I OWE MY LOVE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC TO GARY GRAFFMANN

 

Gary Graffman making a point.
Photo taken in Hong Kong, 2016

I OWE MY LOVE OF CLASSICAL 

MUSIC TO GARY GRAFFMAN

It is with much sadness that we learn the death of American pianist Gary Graffman (1928-2025) on 27 December. He was 97 years old. Gary Graffman was the reason why I fell in love with classical music, and to him I owe a debt of gratitude.

Remember this cover?
Mine was a bootleg copy of this cassette.

It was 1979, and with pocket money saved up I was beginning to discover the joy of music. Those were the days of cheap $2 cassette tapes (now known as a mixed tape) that were sold at almost every street corner in Singapore. It was at one such shop in Dhoby Ghaut which also sold tropical fish (a site now occupied by the School of the Arts) that I bought a cassette titled Rachmaninoff’s Greatest Hits. The main work was his Second Piano Concerto, which may be described as the “sound of falling in love”. I was immediately smitten by the Russian Romantic composer’s bittersweet melodies and luscious orchestration, and played that tape over and over until it squeaked terminally. The performance was bold yet tender, speaking with an immediacy, voice and presence that swayed me intoxicatingly into the “dark side”. As if on drugs, I had been hooked forever. The pianist was Gary Graffman, partnered by the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein.

Another version of the album on CD,
complete with Malaysian copyright sticker.

This music followed and haunted me over the years, and I bought multiple versions of that 1964 Columbia Masterworks recording after the old $2 cassette gave up its life, including another bootleg cassette in Kuta Beach, Bali and that too soon wore itself out. Then, I got the CD version in its various guises, including the same record but with a different cover in Kuala Lumpur International Airport. By some stroke of fortune, I was gifted the LP of the greatest hits album with the original iconic artwork of the series by former Singapore Lyric Opera general manager Ng Siew Eng. Now I have many CDs, the sole LP while all the cassettes had gone kaput.

That same Rach 2 recording,
but in different CD guises.

The original vinyl recording.
Photo taken in Hong Kong on 14 October 2009,
Gary Graffman's 81st birthday.

My wish of seeing Gary Graffman perform with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra never came to fruition, as he developed focal dystonia of the right hand that disrupted his career during the early 1980s. Then he transitioned into a career of teaching the piano (at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute), also becoming a serious collector of Asian art. Among his many students whom I was fortunate to see perform were Lydia Artimiw and the young Chinese triumvirate of Lang Lang, Yuja Wang and Haochen Zhang. He was always proud of his students, and would never be fazed by any criticism of them. To every adverse comment on LL, he would just add, “And he’s so much more than that”.

Notice that Lang Lang's autograph
is far bigger than Gary Graffman's.
The Gary Graffmann Sony Classical box-set.

GG with Yuja Wang

GG with Haochen Zhang

GG with the young Tengku Irfan (Malaysia)
and Aristo Sham (Hong Kong) in 2009,
after hearing the youngsters improvise.

I finally got to meet my musical idol in 2005, at the 1st Hong Kong International Piano Competition where he was a jury member (alongside other piano luminaries like Leon Fleisher, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Vladimir Krainev). He was a regular presence at the Chopin Society of Hong Kong’s festivals and events. In 2006, I finally got to see him perform a recital of left hand solo repertoire and Erich Korngold’s Suite for piano quartet at the HK Cultural Centre. 

GG (extreme right) and the jury of the 2008
Hong Kong International Piano Competition
headed by Vladimir Ashkenazy.

He also gave an illuminating talk about his life in music at the Society’s breakfast meeting, the proceedings which have been described here:

pianomania: Breakfast with GARY GRAFFMAN (December 2006)

At the same event, he also autographed my copy of his autobiography I Really Should Be Practising, a candid, witty and self-deprecatory account of his life till the early 1980s. Its title alone could easily describe the state of all of us would-be piano players.

Sometime in 2009, I was asked to accompany him in a taxi from the Peninsula Hotel to City Hall Concert Hall where a concert of The Joy of Music Festival was to take place. That was, for me, the greatest honour thought possible, and within that 20 short minutes, I went on to regale him on how his Rachmaninoff recording had changed my life forever. He sat there quietly, probably wondering how many times he had heard all of this before. After finding out I was from Singapore, he warmly recounted a former Singaporean student of his who had invited him to a concert she was conducting. He had to decline since he was now in Hong Kong. That Singaporean was the conductor Wang Ya-Hui, who is presently based in Taiwan.

A left hand piano recital in The Joy of Music Festival 2009 was covered by yours truly here:

pianomania: THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2009: Gary Graffman Piano Recital / Review

Years later, I was asked to write a blurb to promote Singaporean violinist and Curtis alumna Siow Lee-Chin’s autobiography From Clementi to Carnegie. I was most honoured to find my musings placed in the same page and below that of Gary Graffman’s.

Also notice how great artists
get their message across in far fewer words.

About piano concertos, I finally got to see Graffman perform and these concerts were also in Hong Kong. These included Prokofiev’s Fourth Piano Concerto (in 2008) and Ravel’s Left Hand Piano Concerto (2011), both conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy. Needless to say, those were unforgettable musical events for me.

Gary Graffman after Ravel's Left Hand Concerto
with Vladimir Ashkenazy in 2011.
Andrew Haveron is the young concertmaster.

pianomania: Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2008: Gala Concerts Evening Three

pianomania: The Joy of Music Festival 2011: Concerto Gala Concert

I own many recordings of Gary Graffman of varied repertoire – solo, chamber and concertos – including 20th century composers like Schnittke, Rorem and Skrowaczewski, and these continue to be an inspiration for me. For Graffman, music always came first, and his role as a servant of the great composers and their music will always be a constant reminder to all of us who profess to love music.

GG with Liang Liang,
our last selfie, in 2016.

Ultimate memorabilia:
the only Gary Graffman Rachmaninoff
drinking mug in the world.

Now let's enjoy Gary Graffman 

playing Rach 2 again:

Gary Graffman reminisces 

with Ben Laude on legendary pianists.

(Posted 18.1.2026)

STRANGER THINGS: THERE ARE THREE CHINESE PIANISTS NAMED WU YIFAN

 

STRANGER THINGS:

THERE ARE THREE CHINESE PIANISTS 

NAMED WU YIFAN

Watching piano competitions on YouTube reveals some strange things. I was tuning into the livestream of the 7th Hong Kong International Piano Competition, when I noticed that a Chinese pianist named Wu Yifan had pulled out due to a hand injury. He had recently just won the 65th Busoni International Piano Competition at Bolzano, Italy and had been engaged for a series of concerts from November. Incidentally, he had also won 1st prize at the Singapore International Piano Competition in 2023 as an 18-year-old. I know, I was there.

Then I turned to the 19th Chopin International Piano Competition at Warsaw, Poland to find that Wu Yifan was one of the participants there. What a sneaky thing to do, feigning injury to skip out on one competition in order to take part in a more prestigious competition. Or so that was what I thought until I noticed that the pianist had changed his appearance. Gone was the afro, and in came someone with short straight hair. According to the Chopin Competition website, he was born on 11 November 2008, which makes him a month short of 17-years-old. He was also the 2nd prizewinner at the Van Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition in 2023. So who is who?

So I checked their photos and YouTube videos, and found out they were clearly two different Chinese pianists but possessing the same name, Wu Yifan.

Just to complicate matters further, there is a third pianist also named Wu Yifan from Flushing, New York (below). He was 17-years-old in 2011 when he was featured on the concert series From The Top. Clearly, this was someone older and no longer in the piano competition circuit.

I can only wish these three talented young pianists named Wu Yifan or Yifan Wu well for their musical careers. Just spare a thought for those concert promoters wishing to engage them. They are spoilt for choice and also probably utterly confused.

However, the three Wu Yifans should never be mistaken for the Chinese-Canadian singer Kris Wu Yifan, a convicted rapist and sex offender, who is presently doing time. Who knows, maybe he plays the piano too?

Update:

Another Wi Yifan has turned up, this time at the Violin Junior category of Singapore's National Piano & Violin Competition 2025. Wonders never cease.

ILYA RASHKOVSKIY Piano Recital / Review

 

ILYA RASHKOVSKIY Piano Recital 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Friday (5 July 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 8 June 2024 with the title "Pianist Ilya Rashkovskiy plays with facility and clarity".

Much has been written about the rise of Asian pianists on the world stage, but the traditional Russian virtuoso should never be diminished. From the 19th century Rubinstein brothers (Anton and Nicholas) through Serge Rachmaninov to present day greats like Vladimir Ashkenazy, Evgeny Kissin and Denis Matsuev, they still represent a formidable force in music. 

Siberia-born pianist Ilya Rashkovskiy, presently based in Seoul, South Korea, belongs to this illustrious school. The only pianist to have been awarded first prize at East Asia’s two most prestigious piano competitions, Hong Kong (2005) and Hamamatsu, Japan (2012), is no mere common garden virtuoso. 

A true artist is more than a virtuoso. Going beyond the many notes on a score, he is also a visionary with an unusually broad church. In Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sonata in A minor (K.310), one of two sonatas in the minor key, Rashkovskiy brought an urgency and undertow of agitation on the C.Bechstein grand. 

The technically taxing music was laid bare with unusual clarity. While finding singing lyricism in the slow movement, it was the finale’s Presto that got under one’s skin. Its transition from minor to major key and back, so trenchantly rendered, lent the proceedings an added gravitas. 

Photo: Zi Wen / Bechstein Music World

In Sergei Rachmaninov’s Corelli Variations, Rashkovskiy let the music stew in proverbial Russian juices. Its Iberian theme, the familiar La Folia, was played with deadly seriousness, before unfolding in a series of fantastic variations. The composer infamously excluded variations if he thought his listeners inattentive or distracting. Thankfully, this audience got to hear the work intact despite being noisy in many parts. 

Rashkovskiy pursued its agenda with a single-mindedness which bordered on relentlessness, which made his reading a thrilling one. The cadenza-like prestidigitation of the Intermezzo leading into stately Variation 14 and the gentle quasi-waltz of Variation 15 provided moments of beauty and levity. After 20 eventful variations, he delivered the closing coda with a spirit of quiet devastation. 

The very demanding programme was to get even more frenetic, with Frederic Chopin’s Preludes (Op.28) in the second half. Chopin played a small selection in salons, and to perform all 24 in a single sweep was a tough ask, but Rashkovskiy duly delivered. Alternating between major and minor keys, the set was given a kaleidoscopic overview, yet with each piece polished like an individual gem. 

The poignant E minor (No.4) and B minor (No.6) numbers wore desolation on the sleeve, and the transitions from Nos.14 to 17 (including the famous Raindrop Prelude in D flat major) were a roller-coaster of emotions and disparate nuances. Nothing sounded trite or routine under Rashkovskiy’s fingers, leading to the final Prelude (in D minor), where desperation was given a definitive face with its three concluding low Ds. 

Rashkovskiy’s three encores could not have been more diverse: Johannes Brahms’ lyrical Intermezzo in A major (Op.118 No.2), contrasted with Rachmaninov’s tempestuous Musical Moment (Op.16 No.4) before retiring with Claude Debussy’s elegant The Girl with the Flaxen Hair. That is range for you.

Ilya Rashkovskiy was presented 

by Bechstein Music World.

LUKA OKROS SALON RECITAL IN SINGAPORE

LUKA OKROS SALON RECITAL

Presented by Aureus Great Artists Series

The Aureus Salon

Wednesday (8 November 2017)

In a candid sneak peek of great things to come, Aureus Academy presented its first musical salon at the 19^th floor Scotts Road penthouse suite of Aureus CEO Lawrence Holmefjord-Sarabi in the company of young Georgian pianist Luka Okros.

Luka Okrostsvaridze was the latest 1^st prize winner of the Hong Kong International Piano Competition, having garnered that enviable accolade in 2016. Supported by the Chopin Society of Hong Kong as part of a multi-city Asian tour, Luka’s Singapore debut was an unqualified triumph, as he charmed his audience with a full-length recital that combined requisite virtuosity and utmost musicality.

His programme was an interesting and varied one, opening with two Bach Preludes from the Well-Tempered Clavier (Book One, Nos.1&2) and Chopin’s Fourth Ballade. He spoke briefly before each piece, but mostly let his playing do the talking. The contrasts between Schubert’s Impromptu in G flat major (Op.90 No.3) and Rachmaninov’s Étude-tableau (Op.39 No.6) or “Little Red Riding Hood” could not have been starker, flowing lyricism followed by a violent and nervous energy. The first half closed with the impressive coruscations of Prokofiev’s Third Sonata.

One seldom gets to hear Rachmaninov’s Six Moments Musicaux (Op.16) complete, but this was the rarest of opportunities, which Luka (and the audience) lapped up with great relish. His sense of colour, encompassing the Russian’s dark brooding style and rapturous Romantic lashings made this a memorable outing. The Rach connection continued in Liszt’s familiar Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, made more special because Luka played Rachmaninov’s own cadenza which is wonderfully decadent with its outlandish harmonies.

The hand-crossing that takes place
in Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody.

The applause and bravos were loud and prolonged, and Luka’s encores included a short Georgian-flavoured improvisation of his own and the Bach-Siloti Prelude in B minor.

The Aureus Great Artist Series will present Luka Okros in a Victoria Concert Hall recital in 2018, where he will stand proud alongside names like Melvyn Tan, Boris Berezovsky, Valentina Lisitsa and Freddy Kempf.     

This young lady seems to exclaim,
"I've never heard anything so exquisite before!"

Luka and his wife Anna (2nd from right)
with their new adoring friends.

Looks like everybody had a great time.

With the humans going or gone,
Oscar the ragdoll settles to his rightful position,
under the New York Steinway.

THE THANK YOU RECITALS / Chopin Society of Hong Kong / Review

THE THANK YOU RECITALS

Chopin Society of Hong Kong

Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall

Saturday & Sunday 

(25 & 26 October 2014)

Thanks or no thanks to the student demonstrations taking place throughout the civic, business and shopping districts of Hong Kong S.A.R., the 4^th Hong Kong International Piano Competition (originally scheduled to be held from 10 to 27 October) had to be postponed to 2016. The reasons are obvious: any stage of disruption in the competition process would have derailed the entire event, and the safety of the participants and jury (Ashkenazy and Co.) could not be guaranteed. This is especially so because City Hall is just a few hundred meters from the Admiralty / HMS Tamar demonstration site, and any gunfire and explosions would have been easily audible, and we’re not talking about Prokofiev’s piano music.

While jury chairman Vladimir Ashkenazy was conducting the otherwise-idle Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in free concerts at the HK University in support of the students’ just cause, the Chopin Society organised three free recitals on 24-26 October featuring past First Prize Winners of the Competition, namely Ilya Rashkovskiy (2005), Jinsang Lee (2008) and Giuseppe Andaloro (2011).

Having just arrived from Macau, I was able to catch the second and third evenings of what would be considered a truncated version of The Joy of Music Festival. The attendances were good, just as good as if the competition had taken place in peace and tranquillity, and the response was typically warm-hearted and full of goodwill. The “Thank You” was directed at the good people of Hong Kong (known to put up with loads of governmental and political shite, not to mention the air pollution) and the ever-supportive competition sponsors.

Jinsang Lee opened his recital with unknown and undiscovered Schumann. Almost every note was unfamiliar to me, including a Sonata for Children (Op.118), a movement that would have been Schumann’s Fourth Sonata, the late Gesange der Fruhe (Songs of Dawn), and an earlier version of the finale to the Third Sonata in F minor. Lee played from a score, but his responses were totally musical, from the idiomatic phrasing to the singing tone that is characteristic of Schumann’s music. Just a point of interest, that finale quoted Clara Wieck’s theme that was the subject of variations in the famous third movement, and the original finale is almost as brilliant as the final and definitive version.

Jinsang Lee and his bride Jiwon Kang.
They got married on 9 October 2014.

As a complete contrast to the first half, Lee performed a selection of Poulenc (Pascal Roge terriotory) including the First Nocturne, and two Improvisations, the ones in tribute to Schubert (a Landler) and Edith Piaf. These were beautifully crafted and one was willingly transported to Gay Paree, before he was joined by Ilya Rashkovskiy for Poulenc’s madcap Capriccio for two pianos, yet another one of his cheeky and delectable confections. Still on France, the two winners converged on a single keyboard for Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite. The Balinese-inspired third movement Laideronette, Empress of the Pagodas was pentatonic heaven, with Lee striking the low strings inside the piano to simulate a gong.

Back on two pianos, the duo closed with Saint-Saens’s Danse Macabre and Shostakovich’s Concertino in A minor. The camaraderie between the two was excellent, with give and take being a hallmark of chamber music making. Two became three when Giuseppe Andaloro joined in for an uproarious encore by Vincenzo Panerai, a quick march with lots of hands-crossing and flipping the score over at the half way mark. One could tell that all three pianists were having a great deal of fun.

On the final evening, Giuseppe Andaloro had to grapple with multiple styles in his recital which included three Rachmaninov contrasting Preludes, Stravinsky’s Tango, Scriabin’s Vers la flamme, Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.13 and three Messiaen Preludes, not an easy feat. He got the notes down pat, but the frequent shifts in musical idioms and dynamics rendered the sum somewhat less than the individual parts. One however cannot but marvel at the Horowitzian energy and incandescence he lent to that little Scriabin incendiary masterpiece.

For the second half, Andaloro provided a treat of a different kind, his own arrangements of Beatles songs (Come Together, Imagine, Across The Universe, Yesterday and Norwegian Wood among them). The last song included plucking the strings inside the piano for a quite magical and quasi-Oriental feel. This was followed up with a Lisztian paraphrase of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which almost makes one forget the original. The piano duo segment was shorter, with Jinsang Lee joining him in Milhaud’s Scaramouche and Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance for a glittering close.

Andaloro’s solo encore was significant, a World Premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Mirroring, the work commissioned for the piano competition that had been scuttled. It is an etude-like work on A-B-A form ((hence the mirror reference) where A represented prestidigitation in the manner favoured by Ligeti and B a series of sonorous chords. It is a rather effective showpiece and morceau de concours that would hopefully not be lost to posterity because of the events of Occupy Central.  

The HKIPC is down but not out, and the 4^th edition has been pledged to take place in September-October of 2016. In the meantime, a big “Thank You” is in order for the Chopin Society of Hong Kong for sharing the joy of music happen, even (and especially) in a time of dissidence and strife.

Three 1st Prize Winners of Hong Kong:
Jinsang Lee, Giuseppe Andaloro & Ilya Rashkovskiy.