THE JOY OF PIANO / Review

THE JOY OF PIANO

ExxonMobil Campus Concerts

University Cultural Centre

Tuesday to Thursday (23-25 October 2012)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 27 October 2012 with the title "Bask in a breathtaking piano landscape". 

The Joy of Piano, Singapore’s only free international piano festival, brought together three talented young pianists in challenging recital programmes that could rival the established Singapore International Piano Festival. They were united by having won top prizes at the Hong Kong International Piano Competition, organised by The Chopin Society of Hong Kong, as well as other major awards.

 

In the Russian Ilya Rashkovskiy, who opened the festival, one found an interpreter par excellence of Russian repertoire in the mould of legends Richter and Gilels. In Prokofiev’s Eighth Sonata, he negotiated a treacherous tightrope between bittersweet melancholy and lacerating violence with a cool steely resolve. In commanding control throughout, he also yielded poetry from Rachmaninov’s clangourous Second Sonata through its dense thickets of notes.

Breathtaking virtuosity aside, lyricism was breathed into Schubert’s desolate Impromptu in C minor and seemingly hackneyed Chopin began to resound anew. The Second Ballade and “Heroic” Polonaise could often be reduced to a mass of loud clichés, but the passion Rashkovskiy instilled into these warhorses both inspired and invigorated. His seamless legato singing line in the Nocturne in D flat major (Op.27 No.2) was also one to die for. 

 

Wednesday evening saw an equally trenchant response from Hong Kong’s Colleen Lee, an epitome of feminine grace whose lithe stature belied a big sound and enormous reserves. There was whimsy and fantasy to Schumann’s little Arabeske, while world-weariness coloured the Fantasy in C major, with a share of wrong notes in the treacherous second movement as if to prove the point.

Her overall vision and conception was never in doubt, volatile and excitable in Chopin’s Second Scherzo and displaying a kaleidoscopic range of moods and colours for the 24 short Préludes of Op.28. The journey was eventful and highly personal, one that revolved around the “Raindrop” Prélude, where time stood still for a full five minutes. The coruscating final number in D minor was the perfect a jolt to the senses, delivered with stunning panache.

 

On the final night, Italian Giuseppe Andaloro played what must have been the most unusual recital thought possible. Completely eschewing classical and romantic repertoire, baroque and 20^th century music held sway. In Frescobaldi’s Partita on La Follia, harpsichord-like ornamentations on the Steinway grand astonished as well as delighted, while his view of the Bach-Busoni Chaconne traversed dynamic extremes, from tinkles of a music box to thunderous organ sonorities. 

The keyboard wizardry continued in the contemporary works, where impressionistic hues of Messiaen’s Préludes sat easily with the bald dissonances of Bartok’s Suite Op.14 and syncopations of Stravinsky’s Tango and Ligeti’s Two Capriccios. Four of Kapustin’s free-wheeling Études, played with a fearless disregard of their complexities, brought down the house. The capacity audience, rewarded with two further encores, was clearly captivated and basking in the joy of outsized pianism

The Joy of Piano is part of the ExxonMobil Campus Concerts Series and was generously sponsored by The Chopin Society of Hong Kong. All photographs courtesy of NUS Centre for the Arts.

THE JOY OF PIANO / Singapore's Only Free International Piano Festival

Not to be missed! THE JOY OF PIANO, to be held on three evenings from 23 to 25 October 2012 at the University Cultural Centre Theatre, is Singapore's first and only free international piano festival. Featured are three extremely talented prize-winning pianists who have been associated with the Hong Kong International Piano Competition, organised by The Chopin Society of Hong Kong. Two of them are 1st prize winners of that competition: Ilya Rashkovskiy (2005) and Giuseppe Andaloro (2011). Joining them is Hong Kong's most decorated pianist in the SAR's history, Colleen Lee.

Tickets for the recitals at 8 pm are available on a first come first served basis and can be obtained at the door on each evening. Please come very early to claim them. 

Ever wondered what the programme is going to be? Here's a low down on the prizes each pianist has won and their exciting recital programmes.   

ILYA RASHKOVKIY (Russia)

1st prize, Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2005

2nd prize, Marguerite Long International Piano Competition, 2002

4th prize. Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition 2007

3rd Prize, Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, 2011

SCHUBERT Impromptu in C minor, Op.90 no.1

PROKOFIEV Sonata No.8 in B flat major, Op.84

CHOPIN Ballade No.2 in F major, Op.38

CHOPIN Nocturne Op.27 No.2

CHOPIN Polonaise Op.53 "Heroic"

RACHMANINOV Sonata No.2 in B flat minor, Op.36

COLLEEN LEE (Hong Kong) 

Finalist, Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2005

Finalist, Chopin International Piano Competition 2005

Finalist, Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, 2006

Finalist, Sendai International Piano Competition 2007

SCHUMANN Arabeske in C major, Op.18

SCHUMANN Fantaisie in C major, Op.17

CHOPIN Fantaisie in F minor, Op.49

CHOPIN 24 Préludes, Op.28

GIUSEPPE ANDALORO (Italy)
1st Prize, Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2011
1st Prize, Sendai International Piano Competition 2001
1st Prize, London International Piano Competition 2002
1st Prize, Busoni International Piano Competition 2005

FRESCOBALDI Partita sopra l’aria di Follia
BACH-BUSONI Chaconne
MESSIAEN Three Préludes
STRAVINSKY Tango
BARTOK Suite, Op.14
LIGETI Two Capriccios
KAPUSTIN Four Études, Op.40

The Joy of Piano is presented by the NUS Centre for the Arts under its ExxonMobil Campus Concerts series, and generously sponsored by The Chopin Society of Hong Kong.

GEOFFREY SABA PLAYS RACHMANINOV & SCRIABIN / Review

GEOFFREY SABA PLAYS

RACHMANINOV & SCRIABIN

University Cultural Centre Theatre

Wednesday (3 October 2012)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 5 October 2012 with the title "Naughty but nice closing with Waltzing Matilda".

This piano recital could have been titled “A Tale of Two Classmates” for Russian composers Sergei Rachmaninov and Alexander Scriabin were close contemporaries, shared the same teachers and graduated from Moscow Conservatory in the same cohort with gold medals. However their music took on distinctly divergent paths.

Rachmaninov remained a Romantic for life while Scriabin’s experiments with straining tonality ushered in 20^th century musical modernism. Australia-born British pianist Geoffrey Saba’s recital was a treatise on their contrasting fates and fortunes.

He began with Rachmaninov’s five Morceaux de Fantaisie Op.3, early works with strong whiffs of salon about them. Rearranging the order of play, the opening Elegie oozed Slavic melancholy, contrasted with playful whimsy of the Serenade and the wistful Melodie. Then came the infamous C sharp minor Prelude, Rachmaninov’s most popular solo number bar none, which Saba built to a robust chordal climax, before closing with the riotously tongue-in-cheek Polichinelle.   

Before latecomers could settle into their seats, he crept into the murky, mysterious pages of Scriabin’s late poem Vers La Flamme (Towards The Flame), a fulminating crescendo that spewed and spluttered into a final conflagration. Horowitz described it in terms of nuclear fission and the atomic bomb, while Saba detonated it with an inexorable finality.

The final Five Preludes Op.74 followed like an afterthought, aphoristic and almost atonal utterings all. Scriabin’s earlier Fourth Sonata in two short movements closed the first half. Saba kept it light fingered for most part, but its ecstatic flight lacked that critical lift-off, with the lapses almost certainly exacerbated by jet-lag.

The entire second half was devoted to Rachmaninov’s longest solo work, his monumental First Sonata in D minor. Its 45 minutes played out like a symphony in three movements, inspired by the Faust legend. If the first movement seemed rambling by half, it was for good reason as Saba built up the protagonist’s struggle in his pact with the Devil like an enormous arch, gripping and unrelenting in its vice-like hold.

The slow movement was all tenderness before the Mephistophelean finale which was launched into with all guns blazing. Rachmaninov’s motto Dies Irae theme appeared as expected, now as a demonic march, hastening its wild ride into Hades. Despite the odd slips and missed notes, this hell-for-leather performance must be hailed for its Herculean effort and sense of inevitability. As of tonight, there will have been only three performances of this rare masterpiece in Singapore.

As an encore, Scriabinesque chords greeted and closed Stephen Hough’s transcription of The Waltzing Matilda, a sly tribute to Saba’s homeland, which brought on knowing smiles of recognition in the audience. Naughty but nice.

This concert was presented as part of the ExxonMobil Campus Concerts series. Photographs courtesy of NUS Centre for the Arts. 

Angels amd Demons / Jessica Mathaes Violin Recital / Review

ANGELS & DEMONS
JESSICA MATHAES, Violin
WANG YA-HUI, Piano
University Cultural Centre
Wednesday (12 January 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times

on 14 January 2011 with the title "Devil's best tunes thrilled".

The first chamber concert of the year took some time to warm up. Beethoven’s early Sonata in A major (Op.12 No.2) was the appetiser in the recital by American violinist Jessica Mathaes, Concertmaster of the Austin Symphony Orchestra in Texas.

The opening was taken at a sprightly pulse, with staccato playing that was both light and flighty. The slow movement was well-paced, leading to a lively finale that could have done with a little more humour, No signs of angels nor demons yet, until Giuseppe Tartini’s Sonata in G minor, better known as the Devil’s Trill, took hold.

Here the gremlin was in the Theatre’s dry acoustics, which did not flatter the statuesque Mathaes’ robust tone on her 1807 Johannes Cuypers violin. Legend has it that Tartini had dreamt of Satan fiddling away furiously at the foot of his bed, thus inspiring its composition. Its performance hinged on the music’s ability to conjure up a hair-raising experience. Unfortunately, the menace of diablerie did not surface, instead remained firmly under the sheets.

The second half was more engaging. One suspects Mathaes to be more comfortable in evoking angels, as her performance of Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending was true beauty to behold. Its meditative soliloquys revealed a purity of sound that was ethereal, and taking wing on a flight of fantasy that was the central episode’s pentatonic melody.

Pianist Wang Ya-Hui (formerly the Music Director of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra) proved a rock-steady partner throughout, always sensitive and alert to the shifts in dynamics, even if she was not completely note-perfect.

Both musicians were taxed to the limit in Saint-Saens’ Violin Sonata in D minor, a work so thorny that angels fear to tread. Here Mathaes and Wang were no fools rushing into trouble, instead infused with the devil-may-care bravado to go for broke, and making the outing work.

The final two movements were more than just an exercise in fast playing. Part of the adrenaline rush was to witness the performance teeter on the edge of the abyss, and then righting itself for a breathless close. Their resolute showing brought on hearty applause, later topped off with Vieuxtemps’ fiendishly delicious Variations on Yankee Doodle. As they say, the Devil gets the best tunes.

This concert was presented as part of the ExxonMobil Campus Concert series at the National University of Singapore. All photos courtesy of NUS Centre for the Arts.

THE JOY OF PIANO: Jinsang Lee & Ilya Rashkovskiy Piano Recitals / Review

THE JOY OF PIANO
Jinsang Lee, Piano

Ilya Rashkovskiy, Piano
University Cultural Centre
Tuesday & Wednesday (20 & 21 October 2009)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 23 October 2009.

The Joy of Piano, part of the ExxonMobil Campus Concert series, is a two-evening mini-festival showcasing the diversity of piano literature. Featuring first prizewinners of the prestigious Hong Kong International Piano Competition, the themed recitals encouraged ingenuity and innovative programming and ingenuity, an art often taken for granted.

Music Making Among Friends was Korean pianist Jinsang Lee’s programme, artfully juxtaposing the music of Chopin, Mendelssohn and little-known German Ferdinand Hiller (left), who were close friends and peers. Hiller is better remembered for cutting off a lock of Beethoven’s hair on his deathbed than his compositions. The First Sonata (Op.47) is a concentrated ten minutes of virtuoso note-spinning which sounds better in Lee’s highly dexterous fingers than it actually is.

Far more memorable was a selection of seven varied Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, where Lee balanced a soulful cantabile with delicate prestidigitation. Even better was the Chopin set with three Nocturnes Op.15 (dedicated to Hiller) performed alongside three Mazurkas Op.59.

Lee is fully attuned with Chopin’s melancholia and the gentle lilt he created for the Polish dances in three-quarter time was simply irresistible. The showy Variations Brillantes Op.12 and Waltz Op.18, both in B flat major, revealed a more scintillating side of an artist best described as a “poet of the piano”.

The Russian Ilya Rashkovskiy’s presented Musical Tableaux, establishing him as a supreme “colourist of the piano”. The entire first half was Spanish, beginning with two pieces from Enrique Granados’ Goyescas. Rhythmic exactitude in the Fandango By Candlelight was balanced by the langour and melting lyricism of the Maiden And The Nightingale.

Rashkovskiy also exhibited a myriad of tints and shades in Joaquin Rodrigo’s Andalusian Impressions – including a tantalising Devil’s Seguidilla – while the impressionistic hues of Federico Mompou’s Paisajes (Landscapes, composer pictured left) came across most beautifully. The peal of distant bells over shimmering ripples in El Lago (The Lake) was particularly haunting.

Back at home base in Rachmaninov’s Etudes-Tableaux Op.39, Rashkovskiy’s control of the treacherous piano-writing was exemplary, barnstorming in the finger-twisters while brooding in a typically Slavic manner for the somber numbers. Each of the nine tone poems was presented as multi-faceted gemstones, and if memories of a Richter or Ashkenazy were evoked, it was no coincidence. The capacity audience on both evenings was witnessing something rather special.

The Joy of Music was presented by National University of Singapore Centre for the Arts, sponsored by ExxonMobil, and supported by The Chopin Society of Hong Kong.