PIANO, FOUR-TE!
Pianists of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory
Conservatory Concert Hall
Friday (8 November 2024)
This review was published in The Straits Times on 11 November 2024 with the title "Extravaganza of piano music, thanks to 16 pianists and four grand pianos."
Sixteen pianists. Four grand pianos. There has never been such an extravaganza of piano music in Singapore, and that was made possible by the sheer concentration of piano talent that exists here today. This celebration of the keyboard was in honour of music philanthropist and pianophile Tan Kah Tee and his wife Catherine who have over the years made a generous habit of donating grand pianos to musical institutions.
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| Photo: Jellal Koay |
Two of three grand pianos gifted to the conservatory were onstage, including a Bösendorfer and his latest present, a Fazioli F278. Joined by two Steinway Ds, the concert opened with Russian composer Mikhail Glinka’s popular Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla. The arrangement by the conservatory’s head of piano studies Albert Tiu, performed by four alumni Churen Li, Abigail Sin, Jonathan Shin and Zheng Ming En, boasted of voluminous sound, yet revealed a wealth of detail and texture.
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| Photo: Jellal Koay |
Three specialists in collaborative performance, Choi Hye-seon, Liu Jia and Lim Yan, joined hands on a single keyboard to play Sergei Rachmaninov’s Waltz and Romance, specially written for three little sisters. If one listened carefully to Lim’s part, the Romance foretold a far greater work - his Second Piano Concerto - to come.
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| Photo: Jellal Koay |
A Who’s Who of young pianists in Singapore worked on two pianos for Bohemian composer Bedrich Smetana’s single-movement Sonata in E minor. More salon-like than his nationalist dances, Adriana Chiew, Gabriel Hoe, Khoo Hui Ling and Azariah Tan brought out a tonally-balanced reading, highlighting robust rhythms yet possessing intimate charm.
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| Piano, Four-té! was the brainchild of Albert Tiu. |
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| Photo: Jellal Koay |
The concert’s only solo piece saw Tiu playing his own transcription of the Adagio Sostenuto slow movement from Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, which deftly combined solo and orchestral parts to seamless effect on just two hands. Known to pop music lovers as Eric Carmen’s All By Myself, the reference was rather apt.
Serendipity and surprise came in the mysteriously titled Improvisations For Two Pianos from Karst de Jong and Jonathan Shin. After about three minutes of impressionist doodling in Debussyan and Scriabinist harmonies, out from the mists emerged Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin (月亮代表我的心, The Moon Represents My Heart), the Teresa Teng classic and favourite song of benefactor Tan’s. Lounge music will never sound the same again.
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| Photo: Jellal Koay |
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| Photo: Jellal Koay |
The gala concluded with Tiu’s transcription of Soviet era Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s populist potboiler Festive Overture. His labour of love involved twelve pianists on four pianos (with Koo Siaw Sing and Andren Koh joining the fray) and four percussionists conducted by Koh Kai Jie. With the Socialist Realist feel good factor dialed up to maximum effect and volume, this tremendously tuneful racket was so well-received that it had to be encored.
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| The 12 pianists (24 hands, from L to R): Gabriel Hoe, Zheng Ming En, Adrianna Chiew, Azariah Tan, Albert Tiu, Churen Li, Koh Kai Jie (Conductor), Andren Koh, Abigail Sin, Ning An, Koo Siaw Sing, Khoo Hui Ling & Jonathan Shin. |
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| Needless to say, the Tans were moved to tears by this worthy tribute. |
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