SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2025: PRELIMINARY ROUND SESSION III

 

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL 

PIANO COMPETITION 2025 

PRELIMINARY ROUND Session III 

(Tuesday, 14 January 2025) 

As I am still working, I was only able to catch the piano competition live in the evening. There were just two pianists when I had expected three, but the playing standard was so high that there were simply no complaints from me! I was able to catch the earlier sessions via YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@amadeustv), and was immediately blown away by the musicianship and virtuosity of the pianists. This was to be no ordinary piano competition, and by far the highest standards of playing I have ever witnessed on this island. 

Attending live is so much better than watching videos, and so I headed down to the School of The Arts to join the few dozen other people to watch the performances in person. 

Leyu Xu (16, China) is a child prodigy whom I first encountered in 2019 playing Carl Vine’s First Sonata (second movement) and am pleased that she continues to progress. Although she did not observe repeats, her view of J.S.Bach’s Partita No.5 in G major was one radiating the joy and vitality of youth. The crispness and clarity of articulation through the dance movements impressed, and she kept the narrative flowing. In Haydn’s Sonata in D major (Hob.XVI:32), she captured both gravitas and wit to the right degree, and if Chopin’s Third Ballade in A flat major (Op.47) came across as somewhat prosaic despite its finesse, its probably tainted by over-familiarity. 

Finally the gloves came off for the celestial violence of Messiaen’s Regard de l’Esprit de joie from Vingt regards sur l‘enfant Jesus. Despite her slight frame (being the tiniest of twenty pianists), she delivered in heaps, completely unfazed by its physical and technical demands. Her pluck, passion and poetry are reminiscent of a great Chinese pianist who decades ago equally impressed at that age – Chen Sa. 

Jeyu Lee (26, South Korea) did observe all the repeats in J.S.Bach’s French Suite No.5 in G major, and for the second time round each dance, the added ornamentations were ear-catching, stylish and unobtrusive. His Gavotte and Gigue, often rushed off by over-eager keyboard technicians, were more measured responses which still had the lightness and sparkle. Although the programme leaflet had listed Chopin’s 24 Preludes (Op.28), what came instead was the 12 Etudes (Op.25), which proved the final treat of the evening. 

Like Yunchan Lim in his Decca recording, Lee brought out hidden voices never previously encountered in several of these, most pointedly in the F minor (No.2) study. His technique was mostly beyond reproach, and even the running thirds of the G sharp minor (No.6) held no terrors for him. His resistance to barnstorm was a credit, and he delivered the famous slow “Cello” Etude in C sharp minor (No.7) most beautifully. The blazing fire, snow and tsunami of the three final studies (Nos.10-12) were not so much a show of virtuosity but intense musicianship. A few missed notes in the dozen meant little in the scheme of things.