BEETHOVEN'S COMPLETE MUSIC FOR CELLO & PIANO / THREE CONTINENTS CELLO CONCERTO / Review

BEETHOVEN 

COMPLETE MUSIC

FOR CELLO & PIANO

Chen Yibai (Cello) 

& Shi Boyang (Piano)

Victoria Concert Hall

Wednesday (16 August 2023)

 

THREE CONTINENTS 

CELLO CONCERTO

Jan Vogler (Cello) &

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (19 August 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times with the title "Stirring offerings from cellists Chen Yibai and Jan Vogler".

 

After the piano and violin, the cello is likely the most played of all Western classical instruments here. For that reason, there should have been far more people attending the all-Beethoven recitals by multiple award-winning young Chinese cellist Chen Yibai with pianist Shi Boyang, presented by Altenburg Arts. The German composer wrote relatively few works for cello, just five sonatas and three variation sets, comfortably encompassed within two concerts or two compact discs.

Photo: Ung Ruey Loon

 

The first evening showcased two of each kind. As Beethoven was himself a pianist, it was not surprising to see the piano lead the cello in his Variations on Bei Mannern (after Mozart), Variations on See, The Conqu’ring Hero Comes (after Handel) or the early Sonata in F major (Op.5 No.1). The melodies were gratefully lapped up by pianist Shi, with cellist Chen filling in the harmonies, but before long, parity was found.

 

Chen produced a lovely tone, always mindful of singing lines. Shi’s more fussy piano parts could have easily overwhelmed him with sheer notes alone but she was an ever-sensitive partner throughout. By Beethoven’s “Middle Period” Sonata in A major (Op.69), it was the turn of the cello to lead and Chen did so gloriously. Passion reigned as Beethoven transitioned between Classical era gentility to Romantic era impetuosity, and the full-blooded perfomance had it all.  

 

Photo: Ung Ruey Loon

Despite earlier exertions, the duo had an even more virtuosic number up their sleeves as encore, the tarantella finale from Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata (Op.47). Judging by the emphatic and convincing manner the duo tore through it, newcomers would not have guessed that was originally conceived for the violin.

 

Photo: Ung Ruey Loon

Completely different was the Three Continents Cello Concerto, receiving its belated Asian premiere by German cellist Jan Vogler (who commissioned the work) and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by rising Chinese conductor Yue Bao. Comprising three varied movements by three composers, Nico Muhly (American), Sven Helbig (German) and Zhou Long (Chinese), this half-hour work was symbolic of the universality of music.

 

Muhly’s Cello Cycles opened the concerto with an edgy kinetic energy pulsing through its veins, obliging Vogler to shift gears repeatedly through its series of variations. Neither minimalistic nor modern version of a passacaglia, the music pursued a relentless course of animated activity, contrasted by Helbig’s more measured Aria that followed.

 

The work’s spiritual and emotional heart, this was a heart-rending elegy, the cello’s seamless voice mulling some unspeakable tragedy. Building on waves of upheaval before hitting a shattering climax, even the audience seemed relieved by its close, according it nervous applause. However, nothing would prepare one for the inebriated flailings of Zhou’s Tipsy Poet, inspired by Tang dynasty poet Du Fu’s writings. Violent cello pizzicatos simulated the ancient guqin, merely part of getting stoned on alcohol fumes with Chinese characteristics. Vogler’s sober encore of J.S.Bach’s Sarabande in C major was just the right antidote.     

 

The concert opened with Samuel Barber’s Overture to The School For Scandal, a tuneful Rossini-like affair with the orchestra making most of its lively syncopations before revelling in a lyrical second subject. Rachmaninov’s final work Symphonic Dances, three movements constituting a symphony all but in name, received a taut and riveting reading. Conductor Bao brought out many shades of colours, its late Romantic idiom yielding just the right degree of nostalgia without overdoing it.  That  20^th and 21^st century music could draw an eager and encouraging audience as witnesses this evening was a clear sign that somethings were being done right.