SPADES OF FATE / Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestral Institute / Review

 

SPADES OF FATE 

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory 

Orchestral Institute 

Conservatory Concert Hall 

Friday (18 October 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 October 2024 with the title "Young pianist Edenia Maureen delivers Rachmaninov's First Piano Concerto with bravura".

Russian music has such a following in Singapore that a large audience assembled to attend the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestral Institute’s latest concert conducted by Jason Lai. The name of Sergei Rachmaninov is guaranteed to sell tickets, even if it was with one of the Russian Romantic composer’s less often performed piano concertos. 

The First Piano Concerto in F sharp minor (Op.1) was composed when he was a conservatory student of eighteen, but underwent a major revision in 1917. It is this most commonly-heard later version that was performed by final-year student Indonesian pianist Edenia Maureen, a prizewinner of the conservatory’s concerto competition. 

Photo: Neo Jie Ning

Her diminutive frame was no impediment to creating a big sonority, evident by the opening cascade of octaves and chords. The music was typically Slavic, lyrical and steeped in deep melancholy, but coloured by a scintillating piano part. Despite disadvantages posed by overwhelming orchestral forces, she more than held her own, also delivering the first movement cadenza that headily mixed bravura with poetry. 

The slow movement could have wallowed in sentimentality but an even keel was maintained, its relative restraint giving way to the finale’s feast of fireworks. Here, Maureen overcame some of the work’s trickiest fingerwork to race the orchestra to a spectacular conclusion. Although trailing behind the Second and Third Concertos by a great distance, this underrated concerto got a performance it deserved. 

There was to be no encore, but the concerto was preluded by Rachmaninov’s most famous song, the wordless Vocalise (Op.34 No.14) in a reduced chamber orchestration. For this reading, the seamlessly mellifluous vocal line was carried by Huang Yi’s excellent viola solo, its plaintive quality totally befitting the music’s trail of pathos. 

Photo: Neo Jie Ning

Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony in F minor (Op.36) completed the programme. The concert’s title relates to the chorus of brass that announces the Fate motif at the work’s very outset. Interestingly, a much shorter but similar motif also opened the Rachmaninov concerto as well. This idee fixe (fixed idea) or recurrent theme would later intervene at various parts of the work. 

Most of the heavy lifting took place in the massive first movement, which ran the risk of being top heavy. For moments, the pace dragged a little but conductor Lai ensured that a nervous tension was sustained for long enough stretches. 

The oboe solo in the slow movement came across a little cut-and-dried but the solo bassoon, playing the same doleful melody, got it just right near its end. Thereafter, this symphony became a veritable showcase of the students’ virtuosity. The string pizzicato paradise of the Scherzo was simply delightful, followed by the woodwinds’ miniature military march (with the piccolo’s significant contribution) and splendid brass chorale. 

The cymbal player
never gets to play this much!

The Russian folksong-influenced finale was a hell-for-leather ride and the Fate motif’s inevitable return was that moment when one gets a lump in the throat. Getting listeners to the edge of their seats is the very reason why so many people cannot get enough of Russian music.

Photo: Neo Jie Ning

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Dean
Peter Tornquist congratulates
music philanthropist Tan Kah Tee.

Celebrating Tan Kah Tee's birthday.

GRAND RUSSIAN / ALBERT TIU Piano Recital / Review

GRAND RUSSIAN

ALBERT TIU Piano Recital

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Friday (7 October 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 10 October 2016 with the title "Passionate rendition of Russian rarities".

What makes Russian Romantic music so attractive and compelling that a large audience was enticed to the Conservatory on a Friday evening to attend a recital comprising two piano sonatas which could rightly be considered rarities?

The names of Tchaikovsky (left) and Rachmaninov provided a clue, as both Russians composed tuneful works with emotions firmly emblazoned on their sleeves. Pathos and tragedy are writ large in their often overwrought scores such that listeners are put through a wringer and come out feeling a spiritual catharsis. Just like a good movie. Or maybe it was the name of Albert Tiu, surely the most adventurous and thematically sophisticated pianist in Singapore today.

It was really a bit of both, as he began his recital with Tchaikovsky's Grand Sonata in G major Op.37. Big chords dominated the opening movement, delivered with fearless panache but tempered by a Schumannesque lyricism which made contrasts all the more apparent. The shortcoming was not Tiu's but Tchaikovsky's, because the repetitious piece in four movements which ran past the half-hour mark seemed to go on a bit too long.

The perpetual movement in the 3^rd movement's Scherzo provided a worthwhile diversion but that was too short-winded. It was left for the Finale to combine the extremes  - with more loud notes and prestidigitation – leading to a vertiginous climax before bringing down the house.

This Tchaikovsky-Rachmaninov tandem was strategic in other ways. Tchaikovsky was Rachmaninov's mentor and musical “father”. Both their grand sonatas were in the same key as the grand piano concertos they were yet to compose, as well as being written-out premonitions.

Rachmaninov's First Piano Sonata in D minor Op.28 that occupied the second half was even longer, but in Tiu's hands, that never became an issue. The brooding and ruminative opening predicted his Third Piano Concerto, and Tiu built up a strong case by drawing the listener into the unsettling heart of this very personal music.

The oft-quoted association of this symphonically conceived work with the Faust legend is apt, as its three movements seemed to reflect the conflicted personas of Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles. While the 1^st movement struggled with turmoil and upheaval, the slow 2^nd movement was a calming and tender portrait, while the finale was a devilish hell-for-leather ride into the abyss.

In each of these, Tiu's views were highly characterised in the gripping narrative, with each movement carved out with a granite-like assuredness and inexorability. There was hardly a dropped note let alone a moment's loss of concentration. There have only been three complete performances of this work in Singapore in living memory. Tiu gave two of these, including the local premiere in 2004. If anything, this last epic reading surpassed his first in terms of passion and volatility.     

Taking a break from barnstorming, his encore promised something totally different: Percy Grainger's Irish Tune From County Derry, popularly known as Danny Boy. After Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, it came like a blast of fresh air.

   

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, December 2015)

TCHAIKOVSKY

The Nutcracker

STEWART GOODYEAR, Piano

Steinway & Sons 30040 / ****1/2 

Here is an unusual version of Piotr Tchaikovsky's popular ballet The Nutcracker for the festive season. The entire ballet in 24 movements has been arranged for piano solo by Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear. Some of the dances like the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Trepak (Russian Dance) and Pas de deux, and numbers like the Miniature Overture and March are very popular and music lovers are already well-served by the extremely handy Nutcracker Suite in eight movements.

However, Goodyear’s transcription is a very pianistic one that is also highly virtuosic. Unlike Mikhail Pletnev’s famous concert suite which takes liberties by adding lots more notes or Percy Grainger’s florid version of the Waltz Of the Flowers, Goodyear is more faithful to the original orchestral score and closely follows the sequence of the story. 

By packing all the music into the album’s 82 minutes, there is a harried and hectic quality to some of the faster movements. One would have liked more breathing space but that means having to spill onto a second disc. This is nevertheless a very good listen from a very good pianist.

CINEMA

ANDREA BOCELLI

Universal 00028948121441 / ***1/2

Never thought this pair of ears might enjoy a disc by the massively-hyped vocal superstar Andrea Bocelli. That is probably because the album is produced by David Foster, and Bocelli is not singing the classics or attempting major opera house roles, but songs made famous by movies.

His English is highly accented, such as in Leonard Bernstein's Maria (from West Side Story), Henry Mancini's Moon River (Breakfast At Tiffany's) and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Music Of The Night (Phantom Of the Opera), which does not help. He is clearly out of his depth in Jerome Kern's Ol' Man River (Show Boat), usually sung by a bass, or baritone at the very least. So it is a relief to hear the songs in Italian, despite the English versions being better known.

He is joined by popstars Ariana Grande in Ennio Morricone's (Once Upon A Time In America), Nicole Scherzinger in No Llores Por Mi Argentina (Don't Cry For Me Argentina from Evita), and Karen Mok in Irving Berlin's Cheek To Cheek (Top Hat). The orchestrations are redolent of film music and the amplified Bocelli completely dominates the airwaves. Good if you adore him, but not a disaster if you are a neutral. Easy listening, nonetheless.

WHICH IS THE GREATEST PIANO CONCERTO OF THEM ALL?

Thank you for taking part in the PianoMania Poll on "Which is the greatest piano concerto of them all?

We had a record 548 voters over four months, and some rather surprising results. One suspects some pranksters at work, when over 250 entries were registered in early December 2010, which skewed the poll in favour of Messiaen's Turangalila (269 votes), Mozart's Piano Concerto No.24 (258 votes) and Busoni's Piano Concerto (248 votes). There were also several freaky results for Chopin's Piano Concerto No.2 (127 votes), Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.2 (125 votes) and Mozart's Piano Concerto No.20 (113 votes).

One suspects these to be the work of the Futurerama Fan Club, Yvonne Loriod Admiration Society, Action for Amadeus and Dante Michelangelo Benvenuto Front.

By factoring out the lunatic fringe of pollsters, we arrive at a true reflection of the serious votes. The greatest piano concertos were as follows:

1. RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No.3 (78 votes)

2. BRAHMS Piano Concerto No.1 (69 votes)

3. RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No.2 (56 votes)

4. TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.1 (47 votes)

5. BRAHMS Piano Concerto No.2 (45 votes)

Bringing up the rear, but not too far behind were Beethoven's Fifth and Fourth Piano Concertos (43 and 38 votes respectively) , Chopin's First Piano Concerto (33 votes) and Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto (32 votes).

Thank you for voting in the PianoMania Poll.

Watch out for the next poll:

What do you regard as Franz Liszt's greatest work for the piano?

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE / CHISATO KUSUNOKI Piano Recital / Review

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE 

CHISATO KUSUNOKI Piano Recital 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Thursday (13 May 2010)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 15 May 2010. 

Some of the pre-requisites to perform Russian piano music convincingly are emotional heft, an iron-clad technique and loads of reserve. While one does not need to be Russian or at least Slavic, it certain helps. It was thus a pleasant surprise to see a UK-based Japanese pianist wrestle with the Russian bear and come out victorious and pretty much unscathed. 

Chisato Kusonoki packs a wallop within her tiny frame. For Alexander Scriabin’s fiery Third Sonata in F sharp minor which opened her 2-hour long recital, the music tread the fine line of being copy-Chopin to bursting free from all fetters. She shaped the lyrical phrases beautifully, especially in the languid slow movement, and went for broke in the volatile and breathless finale. Poised and polished, she was unafraid to throw off the gloves and go bare-knuckled.

Equally enthralling were two contrasting Transcendental Études by Sergei Lyapunov, an obvious homage to Liszt’s virtuosity. The serene Lullaby luxuriated in Borodinesque harmonies while the harrowing Lesghinka, a coruscating Oriental dance, found her in imperious form. If there is a work to outdo Balakirev’s overplayed Islamey Fantasy, this is it. Students and serial competitors take note!

Demonstrating she was not just dizzying fingers, her selection of three Tchaikovsky Seasons – the slower and more introspective ones – revealed a more intimate side. In Autumn Song (October), Kusunoki’s uniting of two disparate voices was a model of particular beauty and sensitivity. 

In Rachmaninov’s Six Moments Musicaux (Op.16), all the critical faculties for a memorable performance came to bear. Her gift of cantabile served the first and fifth pieces well, the former never a slave to the right hand’s vertiginous maneuvers and the latter reliving the joy of arch-simplicity. Razor-sharp reflexes also weathered the whirlwind tempos of the second and fourth Moments, with lots more to spare. 

The brooding third number, the most Russian of the set, probed deeply into the collective psyche and offered up some secrets. For the final C major romp, she unleashed the roar of the ocean, approximating the power of a Lazar Berman, but without the pummeling brute force. Her lovely encore, a Chopin nocturne and the only non-Russian work, marked a welcome return to solace and serenity.