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!

THE MODERN CHOPIN / POOM PROMMACHART, Piano / Review

THE MODERN CHOPIN

POOM PROMMACHART, Piano

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (29 January 2023)

 

What is the “Modern Chopin”? Was not the Poland-born and Paris-domiciled pianist-composer an early Romantic? And did the darling of the salon concert not die in 1849? Stereotypes of Chopin as a sickly, tuberculous and effete artist suffering for the love of his art and succumbing to a premature demise still abound. So how do our modern ears relate to the piano music of Frederic Chopin?

How should we view Chopin?
Delacroix's painting, a late 1840s daguerreotype
or Hadi Karimi's modern 3D rendering?

 

Young Thai pianist Poom Prommachart, once a student of Dang Thai Son (first ever Asian winner of the Chopin International Piano Competition, in 1980), provided many of the clues. One might mistake this artist as fashionista, ambassador for the Canadian luxury brand Kaimirra Tutan, to be more style than substance, but the proof of a pudding was in its eating.

 

One feared the worst when a signpost at the door listed Chopin’s 24 Preludes (Op.28) as lasting for 48 minutes. The rolled chords of the opening Prelude in C major (marked Agitato) were taken very leisurely, but that allowed each note to resonate longer, and when the next number in A minor (Lento) plodded by like a funereal dirge, one became almost certain of Poom’s intentions. When most are willing to spin out all 24 pieces as one indivisible whole, Poom instead regarded each piece as its own discrete and sparkling gem. With the audience heeded not to applaud between numbers, the succession of Preludes became all the more coherent.

 

Never has a work by Chopin displayed more heterogeneity in mood, harmonies, texture and tempi, yet held so well with some kind of spiritual “spatial and temporal glue”. It is the performer who holds the secret to that glue which eluded even the composer himself. Chopin only performed selections or small groups of Preludes, and never all 24 at one sitting. It was Poom’s singular vision that made this long sequence work. He had no need to gild the lilies in “simple” ones, as the numbers in E minor (No.4), B minor (No.6) and A major (No.7). And when virtuosity was called for, in F sharp minor (No.8), B flat minor (No.16) and the final D minor (No.24) for example, he unleashed all the weapons of his formidable arsenal.

 

More telling was the sheer beauty and poetry he brought out in F sharp major (No.13) and A flat major (No.17). And what of the famous D flat major (No.15), popularly known as the “Raindrop”, reliving the bad weather of Mallorca where Chopin and George Sand had made their retreat? With Poom, one was reminded not of acid rain but the pain of constant stabs to the heart, as a relationship breaks down irreversibly and irremediably. Raindrops were but a front for something deeper and darker.

 

The performance did not take 48 minutes, but rather closer to 36 minutes, which is about right. No performance of the Chopin Preludes has captivated this listener as much as this since the late-lamented Fou Tsong’s in the same hall in 1993, some thirty years ago.    

 

The recital’s second half belonged to Chopin’s Sonata No.3 in B minor (Op.58), a performance no less trenchant or absorbing. The first movement delighted in the dissonances of Chopin’s late period and through all this, the lyrical second subject was perfectly brought out. There can be no melody as exquisitely beautiful as this one. The exposition repeat was omitted, perhaps rightly so as to keep tautness to the proceedings. The etude-like Scherzo was whipped off effortlessly and it was ironically in the nocturne-like Largo where some concentration was lost. Nevertheless, the romping Rondo finale, with the ante upped each round, more brought the sonata to a thrilling end.   

 

As encores, Poom offered an improvisation on a Chinese song (Unending Love) to greet the Lunar New Year, and the most edge-of-the-seat version of Liszt’s La Campanella thought possible. And he had the cheek of declaring he had not enough practice. Most importantly, The Real Chopin made the audience listen to Chopin with new pairs of ears. 

This concert was presented by 

Tutan Entertainment 

with Piano Island Management.

CHOPIN - BEYOND & BEYOND / Albert Tiu Piano Recital / Review

CHOPIN – BEFORE AND BEYOND
Albert Tiu, Piano
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall
Thursday 31 October 2019

This review was published in The Straits Times on 4 November 2019 with the title "Chopin celebrated".

Recitals of Frederic Chopin’s piano music are usually predictable; a pair of Nocturnes, a clutch of Études and Préludes, a Ballade or Scherzo to impress, capped by the indestructible Second or Third Sonatas. Not so for Singapore-based Filipino pianist Albert Tiu, who presented an adventurous and varied programme of mostly short pieces built around the cult of the Polish pianist-composer.

There were 21 works by 12 composers, grouped in five suites, showcasing a wide breadth and depth of influence, not to mention Tiu’s understated virtuosity and unfailing musicality. Who was Chopin, and who were his forebears? One clue lay in the opening number, the Fugue in F minor (from The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1) by Johann Sebastian Bach, possessed with a chromaticism way ahead of his time.

The first suite, cast entirely in the morose key of F minor, also included the first of Chopin’s Trois Nouvelles Études and a most sinuous of Études (Op.25 No.2) which revealed a mastery of the right hand. Grieg’s little-known Hommage à Chopin and Liszt’s tortuously tricky La Leggierezza completed the set with no little aplomb.

The lyricism of bel canto was the next influence, with three Nocturnes in E flat major. The first was by Irishman John Field, inventor of the “night piece”, its simplicity then surpassed by Chopin’s familiar warhorse (Op.9 No.2), now dressed up in filigree by Chopin student Mikuli and Tiu himself. More extended was Frenchman Gabriel Fauré’s Fourth Nocturne (Op.36), an essay of sumptuous beauty that furthered the genre.

The third suite comprised five waltzes, all in F minor again. Chopin was the lynchpin, his lilting exercise followed by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Debussy and Leopold Godowsky. The last was a later Polish pianist-composer paying tribute to the master, by craftily fashioning an earlier-heard Étude into a grand polyphonic waltz.

More was to come in the second half, with a trio of Venetian gondolier songs. Ironically, Mendelssohn’s piece (from his Songs Without Words) had the darkest shade of the three. This and Liszt’s Gondoliera (from Years of Pilgrimage) bookended Chopin’s late Barcarolle, arguably his greatest outpouring of love, which Tiu milked to the full.

The final suite was formed by mazurkas, the humble Polish peasant dance in three-quarter time. C sharp minor was the key, with Chopin’s Op.30 No.4 (a favourite of Ukrainian-born virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz’s) leading the way. Tchaikovsky’s hommage (Un Poco Di Chopin or A Little Chopin), Scriabin’s rhythmic gem (Op.3 No.6) and Pole Karol Szymanowski’s saucy morsel (Op.50 No.3) displayed more facets to this form, before another Chopin-Godowsky conflation ended the concert.

This final time, a Chopin Étude in E minor (Op.25 No.5) had been transformed into a grandstanding Mazurka. That the appreciative audience comprised many pianists, piano teachers, music critics (past and present), singers, rock musicians and general music-lovers spoke volumes. They all love Chopin and Albert Tiu. 

After all, its Halloween!

CHOPIN Piano Recital / Boris Kraljevic / Review

CHOPIN 

PIANO RECITAL
BORIS KRALJEVIC, 

Piano
NAFA Lee 

Foundation Theatre

Wednesday 

(1 November 2010)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 3 December 2010.

The piano music of Frédéric Chopin is universally loved, and its accessibility is enhanced by the fact that much of it may be appreciated and accomplished by young hands and minds. This is the basis of Chopin competitions where mere ten-year-olds can shine in some Mazurkas, Waltzes and even Études. Eight children under the age of 12 thus performed admirably in a prizewinner’s concert at the First International Chopin Competition Singapore.

The main event was the all-Chopin recital by Montenegrin pianist Boris Kraljevic, no stranger here as he is on the piano faculty at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. Beginning with the Berceuse (Op.57), he weaved a fine web of filigree on the right hand over the left hand’s steady rocking rhythm. Finesse and control was the key to its success.

The colours darkened considerably to the C sharp minor Nocturne (Op.27 No.1) where murky mysteries of the night were pondered and probed, building up to a transient luminescence in the major key. For the E major Nocturne (Op.62 No.2), his broad tempo allowed its noble main theme to gloriously unfold before picking up speed for contrasting effect.

The four Ballades rank among Chopin’s greatest essays. Influenced more by literary than musical sources, it takes a master storyteller among pianists to do them justice. Kraljevic possesses both the power and sensitivity, besides having a master’s overarching view to these disparate works.

Chopin’s enormous emotional range was encompassed in the First Ballade in G minor (Op.23), from pensive melancholy to febrile ecstasy in its turbulent pages. Hitherto unnoticed inner voices were highlighted while no worthy detail left unturned. The Second Ballade in F major (Op.38) juxtaposed its serene opening sicilienne with precipitous violence, perhaps a nod to its dedicatee Schumann’s impending schizophrenia.

The pacing and phrasing for the “easier” Third Ballade in A flat major (Op.47) were excellent, transporting the music from simplicity to rousing climax in a single sweep. For the final and longest Fourth Ballade in F minor (Op.52), Kraljevic’s elaborating of the Slavic main theme was a perfection of Chopin’s art of incremental narrative.

The fearsome coda, as with the earlier Ballades, was taken with no punches pulled and safety last. A few mishits were inevitable but unbridled passion is the requisite of genuine unadulterated Chopin. Chopin’s blood runs deep within his veins.

LIVING WITH... DOCTOR CHOPIN

LIVING WITH... DOCTOR CHOPIN

The Living Room, The Arts House

Monday (3 May 2010)

So it finally took place, the "doctor's prescription" of Frédéric Chopin's music by three Singaporean doctors. The recital was Xiumin's idea, and it was he who galvanised all concerned into our diabolical doctor's plot. The recital was very well attended (to our pleasant surprise), including members of Singapore's Polish community, more doctors and several real pianists.

Xiumin performed the Barcarolle (Op.60) and Polonaise in F sharp minor (Op.44), playing low-seated like a certain Glenn Gould.

With Chopin's bust for good luck, yours truly played a 20-minute suite centred around the Funeral March (from Op.35), dedicated in memory of the lives lost in the April 10 Smolensk air tragedy and the 1940 Katyn massacre.

Kah Kay closed the evening with a Mazurka, Nocturne and the Fantasy in F minor (Op.49). As an encore, he added the Ballade No.4 in F minor (Op.52)

A photo with the Polish Ambassador to Singapore, HE Mr Waldemar Dubaniowski, who was proud that Singaporeans share the same passion for Chopin as Poles themselves.

LIVING WITH... DOCTOR CHOPIN

FREDERIC CHOPIN (1810-1849)

Happy 200th Birthday!

Here's a spot of shameless self-promotion:

IF YOU HAVE 

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE TO DO

NEXT MONDAY EVENING 

(3 MAY 2010),

Why not spend an hour with

LIVING WITH... DOCTOR CHOPIN

A Chopin Recital 

by Three Singapore Doctors

8 pm, The Arts House @ Old Parliament House

Tickets at $12

DR LIN XIUMIN will perform:

Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op.60

Polonaise in F# minor, Op.44

YOURS TRULY will perform:

Valse in C# minor, Op.64 No.2

Prélude in D flat major, 

Op.28 No.15 "Raindrop"

Funeral March from 

Sonata No.2 in B flat minor, Op.35

Mazurka in A minor, Op.17 No.4

Contredanse in G flat major

DR AU KAH KAY will perform:

Mazurka in D flat major, Op.30 No.3

Nocturne in B major, Op.9 No.3

Fantasy in F minor, Op.49