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.

SUKA MAKAN: PASTA FRESCA DA SALVATORE @ GUTHRIE HOUSE

It's been ages since we've been to an Italian restaurant. That's largely because Janet is an absolute maestro in cooking up pastas and the occasional pizza (without pineapple toppings) at home. However, an invitation to a true Italian meal could be passed up, and we opted for the nearby Pasta Fresca da Salvatore. 

This has been the Italian restaurant we been to the most times, in its previous Bukit Timah Road and Boat Quay outlets (usually post-concert with friends), and it has never disappointed. Even owner and founder, the ever-hospitable Salvatore Carecci would turn up to say hello. He's ever-present and always a reassurance that his kitchen would never fail to deliver top notch meals.

The man himself

For starters, Calamari Fritti

Mozzarella and Prosciutto

This is the first time we've been to its Guthrie House (Fifth Avenue) outlet, and it is as welcoming as we remember it. Salvatore did not miraculously appear from out of the air, but the dishes were still delicious. Well done on maintaining the high standards. Should Janet tire of the kitchen, this is where we will be headed first.

Tagliatelle with sausage & mushroom

Linguine Alfredo

Aglio Oglio Ravioli 

Pizza Frutti di Mare (Seafood pizza)

PASTA FRESCA DA SALVATORE

(BUKIT TIMAH)

1 Fifth Avenue #01-02

Guthrie House

Singapore 268802

Tel: 6469-4920

Authentic Italian Restaurant in Bukit Timah | Pasta Fresca Bukit Timah

HANS GRAF FAREWELL SERIES: SCHEHERAZADE / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / A Reminiscence

 

HANS GRAF FAREWELL SERIES:

SCHEHERAZADE

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (7 May 2026)

Thank you, Music Director Hans Graf. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra embarked on a final chapter with its third Music Director Hans Graf with three programmes in his Farewell Series of concerts. From 2020, Graf’s tenure began with the troubling episode which we will remember as the global Covid-19 pandemic. There was a total suspension of concert activity for several months, and then the very gradual process of reintroducing concert via online streaming, then socially distanced live concerts for very limited audiences. It was only in April 2022, when full-length concert programmes returned, with Graf and his SSO presenting an all-Shostakovich concert.

Adventurous programming has characterised Graf’s choices. Singapore had local premieres of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (complete incidental music), Ravel’s complete ballet Daphnis et Chloe and his single-act opera L’Heure Espagnole (The Spanish Hour). Even before that, he led the Singapore premiere of Alexander Zemlinsky’s Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid).

Photo: Jack Yam

This mostly Russian concert opened with Rachmaninov’s early tone poem The Rock. From the outset, refinement of ensemble was evident, and so was the solo playing, particularly from Evgueni Brokmiller’s flute and Li Xin’s clarinet. The warmth of SSO strings continued to radiate as the music shifted gears from its dour opening to passionate highs. The Lermontov poem and Chekhov story becomes secondary to the musical narrative which offered hope for the eponymous old man in the presence of a young lady but isolation and resignation at its end. SSO has recorded this on BIS but a live performance is always the preferable experience.

The inclusion of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski’s Second Violin Concerto (1932) was a touch of inspiration. Some 25 years ago, SSO performed the First Violin Concerto (1916) with Pierre Amoyal playing the Kochanski Strad, once owned by Polish violinist Pawel Kochanski, the dedicatee of both concertos. That was also the violin which premiered both concertos, and that seemed like a historical moment in SSO’s archival history. Young Spanish violinist Leticia Moreno’s performance seemed like the logical follow-up a quarter of a century later.

Photo: Jack Yam

This is a gorgeous and sumptuously orchestrated work, with a thornily difficult solo with chromaticisms which Moreno took in her stride. The main impetus was the earthy and vigorous folk music of Poland’s Tatra Mountains, the pungency of which would inform much of Szymanowski’s later music. Moreno fought hard to battle the rugged orchestral forces, and succeeded intermittently, coming to the fore in the bristling cadenza provided by Kochanski that linked two halves of the 20-minute concerto. 

The work deserves many more listens, and if pushed to cite a similarly inspired work, I would think of Bartok’s Second Violin Concerto, a far more familiar quantity. Moreno was accorded much applause for her efforts, and her encore was sublime – the Nana lullaby from Manuel de Falla’s Siete Canciones Populares Espanolas (Seven Popular Spanish Songs), accompanied by pianist Nicholas Loh.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade – symphonic suite in four movements – might seem like common garden repertoire, but Graf and his charges made it sound special. By now, I had decided to put down my pen to just enjoy the performance, and soak in the lush orchestration the Russian composer was famous for. Its musical narrative included concertmaster Erik Heide’s violin solo, with principal harpist Gulnara Mashurova, as the yarn-spinning queen for 1001 nights. The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship set sail with a sense of purpose and direction, while The Story of the Kalender Prince had principal bassoonist Guo Siping in great form. 

Photo: Jack Yam

The orchestral balance was close to perfect, and seldom had I been so captivated by the roles of these soloists backed by an equally engaged ensemble. The Prince and the Princess saw veterans, principal flautist Jin Ta and principal clarinettist Ma Yue (who will be retiring at season’s end), give their level best. It was clear that all on stage were playing for the maestro and the audience was the biggest beneficiary. By the time Festival at Baghdad and Storm at Sea concluded, there was an eruption of applause that indicated the audience had heard something rather special. I was not alone. 

Was this the best Sheherazade ever witnessed live? Perhaps, possibly likely, and given the sense of occasion, it will remain long in the memory. Again, thank you Hans Graf for making this happen. Your six years with our national orchestra will not be forgotten.

The HANS GRAF FAREWELL SERIES continues with further concerts at Victoria Concert Hall on: 

15 May 2026

Hans Graf Farewell Series: Mystère de… | Singapore Symphony Orchestra

21 & 22 May 2026

Hans Graf Farewell Series: Mozart and… | Singapore Symphony Orchestra