NAFA ORCHESTRA / Concert Series 24 February 2022 / Review

NAFA ORCHESTRA

Lee Foundation Theatre, NAFA

Thursday (24 February 2022)

 

It has been several years since I last witnessed the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) Orchestra in concert. Pre-pandemic, it was led by Lim Yau, then-Dean of the School of Music at NAFA, but these days, his son cellist-turned-conductor Lin Juan has taken over the baton. They have very different stage personas; Lim’s dominating presence and exuberance is contrasted with Lin’s more low key and retiring demeanour. Nevertheless, the younger Lin proved himself to be no less of a perceptive communicator.

 

This NAFA Orchestra concert opened with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor (K.466) with Christopher Guzman, visiting professor of piano from Penn State University, as soloist. The first of two piano concertos (out of 27) in a minor key, its study of sturm und drang (storm and stress) was well demonstrated. The orchestral introduction, while not luxuriant in string sonority, bristled with quiet intent, leading to Guzman’s clear and plain-speaking entry.

 

It was Mozart’s way to begin in a subdued manner and then gradually crank up the tension to climactic highs, with Guzman responding in kind. There were some hair-raising moments but he kept his cool, unflinching in resolve and then surprising the listener by not playing the customary Beethoven first movement cadenza. Instead he chose the romanticised offering by German composer Carl Reinecke (student of Schumann, Mendelssohn and Liszt), an unusually interesting choice as it alternated between seriousness and levity while throwing in as many virtuosic devices possible.

 

The Romanze was taken at a slightly brisker than usual pace, the effect of which was to make the turbulent middle section less of a contrast, but here was the music revealed at its lyrical best. The storms and stresses returned for the finale, which had an electric air about it aided by the orchestra’s alert and sensitive partnership. Another surprise came in Guzman playing Ferruccio Busoni’s equally romanticised cadenza, always a refreshing change from the usual, as the concerto wound to a joyous conclusion in the major key.

 

The orchestra’s strings came into their own in Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. It would seem that the 27 musicians (two ensembles of 18 + 9) be overmatched by this “choral” classic beloved for its cathedral sonorities, but not so. Despite a tentative start, the players got more assured and steadily built upon its layers of sound. The intonation was generally good and the volume generated soon surpassed initial expectations to reach breathtaking highs. The quartet of soloists, drawn from the larger ensemble, acquitted themselves very well and it was clear that all involved have been well schooled and drilled. For the orchestra, this represented the high point of the evening.

 

Respighi’s neoclassical suite The Birds (Gli Uccelli) closed the concert. Strings were joined by winds, brass, harp and celesta, and here the full ensemble could have done with more rehearsals. Respighi’s music, even in works for chamber forces, calls for more fastidious attention to detail and texture, virtuoso playing and balance of ensemble. What was lacking in refinement was made up by passion and enthusiasm, which can never be faulted.

 

The opening Prelude sparked with life, essentially a precis summation of the bird-inspired movements to come. The solo oboist in La Columba (The Dove) did his job pretty well, while a pecking pulse was maintained in La Gallina (The Hen), a chirpy reworking of Rameau’s La Poule, perhaps its best known movement. Toughest to bring off was L’usignuolo (The Nightingale), with tricky parts for flute, piccolo and French horn, which came out more sturdy than alluring. Little subtlety would be expected in Il Cucu (The Cuckoo) and so it proved as the work reprised its opening bars for a cheery close.

 

For the record, the last time I heard Respighi’s The Birds was back in the mid-1990s by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in an avian-themed concert conducted by Lim Yau. Now that his son Lin Juan has followed in his footsteps by introducing good music to Singaporeans is another cause for celebration. 

TWO PIANO RECITAL / Christopher Guzman & Nellie Seng / Review

TWO PIANO RECITAL

CHRISTOPHER GUZMAN

& NELLIE SENG, 2 Pianos

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

Thursday (17 February 2022)

 

One gets the feeling that the Covid pandemic has reached a steady state when vaccinated travel lanes opened (and stayed opened), and more foreign artists have arrived to perform. From the beginning of the year, Singaporeans have welcomed international concert pianists like Eric Lu, Luca Buratto, Herbert Schuch and Zee Zee. The latest to come is American pianist Christopher Guzman, professor at Penn State University, presently on a three-week residency with the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. His concerts include a solo recital (last week), a two-piano recital and a concerto performance with the NAFA Orchestra (next week).

 

Its been ages since the last two-piano recital, so it was a pleasure to have Guzman teaming up with Nellie Seng, NAFA’s Head of Piano Studies, in an enjoyable programme for four hands. Both pianists were students of Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School where they first got together.

 

Opening the recital was Mozart’s Fantasy in F minor (K.608), originally conceived for mechanical organ (orgelwalze). Taking the form of a French overture, with an arresting opening in dotted rhythm followed by fugal sections, it is perhaps Mozart’s best tribute to J.S.Bach. The duo went fearlessly for the jugular, then carrying on with a skillful play of counterpoint in the ensuing fugues. The voices were clearly enunciated and as the fugues got increasingly more florid, so was the attention paid to detail by both pianists, who eyed each other most alertly.

 

Guzman played the primo part for the first work, but roles were switched in Mozart’s popular Sonata in D major (K.448), which received a breathlessly exciting performance. Caution was thrown to the winds at the speed taken for the first movement’s Allegro con spirito. The spirito part was taken most literally, and the work was all the better for it. Ensemble work was precise and clean for most part. In short, verve was never sacrificed for safety first. The slow movement provided flowing lyrical respite and it was a return to high jinks for the ebullient finale. There was no room for error here, and the duo again delivered with plentiful dividends.  

 

Following a short break, Robert Schumann’s Six Canonic Studies Op.56 were a far less frenetic affair. Originally conceived for pedal piano (a piano with attached foot pedals for playing bass notes, like an organ), it is now more often heard in Debussy’s arrangement for two pianos. This essentially divides the labour between two pianists, with their left hands sharing the pedalling work on bass notes. These miniatures were varied in character and not over-complicated in counterpoint.  Delightful and sensitively played by the duo, one wonders why these are not more often heard.  

 

Rachmaninov’s Six Morceaux Op.11, early salon-like pieces, are always played on a single keyboard but on this occasion, the duo stuck to separate pianos. The elegant little Waltz (Op.11 No.4) opened simply but got increasingly more animated, so it was probably wise they did not get in each other’s way. The 70-minute recital closed with Lutoslawski’s Paganini Variations, based on the ubiquitous Caprice No.24 for solo violin. Unlike those by Brahms or Rachmaninov, these variations are short-winded but make up with anarchic wit and surprising harmonic twists. The duo played up its shock value and campness, which was a total hit with the audience.

 

After loud and prolonged applause, the duo finally converged on one keyboard for an encore which Seng described as a lullaby. The audience was sent home happy with Brahms’ Waltz in A flat major (Op.39 No.15), while relishing in its simple lilt and charm.

Christopher Guzman
cannot believe his good fortune!