THE WAY NORTH
92steel&guts
Esplanade Recital Studio
Sunday (4 January 2015 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 6 January 2015 with the title "Violinist and pianist soar on Nordic trip".
92steel&guts is the name of a duo formed by
young violinist Tang Tee Tong and pianist Wong Yun Qi, 92 being the sum of
strings to be found on a piano and violin. Its concert debut attempted to add a
new gloss to the tried and tested format of a chamber concert. Patrons were
asked to register online, and enter the hall with a programme leaflet in hand,
one specially designed to look like Facebook pages of the composers featured (below).
They were also given the freedom of donating whatever they wished to defray the
production costs.
Before the music began, an “inflight”
announcement was made in English, Chinese and Malay (what, no Tamil?) as
listeners embarked on a journey to the Nordic climes of the land of the first
composer, the Norwegian nationalist Edvard Grieg. In semi-darkness, the voice
of soprano Choy Siew Woon rang out from the left rear as she sang a collection
of Norwegian folksongs collected by Grieg and his compatriot Johan Halvorsen.
The bucolic nature of these songs ranged from a
yodelling-like number Kulok to the
more rhythmic Springdans and Halling, the latter dance to be found in
the finale of Grieg’s Piano Concerto.
Tang’s violin from the right rear simulated the Hardanger fiddle, the folk
instrument of village minstrels and bards which Grieg’s music popularised.
This rustic setting properly set up Grieg’s Third Violin Sonata in C minor, his most
important essay in this medium. Alternating between darkness and light, Tang
brought out the music’s movement and drama with a warm burnished tone, and no
little agility. One only wished she did not stamp her foot so emphatically on
the floor as she performed.
The slow movement was introduced by Wong’s
excellent and responsive pianism, the resonance of which was highlighted by
timely pedalling. The song-like atmosphere then broke out into a little dance,
the spirit of which was multiplied manifold in the celebratory finale, which
was both vigorous and nostalgic to its raucous end.
Contrary to the concert’s title, the flight
changed course and headed southwards to Italy
Again the central slow movement was beautifully
rendered, from its quiet mysterious piano opening, with both hands in unison
two octaves apart, and rising to a passionate and climactic effulgence. The
finale was an unusually tricky Passacaglia,
with rapid shifts in dynamics and multitudes of notes to tax both performers to
the hilt.
There was to be no safety first measures,
instead the duo went for broke, finishing with a stunning aplomb and an
abruptness that caught the audience completely by surprise. Then the deserved
applause rang out. There was to be no encore, but a return flight by
92steel&guts Airways will be a welcome prospect.
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| Tang Tee Tong, Wong Yun Qi, Choy Siew Woon (extreme right) and the production team. |
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