CD Review: EVOLUTION by DONALD LAW

EVOLUTION

DONALD LAW, Piano

KNS Classical A/085

Its been several years since a Singaporean pianist produced a recital disc, and Donald Law’s debut album is much welcome amid this Covid-19 pandemic. The award winning pianist who pursued studies at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and London’s Royal College of Music provides an hour-long chronological history of the piano sonata form. Beginning with the late Classical (Beethoven in 1821), following through to the Romantic era (Chopin, 1844), before closing in the early twentieth century (Janacek, 1905), this an enthralling musical journey.

Law gives an idiomatic reading of Beethoven’s Sonata No.30 in A flat major (Op.110), the most formal member of his final sonata trilogy. Its lyricism is well-realised, as is the third movement’s sense of pathos. The contrapuntal lines of the fugal finale are delivered with utter clarity, and on this count, I am certain that he will be a convincing Bach player. Only in the folk-flavoured central fast movement does the fast Trio section comes across as being hemmed in by politeness and discipline.

Moving on to Chopin’s Third Sonata in B minor (Op.58), Law has a strong grip of the first movement’s narrative sweep, and omitting the exposition repeat helped. All through the work’s arch lyricism, there is an undercurrent of tragedy and vulnerability that pervades, and this is best heard in the Largo third movement. If there were any music to compliment the gaunt and haunted look of the consumptive Chopin’s famous daguerreotype of 1849, this would be it. Law shapes this with much sympathy and understated beauty. While the etude-like second movement could have been more mercurial, the finale’s Rondo romp is delivered with a sure-headed and often thrilling inexorability.     

Arguably the best performance comes in Leos Janacek’s two-movement Sonata 1.X.1905 (“From The Street”), prompted by the murder of a worker in a street demonstration. Besides covering all the notes, Law gets to the dark heart and soul of this disturbing work. From its brooding opening movement (Presentiment) through an arch-like progression to its violent climax (Death), the canvas is filled with myriad shades and nuances of grey amid stark black and white musical imagery. A third movement had been discarded by the composer, but this “unfinished” torso stands, like a life cruelly interrupted, a masterpiece completed by its bleak finality.

With this excellent recital disc, Donald Law announces himself as a true artist and major new voice in Singapore’s classical music scene.

This recital may be enjoyed on various digital platforms at:

Evolution - KNS Classical

EVOLUTION / GABRIEL LEE Violin Recital / Review

EVOLUTION

GABRIEL LEE Violin Recital

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory 

Orchestral Hall

Saturday (31 March 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 2 April 2018 with the title "Enjoyable ride through violin's history".

In his 75-minute recital, Singaporean violinist Gabriel Lee gave a treatise on the history of the violin, performing on both baroque and modern violins. The first half belonged to the baroque. Both Arcangelo Corelli and Johann Paul von Westhoff pre-dated the giants J.S.Bach and Handel, and their sonatas he played did not conform to the usual four-movement form.

A sense of spontaneity pervaded Corelli's E major Sonata (Op.5 No.11), well expressed in the alternating slow and fast movements. As with period performance practice, very little vibrato was used by Lee and partner cellist Leslie Tan, with Mervyn Lee accompanying on harpsichord. Befitting one of the era's great violin virtuosos, a fast Gavotte completed the work, as if tacked on like an showy encore.

Westhoff's Sonata No.2 in A minor, also in 5 movements, sounded surprisingly modern for its time. The opening was marked by pointillist fragments from both violin and cello, before coalescing into busy counterpoint in the 2^nd movement. The 3^rd movement titled “Imitatione del liuto” saw Lee putting aside his bow and strumming the strings as if it were a lute. A similar timbre produced on the harpsichord (with mechanically plucked strings) gave the impression of a serenade for duet.

What are these people looking at?

Answer: the insides of a harpsichord

The classical era of Mozart and Beethoven was skipped, arriving instead at the late Romanticism of Ernest Chausson's Poéme. Here Lee played on a modern violin, luxuriating in the full flourish of vibrato which audiences are more accustomed to. After an extended piano introduction which Mervyn Lee delivered with requisite gravitas, Gabriel's solo entry was one of breathtaking intensity, grabbing listeners by the lapels without letting go.

This rhapsodic work dwelled in the deepest recesses of feeling and emotion, where Lee plumbed with a passion and concentration that was hard to surpass. Although tempered by a Franckian chorale that provided some respite, the music soared to a rapturous climax before receding gently.

The 20^th century was represented by Penang-born Singaporean composer Kam Kee Yong, now residing in Canada. His short showpiece Cicada was described by Lee as Singapore's answer to Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumble Bee. Delighting in its buzzing motifs and swooping slides, its eccentric bursts of energy provided a lively close to the recital proper.

If one wondered what a recorder placed on a chair was doing, it was part of Lee's encore act. This saw him play few bars of the violin, toot on the recorder and do a spot of beat-boxing. All these were recorded and layered by electronic means, controlled by a foot pedal and within seconds, he operated a virtual one-man-band. Here was a re-creation of a baroque passacaglia, over which he further improvised on his violin with snatches of Grieg, Tartini and more.

  

This 21^st century “back to baroque” gesture drew the loudest cheers, and one suspects Bach and company would not have minded in the least.