MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN GETS TO MEET (BRIEFLY) SINGAPORE PIANOPHILES

The world-renowned Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin was in town last week to perform with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in concerto and chamber music, his first visit here since 2012. No meet-and-greet or autograph session was arranged by the SSO, but a bunch of hopeful local pianophiles aggregated outside Victoria Concert Hall's stage door to get a glimpse of the super-virtuoso and possibly have a few words with him.

He soon emerged, and it was credit to the on-duty SSO staff that he was not straight away bundled into the limousine and rushed back to the hotel or airport. He thus had a chance to chat with those pianophiles, sign autographs and take photos. Many were armed with CD sleeves, and others with his piano scores (his Twelve Etudes published by C.F.Peters was a particular favourite) and other memorabilia. As obliging as always, he met with each and every person, and nobody was going home disappointing. Instead, they will be telling their friends here and overseas all about it.

For the record, Hamelin has come to Singapore on five occasions, first performing at the 4th Singapore International Piano Festival in 1997 (Beethoven & Liszt) and in concertos with the SSO in 2005 (Rachmaninov 3), 2008 (Mendelssohn 1), 2012 (Beethoven 4) and most recently 2026 (Brahms 2). All these are popular mainstream piano concertos. Can we even hope for the near future, performances of Nikolai Medtner concertos (any one of three, especially No.2) or dare we even dream, Busoni's Piano Concerto? 

MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN & SEBASTIAN WEIGLE / TROUT QUINTET & BRAHMS WITH MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN &

SEBASTIAN WEIGLE – 

BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO NO.2

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (6 August 2026)

THE TROUT QUINTET & BRAHMS

WITH MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN

with musicians of 

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Saturday (8 August 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 9 August 2026 with the title "Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin shows mastery of wide repertoire in concerts with SSO".

Canadian super-virtuoso pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin made his fourth appearance with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra since 2005 in a sold-out concert directed by German conductor Sebastian Weigle. Hamelin’s legend as “the pianist’s pianist” was borne out by his complete mastery of the widest repertoire, and the art of making the most complex of works (by Charles Alkan, Leopold Godowsky, Ferruccio Busoni, Nikolai Medtner, Charles Ives, K.S.Sorabji et al) sound like child’s play.

All this seems to have overshadowed his true love and deep understanding of the core repertoire classics, set right in a masterly performance of Johannes Brahms’ monumental Second Piano Concerto in B flat major (Op.83). Cast like a four-movement symphony, its demanding piano part is so well-integrated into the musical fabric as to render its virtuoso presence moot.

Photo: Chris P.Lim

Hamelin’s role was to stand out like a soloist yet be part of the general ensemble, a task far easier said than done. His mission was helped by excellent orchestral players, opening with fellow Montrealer Marc-Antoine Robillard’s pitch-perfect horn solo, whose theme returned like an idee fixe (fixed idea) at pivotal moments.

Photo: Chris P.Lim

In the Andante slow movement, Ng Pei-Sian’s cello sang the concerto’s most memorable melody, its congeniality reciprocated by Hamelin’s mellowness of touch. At the Scherzo’s treacherous development section where lesser pianists fall short, Hamelin’s transcendental technique held sway. Playing very fast, very soft and very smooth all at once is what pianophiles marvel about.

The finale’s lightness saw Brahms at his most mercurial, with the Viennese waltz and Hungarian influences referenced, and a sprightly tarantella rhythm to close brought down the house. Hamelin’s encores, two riotous Earl Wild transcriptions of George Gershwin songs – Liza and Fascinatin’ Rhythm – were icing on the cake.

What an Esplanade full-house looks like,
a view from the gallery.
Photo: Kenneth Kwok

Antonin Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony in D minor (Op.70), the Bohemian composer at his most Brahmsian, completed the concert. The burnished quality of strings and warmth of excellent woodwinds distinguished the performance. Conductor Weigle ensured the Scherzo’s vigourous Slavonic Dance and dramatic finale were not rhythmically strait-jacketed, allowing the music to breathe and stride to a thrilling conclusion.

Photo: Aloysius Lim

On 8 August, Hamelin was joined by SSO musicians for a fully-subscribed chamber concert that will be long remembered for the quality of playing. Newly-appointed concertmaster Andrew Beer on violin and French horn principal Austin Larson were his partners in Brahms’ Horn Trio in E flat major (Op.40).

Photo: LG Lim

Larson’s exceptional tone quality, intonation and breath control were exemplary for its success, with the lively spirit of the hunt leaping into action in the second and fourth movements. Hamelin’s rock- steady pianism and Beer’s excellent articulation supported him to the hilt.

Photo: LG Lim

Photo: Aloysius Lim

Franz Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A major (D.667), better-known as the Trout Quintet, was the ultimate Hausmusik, a collegial house party of musical friends. Despite just having met within the week, Hamelin with violinist Beer, violist Chen Li, cellist Christopher Mui and double bassist Yang Zhengyi played and sounded like long cherished colleagues.

From the opening chord, the music radiated the sunshine of an Austrian summer. The exposition repeats just doubled the pleasure of hearing and seeing men at work. And was not everyone waiting for the fourth movement’s variations on Schubert’s lied Die Forelle (The Trout)? The familiarity of this melody (also heard on Samsung washing machines) will never tire. This delightful outing also highlighted the universality of chamber music, where world-renowned soloists and rank-and-file musicians dine at the same table.

Photo: LG Lim

MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN & SEBASTIAN WEIGLE - BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO NO.2 with DVORAK SYMPHONY NO.7 / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN

& SEBASTIAN WEIGLE - 

BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO NO.2

with DVORAK SYMPHONY NO.7

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (6 August 2026)

This review was first published in Bachtrack.com on 10 August 2026 with the title "Hamelin’s Brahms and Weigle’s Dvorak excite a full-house in Singapore".

The tandem of Brahms and Dvorak makes excellent bedfellows in concert, and it is a wonder why that does not take place as often as it should. One reason is that they are, perhaps, too similar in sound and substance, texture and tension. Nevertheless, this Singapore Symphony Orchestra concert was filled to the rafters, most possibly by pianophiles to catch Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin in Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto in B flat major (Op.83). 

Widely considered “the pianist’s pianist”, Hamelin is also the Pied Piper incarnate. Capable of casting spells on everybody who has seen or touched the instrument, this super-virtuoso who has the widest repertoire of all living pianists makes the impossible possible, and the extremely difficult seem like child’s play.

Photo: Chris P.Lim

On Brahms’ own gift of understatement, his “few piano pieces” turned out to be this monumental symphony. His longest, if not for its massively demanding piano solo so well integrated into the sonic fabric as if it were an obbligato part. Was it happenstance that the opening French horn solo be assigned to fellow Montréalais Marc-Antoine Robillard, whose perfect intonation was matched by Hamelin’s immaculate entry and subsequent delivery? The orchestra led by German conductor Sebastian Weigle responded with vigour in the tuttis, as this was their show as much as Hamelin’s.

As a conventional piano concerto, this would still rank as one of the greats. And throw in a not-so-tiny Scherzo, its legend is made. Here, the concerto’s most treacherous passages, with playing very fast and very soft (sotto voce, pianissimo and legato all at once), all fell comfortably within Hamelin’s hands. Ng Pei-Sian’s solo cello in the Andante sang like a dream, reciprocated by the piano’s ruminative entry, later contrasted with the pitched battle with the orchestra. 

Photo: Chris P.Lim

The finale’s Allegretto grazioso, ultimate lightness with the weight of the world lifted off Brahms’ shoulders, saw both piano and orchestra off to the races with the breeziest of finishes. This was a total hit, and Hamelin’s seemingly effortless technique was brought back with two “tiny, tiny wisps” of encores, Earl Wild’s Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin’s Liza (No.1) and Fascinatin’ Rhythm (No.7). Would the gruff German in Brahms have minded? Given his penchant for wry humour, one suspects not.

Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony in D minor (Op.70), the most Brahmsian of his nine symphonies and one with a Bohemian accent, completed the evening. Dvorak was eight years Brahms’ junior, but was collegially encouraged by his senior. Little wonder how much the first two movements sounded so Teutonic. The drama of the opening Allegro maestoso was distinguished by the strings’ burnished richness, the warmth of woodwind sonorities stood out while overcoming exacting articulation in the Poco adagio, sleeper of a slow movement.

Only in the Scherzo did Dvorak consciously revert to his Slavonic roots, with the vigorous furiant dance infectiously captured by the orchestra. Going attacca into the finale, Weigle’s direction was not to put his charges in a rhythmic strait-jacket, but clearly allowing the music to breathe naturally. Through all the bluster, the enduring spirit of the dance was never forsaken as the symphony wound to an intoxicatingly exciting close.  

Photo: Chris P.Lim

Star Rating *****  

The original review on Bachtrack.com can be found here:

Hamelin’s Brahms and Weigle’s Dvořák excite a full-house in Singapore | Bachtrack

ANOTHER HUSUM DIARY 2017: DAY THREE

DAY 3: Monday (21 August 2017)

Sightseeing in Schleswig-Holstein begins in Flensburg, specifically Glucksburg Castle. I learn that the royal family that once occupied this “water castle” built by a lake is related to the British Royal Family. Queen Elizabeth's great-grandmother Alexandra (wife of King Edward VII) was Danish, the daughter of King Christian IX (the “Father-in-law of Europe) from the Sonderborg-Glucksburg family. Look out for the castle’s infamous dungeon, complete with torture rack, armchair of nails (perfect for swamis) and a deliquentführer (neck leash with internal spikes). Ouch.

"Ve have vays of making you talk":
torture instruments at Glucksburg Castle.

Recital 4 (7.30 pm)

MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN

What one has come to expect from the great French-Canadian, living patron saint of supervirtuosos, has been fulfilled once again, and with dividends. Back in the late 1980s when the Rarities Festival began, pianists like MAH was himself a rarity, performing works of ridiculous complexity and obscurity as an avocation. Thanks to this festival, other pianists including younger one have taken on the gauntlet so that rarity-pianists are no longer such rarities. 

Still, MAH reigns supreme because he is a modern-day composer-pianist (in the grand tradition of Rachmaninov, Busoni, Godowsky et al), which is still a rarity in itself. For example, his Pavane Varié (based on a G minor air also used by Rameau and Poulenc) is every bit a work one will crave hearing again, only if there are pianists up for the challenge.

The balance of his programme is typical of his eclecticism, two Enesco movements which highlight chords and bell sounds, Alistair Hinton's Sorabjiesque transformation of Rachmananinov's Vocalise (sounding like the listener has had one too many vodkas) and a clutch of Samuil Feinberg's Sonatas. If you like the psychedelic Scriabin, here are some new listens to get high on. 

Leon Jongen's Campeador, a riotous Spanish-flavoured dance, was written for the 1956 Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition and is every bit a showstopper. Finally, we have a Moszkowski Waltz and Caprice Espagnole, the latter of which is no longer a rarity. 12-year-olds in Singapore and Hong Kong play it with gay abandon nowadays.  

Hamelin's encores are something else. After hearing 30 versions of his Toccata on L'Homme Armé from this year's Van Cliburn Competition, one craved for his original thoughts. He played it with a fleet-fingered lightness which quite eluded a number of the youngsters. So which competitor's version did he like best? His answer: semifinalist Da Sol Kim (South Korea), unequivocally because “he fully understands the piano”. 

Hamelin's completion of a Chopin-Godowsky Étude fragment (based on the first Nouvelle Étude) finds the light of day, while the Chopin-Liszt Mes Joies (Meine Freude) and its nightingale calls could not have sounded more enchanting. “Whoever said Czerny could not be fun?” he asked, and then went on to polish off one of his studies. Naughty and nice. 

Veterans of Husum,
Hamelin and Daniel Berman.

CD Review (The Straits Times, September 2017)

CLIBURN GOLD 2017

YEKWON SUNWOO, Piano

Decca 4815527 / ****1/2

In June of this year, the 28-year-old Yekwon Sunwoo became the first Korean pianist to win 1^st prize at the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition held in Fort Worth, Texas. This winner's recital disc captures “live” some of his key solo performances in three rounds of competition. 

Included is the World Premiere recording of Canadian pianist-composer Marc-André Hamelin's Toccata On L'Homme Arme, the specially commissioned set-piece for this competition. It is a no-holds-barred fantasy on a medieval French song which literally sweeps the entire keyboard, and he nails it with stunning aplomb.

Sunwoo's musicality is also displayed in Haydn's Sonata No.58 in C major and Liszt's transcription of Schubert's lied Litanei (Am Tage Aller Seelen), which may be considered anti-virtuosic for their lack of outright showiness. However these are a foil for the gilded sheen applied to Percy Grainger's Ramble On Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier Final Duet, which demands the most delicate of touches and fine sense of balance in revealing the harmonies. 

The through-and-through showpieces come in Ravel's La Valse and Rachmaninov's Second Sonata (Op.36, the shorter 1931 edition), which he delivers like any Cliburn laureate should. An hour's worth of piano gold seems like short measure, but here is a worthy musical calling card.      

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, January 2011)

MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN Études
Marc-André Hamelin, Piano
Hyperion 67789

*****

Franz Liszt wrote Transcendental Études catered to his own inimitable brand of virtuosity, not for mere mortals. Similarly, Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin throws down the gauntlet in his 12 Études In All The Minor Keys. The final Étude No.12 (Prelude & Fugue) is already well known, having performed it in Singapore as far back as 1997.

A number are re-definitions of pre-existing works, including impossibly wicked takes on La Campanella (Paganini-Liszt), La Danza (Rossini) Tchaikovsky’s Lullaby Op.16 No.1 (arranged for left hand) and the infamous Triple Étude, a contrapuntal feat combining three of Chopin’s Études. The latter is only surpassed by Étude No.4, which reaps the whirlwind with two even more fearsome Alkan Études. Some are completely original new works - Coma Berenices (No.2), Toccata Grottesca (No.4), Erlkönig (No.8) and Minuetto (No.9). All require piano technique of a superior kind, and it is interesting to play “guess the influence”

Hamelin shows a softer side in his Little Nocturne and Con Intimissimo Sentimento, a suite of miniatures which reveal a penchant for fantasy, gentle chromaticism and jazz. Cathy’s Variations, dedicated to his fiancée, is an elegant tribute to the finale of Beethoven’s Sonata Op.109, itself a set of variations. Hamelin’s playing is one of a kind, befitting one of the most amazing piano discs of all time.

BACH Cello Suite No.1, 4 & 5
MAXIM RYSANOV, Viola
BIS SACD-1783

*****

It is not too far-fetched to imagine Johann Sebastian Bach’s six Cello Suites being performed on a viola. There is a school of thought that Bach originally wrote these works for a violoncello piccolo, a smaller instrument slung around the neck and bowed across the chest, which would have sounded much like a viola.

These viola transcriptions by Simon Rowland-Jones take nothing away from the cello originals. The fast rising young Russian violist Maxim Rysanov plays with little vibrato but the sonorous polyphonic quality of the music comes through gloriously. Whether in the exercise-like Preludes, otherworldly slow Sarabandes - where time virtually stands still – or the lively dance movements, this is aural heaven. No more viola jokes, the second volume of Bach’s suites are keenly awaited.

ALBERT LIN Piano Recital / Review

ALBERT LIN Piano Recital
Esplanade Recital Studio
Tuesday (4 May 2010)

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

Among the small field of Singaporean pianists over the years, there is always one among them who stands out as a maverick, one who bucks the trends and relishes in offbeat repertoire. In the past, it was Ong Lip Tat, Victor Khor and the ever-young Margaret Leng Tan who raised collective eyebrows. These days, that mantle has fallen upon the small shoulders of Albert Lin.

His solo recital was ambrosia for those wearied by Chopin and more Chopin. It was not pure Bach that opened the programme, but Bach-Godowsky. The hallowed Polish icon’s amplification of Bach’s Violin Sonata No.1 In G minor had a quality of being infused by steroids and acid. Its grandiloquent vistas resounded in the studio’s reverberant acoustic like an organ, and Lin lapped up every turn of the four movements with trenchancy and fervour.

Next were Singapore premieres of four selections from Canadian super-virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin’s suite Con Intimissimo Sentimento. Three Ländler (Austrian dances in three-quarter time) and a Berceuse exhibited a more intimate side of both pianists (composer and performer), revelling in more piquant, naughty harmonies and subtle rhythmic insight.

Very different was Singapore-based American Dirk Stromberg’s 9/11…In Protest Of…, an angry and reflective essay that represented an arsenal of 20th century devices, including Ivesian tone clusters and Cowellian harmonic sheens. The work closed as it began, with the sustaining pedal holding every note until they died out naturally.

Letting down his hair with a jazz selection, Lin eased out the blues and boogie woogie of four Nikolai Kapustin Preludes, followed by three Gershwin songs transcribed by the late-lamented Earl Wild, who died earlier this year. The free-wheeling perpetual motion spun in the latter’s Fascinatin’ Rhythm was simple infectious.

The intrepid keyboard adventure closed with Alexander Scriabin’s Fourth Sonata, ironically the most familiar work on the programme. The Andante was seductive, its melting lyricism soon taking wing in the volatile finale. Defying gravity was the illusion in this Prestissimo, and Lin rose Icarus-like, to a whisker of crashing and burning out in its final ecstatic pages. Taking risks is part of “live” performance, you either have it in you or not at all. Albert Lin is the Khoo Swee Chiow of the piano.

This recital was presented by the Young Musicians Society (YMS) as part of its AfterEight series of recitals.

Diametrically Divergent Reviews for Hamelin's Haydn on Hyperion

Has there been a piano recording that has received more diametrically divergent reviews than Marc-André-Hamelin's latest instalment of the Haydn Sonatas (on Hyperion)? Read on...

The review by Bryce Morrison, Gramophone (October 2009)

(Click on image to enlarge)

Raves:
"...even more dextrous, magical and enriching."

"Hamelin exhibits a coruscating wit and brilliance known to a few pianists."

"...a marvel of precision, grace and fluency."

"...leaving me to pray that Hamelin will continue his Haydn series..."

Here is the review from Graham Lock, International Piano (September/October 2009)

(Click on image to enlarge)

Invectives:

"Hamelin (for me) gets it all wrong."

"...among the least engaging or sympathetic performances of Haydn's sonatas I've heard."

"...featureless and monochrome - an unforgivable sin".

So which review are you inclined to believe?
Be the judge for yourself and buy the discs!

Living with... ALBERT LIN / Piano Recital / Review

Living with... ALBERT LIN Piano Recital
The Living Room, The Arts House
Monday (17 August 2009)

For decades, composers have been trying to unify the disparate genres and sounds of classical music and jazz in a coherent and intelligent manner. The results are variable, but one of the most convincing is the Ukrainian pianist and jazz bandleader Nikolai Kapustin (born 1937), whose treacherously tricky piano works are gradually being discovered by mainstream classical artists.

One half of pianist Albert Lin’s hour-long classical jazz recital was devoted to Kapustin (left), beginning with his “simple” Sonatina (Op.100), an ideal primer in this crossover idiom. The sonata form is replicated in miniature, complete with exposition repeat, development and recapitulation. Four Préludes (from Op.53) followed, each reliving different popular styles; stride, boogie woogie, the blues and an updated sarabande (a slow Baroque dance).

The major work was Variations (Op.41). Based on the opening bassoon solo from Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite Of Spring, the theme so cleverly disguised as to elude even the most acute of theme-spotters. These are full written-out scores, where nothing is improvised, but Lin’s easy, spontaneous and totally natural takes seemed to suggest otherwise.

The Catalan composer Federico Mompou’s Cancion y Danza No.7 (Song and Dance) was not at all jazzy, but its disarming harmonies piqued the ears. While American William Bolcom’s popular Graceful Ghost Rag represented a sophisticated advancement on Scott Joplin’s rag standards, Earl Wild’s paraphrasing of Gershwin brought the art of transcription to new highs.

His oh-so-naughty dissonances, trademark filigree and free-wheeling virtuosity in songs like Somebody Loves Me, Embraceable You and Fascinatin’ Rhythm were a complete joy, and equaled by Lin’s rapier reflexes and lightning touches.

The encores were pure tongue-in-cheek. Whoever thought that Harold Arlen’s Over The Rainbow could be cooked with slivers of Rachmaninov sonatas and concertos? Apparently Jonathan Mann’s uproarious conflation thought so, and Marc-André Hamelin’s (left) Ringtone Waltz – formerly known as Irritation Waltz after Nokia (yes, that ringtone) – brought out the giggles. Lin’s next recital will be keenly awaited.

What's New With Piano's Pied Piper? Some Words with Marc-André Hamelin

WHAT’S NEW WITH PIANO’S PIED PIPER:
SOME WORDS WITH 

MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN

The Pied Piper himself, Marc-André Hamelin, was in Singapore last weekend where he performed Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No.1 with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Günther Herbig. He is currently on a 3-week long Australasian tour, also performing in Kuala Lumpur (Brahms No.2 with the Malaysian Philharmonic), Hong Kong (Recitals with Haydn, Chopin, Debussy, Godowsky and his own compositions) and Melbourne (Strauss Burleske with the Melbourne Symphony).

We last had a nice long chat in 1997, when he made his first Singapore splash at the Singapore International Piano Festival. So what’s changed from 11 years ago? Hamelin’s discography on Hyperion has progressed geometrically. Alkan, Godowsky, Medtner, Ornstein, Rzewski, Szymanowski, Villa-Lobos, Scriabin and Shchedrin have all made their mark on the pianophile world. His more recent releases have been Haydn Sonatas, Brahms Piano Quartets and Piano Concerto No.2, and wait for this… Chopin’s Second and Third Sonatas. Has Hardcore Hamelin gone mainstream?

Thank goodness not. Over lunch and tea, he assures that his concert repertoire and recording smorgasbord are two separate entities. Mainstream repertoire is what he performs most of the time, and the rarities are reserved for the recording studio and pianophile events like the Rarities of Piano Music Festival at Schloss vor Husum in Germany. The “change” in stance arose as Hyperion has begun to entrust him with more core repertoire. The breakthrough came with his Schumann Carnaval disc (CDA 67120), which “required a lot of persuading”. That and at least six other of his Hyperion recordings have been shortlisted in 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die (Octopus Books).

Hamelin's latest release.

He obliged by signing "on the buns".

Hyperion’s faith has been repaid as both pianist and A&R are very happy with the lastest offering, Chopin’s Sonatas with the Berceuse, Barcarolle, and two Nocturnes (Op.27) as substantial fillers (CDA 67706). “It also has a picture of a naked girl on the cover!” Hamelin helpfully adds.

Future recordings in the pipeline: more Haydn Sonatas with the F minor Variations and C major Fantasy, Schumann’s Piano Quintet (with the Takacs Quartet), possibly further piano quartets (Leopold Trio) by Fauré and Mendelssohn. Interestingly, Hamelin has himself written a Passacaglia for piano quintet, a work with 19 variations (first performed in 2002 in Halifax, Nova Scotia) which he describes as “very dark”.

Speaking about compositions, Hamelin’s 12 Études will be published by C.F.Peters sometime in 2009. In a volume running over a hundred pages, Hamelin follows in an illustrious line of composers like Chopin, Liszt, Alkan, Debussy, Scriabin and William Bolcom, all of whom wrote studies in groups of a dozen. Six of these are elaborations on pre-existing music and six are completely original compositions. With his permission, here are the twelve:

No.1 Triple Étude (after Chopin)
No.2 Coma berenices (Berenice’s Hair) *
No.3 d’après Paganini-Liszt (La Campanella)
No.4 Étude (after Alkan)
No.5 Toccata grottesca *
No.6 Omaggio a Domenico Scarlatti *
No.7 Étude after Tchaikovsky (Lullaby Op.16 No.1) for the left hand
No.8 Erlkönig (after Goethe) *
No.9 d’après Rossini (La Danza)
No.10 d’après Chopin (pour les idées noiré)
No.11 Tango * – a work currently in progress
No.12 Prélude & Fugue *
* original works

(The orginal No.1 after Rimsky-Korsakov’s Bumble Bee is no longer in the list.)

One étude-like piece that does not make that number is Hamelin’s reworking of Abreu’s Tico tico no fuba. “I was at Schotts in London when I saw a series of Virtuoso Transcriptions scores, which included something by Olli Mustonen. I submitted two transcriptions of my own, Tico and the Glazunov Petit Adagio (from The Seasons). And so they accepted Tico,” he recounted. The toughest half page in that score sees the left hand play the melody and rhythm of Tico, while the right hand plays Chopin’s Chromatic Étude in A minor (Op.10 No.2). This is just preceded by a sly quote from Beethoven’s Für Elise. Hamelin was on a train ride from Montreal to Philadelphia when he thought, “Oh noooo! I can’t do this!” We’re sure glad he did.

Another “encore” that has been published (by Theodore Presser), is the Ring Tone Waltz, formerly known as the Valse irritation après Nokia. Everyone knows what that ubiquitous ring tone sounds like. Just do not leave your cellphones on in a Hamelin recital, lest he’ll be forced to play it.

More recently, Hamelin has begun to list his father Gilles Hamelin as one of his teachers. Although he was a pharmacist and amateur pianist, his catholic pianophilic tastes rubbed on to the younger Hamelin. Who were his, and Marc-André’s favourite pianists and role models? “He ran the gamut of historical pianists, including Hofmann, Rosenthal, Friedman, Lhevinne and Godowsky. He preferred the free for all aspects of piano playing. His heart was in the past, feeling that contemporary pianists were too restrained. He had only one or two Alfred Brendel LPs in his collection – Liszt’s Christmas Tree and a selection of Hungarian Rhapsodies. He was also extremely critical of Glenn Gould’s recordings. Despite being Canadian, we hardly talked much about Gould.”

Lunchtime with pianophiles

usually runs well into teatime.

That question had to come. Will Hamelin ever attempt to perform or record Khaikhosru Sorabji’s Opus Clavicembalisticum, once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s longest piano work? The answer was an emphatic NO. “Do people think that I like to play or record pieces just because they are difficult? I recently attended the New York premiere of the OC, and guess how many people attended? About 60 to 75 at most. Do I want to spend a large chunk of my life learning a work that has extraordinarily little reward? No thanks. What is the point of it? Those who will me to do it are wishing me to an early grave!”

Pianists are known for their longevity, but Hamelin who is still in his 40s is not taking any chances. He eats well but carefully, avoiding the carbohydrates that would worsen diabetes, and consumes only a protein load two hours before a concert. Tamago, Unagi, a handful of beans, Diet Coke and green tea are what he has for lunch. (He had earlier dared me to include his lunch menu in this article!)

He brings out from his wallet a folded photo, and declared, “You can quote me on this!” As his divorce from singer Jody Karin Applebaum is being finalised, he is proud to reveal the new love of his life, Boston-area radio station WGBH 89.7 host Cathy Fuller, who is also a pianist. “There is an interview programme from 2003 with 40 minutes of music and 20 minutes of talk, where you can catch the very first hour of our relationship!” Well spoken like a giddy-headed someone who has just discovered the glories of the piano for the very first time.

Ode to Leningrad / Singapore Symphony Orchestra: Review

Fireman Shostakovich doing
national service during the siege of Leningrad

ODE TO LENINGRAD
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
GUNTHER HERBIG, Conductor
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (29 November 2008)

A slightly edited version of this review was published by The Straits Times on 2 December 2008. Believe it or not, this was my VERY FIRST review of a SSO concert.

Much ink has been spilt over the decades on the supposed merits and failings of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, also known as the Leningrad Symphony. Composed during the darkest hour in the Nazi siege of the city, which cost the lives of a million people, it provided Russians with a ray of hope and final victory. To the less sympathetic, its 75 minutes represent the crudest of Soviet socialist propaganda.

Former East German conductor Günther Herbig (left), on his third visit to Singapore, refused to be drawn into its programmatic polemics. Regarding it as absolute music, as in a Mahler or Bruckner symphony, he drew from the SSO the best it had to offer. In a performance that eschewed hysterics, it avoided the all too easy tendency of descending into bathos.

The opening was well paced, and when the notoriously repetitive Fascist march arrived, it did so surreptitiously before escalating inexorably into full-scale battle mode. The effect was simply awesome, but more importantly it demonstrated that the banalities foisted by Shostakovich were totally intentional, rather than the work of a mere party hack.

Strings were uniformly warm, and the various solos shone, notably Roberto Alvarez’s poignant piccolo and the juggernaut delivered on the snare drum by the Panzer-steady Jonathan Fox. Brass were worked overtime but delivered with great immediacy.

The two consecutive slow movements provided relative respite, but erupted with just the right degree of turbulence in their fast central episodes. The quiet calm before the finale’s onslaught was particularly chilling, and like the rest of the performance, the contrasts delivered made this longest of symphonies well worth the effort. Can we expect Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony from the same forces next?

Speaking of contrasts, there could not have been a more congenial work than Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto, which made the first half of the concert. Canadian super-virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin (left), better known for his Alkan, Godowsky and Medtner, delivered a dream performance. One who delighted in flying octaves and busy prestidigitation, Hamelin also showed that tenderness and crafting a beautiful sonority – evidence in the slow movement – was part of an all-encompassing pianist’s arsenal.

An encore, Hamelin’s own impressionistic Little Nocturne, shaded with crystalline harmonies and delicate pianissimos, was a well-deserved treat.