LAST NIGHT OF THE BUKIT DAMAI PROMS: The End of an Era

All good things have to come to an end sometime. The musical community of Singapore bade a touching farewell to an institution that has come to represent a happy confluence of the professional and amateur piano communities in Singapore. After spending 30 extremely fruitful years in Singapore, Neil Franks and his wife Debbie are returning to England. For the record, Neil has been very active in the amateur music making scene in Singapore, having been a tenor in the International Festival Chorus and Singapore Symphony Chorus (besides being its coach in the Hebrew language for Schoenberg's A Survivor from Warsaw), and a Director of the Singapore Lyric Opera. The Franks have also held fund-raising musical events in aid of the Singapore Lyric Opera in their home. 

The Friday evening of 22 February marked an end to an era of happy music making in 7 Royal Road, the historic black and white mansion on Alexandra Park known as Bukit Damai. There was music-making galore to be sure. The programme below gives an indication to the pain-staking efforts put in by the host Neil Franks in trying to get six pianists together for a musical bash.

The evening began with Neil Franks and his teacher 
Boris Kraljevic in two Slavonic Dances (Op.72)  by Dvorak.

Neil with Etienne Chenevier in Carl Bohm's Brise Printaniere. 
for 8 hands on 2 pianos.

Boris Kraljevic performed the only solo of the evening, 
Debussy's Bruyeres.

The audience's view of the Fantasy on Themes 
from Bizet's Carmen, arranged by Mack Wilberg.

TL and Boris played the second piano part of  
Rossini's William Tell Overture

Silly fun for 6 hands, Godard's Scaramouche 
arranged by John Rippin.

David Mayo and Ed Manser with  The Hippopotamus and 
I Went To a Marvellous  Party by Flanders and Swann, 
accompanied by Neil on the piano.

Truly the Last Night of the Bukit Damai Proms, 
with Elgar's Pomp and Circumcision March No.1 (Neil's title), 
the Land of Hope and Glory.

Pianophiles unite: Boris, Benjamin Loh, Neil and TL.

Till we meet again!

MUSIC AT BUKIT DAMAI / January 2012

Bukit Damai is a historical "black and white" bungalow house located on Royal Road in Alexandra Park, dating from the days of the British Raj. A British Raj still resides there, except most of us refer to him as Neil Franks, that retired oil-man who now turns his attention to triathlon and Iron Man competitions, building palatial villas, organising soirees and music festivals, and pursuing things musical and beautiful. Music @ Bukit Damai is a series of impromptu music events where his guests get to play anything on two pianos, before tucking into a sumptuous Indian buffet spread and alcohol...


It's still daytime when the soiree begins with Neil and his teacher Boris Kraljevic take on Beethoven's Sonata in D major (Op.6) for four hands. Its not exactly Op.111, but its lots of fun (especially when the opening theme looks ahead to the Fifth Symphony!)

Tou Liang still can't quite figure out Brahms' Intermezzo
in A major (Op.118 No.2), so he inflicts it yet again
on an unsuspecting audience.

Another Sonata in D major, this time by Mozart,
from Boris and visiting Oxford don George Rousseau.

Music on two pianos, now Poulenc's Elegie,
from Neil and Boris.

Four becomes six hands, for Percy Grainger's
Zanzibar Boat Song, now one of the Bukit Damai favourites.
The most difficult part belongs to the guy in the centre. 

Neil is now an old hand in Liszt's Petrarch Sonnet No.123.

Rachmaninov's Romance for 6 hands,
written for the Skalon sisters.

More Rachmaninov, the 18th Variation from the
Paganini Rhapsody.Neil plays the solo part.

George the historian plays one of D.Scarlatti's
581 Sonatas, a melancholic one.

Performers making a last stand. There's going to be more
8 hands piano music during and after the dinner,
but the audience has yet to find out.

Positively the last item to placate the hungry throng,
nothing is more lively than Wilhelm Ganz's
grand tango de concert Qui Vive. Then its dinner time!

Hausmusik @ Bukit Damai

There's at least one household in Singapore that still believes in Hausmusik, that is music-making by friends and family members as a matter of fun and recreation, be it after a meal or during a birthday celebration. That is de rigeuer in the Franks family at Bukit Damai, a historic villa in Alexandra Park. Here's what happened on the evening of Friday 14 October 2011.

The host himself, Neil Franks, performed some solos, including Liszt's La Chapelle de Guillaume Tell (from Annees de pelerinage) and Debussy's Sarabande from Pour le piano.

Ana Jovanovic from Serbia performed the finale from Prokofiev's Sonata No.2, a veritable finger twister in tarantella rhythm.

Master and student, Boris Kraljevic and Neil Franks play the Berceuse from Faure's Dolly Suite.

NAFA colleagues at work and play, Rena Phua-Cheung and Boris Kraljevic take on Mozart's Sonata in D major for 4 hands - all three movements!

Its the turn for six hands, Boris, Neil and Tou Liang in Rachmaninov's Romance, originally composed for three sisters. PianoManiac took the easiest part, of course.

Some lighter fare, Thomas Frost (not the record producer!) on saxophone and pianist Jeremy Wong play jazz standards, including Take Five as the ladies swooned.

Eight hands on two pianos in a transcription of Rossini's William Tell Overture. PianoManiac was lucky to be paired with the lovely but less fortunate Ana Jovanovic.

Finally. Rena, Boris and Neil polish off the Grand Gallop de Concert, Qui Vive by Wilhelm Ganz. It was a total blast! We're all looking forward to the next dinner!