FROM NAPLES TO PARIS: A BAROQUE JOURNEY / Hyunkun Cho & Gerald Lim / Review

 

FROM NAPLES TO PARIS:

A BAROQUE JOURNEY

Hyunkun Cho, Cello

Gerald Lim, Harpsichord

Chamber @ The Arts House

Wednesday (27 May 2026)

Authentic concerts of baroque music in Singapore are rare enough (we have to thank Red Dot Baroque for the precious few) but a baroque cello recital is unprecedented. Almost every single serious professional cellist in Singapore was present at the recital by Korean-Spanish cellist Hyunkun Cho and Singaporean harpsichordist Gerald Lim. For almost 90 minutes, they sat transfixed by the sheer artistry on display.

The matinee opened on solo harpsichord with Corrienta Italiana by Valencia-native Juan Cabanilles (1644-1712), a short series of variations on a dance theme. The title shares the same root word as the fast courante baroque dance (corrente), which opened in moderate tempo and later upped in speed, before long Cho moved almost imperceptibly to his cello.

The Sonata in G minor by Domenico Gabrielli (1651-1690) came attacca, and the singing began. Not to be mistaken for the much older Venetian composer Giovanni Gabrieli, Gabrielli from Bologna is credited for raising the cello from that of an accompanying (basso continuo) instrument to one of a leading virtuoso role. His sonatas were thus the first proper cello sonatas, vehicles of musical expression which Cho exploited to the full.

The four movements heard, were in the sonata da chiesa form, alternating between slow and fast. Cho’s gut strings were mellow yet resonant, allied by impeccable intonation, pure pleasure to listen to. The slow movements were contemplative, preludes leading to the allegros that came, the last being a very jolly jig (gigue) marked Prestissimo.

Giovanni Baptista Pergolesi (1710-1736) was all too short-lived, but his Stabat Mater from his final year was a classic. Several themes would be heard in his Sinfonia in F major, another four-movement sonata da chiesa masterwork. If the Presto finale sounded familiar, this was because Stravinsky gave it new life for trombone and double bass in the comedic Duetto from his ballet Pulcinella.

Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Barriere (1707-1747) was another of the cello greats, at the period of time when viola da gambas were predominant. His Sonata No.6 (from Book Two) in C minor opens with much sombreness and gravity, perfectly captured by Cho, contrasted with the virtuosic swiftness and repeated notes of the consequent Allegro. A touching Larghetto was completed by another jig (Giga), another jolly one at that.

A keyboard interlude was provided by the excellent Lim in the form of La Morangis ou La Plissay by Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Forqueray (1699-1782), its unusual title not being a designated form but named after a patron he was courting. The actual form was a chaconne with a series of virtuoso variations that were perfectly whipped off.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), of Four Seasons infamy, was the only known name for most (excepting the baroquists and specialists) in the audience, yet his Sonata in A minor (RV 44) would still be unfamiliar. One might already be accustomed to the four-movement sonata da chiesa form that is the recurrent feature of this concert, but why stop there? Especially when the music is so inviting? The contrasts between moods were also palpable here, from sadness to exhilaration.

Giacomo Facco (1676-1753), born in Italy but later moved to Spain, is likely the most unknown composer on show. Yet his Sinfonia No.9 in A minor deserves to be aired, its four movements encompassing a warmth and richness of both Mediterranean lands. Cho and Lim are a well-balanced and sensitive duo partnership, bringing this work and the entire programme of not too well-known vistas of baroque music in the best possible light.

Their encore was also a cunning one, a reworking of the slow movement from Schubert’s Piano Trio in E flat major (D.929) for cello and harpsichord in the style of Barriere. Naughty but nice!

It is ironic to think that this wonderful concert was held in The Arts House, the home of the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA), yet was not part of the nation’s supposed premier arts festival. This is the sort of musical programme the festival needs, but music has been woefully neglected. That is why SIFA means little to nothing for lovers of good music.

One cannot help but admire the gilded chinoiserie
in this Andrew Garlick harpsichord.

HAPPY 340TH BIRTHDAY, J.S.BACH! / Soiree at Ying's with Red Dot Baroque

Happy Birthday, Papa Johann Sebastian Bach! 340 years ago, he was born in Eisenach, Thuringia on 21 March 1685, long before anyone had heard of Deutschland. What better way to celebrate his birthday than to organise a party bash with Singapore's foremost baroque group, Red Dot Baroque?

That was the idea of Huang Ying, Head of Culture, Press and Public Diplomacy at the German Embassy in Singapore, when she invited her Singapore and German friends to her lovely home in Katong for a Bach und Freunde soiree. Here are the photos from a most gemutlich evening through possible.

Ying introduces Red Dot Baroque
and violinist Alan Choo to her guests.

The musical evening opened with
J.S.Bach's Sonata No.4 in C minor (BWV.1017)

The opening movement uses the
same melody as Erbarme dich
from the St Matthew Passion.

From the living room to the dining area,
Leslie Tan introduces the baroque cello.

Leslie performs a work by
Italian composer Joseph Dell'Abaco and
the Prelude from JSB's Cello Suite No.1.

Christopher Clarke on theorbo
offers a Toccata by Alessando Piccinini. 

Brenda Koh performs Fantasia No.9
by Bach's best buddy Georg Philipp Telemann.

To close the concert was a dance work
by Giovanni Fontana.

Red Dot Baroque doing what they do best,
having musical fun.

Singapore Writers Festival director 
Yong Shu Hoong meets the Meyers.

Alan Choo chats with
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
CEO Kenneth Kwok

Germans and Singaporeans meet.

Lianhe Zaobao's Zhang Heyang with
Kenneth Kwok and soprano Alison Wong.

Red Dot Baroque's harpsichordist
Gerald Lim cuts the JSB birthday cake.

Informal music-making, with
Alan and Heyang playing J.S.Bach's
 Double Violin Concerto in D minor (BWV.1043)

Photo: Gerald Lim

They finally got a real keyboardist
to complete the concerto.

Alison served as the page-turner
for the 21st century tablet.
17th century tech at work.

The Air and Gavotte from
J.S.Bach's Suite No.3 in D major
as arranged by Max Reger.

That bag's not going anywhere near
Berlin Brandenberg Airport.

We had a great time, did you?

THE TASTES REUNITED / Red Dot Baroque / Review

 

THE TASTES REUNITED 

Red Dot Baroque 

Conservatory Concert Hall 

Wednesday (6 November 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 9 November 2024 with the title "Lively and sublime all-French concert by Red Dot Baroque".

The Tastes Reunited comes from the French phrase Les Gouts-reunis coined by Baroque composer Francois Couperin, referring to a glorious unification of Italian virtuosity and dramatics with French elegance and restraint in musical performance. That was the basis of an enlightening and entertaining all-French programme by period instrument group Red Dot Baroque (RDB), ensemble-in-residence of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, led by its founder-leader Alan Choo. 

There is no story more melodramatic than the infamous demise of Jean-Baptiste Lully, who led his musicians by stomping a wooden staff on the ground. That was until his foot got in the way, with septic gangrene being his cause of death. Percussionist Derek Koh did the honours for Lully’s rousing March for a Turkish Ceremony, which opened the evening, but he was far more careful.

Photo: Ong Shu Chen

Michel Corrette’s Concerto Comique No. 25 in G minor, based on earlier music, was a happy marriage of tradition and innovation. Choo’s improvisatory flourishes on violin were let loose on in Les Sauvages (The Savages), originally a harpsichord piece by Jean-Philippe Rameau. In quand on sçait aimer et plaire (When You Know How To Love and Please), Rachel Ho’s graceful flute entreaties were gently accompanied by pizzicato strings and Gerald Lim’s harpsichord. Then it was a return to more lively fiddling in La Furstemberg, which closed this attractive work.

Vivaldian virtuosity came to the fore in Michel Blavet’s Flute Concerto in A minor with Cheryl Lim as impressive soloist backed by two violins and continuo. Both outer movements were distinguished by thrilling runs particularly taxing cadenzas where her breath control was exemplary. The French penchant for dances was typified by a slow movement comprising two leisurely Gavottes.

Few moments in music are more sublime than Entry of Polymnie from Rameau’s late opera Les Boreades. What magic can be conjured with merely a sequence of descending scales was realised in RDB’s sensitive and finely judged performance. Piano-fanciers will know this as The Arts and the Hours from Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson’s transcription.

Contrasting simplicity with outright showiness was violinist Brenda Koh in Jean-Marie Leclair’s Violin Concerto in A minor (Op.7 No.5). Playing within the ensemble as well as the demanding solo, she displayed both agility and excellent intonation. Carving long lyrical lines in the slow movement’s aria, she followed with a dance-like interlude in the finale which looked forward to future composers like Mozart.

Photo: Ong Shu Chen

The 110-minute concert concluded with a suite of orchestral movements and arias from Rameau’s opera Hippolyte and Aricie. Its Overture was a typical French overture, opening with dotted-rhythms followed by a faster fugue. Sound effects were de rigeur in Bruit de tonnerre (Sound of Thunder) with thunder tube, metal plate and bass drum being shook and struck for all their worth.

Soprano Alison Wong’s three arias were variedly attractive. There was solemn beauty in Temple Sacre, the joy of birdsong (with pair of flutes in counterpoint) in Rossignols amoureux (Amorous Nightingales), and L’amour, comme Neptune (Love, Like Neptune) which closed in a vigorous Rigaudon with jingles of tambourines. This concert ended as clangourously as it began.