tightly reined. The first two movements flew with a bristling urgency,  contrasted with a most languorous of songs in the slow third movement, where each stringed instrument took turns to luxuriate in Schumann's lyrical largesse.

There was a curious moment when Chiew's viola crooned unabated over Lee's violin filigree while Lin tuned his cello in order to play the low B flat note. The final outcome with a depth of sonority at the end was a moment to savour before the quartet lunched into the finale's busy runs of counterpoint. Loud applause greeted its end, and if there were a neat story to take home, that would be the viola not to be regarded the Cinderella of instruments, but a first among equals.    

BRAHMS: THE VIOLIN SONATAS / Lee Shi Mei & Lim Yan / Review

BRAHMS: THE VIOLIN SONATAS

Lee Shi Mei, Violin

Lim Yan, Piano

Esplanade Recital Studio

Saturday (3 January 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 5 January 2015 with the title "Brilliant Brahms to kick off the new year".

Lovers of violin music could not have gotten a better start to the new year. The first two chamber concerts of January are violin and piano recitals, soon to be followed by the Singapore International Violin Competition within a week. Lee Shi Mei, 2^nd prize winner of the 2007 National Violin Competition (Artist Category), opened accounts with an ambitious recital of all three violin sonatas of Johannes Brahms with pianist Lim Yan.

These are relatively mature works by the German, which are closely linked with his Lieder. Lee gave short preambles to each of the sonatas, and followed up with performances that highlighted their innate lyricism. The duo began with the Second Sonata in A major (Op.100), arguably the lightest in the trilogy.

Her consistently singing tone was a delight, and this was maintained throughout the entire concert. Clearly she understood the phrasing of its seamless lines, and was in a close and attentive partnership with Lim, whose piano part was denser but perfectly balanced in ensemble.

Alternating between pensiveness and playful asides in the slow movement, and confidently striding in the finale’s broad melody, they gave the performance the emotional depth the work demanded. This continued into the meatier First Sonata in G major (Op.78), which scaled further heights of passion and expression.

Lee explained how she felt closer to this sonata, and the playing showed. There is a tautness in its use of themes, united by a “Rain motif” (also derived from a Brahms’ song), a nervous little motif in dotted rhythm which recurs in the work. These moments were keenly brought out, culminating in the smouldering intensity of its finale which came to a surprisingly quiet but sublime close.

The shorter second half comprised the Third Sonata in D minor (Op.108) which was darker in mood, but never lacked rays of sunshine which characterised Brahms’ autumnal output. The radiant glow generated in the slow movement was a case in point, such was the warmth and nobility of the playing, contrasted with the spectral flitting rhythms of the mysterious third movement.

All stops were pulled for the dramatic and fiery fourth movement, where violinist and pianists vied neck and neck as first among equals. The chemistry was close to perfect as the cycle reached its red-hot conclusion. Two encores came in Brahms’ Scherzo in C minor, from his impetuous youth, and the lied Wie Melodien Zieht Es (Like Melodies It Moves), which was quoted in the Second Sonata.

Totally unplanned was a third encore, when pianist Lim improvised the Happy Birthday song from the opening bars of Brahms’ Op.100 as an impromptu gift to Lee. One hopes that this duo’s survey of the three Schumann violin sonatas would not be too far away.

Photographs by the kind permission of Lee Shi Mei & Lim Yan.

INTO THE WOODS! / Sen Trio / Review

INTO THE WOODS!

Sen Trio

Esplanade Recital Studio

Thursday (23 January 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 24 January 2014 with the title "Lush sounds of chamber trio".

The debut of a new chamber group is an exciting event, especially when it is formed by passionate young people who desire to share and further the scope of their artistry. The Sen Trio is formed by harpist Bryan Lee, flautist Ke Yi-Chun and string player Lee Shi Mei, who performs on both viola and violin. Its name, the Chinese word and pictogram for “forest”, is formed by a trio of trees (the character “mu”), which also appears in their surnames.

Wooden would be the last adjective to describe their playing, which has warmth, fluency and an instinctive feel for the music. The delightful hour-long concert opened with the familiar strains from Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake in a suite of five short movements.

This is mostly light music, but the gravity and drama inherent in the Russian composer’s musings was not quite captured in these simple, uncluttered transcriptions. The best came in the Fourth Scene or Pas de deux, where a scintillating harp cadenza was followed by a tender flute solo, and delicate counterpoint engaging both viola and flute.  

Next was the World Premiere of Singaporean composer Tan Chan Boon’s single-movement Quartet for Trio. The paradox in its title was that the string player has to play both the viola and violin. Lee did so with much skill and agility, and at one point alternating between the two instruments every bar. How she maintained composure and intonation so seamlessly was a marvel. Over tricky harp arpeggios, both flute and strings played out an impressionistic nocturne of ethereal calm.

Sen Trio with local composer Tan Chan Boon (extreme left).

Frenchman Theodore Dubois’s Terzettino provided a different kind of lyricism, one of Gallic elegance more aligned with the Belle Epoch musings of fellow compatriots Saint-Saens and Faure. This paved the way for Debussy’s late Trio of 1915, the seminal (and still greatest) work for the rarefied medium of viola, flute and harp.

How the varied tonal colours of the instruments blended in this masterpiece, Ke’s haunting and celestial wind contrasted by Lee’s dusky and earthy bowing. Harpist Lee’s gentle demeanour belied the virtuosity needed to create the dreamy, other-worldly soundscape through its three movements. The folk-like Pastorale ambled into a more fluid Interlude before erupting into the restless energy of the Finale.

The encore was Singaporean Kailin Yong’s Dondang Sayang, a short lilting piece of Nanyang flavour that played with Malay modes and scales, topped with an infectious Arab-influenced rhythm to close. After an inspiring debut, it is hoped that the Sen Trio will continue to mine the rich vein of unusual repertoire in further concerts.

Concert photographs by the kind permission of the Sen Trio.

House Concert by the Singapore Mahler Society

I am not  a member of the Mahler Society of Singapore, but occasionally do get invited to the Society's events and house concerts by the young artists who perform. Its been almost two years since I last attended one of these highly informal and enjoyable gatherings of music lovers to hear some of Singapore's most talented young musicians. There is hardly any Mahler ever performed or discussed, especially in the absence of the Society's President Tan Chan Boon, but there is always good music!

First to perform on this Saturday evening (22 September 2012) was violinist Lee Shi Mei, who won 2nd prize in the National Violin Competition in 2007. She has since studied in Massachusetts and returned as a free-lancer with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Displaying a very smooth and silky tone, she performed Gershwin's Summertime and I Got Rhtythm, the main theme from John William's Schindler's List, Gossec's Gavotte in D, Schumann's Träumerei, Massenet's Meditation from Thaïs and Elgar's Salut d'amour. Accompanying her was pianist Cynthia Tan.

The first pianist to perform was Wayne Teo, who has just returned from Paris where he studied with Olivier Cazal. He performed with conviction Bach's Italian Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Dumka for starters. 

Young pianist Wang Congyu is a regular at Mahler Society events. He has also returned from Paris, having being tutored by Gabriel Tacchino and Eric Heidsieck amongst others. In celebration of Claude Debussy's 150th Anniversary, he performed 5 Préludes (Danses du Delphes, Le fille aux cheveux de lin, La Danse du Puck, Ondine and Feux d'artifice), the Étude pour les octaves and the First Arabesque. He has matured greatly since I last heard him play here.

Wayne Teo returned with three very different pieces, Takemitsu's Rain Tree Sketch II, Rachmaninov's Étude-tableaux Op.39 No.1 and something by Debussy (which escapes my mind for now). 

In preparation for his recital in the Reunion islands, Wang Congyu performed Chopin's first two Ballades before taking a breather.  

Jeffrey Zhang, a former student of Congyu's, then performed Mozart's Sonata in D major (K.575), Brahms's barnstorming Scherzo in E flat minor Op.4 and Debussy's Reflets dans l'eau. 

Congyu returned to finish with the Third and Fourth Ballades of Chopin.

As an encore, he added Chopin's Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante!

An exhausting evening this certainly was, but I suspect that these young pianists can continue playing till tomorrow morning! 

Living With... Shi Mei & Albert / Review

LIVING WITH…
LEE SHI MEI, Violin
ALBERT LIN, Piano
The Living Room @ The Arts House
Monday (4 May 2009)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 6 May 2009.

The Living With… series at The Living Room of the Old Parliament House provides young up and coming musicians and musical amateurs a platform to showcase their wares in front of a small but intimate audience. Taking place every first Monday of the month, rare gems of the repertoire and programming quirks are the norm rather than the exception.

Violinist Lee Shi Mei (arrowed left), 2nd Prizewinner of the Artist Category at the 2007 National Violin Competition, juxtaposed the familiar and the novel, with highly engaging results. Fritz Kreisler’s two contrasting old Viennese waltzes – Liebesleid and Liebesfreud – opened the recital with an air of gemütlichkeit, the state of being carefree. Amy Beach’s Romance – now a popular favourite – also extracted every drop of soaring lyricism from the 1785 Dall’Aglio violin, on loan from the Rin Collection.

Stark sobriety was provided in the World Premiere of Singaporean composer Tan Chan Boon’s Nocturno (composer pictured left), where the piano played an unvarying series of chords over which the violin sang mournfully. Written in memory of a deceased aunt, the music occupied a rarefied sphere of spirituality and minimalism reminding one of the spare music of Estonian mystic Arvo Pärt. Its forward glance into oblivion seemed to have one message: life is short, live it well.

That was well heeded as the concert lightened up once again, with Sarasate’s Gypsy Airs (Zigeunerweisen) a further opportunity to display a wealth of shades and responses. The bluesy segment was entertaining as it was well selected. William Bolcom’s Graceful Ghost Rag, his single most popular work, had a languid lilt that was disarming. Pianist Albert Lin’s transcriptions of two Préludes by Ukrainian jazz sensation Nikolai Kapustin - another World Premiere – sounded fresh and spontaneous as to be improvised on the spot.

Much better known were Gershwin’s Three Preludes transcribed by Jascha Heifetz, rhythmically tricky numbers which came through winningly in Lee and Lin’s hands. As an encore, Mexican composer Manuel Ponce’s cloying Estrellita – lovingly crafted - piled on the calories. For the sweet-toothed, resistance is futile.

Singapore National Violin Competition 2007: Grand Finals

Singapore Festival Orchestra conductor Chan Tze Law
applauds violin finalists Cao Qi and Lee Shi Mei.

Violin Artist Category Final (13 December 2007)

Having taken an early return flight, I was able to catch the Grand Final of the Violin Artist Category. There were two finalists, a straight play-off between Singapore and the People’s Republic of China. Singapore’s Lee Shi Mei studies in Oberlin, Ohio and had the guts and gumption to participate in both the Violin and Piano Artist Categories. As it was, she was admitted to the semi-finals of both categories. Probably sensing a better chance in the Violin competition (which had far fewer contestants), she dropped out from the Piano competition. Her rival was China’s Cao Qi, a student at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory.

This is the first year that the finals of both Piano and Violin Artist Categories were held on separate days. As with the past three editions of the competition, concertos were performed with orchestral accompaniment. By this year, the generically-named Competition Orchestra of 2005 had become the Singapore Festival Orchestra, Singapore’s third professional orchestra, led by its founder conductor and music director Chan Tze Law. If the look of this young orchestra seemed familiar, that is because some of its members are SSO musicians: Concertmaster Chan Yoong Han, Principal cellist Yu Jing, violinists Nikolai Koval, and violist Marietta Ku are already Esplanade regulars. More importantly, some of the violin chairs are occupied by former winners of the National Piano & Violin Competition – notably Grace Lee (1st Prize 2001), Ye Lin (1st Prize 2005), Lim Hui (2nd Prize 2003), Loh Jun Hong, Edward Tan and Seah Huan Yuh. Quite an impressive alumni, isn’t it?

Credit must also go to the Maestro, Chan Tze Law, who kept a tight ship throughout, providing the most helpful of accompaniments to the young soloists despite what must have been very limited rehearsal schedules. Let’s see what unfolded over both evenings:

The opening of Bruch’s First Violin Concerto was sensitively shaded by the orchestra, allowing Lee Shi Mei’s solo entry to shine. Despite her slight frame and somewhat stooped demeanor, Lee displayed no shortage of confidence and produced a healthy, robust sound which helped transcend the orchestral textures. Her intonation was not always flawless but she managed to maintain a high voltage throughout. Even in the lovely slow movement, where some latitude in dynamics could have been exercised, she remained highly strung, almost to the point of being on the manic edge. This nervous tension however worked to her advantage in the finale’s romp, where there was fire and passion in bucket-loads. The frisson she generated was from her quite fine technique as well as a certain degree of nerves. No performance should be without an element of walking a tight-rope, and Lee Shi Mei’s commendable showing was evidence of that.

All too often in competitions like these, the orchestra keeps an anonymous profile: play well but stay in the background at all costs. The Singapore Festival Orchestra however believed in a genuine partnership, by exerting itself without fear nor favour whenever the music called for it. There was a concern that the young and overawed soloist might be cowed into submission by overpowering tuttis, as in the case of Paganini’s First Violin Concerto. The opening tutti was very loud, almost overstating its credentials, but Cao Qi was very much up to the task of fending for herself.

She is an altogether more confident personality, with a physical stature to match. Her intonation was more secure and she seemed to coax a brighter and more brilliant sound from her instrument (this has to be a member of the famed Rin Collection, often loaned out to conservatory students). Also displaying more latitude in tempi and dynamics, she was able to shape a more convincing case for this often banal music, culminating with an astonishing degree of control in the fiendish Sauret cadenza.

The give-and-take between Cao and the orchestra was judged perfectly in the droll slow movement, and this set the stage for a most unfettered finale imaginable. This young lady knows how to milk Paganini for best effect, and what is Paganini without the risk, without the wildness? Straddling between high jinks and vulgarity, the showboating came to a head in the passage of thirds in harmonics, something which even troubled the great Salvatore Accardo in his famous DG recording. No such fears for Cao as she and the orchestra raced to a grandstand finish.

My verdict (as were many in the audience) was shared by the violin jury:

1st: Cao Qi (by a furlong)
2nd: Lee Shi Mei

The first prizewinners of the Violin Junior and Intermediate Categories also performed. Jaz Loh Wan Zhen stole the evening with her altogether enthralling performance of William Kroll’s Banjo and Fiddle. She is a portrait of self-assurance, confidence and cuteness (another cute with a capital C!), from an age-group that still does not know the meaning of nerves. The older Davin Ang Kai Jie is more serious, and brought out the feeling and nostalgia of Smetana’s From the Native Country. These are names to watch out for in the future.