ILLUMINE
Music of CARTER, HO & RACHMANINOFF
NICHOLAS HO, Piano
Arabesque Z6940 / TT: 59’22”
Some years ago, I wrote about a teenage pianist in Singapore whose “obsession with speed and volume clouded any semblance of nuance or clarity”, and who brought to Rachmaninov’s music a “surfeit of feral instincts and emotional excess”. I however sensed a musical soul beneath all the raw edges and youthful exuberance and hoped that, “May he, with patience and introspection, rediscover that muse”.
That pianist was Nicholas Ho, who presently pursues doctoral studies at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His teachers have included Ong Lip Tat, Tan Chan Boon, Tedd Joselson, Edward Auer and Ran Dank. Having made his New York City and Chicago solo debuts, this recording on the American Arabesque label (which released Garrick Ohlsson’s complete Chopin cycle more than two decades ago) marks a coming of age. His unusual programming of sonatas by Elliott Carter and Sergei Rachmaninoff with his original music make for compelling listening.
The recital which plays for exactly an hour opens with late American avant-gardist Elliott Carter’s Piano Sonata (1945/6). An early work in two movements, its harmonic language is gratifyingly tonal, and is distinguished by complex and infectious rhythms which allude to modern dance movements. Ho handles these with clarity and suitable aplomb. Australian composer Carl Vine’s very popular First Sonata (1990), also cast in two movements and similar in idiom, is supposedly inspired by Carter’s Sonata. There is thus no reason why the Carter should not achieve similar success, and rank along Barber, Copland and Griffes among the great 20th century American sonatas.
Ho’s own Inner States of Mind (Op.3), a suite in five movements, dovetails neatly between the two sonatas. Tonal and neo-Romantic in spirit, the movements are eclectic by assimilating diverse 20th century styles, such as impressionism in What If?, a simulation of the Chinese guzheng (plucked zither) in Rainbows, Bartokian dissonances in Étude: Mirror Image and gospel pop in Vantage Point. The fourth movement, Benediction, is a modern look at the ancient hymn Veni, Veni, Emanuel.
For Rachmaninoff’s Sonata No.2 in B flat minor (Op.36), Ho crafts his own version combining both the 1913 and 1931 editions quite similar to Vladimir Horowitz’s highly effective conflation. This is a mellow yet smouldering and passionate reading, a far cry from the untamed fire and brimstone of his teenage self. He has learnt that restraint and focus is key in many crucial moments, a requisite before leading to full-blown climaxes, where the pay-off becomes all the more satisfying. This is an hour well-spent with one of Singapore’s top young pianistic talents.
You can hear Nicholas Ho on these digital platforms:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7ySSLasWe9VSLjzNYZw8b7?si=8uaJHvioRwal5TVD5m23Cw
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