ERIC LU & KAHCHUN WONG / CHOPIN PIANO CONCERTO NO.1 / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

ERIC LU & KAHCHUN WONG

CHOPIN PIANO CONCERTO NO.1

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (1 May 2026)

This review was first published in Bachtrack.com on 5 May 2026 with the title "Eric Lu brings scintillating Chopin to Singapore".

In two short weeks with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Kahchun Wong conducted more works by Asian composers than entire seasons in the past. Last week, his own orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition scored with traditional Asian and Chinese instruments and Cambodian composer Chinary Ung’s Water Rings: Overture were given local premieres. This concert saw the world premiere of young Singaporean composer Wang Chenwei’s Rwa Bhineda.

The title comes from Balinese philosophy where opposing forces – good and evil, joy and sorrow – exist to maintain balance in the cosmos. Within ten intense minutes, a soft-loud-sound / slow-fast-slow arch-like edifice was constructed to relive the perfect symmetry of a candi bentar gate found in Balinese architecture. String harmonics and low bass notes are heard in tandem, and both slendro and peleg scales of gamelan music were employed, anterograde and retrograde. All this led to central kinetic episode recalling the busyness of Colin McPhee’s Tabuh Tabuhan before gently receding into ultimate solace.

The sold-out concert’s main draw was American pianist Eric Lu, winner of the 2025 International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, performing Chopin’s First Piano Concerto in E minor (Op.11). The opening Allegro maestoso was expansive, established by the orchestral ritornello and his entry stolid and imposing. Playing with the safety net of a tablet, any fears were dispelled as he fluently negotiated awkward turns and the scintillating development section. 

Mastery of cantabile was never in doubt, and full fruition came in the Romance with the luminous seamless beauty of his phrasing and touch. The Rondo finale’s Krakowiak was breathlessly exciting, bringing the concerto to a triumphant close. This is one work where applause begins even before the last orchestral chord is sounded. Lu’s encores were contrasting, Schumann’s Träumerei from Kinderszenen and because the audience would not let him leave, Chopin’s vertiginous Waltz in A flat major (Op.42).

After a first half that lasted well over an hour, the audience had thinned out somewhat, a pity that some had missed a rare outing for Bartók’ Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta. Personally considered his best work, strings were symmetrically split into exact halves, placed on either side of Wong, each playing different parts and creating an antiphonal effect. Leading without a baton, he got as much as he could from players challenged by this kind of “chamber music”. Bare violas opened with a spare fugal subject, with Bartok’s patented night music atmosphere conjured in the opening and third movements later becoming synonymous with horror movie music.

All thanks to Stanley Kubrick’s canny use in his 1980 movie The Shining, this pop culture reference to the Adagio is unlikely to fade anytime soon. Jonathan Fox’s repeated xylophone ticks and glissandi on Christian Schiøler’s timpanis have that skin-crawling quality, and further slides on the strings, Beatrice Lin’s piano, Aya Sakou’s celesta and Gulnara Mashurova’s harp created a nightmare dreamscape now indelibly associated with deserted carpeted hallways, icy garden mazes and blood gushing from lifts. 

The fast movements could have done with an extra helping of abandonment, particularly in the second movement’s treacherous runs of string pizzicatos with rapidly shifting metres, which was taken more gingerly than with swashbuckling verve. Nevertheless, the overall outcome was a still a positive one. Virtuoso orchestras and their audiences could always do with shocks to the system once in a while.

Star Rating: ****

The original review on Bachtrack.com can be read here:

Eric Lu brings scintillating Chopin to Singapore | Bachtrack

CHOPIN: A BRIDGE BETWEEN POLAND AND SINGAPORE

Music is one of the best paths of diplomacy between nations from totally different cultures. One readily thinks of Isaac Stern's late 1970s visit to the People's Republic of China and the movie From Mao to Mozart that came out from that historic trip. Much closer to home is the recent recital tour of American-Chinese pianist Eric Lu, the latest first prizewinner of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. With his recital on Wednesday, he delivered the music of  Chopin in wonderful performances to Singapore.

Chopin is the reason why this special event on Thursday 4 December 2025 at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory was held, organised by the Embassy of Poland in Singapore, the Chopin Society of Singapore, the Conservatory, with a special appearance of Eric Lu and members of Poland's National Institute Fryderyk Chopin (NIFC). The universality of music - encapsulated by the music of Chopin - was perhaps the best way of bringing the nations of Poland and Singapore together. Here are the photos from that marvelous soiree. 

   

The impressive foyer of the Conservatory
was a perfect setting for the event.

Polish Ambassador to Singapore
Tadeusz Chomicky addresses the audience.

Recent National Piano Competition
finalist Goh Kai Cheng performs
Chopin's Variations on La Ci Darem Op.2

Eric Lu watches himself perform.

NIFC Director Artur Sklener
hails the universality of Chopin's music.

Ambassador Chomicky recounts his
first experience of Chopin about 60 years ago.

Eric Lu relates his personal challenge of 
entering the Chopin Competition for a second time.

YST Dean Peter Tornquist says how the University
can further support such future cultural activities. 

It was time for Eric Lu to perform.
First, the Largo from Chopin's Third Sonata.

The first movement from the Second Sonata.

People watching at the Reception

National Piano Competition winner
Toby Tan among the Poles.
Could he be playing in Warsaw in 2030?

Lianhe Zaobao's Zhang Heyang
with Dean Tornquist & Eric Lu.

Goh Kai Cheng with his piano teacher
from childhood Lee Pei Ming.

Eric Lu meets with flautist Rit Xu,
pouting pianist Li Churen and
Jimmy Qi of Altenburg Arts.

Pianists all: Evelyn Handrisanto, 
Josephine, April & Nicholas Ong

The cello lovers table:
Tang Jia, Mrs Qin, Luna Yang & Layla Pi.

Ambassador Chomicki with
Evelyn, Josephine & Zhou Yun

Kwok Kian Chow, Francis Liew
with Toby Tan's parents, Hery and Evan.

Agnieszka Kowalczyk from the Polish embassy
will be plotting my first trip to Poland,
preferably in October 2030!

19TH INTERNATIONAL FRYDERYK CHOPIN PIANO COMPETITION: WINNER'S CONCERT IN SINGAPORE / ERIC LU, Piano / Review

 

19TH INTERNATIONAL 

FRYDERYK CHOPIN 

PIANO COMPETITION:

WINNER'S CONCERT IN SINGAPORE

ERIC LU Piano Recital

Victoria Concert Hall

Wednesday (3 December 2025)

This review was first published in Bachtrack.com on 4 December 2025 with the title "Chopin Competition winner Eric Lu lives up to the hype in Singapore".

Controversy arose at the 19th Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw after American-Chinese pianist Eric Lu was awarded the first prize. After placing fourth in the 2015 edition and having bagged first prize at the Leeds in 2018, why had he returned to participate? It was a calculated risk which could have backfired badly had he been eliminated prematurely or not finished among the top prizewinners. Still he bested the challenge of online favourites, the Chinese Tianyao Lyu, Malaysian Vincent Ong and Georgian David Khrikuli, by being the most musically reliable in all four rounds, thus garnering the highest votes from the most judges.

The moment Eric Lu knew he was tops.

Viewing the Internet and attending a live concert are two completely different experiences, yet one factor was immutable – sound production. By excluding extraneous factors like facial expressions, bodily movements, observed fingerings or audience response, the delivery and experience of his live performance was exactly as promised by his online appearances. He was just remarkably steadfast and want for a better word - consistent.

Eric Lu in Warsaw.

Opening with the Nocturne in C sharp minor (Op.27 No.1), one will immediately sense the colours and shadings he strived for in its slow but gradual build-up, from simmering underlying tension to a final release of pent-up passion. The unfolding journey was well worth the wait and watch. Continuing without a break to the Barcarolle in F sharp major (Op.60), the degree of cantabile achieved made this reading as memorable as the much-praised Warsaw performance, topped with finely-honed filigree at its rapturous close.

Photo: NIFC

Photo: Ung Ruey Loon

Then came three Polonaises performed in succession. The stately and sometimes vigorous dance of Polish nobility was merely a starting point. In Lu’s vision and hands, these became more than just polonaises. The Polonaise in F sharp minor (Op.44) was Chopin’s longest in terms of number of bars and also his most belligerent. Lu tapped into its raw energy, including the central “galloping” episode, but found the most traction in a slow mazurka interlude where time stood still before the final onslaught. Quite different but just as trenchant was the Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major (Op.61), the longest in playing time, where the emphasis was more on fantasy than polonaise. Despite seemingly discursive asides, the heartbeat and pulse of Polish patriotism never dimmed.

Eric Lu in Singapore.
Photo: Ung Ruey Loon

For the recital’s second half, the posthumous Polonaise in B flat major (Op.71 No.2), with delicate ornamentations from the 18-year-old Chopin, provided contrast from the earlier dances as well as the mature Third Sonata in B minor (Op.58) to come. This Sonata represented the pinnacle of Chopin’s art as well as Lu’s interpretation. His technical command was beyond reproach, and an ability to see the big picture was what made the performance memorable. Without fussing in details, the contrasting martial and lyrical qualities of the opening movement, the Scherzo’s etude-like writing, the Largo’s long-breathed sigh and the finale’s inexorable romp came through with utmost clarity and brilliance.

Photo: Ung Ruey Loon

The encores of two Waltzes, expressing wistful melancholy in C sharp minor (Op.64 No.2) and dizzying ebullience in A flat major (Op.42) revealed yet another facet of being Chopin. Coaxed by seemingly unending applause, Eric Lu offered the Aria from J.S.Bach’s Goldberg Variations, played simply and luminously. Nothing could possibly follow after that.

Star Rating: *****

Eric Lu's piano recital 

was presented by Altenburg Arts.

The original review on Bachtrack.com 

may be read here:

Chopin Competition winner Eric Lu lives up to the hype in Singapore | Bachtrack

PIANO DUO RECITAL BY KATE LIU & ERIC LU / Review

 

PIANO DUO RECITAL 

BY KATE LIU & ERIC LU 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Sunday (20 October 2024) 

Some forty years, a recording was made of Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor (D.940) for piano four hands and Mozart’s Sonata in D major (K.448) for two pianos which still stands the test of time. Both pianists had been winners of major international piano competitions. Both were Jewish, one was American and the other Romanian. One is, of course, referring to that unforgettable Gramophone Award winning Columbia Masterworks (now Sony Classical) recording by Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu. 

Remember this disc?

Last Sunday afternoon, the same two works were performed by two competition-winning pianists, both American Chinese, one from Massachusetts and the other born in Singapore. It is a sign of the times that some of the most musical and rewarding performances today now come from pianists with Asian ancestry. On this occasion, the pianists were the tandem of Eric Lu and Kate Liu, making their Singapore debut as a duo, presented by Altenburg Arts. 

Their recital opened with Schubert’s single-movement Allegro in A minor (D.947), also called Lebensstürme (Storms of Life). This work in sonata-form displayed the classic Stürm und Drang (Storm and Stress) tropes of angst and agitation in music although coloured by more refined Biedermeier sensitivities. Eric took the primo role with Kate in secondo and they blended beautifully with a single voice. There are no storms without the calms in between, and these were perfectly judged, Eric’s soft treble passages sensitively backed by Kate’s acutely perceptive bass. There was never an ugly sound to be in some of Schubert’s more violent pages. 

Now watch this video:

Their parts were reversed for the Fantasy, but the outcome was no less musical. In fact, one could not tell who was primo or secondo, such was their tightly knit ensemble with the give-and-take that is this chamber music, or Hausmusik for the matter. The music’s inherent melancholy and singing tone, the more lively development and the counterpoint in the fugue towards the end were lovingly handled. There was nothing to dislike in this winning performance. 

Both pianists were on separate keyboards after the intermission, with the novel placement of two pianos one not commonly seen here. The keyboards (and pianists) were facing in opposite directions but were still in close proximity which definitely helped communication. The Mozart Sonata, a cornerstone of the two-piano repertoire, received a most sympathetic reading, with both pianists in sync and in balance from start to end. 

There was to be no over-pedalling or smudging of textures, with the lightness of their parts shining through. Their trills were so evenly voiced as to be indivisible. The finale bounded ever so buoyantly, the work radiating a joie de vivre not encountered at Victoria Concert Hall since the close-to-perfect conception by the husband-and-wife duo of Dennis Lee and Toh Chee Hung at the 2005 Singapore International Piano Festival. 

The concert closed with Chopin’s Rondo in C major (Op.73), an early work from 1828 despite its late opus number. The typically fussy passage-work and filigreed ornamentions of that age came through most persuasively, with outward virtuosity never being a prime consideration. Such was the utter musicality of this splendid duo. 

The appreciative applause was reciprocated with two encores on a single keyboard, first J.S.Bach’s Gottes Zeit ist die allebeste Zeit (BWV.106, God’s Time is the Best Time) as arranged by György Kurtág – a rare gem - and Brahms’ popular Waltz (Op.39 No.15) heard in A major (instead of the usual A flat major). A repeat visit of this duo (or as soloists) cannot come soon enough.

Kate Liu and Eric Lu

were presented by Altenburg Arts.