SCHUBERT 1824 / Chamber Music and Arts Singapore / Review

 

SCHUBERT 1824 

Chamber Music and Arts Singapore

Esplanade Recital Studio 

Monday & Tuesday 

(16 & 17 December 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 20 December 2024 with the title "Chamber Music and Arts presented sparkling showcase in mini Schubert festival".

So soon after the Ding Yi Chinese Chamber Music Festival came another mini-festival, this time for Western instruments by Chamber Music and Arts Singapore (CMAS) curated by Singaporean violinist Tang Tee Khoon. Its focus was on Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828) and the year 1824. Three repertoire works from that annus mirabilis were heard over two evenings. 

Tang Tee Khoon is the founder 
and driving force behind
Chamber Music and Arts Singapore.

Schubert’s Sonata in A minor (D.821), popularly known as the Arpeggione Sonata, was originally written for the arpeggione, an obsolete bowed instrument with frets. Now commonly heard on cello, this evening’s performance came instead from the viola, helmed by American violist Julianne Lee with locally-based American pianist Ning An. 

Cello or viola, the music is equally beautiful, intimated by Lee’s rich and warm tone. Its lyrical lines were gorgeously voiced and her intonation impeccable. Every bit an equal partner was An’s crisp and unflappable pianism which never sought to dominate, instead making the music sing through three congenial movements. 

While the sonata basked in genteel Biedermeier sensibilities, String Quartet No.14 in D minor (D.810), or “Death And The Maiden”, reflected a more turbulent aspect of the Romantics. Festival director Tang, local violinist Yang Shuxiang and German cellist Eckart Runge joined violist Lee for what had to be the most passionate performance of this masterpiece heard in recent times. 

Its unison opening bars came like a fearsome onslaught, fair indication of angst and agitation to come. Unity and tautness of ensemble was on full display, yet every voice was heard with a startling immediacy and resounding clarity. The tempestuous first movement was contrasted with the slow movement’s variations, based on the solemn plodding chords which Schubert’s eponymous song Der Tod und das Madchen (Death and the Maiden) begins with. 

The full gamut of string quartet writing was wondrously revealed, each variation unfolding with ever increasing tension. Solos from Tang and Runge were lovingly voiced in this mini-epic. While the short Scherzo and Trio contrasted brusqueness with decorum, the adrenaline-fueled finale’s tarantella rhythm closed with an unabashed show of blood and guts. 

The second evening saw a rare outing of the Octet in F major (D.803), scored for strings and winds. The earlier quartet of strings was joined by Frenchman Florent Héau (clarinet), Lim Tee Heong (bassoon), Kartik Alan Jairamin (French horn) and Wang Xu (double-bass), the latter three members from re:Sound Collective. 

In six movements running for almost 70 minutes, this is Schubert’s longest chamber work, even more expansive than his “Great” Symphony. That the eight musicians stayed the course for this exhausting (more for players but less so for audience) masterpiece was credit enough, but they also impressed with an excellent balance of voices and individual instrumental virtuosity. 

The imposing opening movement established their credentials beyond doubt, while the Adagio second movement’s sheer lyrical beauty could melt hearts. Héau’s clarinet solo was an echo of the slow movement from Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. Tang’s violin and Runge’s cello later took turns to gild the lily, while Kartik’s horn provided the counterpoint. Simply sublime. 

The faster movements, a Scherzo and Minuet, possessed a drive that resisted rhythmic rigidity, opting instead for flexibility when it came to contrasting second subjects. Sandwiched in between was one of Schubert’s greatest Theme and Variations movements, a folksy Mozartean subject put through a creative spin that was both inventive and delightful. 

Vigorous rumbling tremolos from Runge dramatically heralded the finale, an expressive outpouring of joie de vivre all the way to an ecstatic close. The rousing reception accorded to the octet was clear indication that the audience had witnessed something truly special.

A TRIBUTE TO WALTER HAASS. MASTER PIANO TECHNICIAN

 

A TRIBUTE TO WALTER HAASS 

MASTER PIANO TECHNICIAN 

It is with shock and sadness that we learn of the sudden passing of WALTER HAASS on Sunday (15 December 2024), the Australian-German piano technician whose long and treasured association with the Singapore International Piano Festival (SIPF) and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) can never be over-estimated. 

In 30 years of the hallowed piano festival (1994-2024), there have been four artistic directors, three concert venues, multiple Steinway concert grands, over a hundred pianists, but only one dedicated piano technician. That was Walter Haass, the maestro behind the keys, who made all the pianos sound the way the pianists intended them to, and to our ears what perfect pianos ought to sound like. 

Walter Haass with the four SIPF directors:
Lim Yan (2019-present), Pianomaniac (2004-2008),
Goh Yew Lin (1994-2003, 2009)
& Lionel Choi (2010-2018)

Walter was born in post-War Stuttgart (then West Germany) in 1952, was himself a pianist who received training in Germany and France in the crafting of pianos and the secrets of making the instruments sing. He and his family emigrated to Western Australia in the 1980s, becoming an important personality and permanent fixture in the Australian and Asian piano music scene. 

Walter flanked by Thomas Hecht
and Noriko Ogawa (SIPF 2005)

He was first invited to work on the Steinways at the Singapore International Piano Festival in 1995, the festival’s second edition, after which he never left his station. There was simply no reason to. Other than the pandemic year of 2020 when the festival was suspended, he was the omnipresent uniting figure at every festival. 

Outside of the festival, Walter was invited back to Singapore to work for pianists with special and specific requests in their recitals. I was proud to highlight his sterling work in my Straits Times and Bachtrack reviews of recitals by Arcadi Volodos (2005) and most recently Helene Grimaud in October this year, when he had to condition two Steinways for the same recital. At both these concerts, the pianos had a wonderful resonant sonority which led me to think, “Walter must be back in town!” And that was the last time I saw him, thanking him in person, and taking for granted he would be back here again in 2025. Alas... 

Walter with Koh Jia Hwei,
Lim Yan & Dennis Lee (SIPF 2005).
Who knew Lim Yan would become
festival director some 14 years later? 

Walter was quiet and humble in personality, but fiercely proud of his work. After each recital, he would gently ask me in his deep baritone voice, “Did you like the sound?” How does one answer that question except in the affirmative? The truth was that he varied the voicing of each piano based on each pianist’s preferences, and so every evening, the piano sounded a little different, as different as the pianists themselves. Whether he worked for a big name (Argerich, Demidenko, Anderszewski et al) or a debuting young pianist (in the Young Virtuoso Recital Series), he accorded them the same care and professionalism. Very often, he would offer praise and encouragement to a young talent and share with me his approval. 

Walter meets his "twin",
Hungarian pianist Jeno Jando (SIPF 2008)
Both were born in 1952.

I was introduced to Walter by festival founders Goh Yew Lin and Tisa Ng (then SSO General Manager) in the early years of his tenure, and then it all clicked from there. By the time I was named festival director (for the years 2004-2008), we had become friends. He was a regular at post-recital makan sessions, where he let his hair down and shared all sorts of interesting stories about his profession and life in general. 

Dinner at No Signboard (SIPF 2008),
with Jennifer Micallaf, Glen Inanga, Jeno Jando,
young virtuosos Lee Pei Ming & Albert Lin.

One particular memorable anecdote involved a very famous late Czech pianist who also fancied himself as a piano technician. He would carry his own toolbox and tinker around with the piano pre-concert, much to Walter’s private consternation. One day his toolbox was reported missing, but the concert went on anyway. By all accounts, it was a successful concert, after which Walter emerged from the wings with the very toolbox. Returning it to the owner with a look of relief, he exclaimed “Oh, I’ve found it!” Needless to say, there was a knowing wink when he recounted that story. 

Walter was also a good listener,
as Dennis Lee spins a story
of his own (SIPF 2005)

I also remember Walter for his generosity. Knowing that I was a fellow pianophile, he made copies of Steinway Piano’s annual commemorative CD which he happily presented to me. To a down-and-out piano teacher and former Steinway employee, he readily gave a substantial loan taken from his salaried work in Singapore. True to form, he never asked for the money back (while the teacher made himself scarce). Even after my tenure as festival director, I was a guest of his in Perth, where he and his wife Marie treated my family to a hearty steak dinner. 

Guests of the Haasses,
at Inglewood Hotel, Mount Lawley (2015).

All of us piano-lovers will sorely miss Walter - his professionalism, his friendship, his kindness, and his generosity – and not necessarily in that order. His kind will never come again.

MAO FUJITA Piano Recital / Review

 

MAO FUJITA Piano Recital 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Sunday (15 December 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 December 2024 with the title "Pianist Mao Fujita makes most of short pieces in delightful recital".

The final piano recital of the calendar year, presented by Altenburg Arts, featured Berlin-based young Japanese pianist Mao Fujita. He shot to fame after winning 1st prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition (Switzerland, 2017) and 2nd prize in the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition (Moscow, 2019), and has several critically-acclaimed recordings under his belt. 

Mao Fujita's latest album,
Preludes by Chopin, Scriabin
& Akira Yashiro.

Implausibly boyish looking, the 26-year-old sloped on and off the stage like someone three times his age. Appearing shy to a fault, he even seemed embarrassed by the applause by taking short and tentative bows. Thankfully, he let his playing do the talking and the ice was immediately broken. 

He opened the recital with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Variations on Ah Vous Dirai-je, Maman (K.265), better known as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. This is almost never heard outside of children’s piano recitals but he made a most persuasive case by playing all the repeats and freely sprinkling delicious ornaments. Sometimes bringing out hidden inner voices or adding his own surprising and sometimes bluesy harmonies, his view was an unexpected delight. 

Next came Russian pianist-composer Alexander Scriabin’s 24 Preludes (Op.11) which were strongly influenced by Frederic Chopin’s music. It was even rumoured that Scriabin went to bed every night with a volume of Chopin under his pillow. Alternating between major and minor keys, the pieces progressed through a circle of fifths, beginning with C major and closing in D minor. 

One cannot imagine a smoother ride through the keys, for Fujita crafted svelte silky sonorities from start to finish. The lyricism and passion was Chopinesque, and there were several numbers which were clearly inspired by the Pole, but Scriabin was becoming very much his own man. In Prelude No.15 (D flat major), he brought out gentle bell sounds as opposed to Chopin’s raindrops, while Prelude No.16 (B flat minor) relived the plodding of mysterious footsteps rather than the fury of a tempestuous ride. 

Fujita made every short piece count by compelling one to truly listen with intent. There was never a dull moment. Having also heard his recording of the same work, one can only concede that live playing is still preferable to a mere recreation of the music. 

A similar journey was repeated in Chopin 24 Preludes (Op.28), which is a far more familiar work to most listeners. Like the earlier Scriabin, these were ultra-smooth and polished to a fine sheen. Anyone seeking any hint of a rough edge or a raw nerve ending, unmitigated mirrors of Chopin’s angst, does so in vain. 

There have been more sharply contoured and personal readings, notably by Russian pianist Ilya Rashkovskiy and Thai pianist Poom Prommachart in the same venue in the recent past, but Fujita’s was still a solidly reliable and absorbing performance which will gain further facets with time. 

His encores were varied and excellent, in particular the finale of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata (Op.57), when the talons finally came out and drew blood. By contrast, Felix Mendelssohn’s graceful little Song Without Words in F sharp minor (Op.67 No.2) provided a healing salve.

All photographs by Ung Ruey Loon,

courtesy of Altenburg Arts.

DING YI CHINESE CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024 / Review

 

DING YI CHINESE CHAMBER 

MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024 

Esplanade Recital Studio 

Friday & Saturday 

(13 & 14 December 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 16 December 2024 with the title "A feast of traditional and avantgarde music".

One of Singapore’s best-kept musical secrets is the biennial Ding Yi Chinese Chamber Music Festival, bringing together Chinese chamber ensembles from the Asia-Pacific and the homegrown Ding Yi Music Company. Three evenings of concerts are a showcase of ensemble music more diverse than the sonatas, trios, quartets and quintets that commonly define Western chamber music. 

The first evening opened with the senior citizens of Singapore Teochew Ensemble playing traditional tunes Lamps in Thousand Homes and Reminiscence in basic unison heterophony. This is the recreational music often heard in events like weddings and communal ceremonies. 

More sophisticated were Ding Yi Music Company’s presentations, a slick huqin quartet in Yao Min’s Picking Red Water Chestnuts and a full ensemble in Zhou Jiaying’s Twinkling of Bonfire Night conducted by Dedric Wong. The latter was impressionist in colour, with a quiet introduction developing into a swift celebratory dance complete with rhythmic foot-stamping. 

There were a couple of cheesy pieces using
Western instruments including one work with a
title sounding like Angry Horse Shaking Its Balls.

Windpipe Chinese Music Ensemble (Hong Kong) was the Festival’s first invited guest, impressing with Cantonese melodies, old and new. Whether playing in unison heterophony in Yan Laolie’s United We Go, Luk Wai Chung’s Lan Kwai Tang Fong and Drunken Lady Yang at Pavilion of Hundred Flowers, or the more contemporary pop-inspired approach taken in Cantonese Medley (arranged by Wang Chenwei), the virtuosity in fast numbers was clearly evident. 

Both Ding Yi and Windpipe were united for two concertante works. Xu Qiwei’s New Rendition of Early Cantonese Music conducted by Szeto Kin featured five Hong Kong soloists which performed adroitly as a concertino group, while Wang Jianmin’s The Charm of Tianshan Mountain conducted by Festival Director Yeh Tsung had Festival Artist erhu soloist Yang Xue do the honours in a spectacular concerto with exotic Central Asian influences. 

Music of a far more intimate kind featured on the second evening, from the awkwardly named “Bows and Strings’ Dance” Erhu (Huqin) Ensemble (Beijing) comprising four members, Yang Xue and three young students. Liu Tianhua’s Nocturnal Peace was an erhu duet, displaying a similar polyphony encountered in Bela Bartok’s Duos for two violins. 

Chen Yunyun’s more sentimental Red Velvet saw two erhus (Yang and Feng Xiao) accompanied by Ding Yi’s Tan Jie Qing on yangqin. Yang’s own Play for two erhus and zhonghu was a playful showcase of rapid fire virtuosity, as was the Brazilian Zequinha Abreu’s Tico Tico No Fuba in a faithful and delightfully polyphonic arrangement by Rui Xue. 

The ensemble as a full quartet presented more substantial fare in Ho Chee Kong’s Whispers of Spring, an impressionist fantasy with a pastoral feel, distinguished by drone effects and Yang’s superb gaohu solo. Li Bo Chan’s modernistic Bows and Strings, named after the group, was a series of songs and dances, that vividly exploited all kinds of instrumental possibilities. 

Nothing could be more different when C-Camerata (Taipei), a mixed ensemble comprising Chinese and Western instruments conducted by Chen Tai-chi, took to the stage. Atonality does not respect the countenance of instruments, only their timbral potentials. 

Chian Yi-cheng’s Tok for six players belonged to the “ping qualified by a thud” aesthetic where extended techniques were applied to instruments, including prepared piano, a metal rod placed between a violin’s strings, blowing directly on the pipes of a sheng, and a most unsettling rattling sound produced by a guzheng. 

Tung Chao-ming’s Behind The Sounds III with added percussion and dizi was similarly explorative and experimental, necessitating vocalisations from the players. American composer Oren Boneh’s Sprout completed this avantgarde showcase, beginning with a palpable beat from Kuo Jing-mu’s guzheng, then progressing into a relentless ostinato crescendo reminiscent of the violence of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. It made for a deafening cacophony that will clear the sinuses.

A CHRISTMAS RHAPSODY / International Festival Chorus / Review

 

A CHRISTMAS RHAPSODY 

International Festival Chorus 

SOTA Concert Hall 

Sunday (8 December 2024) 

It all started with a concert of Christmas music in 1974, after which British music educator John Edwards, Head of Music at the United World College of Southeast Asia (UWCSEA), decided to turn his choir into a permanent entity. Named the International Festival Chorus (IFC), it became Singapore’s longest running community choir, even predating the Singapore Symphony Chorus by some six years. Edwards (who was also The Straits Times’ music reviewer) was the IFC’s longest serving director (he left Singapore in 1983), and past directors have included Robert Casteels, Peter Stead, Eng Meng Chia, Albert Tay and Chong Wai Lun, just to name a few. 

IFC celebrated its 50th anniversary this year with a Christmas concert under its 17th music director the American Tom Anderson. And what an enjoyable and eclectic mix the 140-minute concert was, featuring what must be the most cosmopolitan and diverse choirs performing for the most cosmopolitan and diverse audience in Singapore. The singers of the IFC main chorus, chamber chorus and UWC Children’s Choir (Jamee Guerra, Director) all knew how to have fun in an informal and unstuffy atmosphere that is often lacking here. 

The concert’s first half was occupied with seasonal favourites, opening with the children in It Feels Like Christmas accompanied by pianist Francesca Lee (also IFC’s longest serving member). It was all plain good fun, with the children merrily waving to their parents in the audience after each song. The IFC singers, wearing red scarves and ties on black, were no less festive, registering with Ding Dong! Merrily On High (accompanied by piano four hands) and Chuck Bridwell’s Nutcracker Jingles, a very nifty arrangement combining James Pierpoint’s perennial Jingle Bells with movements from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet. The highly rhythmic African Noel was accompanied by percussionists from the Magnificat Orchestra. 

When it came to the more traditional songs, the chamber chorus delivered with precision and accuracy, In Dulci Jubilo and Es ist ein Ros ensprungen had that glow of warmth while Greg Gilpin’s Ding-a Ding Ding benefited from intimate tintinnabulation and that decrescendo could be heard all the way from the highest circle seats. Handel’s Messiah had to feature sometime, and it was Glory To God with soprano Renata Hann delivering the recitative. Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo’s Ecce Novum, accompanied by piano and strings, is destined to be a future classic. It is just that beautiful. The Austrian cradle song Still, Still, Still, arranged by Norman Luboff, was sensitively by Bianca Beng’s harp. 

It was a return to popular music, with Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, and Tom Anderson (wearing a top hat) had a ravishing cameo solo as Willy Wonka in Pure Imagination, the sumptuously orchestrated version being a particular highlight. The children returned for This Is My Wish and the first half closed with the full complement of singers in Do You Hear What I Hear? 

The concert’s main event was Sir John Rutter’s Magnificat (1990). For creating some of contemporary choral music’s most treacly sweet confections, the poor Knight of the British Empire (he was decorated by King Charles III earlier this year) has received criticism from high snobdom while laughing all the way to the bank. His music is a guilty pleasure, like a high-calorie, high-cholesterol cheese cake with all the fruits and icing on top. And why not? 

The Magnificat Orchestra, formed by some of Singapore’s best free-lancers and a full complement of brass, did the honours to ensure the singers had the best accompaniment ever, and the final result was a veritable treat. The Magnificat subject was Virgin Mary’s joyous response to the annunciation (that she would bear the saviour of the world, impregnated by the Holy Spirit). The high spirits evident in the opening Magnificat anima mea (My soul doth magnify the Lord) with the sopranos in their element. The purity of their voices is celebrated here. More sober was Of a Rose, a Lovely Rose that followed, the only non-liturgical movement and sung in English. Sopranos again ruled, this time with a unison of silky evenness. Quia fecit mihi magna (Because He has done great things for me) had that broad celebratory feel, with men’s voices, not to be overshadowed, taking the lead. 

Soprano Renata Hann returned as an ethereal soloist in Et Misericordia and Esurientes, her amplified voice was a pleasure to behold even if a slight miscue caught on microphone was a small price to pay. Inserted in between, Rutter’s Fecit potentiam took on an unexpectedly syncopated edge, with a jazzy fugue to challenge the singers, which they accomplished with suitable aplomb. The final Gloria Patri provided a suitably grand conclusion with all voices on deck, a reprise of the Magnificat melody and blaring brass to complete the festivities. 

The Magnificat’s forty-minutes or so passed like a dream. Sacred choral music was never meant to be boring or uninvolving, and IFC emphatically confounded all hoary stereotypes with this lively performance. Never mind if the audience applauded between every movement. If there was a work (in effect seven separate works) that deserved multiple plaudits, this was it and the guilt is purely and unreservedly ours. Tom Anderson and his charges have ensured all who attended went home to a blessed and fulfilling Christmas season (with proverbial chestnuts roasting on an open fire) ahead.