SINGAPORE CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL: FRIENDS, NEW & OLD, GALA CONCERT: CELEBRATION! / Review

SINGAPORE CHAMBER 

MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024 

FRIENDS, NEW & OLD 

GALA CONCERT: CELEBRATION! 

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall 

Wednesday & Saturday 

(31 January & 3 February 2024) 

This review was published in The Straits Times on 6 February 2024 with the title "Chamber music festival closes with eclectic programme and touching tribute".

The third evening of the Singapore Chamber Music Festival showcased locally-based professional musicians fronted by the Concordia Quartet in partnership with overseas friends. An eclectic programme spanning the classical to contemporary eras was the result. 

Performed first was Mozart’s Oboe Quartet in F major (K.370), with veteran Dutch oboist Joost Flach, a resident in Southeast Asia since the 1980s. Partnered with Concordia’s violinist Kim Kyu Ri, violist Martin Peh and cellist Lin Juan, this tuneful work highlighted the reed’s piquant timbre over backing by mellow strings. The ensemble blended beautifully, not least in the chirpy closing Rondo. 

Much sterner stuff was Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor which saw Japan’s splendid Aoi Trio teaming with violinist Yang Shuxiang and violist Peh. Although the first two movements were a neoclassical Prelude and Fugue, jarring dissonances informed the work’s grimmer agenda. Pianist Kosuke Akimoto projected authority, balanced by paradoxical moments which included the Scherzo’s madcap vitriol and the finale’s unsettling light-heartedness. The five players demonstrated in the music that one could still bring out a smile while under severe duress. 

The Concordia Quartet – Edward Tan (violin), Kim, Peh and Lin – were on their own for two movements from Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E minor (Op.44 No.2), contrasting smooth congeniality with swift elfin lightness. The 4-year-old quartet, formed just before the Covid-19 pandemic, is now an assured and seasoned outfit. 

Tchaikovsky’s very popular String Sextet in D minor, or Souvenir de Florence, for pairs of violins, violas and cellos, generated rich sonorities. Leading was Singaporean violinist Jonathan Ong (first violin of the USA-based Verona Quartet), with the juiciest solos. His repartee with cellist Leslie Tan in the slow movement’s gorgeous melodies was a joy to behold. The group completed by Kim, Jeremy Chiew and Edward Tan (violas) and Lin made the best case possible for the usually morose Russian’s sunniest score. 

The festival’s grand finale featured no less than 32 musicians in a celebration of chamber music’s myriad varieties. There were three string quartets, the youngest being Pythagorus Quartet (average age of 11) which cut their teeth in Haydn with much confidence. 

Pandan Quartet from Oberlin, Ohio comprised undergraduates with Asian ancestry, and their maturity displayed in Mendelssohn was just as astounding. Jurong Quartet, formed by young local professionals gave a crisp and clear-headed account of Beethoven. All performed first movements from string quartets. 

An outlier was the opening movement from Mozart’s Horn Quintet in E flat major (K.407) with Alan Kartik, the concert’s only wind player, partnered by violin, two violas and cello. Even more arcane was a rare performance of 20th century Russian Alfred Schnittke’s Piano Quartet by The Music Circle (violinist Tang Tee Tong, violist Christoven Tan, cellist Leslie Tan and pianist Cherie Khor), a work of grating dissonance and deep disquiet. Both received gripping performances. 

“Grand Dame” of Singaporean pianists, Toh Chee Hung, still sparkling in her seventies, partnered with Akimoto in two of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances. She was joined by violinist Ong, violist Peh and cellist Tan in the final two movements from Brahms’ Piano Quartet No.3 in C minor (Op.60), contrasting sheer lyricism with outright passion. These were a touching tribute to Penang-born pianist Dennis Lee, Toh’s husband and ardent supporter of the re:Sound Collective, who passed away last year. 

What could top the sight and sound of eight string players coming together for Mendelssohn’s Octet? Its rapturous finale, performed by all the strings from Concordia, Aoi and violinist Yang and violist Chiew, quoted Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, which more or less summed up what everybody on and off stage were feeling. 

So what is the big deal about chamber music? It is ultimately a meeting of minds, a celebration of talented and inspired people working and playing, and having a great time together.

SINGAPORE CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024: AOI TRIO. NING AN & FRIENDS / Review

SINGAPORE CHAMBER 

MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024: 

AOI TRIO 

NING AN & FRIENDS 

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall 

Saturday & Tuesday 

(27 & 30 January 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 February 2024 with the title "Chamber Music Festival's successful return with Aoi Trio and pianist Ning An".

After a hiatus of about twenty years, the Singapore Chamber Music Festival has returned with a flourish. The week-long event, organised by re:Sound Collective, included music workshops and coaching sessions involving 28 local and overseas chamber groups and four evening concerts. 

The first evening showcased the youthful Aoi Trio from Japan, winner of the 2018 ARD International Music Competition in Munich, Germany. Its varied programme traversed the history of the piano trio genre, with pianist Kosuke Akimoto, violinist Kyoko Ogawa and cellist Yu Ito putting the shine on Mozart’s Piano Trio No.1 in B flat major (K.254). 

The piano’s dominance is evident in such an early example of the form, with violin providing decorative touches and cello merely simple accompaniment. Despite this imbalance, the performance was one of aural beauty and aesthetic balance. 

Trio (2013) by Japanese contemporary composer Toshio Hosokawa (born 1955) could not have been more different, with its espousal of Zen minimalism. Quiet long-held notes, static near-silences, prolonged trills and eerily-sliding glissandi all contributed to the music’s elusive mystique. There was a gradual stirring to breach the void but its twelve minutes closed on an uneasy calm. 

The evening’s highlight was Dvorak’s Piano Trio No.3 in F minor (Op.65) where the trio’s strengths – perfect intonation, ensemble cohesion, concentration and passion – came to the fore in four movements playing for almost forty minutes. By now, all three instruments were equal partners, the music’s Brahmsian gravity balanced by a folksy Slavonic rusticity. The trio’s Mendelssohn encore delighted like a song without words. 

The second concert formally introduced American-Chinese pianist Ning An as Yong Siew Toh Conservatory’s latest faculty member. The new associate professor opened his showcase with three late works by Chopin. The Berceuse (Op.57) highlighted right hand filigree over the left hand’s unchanging bass, while the Barcarolle (Op.60) delighted in a seamless cantabile, this being a Venetian gondolier’s love song. The melancholic Mazurka in F minor (Op.68 No.4) was Chopin’s last composition, performed as a tribute to his teacher, the late American pianist-pedagogue Russell Sherman. 

An was joined by the conservatory’s head of piano Albert Tiu in Rachmaninov’s Suite No.2 (Op.17), arguably the most popular work in the two-piano repertory. Both pianists were well matched in virtuosity and temperament, launching fearlessly into the imperious chord-laden opening Alla Marcia, then taking flight in the vertiginous Waltz. The slow Romance oozed sensuality as it built to a steamy climax, while gloves came off thrillingly for the final Tarantella. 

While the duo featured closely knitted ensemble, rightly considered chamber music, chamber music of the more conventional kind returned with An helming the piano part of Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E flat major (Op.47). Partnered by fellow teaching colleagues Qian Zhou (violin), Zhang Manchin (viola) and Qin Li-Wei (cello), the foursome gave a tautly cohesive perfomance that did not stint on poetry and lyricism. 

While the opening movement made big Beethovenian statements, the fast and impish second movement was a study in fast yet accurate playing. One will be hard put to find a more ravishing melody than in the slow movement, first heard on Qin’s cello before being shared by the rest. This was a true musical love-in, a loving respite before the finale’s busy contrapuntal lines closed on an energised high. 

Cheered on by an enthused audience, the quartet was joined by Tiu in his quintet arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s tango La Muerte del Angel (The Death of Angel). The surprisingly upbeat encore, despite its sombre title, was clearly enjoyed by all in attendance.