IN THE MOOD FOR FILM
Phan Ming Yen, Piano et al
10 Square @ Orchard Central
Friday (8 April 2022)
This is not meant to be a review but rather a celebration of the multi-faceted personality that is Phan Ming Yen, the Malaysia-born artistic polymath (Director of Global Cultural Alliance and Chief Operations Officer of The Rice Company Limited), who celebrates his 55th birthday this week. To commemorate this landmark, he gave a solo piano recital of movie music as a fund-raiser funds for The Business Times Budding Artists Fund. This fund provides opportunities to disadvantaged young people who aspire to make a career in the arts.
I have known Ming Yen since the early 1990s, when he was the much-feared music critic of The Straits Times, and scourge of artists who were not total geniuses. It was rumoured that he wrote just three complimentary reviews during his stint there. Those included solo recitals by Shura Cherkassky, Ivo Pogorelich, and I cannot remember what the third one was. He also wrote my first interview for ST (about my Singapore-centred verses to accompany Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals). Later we collaborated to organise the first SSO Music Marathon and co-hosted the Symphony 92.4 FM talk show Bluff Your Way Through Classical Music, which ran for twelve stellar episodes.
I am also much indebted to Ming Yen over the years. He played the piano at our wedding service in 1999, besides supplementing my CD collection in ever creative ways ("I bet you won't have this recording!"), also extending to me multiple invitations to giving talks on musical subjects, performing at cross-straits events and judging at local piano competitions. He is also my original piano duet partner, our specialties being Brahms Hungarian Dances, Rossini's William Tell Overture and the Radetzky March.
 |
| Ming Yen's first piece was Abba's The Winner Takes It All from the movie Mamma Mia. |
At the start of his two-hour long recital, the audience was forewarned that he could talk for unlimited lengths of time. He, however, makes an excellent stand-up comedian, and unlike Victor Borge, he actually played more than he talked. The following photographs are a chronological sequence of the pieces performed, an eclectic mix of classical music, original film music and pop music heard in the movies. Each example was peppered with interesting factoids (such as Prague Spring 1968) and curious anecdotes from personal experience. It all made for a celebration of humanity itself, an escape from unrelenting perfectionists like Ray Chen, and not to mention an entertaining evening out.
 |
| Next came two selections from the movie starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, Somewhere in Time by John Barry and... |
 |
| The 18th Variation from Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody. |
 |
| Ming Yen reads from Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Likeness of Being followed by Janacek's Madonna of Frydek (On An Overgrown Path) and two pieces by Ennio Morricone. |
 |
| Vocalist Estelle Ng chipped in with two songs: Bernstein's Somewhere (West Side Story) and Rodgers and Hammerstein's Shall We Dance? (The King and I). |
 |
| Recounting a trip to Hong Kong to watch an uncensored screening of Lust.Caution, he performed Brahms's Intermezzo (Op.118 No.2) |
 |
| A story from Tokyo, an excerpt from an Okinawan movie whom nobody in his group has gotten grips with its story or meaning. This was followed by Ryuichi Sakamoto's Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence. |
 |
| Only For Love from Tan Dun's Sonata, crafted from his music for The Banquet. |
 |
| Ming Yen was joined by YST Assistant Tutor Lin Xiang Ning in a medley of Abba tunes which closed with the ending of Grieg's Piano Concerto. |
 |
| An encore from Joe Hisaishi. |
 |
| Time to cut that birthday cake! |
To my friend and co-conspirator in musical endeavours, have a happy 55th birthday!
No comments:
Post a Comment