SUKA SUKA: MARIA POMIANOWSKA AND THE ART OF POLISH FIDDLING

Maria Pomianowska is one of the world's authorities of the ancient art of Polish fiddling. She is in town to perform a concert at the Botanic Gardens on Saturday (16 May 2026) with Singaporean musicians on Chinese, Malay and Indian traditional instruments. At an informal session at the residence of Poland's ambassador to Singapore Tadeusz Chomicki, she demonstrated her art on two traditional Polish bowed instruments informally known as the suka - a Bilgoraj suka and Plock fiddle. 

These instruments were once thought to be lost to time, completely replaced by modern violins and violas. However, through archaeological digs and old pictures, modern versions of these instruments have been crafted on cherry wood and birch, reviving a musical tradition thought to have been extinct. There are thought to be only 40-50 such instruments in existence in the world today.

Maria was originally a cellist, and in her many travels to Asia, learnt to play the Indian sarangi, Chinese erhu and Mongolian matouqin. Through experimentation, trials and errors, she adapted various bowed techniques to the suka, and single-handedly brought life back to an ancient tradition. In her demonstration, she played on both instruments - displaying an earthy and dusky tone - as well as sang traditional Polish songs. 

In her concert, she is partnered by Polish accordionist Piotr Kopietz, and instrumentalists from the Singapore Raffles Music College and independent instrumentalists in a project delightfully called A Rojak of Sounds. The concert is organised by the Polish Embassy to Singapore.

A ROJAK OF SOUNDS

Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage,

Singapore Botanic Gardens

Saturday 16 May 2026 at 6 pm

“A ROJAK OF SOUNDS” Botanic Gardens Concert

ADMISSION IS FREE!

Maria Pomianowska with Yo-Yo Ma

Maria Pomianowska

and her suka ensemble

SSO'S FORGOTTEN RECORDINGS: VERDI SINFONIAS & PRELUDES on HONG KONG RECORDS / MARCO POLO

Honestly, this is a terrible likeness
of what the young Verdi looked like.
(See the photograph below)

VERDI

Sinfonias and Preludes
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Choo Hoey (Conductor)
Hong Kong Records
Marco Polo 6.220184

Recorded in August 1983, this album of overtures and preludes from early operas by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) was SSO’s second recording of Western classical repertoire after its take on Respighi’s Concerto Gregoriano. There is nothing remotely familiar here for most listeners – no La Traviata, I Vespri Siciliani, Nabucco or La Forza del Destino. Thus this is mostly an album of discovery as were those SSO concerts conducted by Choo Hoey in 1983 which opened with overtures to Joan of Arc and The Battle of Legnano.

Make no mistake, this is still very good music by a future great composer. The Overture to Il Finto Stanislao (The False Stanislaus, 1840), also known as Un Giorno di Regno (A Day for the King) opens the collection, in a comedic tone befitting the opera buffo. The resemblance to Rossini’s overtures is striking here. By contrast, the Overture to Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc, 1845) is serious and dramatic, while showcasing some fine woodwind solo-playing. The Prelude to I Masnadieri (The Robbers, 1847) is dominated by a cello solo, by then-principal Chiu Chun Chiu.

The stories of these obscure operas are more often than not convoluted and forgettable, but the music is much more easily enjoyed. The Overture to Alzira (1845) with its drum roll and French horn solo, the trumpet solo in the Overture to Aroldo (1857) displayed the of prowess of SSO’s principal musicians even in those early years. 

Perhaps most memorable of these is the Overture to Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio (Count of Saint Boniface, 1839), Verdi’s first opera, where the influence of bel canto was strong. Also enjoy the brass ensemble in the opening of the Overture to La Battaglia di Legnano (The Battle of Legnano, 1849), which true to its title, is filled with much martial music. The SSO performs these works well, and given the rarity of such repertoire, this album is worth listening to.

This album exists only on vinyl LP, and to my knowledge, has never been released on CD. Now a collector’s item, I have to thank Ng Siew Eng to gifting this album to me after a spot of spring-cleaning.

SSO'S FORGOTTEN RECORDINGS: DU MINGXIN'S TEN XINJIANG DANCES & THE SONG OF GUAN YANG on MARCO POLO

 

DU MINGXIN

TEN XINJIANG DANCES

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Takako Nishizaki (Violin)

Choo Hoey (Conductor)

   Marco Polo 8.223903

   Marco Polo 8.225814

THE SONG OF YANG GUAN

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Takako Nishizaki (Violin)

Choo Hoey (Conductor)

   Hong Kong Records 8.240361

   Marco Polo 8.225813

After the success of the Choo Hoey-led Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s recorded collaborations with Japanese violinist Takako Nishizaki in the Hung Hu Violin Concerto (1981) and Respighi Concerto Gregoriano (1983) albums, it was a matter of time more music came from this partnership. The Chinese and Asian Evergreens (1984) disc sold particularly well, thus albums of more Chinese music particularly old / ancient Chinese tunes became imperative.

The 1985 was a busy year for recording at Victoria Concert Hall. In the month of June came the Ten Xinjiang Dances by famous Chinese composer Du Mingxin (born 1928, still living), who was responsible for the Socialist Realist ballets Red Detachment of Women (1964, China’s most famous ballet) and The Mermaid. 

Described as A Xinjiang Musical Tour (its title in Chinese), the suite for violin and orchestra comprised ten movements based on Kazakh, Uyghur, Tajik and Tartar folksongs, Central Asian ethnicities resident in China’s westernmost province. Just imagine these to be Oriental versions of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances or Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, lushly orchestrated with virtuoso solo flourishes, and one cannot go far wrong. An all-round easy listen for some 46 minutes.

The month of October saw the recording of The Song of Yang Guan, the title being its opening track Yang Guan Sandie (陽關三疊), the famous guqin tune inspired by a Tang dynasty poem. Other familiar melodies include Listening to the Pines (聽松), Riding in the Open Grassland (奔驰在千里草原), The Shepherd Girl (牧羊姑娘) and River of Sorrow (江河水). 

It would seem ungrateful to claim that these albums were merely vehicles for Nishizaki’s violin virtuosity. She plays all the melodies well and is every way idiomatic, unafraid to display her vibrato. She is very much her own and does not try to replace the erhu. SSO’s accompaniment is lively and alert, Choo Hoey being the most ardent advocate of Chinese orchestral music during the orchestra’s early years.

These recordings were originally issued on LP on Klaus Heymann’s Hong Kong Records label, and CD on Marco Polo. It is a matter of time these appear on Naxos, but digital downloads and online streaming are now possible.

PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX): Review Part 1

 

PIANO LIBRARY

WESTMINSTER 

& AMERICAN DECCA 

EDITION (BLUE BOX)

DG Eloquence 484 3829 (21 CDs)

We have just listened through the Australian-curated Piano Library of old Deutsche Grammophon recordings which I casually referred to as the “Yellow Box”. Now we have the “Blue Box” of 21 discs featuring just ten pianists, of older countenance, and possibly of greater historical significance.

Several of them are very famous, and were very prolific in recording, often appearing on multiple labels, but here we relive their recordings on the American Westminster and American Decca labels, both catalogues of which have been absorbed under the Deutsche Grammophon / Universal umbrella. Some remain cult figures, and some just names which survive in the memory, but do not deserve to be forgotten. There is a fair bit of repetition of repertoire, especially with popular Beethoven sonatas, but there are several surprises of works which we do not get to hear nowadays.

Of the ten pianists, the only one I got to witness live was the Austrian Jörg Demus (1928-2019), who performed Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 1981. He is also remembered as the four-hands piano partner of the better-known Paul Badura-Skoda. There is a separate box-set of his Bach recordings reissued by Australian Eloquence, but the two discs here see him in unusual French territory. 

The first is Cesar Franck’s Bach-inspired Prelude, Choral et Fugue, coupled with the Prelude, Aria et Final, both major works. The second is a Gabriel Fauré recital comprising the first five Impromptus, Nocturne No.6, Barcarolle No.6 and the underrated Theme et Variations. These are masterly performances despite grainy mono sound dating from 1952 and 1956 respectively.

The Hungarian Edith Farnadi (1911-1973) has a big 21 CD box-set issued on Scribendum, which include her two discs here. The first is a rare outing for all nine of Franz Liszt’s Soirees de Vienne, which are fantasies and conflations of Waltzes, Landler and Ecossaises by Franz Schubert. The most famous ones are No.6 and 7, which were championed by Horowitz, and it’s good to hear all nine works in perspective, performed with such feeling and grace. 

The second disc contains the three virtuoso paraphrases of Johann Strauss waltzes by Leopold Godowsky titled Symphonic Metamorphoses. Die Fledermaus, Kunstlerleben (Artist’s Life) and Wein, Weib und Gesang (Wine, Women and Song) were the subjects, and Farnadi is almost the equal of modern virtuosos like Marc-Andre Hamelin, but remember these recordings come from 1955!

Legendary Romanian pianist Clara Haskil (1895-1960) needs little introduction, having made many well-loved recordings on the Philips label. For Westminster, she recorded 11 Scarlatti sonatas, which are impeccably turned out. The fillers are three Chopin Mazurkas from the Russian-Romanian French pianist Youra Guller (1895-1980). Why we don’t get more of his playing is not satisfactorily explained other than that she got far less exposure than Haskil or Monique Haas.

There is another very satisfying Scarlatti sonata recital from the Moscow-born Nina Milkina (1919-2006) who emigrated to UK during her youth. There is simply no duplication in her selection of 11 sonatas with Haskil’s. Her second disc comprises four sonatas by the underrated Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), fifth child in J.S.Bach’s second marriage, which are persuasive but ultimately non-influential. These still make a good listen for some 39 minutes.

Continued in Part 2:

pianomania: PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX): Review Part 2

PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX): Review Part 2

 

PIANO LIBRARY:

WESTMINSTER &

AMERICAN DECCA

EDITION (BLUE BOX)

DG Eloquence 484 3829 (21 CDs)

Continued from Part 1:

pianomania: PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX): Review Part 1

The American Raymond Lewenthal (1923-1988) was an exact contemporary as the ill-fated William Kapell, and belonged to the generation of OYAPS (Outstanding Young American Pianists) which included the likes of Leon Fleisher and Gary Graffman. His allotment is four discs, two of which were previously issued in The Liszt Legacy 10 CD box-set more than a decade ago.

An all-Scriabin recital disc is common these days but not in 1956, and its title Vers la flamme (Towards The Flame) is in reference to the late incendiary poem for piano (Op.72) which Vladimir Horowitz championed, and was supposed to foretell nuclear fission and the atomic bomb. The programme selects the most representative of Scriabin’s early (24 Preludes Op.11), middle (Fantasy Op.28) and late (Preludes Op.74) works.

A Beethoven disc brings together three popular “nickname” sonatas, the Pathetique (Op.13), Moonlight (Op.27 No.2) and Appassionata (Op.57), where Lewenthal sounds perfectly idiomatic. More unusual is his album of Toccatas for piano, which include the usual suspects – J.S.Bach (BWV.911), Schumann, Prokofiev, Debussy and Ravel, besides unearthing those by Alkan and Czerny. The rarities are by Azzolini Della Ciaia (1671-1755), Valery Jelobinsky (1913-1946), Gian Carlo Menotti (Ricercare and Toccata on The Old Maid and the Thief) and his own Toccata alla Scarlatti. Lewenthal’s impeccably refined technique in all means of prestidigitation speaks for itself.

Lewenthal’s four disc, entitled Moonlight & Keyboard, has the cheesiest cover art, more akin to pulp fictional romances. This is a very well-curated set of nocturnes, night pieces and slow movements. Included are Debussy’s Clair de lune, Liszt’s Liebestraum No.3, two Chopin Nocturnes, a Waltz and Fantaisie-Impromptu, Saint-Saens-Godowsky The Swan, the first movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, Schumann’s Traumerei and other shorts.

The Odessa-born Benno Moiseiwitsch (1890-1963) was one pianist whose virtuosity could be exalted in the same breath as Rachmaninov and Horowitz. He gets three discs. The first couples two Beethoven sonatas (Moonlight & Les Adieux) with the Andante favori and Schumann’s Prophet Bird (from Waldszenen) as add-ons. The second is all-Schumann, Kreisleriana (Op.16) and Kinderszenen (Op.15), with the Romance in F sharp major (Op.28 No.2) and Arabeske (Op.18) as fillers. 

Moiseiwitsch’s own take on Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition does not stray far from the original except for minor tweaks and a severely excised Baba Yaga’s Hut and unsatisfyingly foreshortened Great Gate of Kiev. A disappointment, but that does not extend to Schumann’s Carnaval, which is far more satisfying. All three albums were recorded in 1961, at the end of his illustrious career, with little diminution of his tonal mastery, dexterity and wit.

Continued in Part 3:

pianomania: PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX) / Review Part 3

PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX) / Review Part 3

 

PIANO LIBRARY

WESTMINSTER & 

AMERICAN DECCA

EDITION (BLUE BOX)

DG Eloquence 484 3829 (21 CDs)

Continued from Part 2:

pianomania: PIANO LIBRARY: WESTMINSTER & AMERICAN DECCA EDITION (BLUE BOX): Review Part 2

The Brazilian Guiomar Novaes (1896-1979) was a favourite in Romantic repertoire, and here she is represented by Chopin’s Barcarolle, several of Debussy’s Preludes and Images, and some excellent Liszt – concert etudes Waldesrauschen (Forest Murmurs), Gnomenreigen (Dance of the Gnomes), Liebestraum No.3, Valse-Oubliee No.1 and Hungarian Rhapsody No.10.

The last two pianists were students of the great Ferruccio Busoni. Carlo Zecchi (1903-1984) became very well-known as a pedagogue. The major works in his recital disc are Mozart’s Sonata in D major (K.309) and Schumann’s Kinderszenen, and topped up with a selection of Scarlatti Sonatas, Chopin Mazurkas and Bach.

Dutchman Egon Petri (1881-1962) is the more famous of the two and is represented by five discs, the most of any personality in this box-set. These were the albums I listened to the most, moved by Petri’s rare combination of intellectual vigour and technical mastery. Bach-Busoni figures large here with a disc of transcription of organ works – the ubiquitous Toccata & Fugue in D minor (BWV.565), the Toccata, Aria & Fugue in C major (BWV.564), Prelude & Fugue in D major (BWV.532) and the St.Anne Prelude & Fugue in E flat major (BWV.552)

Fantasia Conttrappuntistica, Busoni’s fantastical completion of Bach’s unfinished Contrapunctus XIV from The Art of Fugue, complete with his own ornamentations and tangential elaborations, is another highlight. This album is completed by shorter pieces, popular Bach-Busoni transcriptions of chorale preludes, and Petri’s own transcriptions, the most famous being Sheep May Safely Graze.

There are two Beethoven discs, including the popular nicknamed sonatas (Pathetique, Moonlight and Appassionata) and the mighty Hammerklavier (Op.106).

The final guilty pleasure is the album of Liszt transcriptions, once considered vulgar beyond belief but now rehabilitated in performances and recordings. The Mendelssohn Wedding March and Dance of the Elves from A Midsummer Night’s Dream have a touch of the whimsical rather than ceremonial. The Waltz from Gounod’s Faust is imperious as is Busoni’s own edition of the Mephisto Waltz No.1, which is possibly more difficult than the original. Beethoven’s lied Adelaide provides some gravity to the programme which ends splashily with Busoni’s edition of the Fantasy on two themes from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. The two arias are Non piu andrai and Voi che sapete, of course.

This box-set has given me immense satisfaction, with hours of enjoyable listening and the realisation that great music can still be heard from the lesser-known and forgotten names of 20th century pianism. Their priceless art should always be celebrated.