LIU ZIYU Piano Recital / Review

 

LIU ZIYU Piano Recital 

Singapore Conference Hall 

Sunday (3 November 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 5 November 2024 with the title "Young Chinese pianist brings wealth of emotion".

There are so many young Chinese pianists plying their art these days that it is easy to reduce them to Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, Li Yundi and the rest. Now meet 26-year-old Liu Ziyu, who was awarded first prize at the under-the-radar and little-publicised Singapore International Piano Competition in 2019. On the excellent form of his debut recital, presented by Bechstein Music World, he deserves to be far better known. 

Photo: Guan Ziwen

Opening with two contrasting Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, he brought out a luscious tone from the C.Bechstein grand in the slow, lingering F minor number (K.466). Its melancholy soon gave way to the animated skipping of the E major piece (K.135), so crisply and clearly articulated that one imagined the action of a harpsichord. 

It was very unusual to follow that up with Maurice Ravel’s La Valse, a work far more frequently programmed to conclude a recital. A rumbling waltz rhythm was established from the outset, resembling more of a motor than swirling couples, but the smoke cleared with every move well-delineated. Splashy chords and a surfeit of glissandi were the order of the day, as the dance careened dangerously close to the abyss, but Liu was fully in control, all the way to its final crash. 

To have Ludwig van Beethoven’s final Sonata No.32 in C minor (Op.111) come after that seemed almost insane, but Liu had now fully warmed up. Its opening octaves, chords and scalic runs were delivered with the vehemence of defiance. With its narrative of fist-shaking once established, he never let up for a moment. There was nervous applause, abruptly cut-off by the concluding Arietta’s quiet opening. 

Photo: Guan Ziwen

Considered one of Beethoven’s greatest set of variations, Liu brought a wealth of emotion to this exhausting metaphorical journey. From utter simplicity, through the extreme exuberance of dance (with syncopations that looked ahead to 20th century jazz and boogie-woogie), to its trill-filled and sublime conclusion, the attention was never allowed to wander. 

Just as quietly as the Beethoven closed, the second half comprising just Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B minor opened with bare bones. From just four brief but contrasted motifs, Liszt built up an edifice of monumental proportions. Liu’s keen elucidation of these themes and a very clean delivery made this half-hour behemoth sound both coherent and absorbing. 

Its fusillades of octaves on both hands held no terrors as his finely-honed technique weathered the torrid storms and some more. The lyrical moments shone with luminous clarity while quiet bits with pregnant pauses had one waiting with bated breath in anticipation. The fugato was navigated with much agility and the revelatory final denouement left no one in doubt as to the work’s greatness. 

Photo: Guan Ziwen

Now it had made full sense for Liu not have played Ravel after this. Re-emerging to warm applause, he offered two encores. A deliberate but not draggy account of Claude Debussy’s Clair de lune was followed by living Chinese composer Zhang Zhao’s Numa Ame (努 玛 阿 美) an exultant ethnic dance of Yunnan origin.

Liu Ziyu meeting his fans.

A FOLKLORIC JOURNEY: MELODIES OF THE HOMELAND / Donald Law, Gabriel Lee & Zoi Yeh / Review

 

A FOLKLORIC JOURNEY: 

MELODIES OF THE HOMELAND 

Gabriel Lee (Violin) 

Zoi Yeh (Cello) & 

Donald Law (Piano) 

Esplanade Recital Studio 

Thursday (31 October 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 4 November 2024 with the title "Chamber concert an enjoyable study of musical nationalism".

The idea of home and homesickness in music mostly came about during the Romantic era, largely due to composers traveling away from their lands of birth and the rise of nationalism. This chamber concert was an enjoyable study of musical nationalism and how composers poured their hearts out when reminded of their origins. 

The evening opened with pianist Donald Law performing Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Dumka (Op.59) for solo piano. While he was considered too Western in style and taste by the “Mighty Handful” of Russian nationalist composers, Tchaikovsky nevertheless carved out a virtuoso showpiece from its brooding subject (Dumka comes from the Ukrainian word duma, which is a “lament”). 

Law coped well with its series of short variations and mastered its dizzying cadenza with aplomb, with its brusque concluding C minor chords echoed in the next work, Taiwanese composer Tyzen Hsiao’s Capriccio In Hakka Melody. Taiwanese cellist Zoi Tzu-Jou Yeh, who is Hakka herself, recalled hearing this tune being sung in market places during her youth. Like the earlier Tchaikovsky, its heart-rending melody, performed with much warmth and feeling, evoked genuine nostalgia. 

For solo cello was young London-based Singaporean composer Toh Yen Ee’s Ode To The Sun (2022), inspired by a painting (of the same title) and violin work (Kuang Xiang Qu) by Cultural Medallion recipient Kam Kee Yong. Its all-too-short depiction of sunrise, midday and sunset received a luminous reading from Yeh. 

Violinist Gabriel Lee accounted for two popular violin works, opening with the second piece from Bohemian composer Bedrich Smetana’s From The Homeland. Alternating between G minor and major keys, its Slavonic dance rhythms found sympathetic advocates in Lee and Law, who completed the concert’s first half with Hungarian composer Bela Bartok’s Romanian Folkdances. In the third dance (Pe Loc or On The Spot), Lee eschewed its stratospheric harmonics for an earthier sound more closely resembling Romanian gypsy fiddling. 

The concert’s major work was Smetana’s Piano Trio in G minor (Op.15), which occupied the whole second half. If one found the first half a tad polite and restrained, all three musicians went for broke in this passionate work which hit the evening’s highest points. Huge fortissimo chords on the piano were balanced by the cello’s rich expressiveness and violin’s virtuosic turns of phrase. 

The central movement delighted in syncopations and the quaint folksiness found in ethnic dances, while the finale’s rapid fire was guaranteed to send pulses racing. Smetana still had one big tune up his sleeve, which was first lovingly heard on cello, and finally milked for all its worth for a spectacular close. 

As an encore, the trio performed what could now be considered a Singaporean folksong - Dick Lee’s Home. Arranged in G major by Sulwyn Lok, any fuzzy and warm feelings engendered should not be considered embarrassing. It just means one is a dyed-in-the-wool local!

DANCE WITH THE FOUR / T'ang Quartet / Review

 

DANCE WITH THE FOUR 

T’ang Quartet, Ning An & Albert Tiu 

Conservatory Concert Hall 

Tuesday (29 October 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 31 October 2024 with the title

The T’ang Quartet as we knew it in 1992, its inaugural year, does not quite exist any more. An ensemble-in-residence at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, its remaining founding members violinists Ng Yu Ying and Ang Chek Meng now perform concerts with guest musicians. A former student, Korean cellist Cho Hang-oh, joined it for this concert as did fellow faculty member violist Zhang Manchin for a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor (Op.57). 

Arguably the most performed 20th century piano quintet, it had inspirations from the Baroque, notably Johann Sebastian Bach. Pianist Ning An’s big opening chords on the newly-gifted Fazioli grand was a statement of intent in the Prelude, from which a probing exposition sprouted and grew. The very tight ensemble continued into the lengthy Fugue, where individual voices and contrapuntal lines stood out with illuminating clarity. 

Photo: Faezah Zulkifli

With formality out of the way, the group let down its collective hair for the madcap Scherzo, its biting irony and vitriolic humour in tandem with a swinging beat. Sparks flew for a short but scintillating course, its irreverent tone giving way to the Intermezzo’s walking-paced passacaglia, yet another Baroque form. 

Seriousness would be called to question with the Finale’s levity and faux-cheeriness soon taking over. One might be puzzled by the volte-face, but the players’ determination in keeping tongues lodged in cheeks held firm, through a manic march to its ambiguous close. The Soviet regime was flummoxed, even awarding Shostakovich the coveted Stalin Prize in 1941. 

After the interval, the T’angs were joined by conservatory student violist Huang Yi and pianist Albert Tiu for a second half of tangos by Argentine composer / bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla. One might inquire what on earth Shostakovich and Piazzolla had in common. 

The answer would be found by just listening: a shared love of Bach. 

Fuga y Mysterio, which began an enjoyable run of half a dozen tangos, was built upon a fugue. Tiu, who crafted these nifty transcriptions, opened with a highly syncopated piano subject, with string voices joining in sequence. Percussive beats were provided by striking of wood (on cello and piano) and short-and-sharp bowing near the bridge. Old J.S. would have been proud of the mastery of counterpoint involved. 

With Soledad (Solitude), Piazzolla had one of his most achingly beautiful slow movements. And how Ng’s violin sang, followed by Huang’s warm and duskily burnished tone on viola. In Concierto Para Quinteto, a progression of descending notes formed the bass over which all instruments took their turns, essentially a passacaglia in disguise. Where did we hear that before? 

In Oblivion, another classic slow movement, solo viola and Cho’s cello came to the fore, poignantly so. La Muerte del Angel (The Death of Angel) was another busy fugue, infectious in its frenetic rhythm and the concert closed with Le Grand Tango, originally written for cello and piano. Here the parts were equally shared by all five players, who clearly enjoyed driving to its intoxicating and rapturous close.

CRYSTAL TO PORCELAIN: KHOR AI MING & TAMAGOH'S 20TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

What a privilege it is to have been among 80 guests invited to Esplanade Recital Studio on Sunday 27 October 2024 to attend the 20th wedding anniversary concert of singer chorusmaster Khor Ai Ming and drummer extraordinaire Tamagoh. Like her annual concerts, this was a heady mix of Ai Ming's favourite songs in Chinese, Malay, Japanese and German, accompanied by the star-studded Simply Jazz Band. 

Esplanade Recital Studio was transformed, with the rows of concert seats removed and its place special arms chairs and coffee tables, arranged as in a jazz lounge. This was a very special concert in celebration of a China anniversary, which the couple niftily called a Porcelain anniversary. Here are some of the photos, and needless to say, all who attended had a great time. 

A special invitation card
and special seating at Esplanade Recital Studio.

The evening's programme,
wedding dinner style!

Ai Ming and Tama make
a very compatible pair,
the secret for 20 good years.

Ai Ming's Kurt Weill segment
was accompanied by pianist Bertrand Lee.

The Simply Jazz Band performs.

Ai Ming accompanies herself in one song.

The final encore was Bizet's Habanera
from Carmen sung in Chinese. 

Take a bow, Ai Ming & Tama.
Here's to 20 more good years!

We were guests along with
Dr & Mrs Tony Makarome,
with the best seats in the house.

A GOTHIC HALLOWEEN / Singapore Symphony Chorus & Eudenice Palaruan / Review

 

A GOTHIC HALLOWEEN 

Singapore Symphony Chorus 

Eudenice Palaruan 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Sunday (27 October 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 29 October 2024 with the title "Spine-tingling music at Halloween concert".

What makes certain works of classical music scary? The human imagination is so susceptible that powers of suggestion can often hold sway. The annual Halloween Concert, part of Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s organ series, had the ideal setting in Victoria Concert Hall. 

Victoria Concert Hall was
aptly decorated for Halloween.

Its Klais pipe organ was the star, with the Introduction from French composer Leon Boellmann’s Suite Gothique performed by the Singapore Symphony Chorus’ director Eudenice Palaruan opening accounts. Loud stentorian chords and long-held resonances conveyed vibes of haunted houses and things that go bump in the dark. 

Then enter the men from Singapore Symphony Chorus, all 17 with grim expressions as those awaiting execution. Singing a brief movement from Francis Poulenc’s Four Little Prayers of Saint Francis of Assisi, led by assistant conductor Ellissa Sayampanathan, did not assuage their collective guilt. 

Johann Sebastian Bach’s infamous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor did not make an appearance, but his “Little” Fugue in G minor (BWV.578) did. This was, however, almost cheerful by comparison. More serious was De Profundis Clamavi (Out of the Depths, I Cry to You) with 18 women’s voices joining in. Its alternation of chant-like unison lines and polyphony in Latin, a dead language, sent chills down the spine. 

Low Jinhong’s celesta with its tinkling timbre accounted for the chromatic Notturno (Nocturne) by the Hungarian Bela Bartok, renowned for his creepy skin-crawling music. Interestingly, this had the same opening notes and E minor key as Robert Schumann’s Im Rhein (In The Rhine) which followed. This was a salute to Cologne’s gothic cathedral, with mixed chorus accompanied by celesta, piano (Shane Thio) and organ (Boey Jir Shin). 

The most ambitious and colourful work on show was Palaruan’s Cana, based on a Spanish term referring to a wide range of reed and pipe instruments. Here, staggered chants in unison (Veni Creator Spiritus and Santo Espiritu) were accompanied by handbells, glass harmonicas, bird whistles, khaen (bamboo pipes, played by the composer) and keyboards instruments to great effect. 

Eudenice plays the khaen (panpipes).

Back to the pipe organ, Palaruan completed Boellmann’s Suite Gothique with its soaringly sonorous Toccata. Does anybody else besides this reviewer think that the Malay words of Di Tanjung Katong could be sung to its main melody? Uncanny and bizarre. Edward Elgar’s well-known Nimrod from Enigma Variations, heard on piano and organ, was noble and imposing, but positively non-threatening. So why was it even included? 

On the other hand, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana can claim its fair share of casualties. The plain chant of Fortune Plango Vulnera (I Mourn the Wounds of Fortune) had a brutal edge to it. The exultant penultimate song Ave Formosissima (Hail, Most Beautiful One) led directly to the iconic O Fortuna, which was sung with the vehemence and bloodlust it deserved. 

Given the parlous state of world affairs today, security and good fortune are not a given. A Donald Trump re-election next week? That is the most frightening thought for this Halloween.