MUSIC RESIDENCY SHARING CONCERT / Chamber Music & Arts Singapore / Review

 

MUSIC RESIDENCY 

SHARING CONCERTS

Chamber Music & Arts 

Homegrown Artists

Objectifs Chapel, Middle Road

Sunday (21 June 2026)

The final day of Chamber Music & Arts’ (CMAS) Chamber Music Residency programme yielded one last concert by four of its Homegrown Artists, whom over a two-week course were mentored by three established international artists. Their Sharing Concert, just like the formal evening concerts, focused on all-French repertoire.

Titled The Conclusion of the War, it opened with Claude Debussy’s late Violin Sonata in G minor (1917) with violinist Isabelle Ong and pianist Tian KeXin. This was the terminally-ill composer’s attempt to relive Gallic characteristics and sensibilities in music, moving away from the German model that had influenced composers like Franck and Chausson. 

Penchant for melody and lightness in textures were key, which informed Ong’s perceptive playing and Tian’s fluid accompaniment. This was a performance strong in flavour and sensitive to nuance, not least in the middle movement’s subtle humour and the finale’s scintillating caprices.

This was followed by Gabriel Faure’s Cello Sonata No.1 in D minor (Op.109, 1917) performed by Singapore-based Korean cellist Cho Hang-oh with Tian again on piano. This underrated gem should be as popular and often played as Debussy’s late Cello Sonata, which remains a mystery. An elusiveness in melodiousness may be a reason, the lyrical glories of the Belle Epoque being well left behind by the horrors of war. 

Still, the duo mastered the opening movement’s rhythmic quirkiness and the finale’s emotional vagaries. However, the tender beauty of the slow movement’s plaint remains the abiding memory of this reading. Cho’s tone is simply gorgeous, and the outpouring of emotion by both players totally palpable. Bravo!

The matinee concluded tumultuously with Maurice Ravel’s La Valse (1919-20), in the version for piano four hands by Lucien Garban. Here, young pianist Tay Shu Wen was partnered by mentoring Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson. The duo could not completely escape the Yamaha’s tendency for percussiveness, but Beatson’s ever-steady waltz rhythm in the secondo part was met with alacrity by Tay’s flashily swooning primo role. 

Before long, both musicians were waltzing on their seats, while busily avoiding collisions of bodily parts. A sense of danger was ever present, and one was almost half-expecting the piano to collapse in the heap. The reality was that both pianists were on top of their game, and the message of societal decadence and collapse was well and truly received.

This Sharing Concert was more than a show-and-tell session after two weeks of music professionals working today. It was a clear indication that thanks to CMAS, chamber music performance in Singapore is heading in the right direction.

DANCE WITH THE FOUR / T'ang Quartet / Review

 

DANCE WITH THE FOUR 

T’ang Quartet, Ning An & Albert Tiu 

Conservatory Concert Hall 

Tuesday (29 October 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 31 October 2024 with the title 'T'ang Quartet shows Shostakovich and Piazzolla share common love for Bach".

The T’ang Quartet as we knew it in 1992, its inaugural year, does not quite exist any more. An ensemble-in-residence at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, its remaining founding members violinists Ng Yu Ying and Ang Chek Meng now perform concerts with guest musicians. A former student, Korean cellist Cho Hang-oh, joined it for this concert as did fellow faculty member violist Zhang Manchin for a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor (Op.57). 

Arguably the most performed 20th century piano quintet, it had inspirations from the Baroque, notably Johann Sebastian Bach. Pianist Ning An’s big opening chords on the newly-gifted Fazioli grand was a statement of intent in the Prelude, from which a probing exposition sprouted and grew. The very tight ensemble continued into the lengthy Fugue, where individual voices and contrapuntal lines stood out with illuminating clarity. 

Photo: Faezah Zulkifli

With formality out of the way, the group let down its collective hair for the madcap Scherzo, its biting irony and vitriolic humour in tandem with a swinging beat. Sparks flew for a short but scintillating course, its irreverent tone giving way to the Intermezzo’s walking-paced passacaglia, yet another Baroque form. 

Seriousness would be called to question with the Finale’s levity and faux-cheeriness soon taking over. One might be puzzled by the volte-face, but the players’ determination in keeping tongues lodged in cheeks held firm, through a manic march to its ambiguous close. The Soviet regime was flummoxed, even awarding Shostakovich the coveted Stalin Prize in 1941. 

After the interval, the T’angs were joined by conservatory student violist Huang Yi and pianist Albert Tiu for a second half of tangos by Argentine composer / bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla. One might inquire what on earth Shostakovich and Piazzolla had in common. 

The answer would be found by just listening: a shared love of Bach. 

Fuga y Mysterio, which began an enjoyable run of half a dozen tangos, was built upon a fugue. Tiu, who crafted these nifty transcriptions, opened with a highly syncopated piano subject, with string voices joining in sequence. Percussive beats were provided by striking of wood (on cello and piano) and short-and-sharp bowing near the bridge. Old J.S. would have been proud of the mastery of counterpoint involved. 

With Soledad (Solitude), Piazzolla had one of his most achingly beautiful slow movements. And how Ng’s violin sang, followed by Huang’s warm and duskily burnished tone on viola. In Concierto Para Quinteto, a progression of descending notes formed the bass over which all instruments took their turns, essentially a passacaglia in disguise. Where did we hear that before? 

In Oblivion, another classic slow movement, solo viola and Cho’s cello came to the fore, poignantly so. La Muerte del Angel (The Death of Angel) was another busy fugue, infectious in its frenetic rhythm and the concert closed with Le Grand Tango, originally written for cello and piano. Here the parts were equally shared by all five players, who clearly enjoyed driving to its intoxicating and rapturous close.

BRAHMS THE TWO PIANO CONCERTOS / Tedd Joselson & Asian Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

BRAHMS THE TWO PIANO CONCERTOS 

Tedd Joselson (Piano) 

Asian Symphony Orchestra 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Sunday (16 June 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 18 June 2024 with the title "Pianist Tedd Joselson plays Brahms with virtuosity".

A Herculean feat never previously attempted in Singapore is a concert bringing together both of German composer Johannes Brahms’ piano concertos. It had to be done sometime. That was left to Belgian-American pianist Tedd Joselson, resident here since 1999, and the Asian Symphony Orchestra under Belgian-Singaporean conductor Robert Casteels to do the honours. The concert was in aid of Heartware Network, a non-profit organisation that empowers youth. 

Brahms, young and old.

If one wondered if that was too much of a good thing, the reality was that one cannot get enough of it. Both concertos, running over 45 minutes each, were contrasted works coming from different periods of Brahms’ creative output. Both required different approaches, and all the performers came up with required musical responses to make the unwieldly tandem sound right. 

Photo: Benjamin Chiau

The First Piano Concerto in D minor (Op.15) was a creation of callow youth and exuberance from a 25-year-old. The opening orchestral tutti established the tone of almighty struggle, with Joselson’s mellow entry seemingly in direct opposition. The ensuing clash of titans, literally a tug-of-war between piano and orchestra, was at its most absorbing when Joselson piled on octave runs and chordal salvoes to stunning effect. 

Photo: Pianomaniac

Nothing fazed the 72-year-old veteran, whose sensitive touch shone in lyrical moments, such as the first movement’s second subject and the slow movement’s hymn-like theme bearing the inscription Benedictus, Qui Venit In Nomine Domini (Blessed, He Who Comes In The Name Of The Lord). 

For raw passion unleashed, the Rondo finale saw Joselson sprint out like a man possessed, and his ability to sustain that level of tension throughout was enviable for even someone half his age. That the orchestra’s winds were excellent following the fugato was testament to attention paid to fine details, and the work barrelled victoriously to a colossal close. 

Photo: Heartware Network

The Second Piano Concerto in B flat major (Op.83) was composed some 26 years later, a work of mature sobriety. Conceived more like a four-movement symphony than virtuoso vehicle, the demanding piano part becomes almost an integral part of the orchestra. The opening conversation between Alan Kartik’s French horn and Joselson set the tone before another battle royale began. 

Photo: Heartware Network

While not as note-perfect as the earlier concerto, Joselson still commanded the stage with an imperiousness which Casteels and his forces matched blow for blow. The mighty Scherzo continued without letting off, but the best was reserved for the slow movement. 

Photo: Pianomaniac

With cellist Hang-Oh Cho’s sublime solo leading the way and Joselson’s smoothest possible response, detente was at hand. Seldom has this Andante radiated so much sunshine and beauty, leaving behind earlier storms as distant memories. The light-hearted finale with its send-up to the Viennese waltz became the perfect send off, and the applause rained even before the last emphatic chord had ended. 

Photo: Pianomaniac

Photo: Heartware Network

There cannot be more than very few souls in attendance who have witnessed the great Ukrainian-American pianist Vladimir Horowitz in person, but Joselson’s volatile and mercurial brand of virtuosity is probably the closest thing to that.

Photo: Benjamin Chiau

SHUXIANG, ESTHER & FRIENDS / Yang Shuxiang and Friends / Review

SHUXIANG, ESTHER & FRIENDS

Yang Shuxiang, Violin et al

Esplanade Recital Studio

Saturday (23 August 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 25 August 2014 with the title "When locks fly and bow-hairs fray".

There exists a “golden generation” of young classical musicians in Singapore born in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Violinists feature prominently, and Yang Shuxiang, graduate from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and now studying in Boston, is arguably the most flamboyant among them. His imposing stature, matinee idol hair and passionate response to music rather makes him stand out.

Musically he is equal to the best of them, and when these factors collude, sparks fly in concert as this outing soon proved. It however began sedately with the World Premiere of young Singaporean Phoon Yu’s Elegy for violin, piano and string quartet.

In Phoon Yu's Elegy, the composer (seated left)
also served as the pianist's page-turner.

The second-generation composer (son of the esteemed Phoon Yew Tien) proved to be a chip off the old block, with his highly coherent tonal work sustaining an air of sombre anguish through its 6 minutes. The plaint of the strings was contrasted with series of piano chords and the solo violin’s attempts to establish a melodic line, ending definitively with a strum on a piano bass string by the composer himself.

The atmosphere lightened with Brahms’s Violin Sonata No.2 in A major (Op.100), where Yang’s sumptuous and full-bodied tone soon took flight. The performance was distinguished with a fiery vehemence in the outer movements, contrasted with singingly lyrical asides through its course. The balance achieved with Hong Kong-born American pianist Esther Ning Yau, whose clarity of articulation and pedalling were exemplary, was also excellent.

For film composer Franz Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy, which improves on the popular Sarasate warhorse, Yang took on a dramatic life and death stance from start to end. With locks flying and bow-hairs fraying, the level of intensity he achieved was frightening, and the frenzied ending saw him finishing a beat ahead of the piano.

The intermission was brief respite before the onslaught on the senses that was Ernest Chausson’s Concert for violin, piano and string quartet, the same forces that began the evening. Those who remember Yang’s impassioned take on the same composer’s Poeme at the President’s Young Performers Concert several years ago will take delight in tripling the dose of adrenaline here.

Cast symphonically in four movements and lasting almost three-quarters of an hour, Yang, Yau and the quartet formed by violinists Alan Choo and Gabriel Lee, violist Jeremy Chiew and cellist Cho Hang-Oh made every minute count. Interestingly, the arrangement of the musicians on stage made it appear that the work was scored for violinist and piano quintet.

The dominance of Yang as de facto leader was because he was the only player standing, thus becoming the focal point. His virtuosic flourishes and the floridly exuberant piano part were well supported by the quartet which traded every blow with equal trenchancy.

Seldom has the three note motif (D-A-E) of the bristling first movement been stated this emphatically, a portent of things to come. Even the laid-back rocking rhythm of the Sicilienne and dirge-like slow movement could not hold back the deluge of emotion that inundated the rapturous finale. This showing, greeted with a chorus of cheers,  just about eclipses the memory of past performances. But that is the essence of live music making, the secret of which is to play and live for “now”.

All photos by the kind permission of Yang Shuxiang and Friends.