Photographs of HOME PIANO RECITAL by ZHAO YANG MING TIAN

Followers of this blog will probably remember Zhao Yang Ming Tian, the impressive young pianist from Hainan Island, China, who studied for two years at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts under the tutelage of Benjamin Loh. He has since moved on to the University of Kansas, where he has won a string of prizes in piano competitions. It was a pleasure to welcome him back to Singapore. albeit for a few days, where he performed a recital at the Cairnhill residence of Swiss pianophile Guy Hentsch and Geoffery Yu. 

His was a very interesting programme of Romantic works and rare transcriptions from piano's Golden Age, which has captivated him, and also his audience on the evening. He began with Doucet's Chopinata, a work that combines melodies from Chopin's Polonaise Op.53, Fantaisie-Impromptu Op.66 and Waltz Op.64 No.2, written in a manner a very good lounge pianist might. It was very vulgar but very entertaining, a sort of ice-breaker which led to some real Chopin, a glowing reading of the Nocturne in B major Op.62 No.1. 

The major work of the first half was Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales, and Ming Tian was able to bring out the colours and nuances from its varied dances. The final waltz was an exercise in nostalgia, as fragments from the earlier waltzes make short, fleeting appearances within the general haziness of its movement,  like memories of a dream landscape. He closed with that notorious finger-twister that is Paul de Schlözer's Étude in A flat major, which Rachmaninov used to warm up his fingers before playing.  

The second half was equally interesting, beginning with Mozart's Variations from Gluck's Unser dummer pöbel meint, a work which Tchaikovsky orchestrated as the final movement of his Mozartiana Suite. It is rather long and repetitious but Ming Tian kept it interesting with lots of witty and surprising touches, as if relating a joke with many parts. There were more transcriptions galore with Georges Cziffra's wicked treatment of Brahms's Hungarian Dance No.5, which begins with a nonchalant feint followed some serious barnstorming, the best which the Hungarian entertainer could muster.

The recital closed with Paul Pabst's Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, a favourite party trick of Shura Cherkassky's. This is probably the first performance in Singapore of this potboiler, but what a winner it is. Ming Tian can certain overwhelm with its outsized pianism, but it is his sensitivity that impresses the most. Listening to the amazing counterpoint with Lensky's Aria played on the left hand, with vestiges of the waltz sounding like a dream on the right hand, was one of the finest moments of an enjoyable evening. Needless to say, the audience gave him a vociferous ovation which he truly deserved. 

Host of the evening Guy Hentsch has some words of thanks for Ming Tian.

Two wonderful young pianists: Zhao Yang Ming Tian and Azariah Tan.

Some of the best young piano talents on the island: (From L) Azariah Tan, Bina Jung, Zhao Yang Ming Tian, Lawrence Holmefjord-Sarabi and Clarence Lee.  

POETIC FANTASIES / Zhao Yang Ming Tian Piano Recital / Review

POETIC FANTASIES / Zhao Yang Ming Tian, Piano
Esplanade Recital Studio / Monday (30 March 2011)
This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 June 2011 with the title "Chinese teen talent shines with poetic brilliance".

Ever wondered what celebrity pianists Lang Lang and Li Yundi were like before they became really famous? Besides being better musicians, they probably possessed a certain innocence and humility that readily came across in their prodigious playing, far removed from the artifice that comes with hype.

17-year-old Chinese pianist Zhao Yang Ming Tian, originally from the island of Hainan, looks destined for bigger things when he departs Singapore for further studies in the United States. Those fortunate to have heard the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts student (a pupil of Benjamin Loh) will readily attest to his stylish playing, finesse of execution and fidelity to the score.

That is not to say he is slavish or pedantic, rather quite the opposite, where the music allows his artistry to take wing and soar. His farewell recital was full of such moments. Two very different Scarlatti Sonatas elicited diametric responses, a velvety sheen with generous pedalling sat comfortably with a rapier-sharp staccato technique.

In Mozart’s F major Sonata (K.332), fine legato lines he drew were as delicious as the prestidigitation in the stormy finale was blindingly brilliant. Two Chopin Mazurkas danced with invigorating and rustic lilt to the manner born, and the last five Chopin Préludes (from Op.28) encapsulated a wealth poetry and drama scarcely thought possible in such a short span of time.

Ravel’s insidious Valses nobles et sentimentales came across as slightly undercooked, but there was no denying the incisive thought, care for loving detail and nuance showered on the eight miniatures. The last three works demonstrated Zhao’s clear sympathy for Slavic music. Tchaikovsky’s Dumka, his trusty warhorse, reflected sadness and nostalgia through a series of increasingly virtuosic variations, topped with a spellbinding cadenza. One has seldom heard this better performed.

Somehow, Zhao got to the heart and soul of Bartok’s Three Folksongs from The Csik District, its Magyar accents and inflections almost like a second tongue to him. There was to be no vulgar showboating for the crowd-pleaser in Liszt’s Second Hungarian Rhapsody. He played it straight and effect was no less spectacular.

Multiple curtain calls and cheers ensured three encores. The gorgeous cantabile in Chopin’s D flat major Nocturne (Op.27 No.2) left few dry eyes, while Earl Wild’s dizzying transcription of Fascinating Rhythm had the house in raptures. Singapore can be proud to have hosted this outsize talent for the last two years.

POOMZ! Piano Prodigies by Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts / Review

PIANO PRODIGIES
NAFA Auditorium
Tuesday (12 January 2010)

What does one make of a recital entitled Piano Prodigies? Hyperbole or mere wishful thinking? To the credit of the Department of Keyboard Studies at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art, neither; this hour-long recital by their foreign student talents came close to the real thing.

The 16-year-old whiz from Hainan Island (China), Zhao Yang Ming Tian (above), looks every bit of a keyboard veteran. Opening with a commanding account of Granados’ Allegro de Concierto, roulades of notes flew in its fanfare-like introduction, immaculately tossed off with a facility and lightness that impressed. Blessed with the ability to relax and withhold, and later pile on the notes upon demand, he strikes the listener as a thinking and feeling musician, not an automaton. Easily negotiating a variety of tricky octave passages, and with melodic interest never lost amid the busy guitar-like figurations, these were further plusses. Refreshing in his lack of mannerism, I would much sooner hear Zhao than some chap called Lang Lang.

Mop-topped Nguyen Tien Khai from Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam, above), performed the Vivace third movement from Prokofiev’s Sonata No.8 in B flat major (Op.84). The least savage of his trilogy of War Sonatas, its finale was nonetheless a rapid-fire over barbed-wire exercise in keyboard prowess. Nguyen has the notes, and her Kalashnikov-like attack propelled the music forward with much impetus and volume. However this devilish perpetual motion needs to have more nuance and contour to mean something. A good build-up of momentum was maintained in the central goosestep of staccatos, but the grandstand ending was a mad scramble with missed notes aplenty. I would have much preferred to hear this personable young lady in the sonata’s far more expressive first movement.

All this served as the “undercard” to the “main event” from NAFA alumnus Poom Prommachart (Thailand, above), now a student at London’s Royal College of Music. With a boyish grin, he thanked the organisers of the recital and launched into Rachmaninov’s Étude-tableau in E flat minor (Op.39 No.5). Not the cleanest of readings, it nevertheless had the smouldering melodic line down pat, and reached a towering climax with the inner voice raging above the torrent of chords.

Schumann’s eight-movement Kreisleriana (Op.16) crowned a satisfying evening. A false start notwithstanding, his passionate and fearless leap into its thorny thickets showed he meant business. Combining nimble fingers and deeply felt emotions, he was deep within the heart of the hyper-Romantic music. To this, he brought wide-ranging colours and big gestures, reveling in its turbulent pages yet in always touch with a more tender side. This is a portrait of a poet madly in love, but can a mere 20-year-old be privy to that? Poom exercised that right with generosity and gusto, with the ability to quixotically shift and alternate moods being the secret to understanding this musical roller-coaster.

There were no Singaporeans featured in this recital. No matter, our schools are privileged to have been part of the musical education of these musical prodigies. POOMZ, and triple POOMZ!

A SOIRÉE WITH BRYCE MORRISON / Part 2

16-year-old Zhao Yang Ming Tian from China

thrilled with Granados' Allegro de Concierto.

Shaun Choo, 3rd prize winner 

Piano Artist category,

in the Bach-Busoni Chaconne, was easily

the highlight of the evening.

Azariah Tan, 1st Prize winner 

Piano Senior category 2009,

performed the Rondo from 

Chopin's Piano Concerto No.1.

A 13-year-old student of Yao Xiaoyun

charmed with the Chinese classic,

Silver Clouds Chasing The Moon.

Clement Huang, owner of 

Bukit Batok's only Fazioli,

performed Chopin's Nocturne Op.55 No.2

Closing the evening on a high was Nicholas Loh,

who performed an Étude by Nikolai Kapustin.

Bryce Morrison with prominent 

Singaporean pedagogue

Benjamin Loh (extreme R) and 

his students: Aileen Gozali, 

Zhao Yang Ming Tian & Jonathan Chua.

Bryce Morrison with 

Clement Huang, Nicholas Loh,

a NAFA student, Azariah Tan, 

Yao Xiaoyun, Low Shao Suan & 

Low Shao Ying (from L)