TOUCH 2024 / National University of Singapore Piano Ensemble / Review

 

TOUCH 2024 

National University of Singapore 

Piano Ensemble (NUSPE) 

Esplanade Recital Studio 

Monday (8 April 2024) 

One of my favourite activities as an undergraduate at the National University of Singapore during the mid to late 1980s was to escape to the Centre for Musical Activities (now Centre for the Arts, or CFA), where I sampled records in its LP collection, attended music talks and occasional concerts. 

The Centre for Musical Activities (CMA) then,
now the Centre for the Arts (CFA) Studios.

A particular concert which caught my interest was the one by the Piano Ensemble (NUSPE), where one got to enjoy piano repertoire performed by fellow students. The overall standard was mostly middling to pretty good, not much to write home about, but sharing with them a common interest in piano playing was a wholesome hobby, and that was enough for me. 

Imagine my pleasure to be invited to the annual NUSPE concert, titled Touch 2024, to find that the world of amateur piano pursuits has completely evolved. This recital involved 28 young pianists, performing on two pianos 14 works most of which may rightly be called rarities. 

There was absolutely nothing by Rachmaninov, Liszt, Mozart, Schubert or Schumann. The very interesting repertoire may instead be classified under three unusually distinct categories: works by woman composers, works from the Americas, and works from the present / former Communist bloc. 

Am I in Husum (another word for piano heaven)? No, its just the Esplanade Recital Studio but piano rarities are in the air. And performed at a very high level. 12 of the 14 duos accomplished the onerous task of playing completely from memory some very technically difficult music, and there were no performance which were indifferent or half-baked. Everyone was well prepared and out there having a good time. 

What were the works performed? For starters, the woman composers were Mel Bonis (Scherzo Op.40), Amy Beach (Old Time Peasant Dance from Suite Founded Upon Irish Tunes), Cecile Chaminade (Intermede, Op.36 No.1) and Germaine Tailleferre (Jeux de plein air or Outdoor Games). 

Koh Xin Ruo & Samantha Kuek
playing Mel Bonis

Sugimoto Takami & Lim Cheng An
go to the Beach.

Let it never be said that women are lesser or inferior to men. These pieces represent wonderful music, well-crafted and full of charm, totally enjoyable within the hands of Koh Qin Ruo and Samantha Kuek (Bonis), Sugimoto Takami and Lim Cheng An (Beach), Shen Congzhe and Zhao Zijie (Chaminade), and Ng Jing Ting and Liew Xin Yi (Tailleferre). Of these, the two varied movements of Tailleferre (the only lady member of Les Six) left the strongest impression. 

Shen Congzhe & Zhao Zijie
charmed in Chaminade.

Ng Jing Ting & Liew Xin Yi
made the strongest impression with Tailleferre.

Hoang Manh Duc & Zhang Ming
entertained with Piazzolla.

From the Americas came perhaps the two most familiar pieces, Astor Piazzolla’s Adios Nonino, a tango dedicated in memory of his father played with flair by Hoang Manh Duc and Zhang Ming, and most entertaining of all, William Bolcom’s ragtime fantasy The Serpent’s Kiss (from The Garden of Eden), complete with foot-stomping, rapping of piano wood and audible tongue clicking from He Yuxin and Zhang Ziye. 

He Yuxin & Zhang Ziye
had a great time with Bolcom.

Kelly Amanda & Zheng Yilin
in more rhythmic Copland.

Aaron Copland’s Danza de Jalisco (from Latin American Sketches) from Kelly Amanda and Zheng Yilin was a engaging first cousin of his more extended El Salon Mexico. 

Chua Zi Tao speaks about his new work.

Chua Zi Tao & Phua Guan Wei
give a world premiere.

The sole local work was the World Premiere of young composer Chua Zi Tao’s A Musical Box from a Distant Land, which he cheekily referred to as “the quietest piece in the whole concert”. Performed by the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory undergraduate himself and Phua Guan Wei, the work was an oasis of static stillness, with soft chords and birdsong permeating the air, a refreshing breath of fresh air away from the hustle-bustle of keyboard pyrotechnics. 

Gwendolyn Heng & Wu Ziye
opened the evening with Khachaturian

Verrin Bo & Celine Tan
with Arutiunian & Babadjanian's
Armenian Rhapsody

From the former and present Communist / Soviet bloc nations were Armenian Aram Khachaturian’s Fantastic Waltz (elegantly played by Gwendolyn Heng and Wu Ziye), the jointly-composed Armenian Rhapsody by Alexander Arutiunian and Arno Babadjanian, with each composer separately writing the primo and secondo parts. Verrin Bo and Celine Tan gave one of the evening’s most convincing performances. 

Lai Ruo Yan & See Xian Hui
go to Vietnam!

From Vietnam came the Singapore premiere of Dang Huu Phuc’s Con Ga Rung (Wild Chicken) and Trong Com (Rice Drums) from Lai Ruo Yan and See Xian Hui, two short pieces that delighted in ostinato rhythms and pentatonic melodies. Imagine Bartok in Saigon, and one gets the picture. 

Mao Huanqing & Zhao Yushan
commune with Kabalevsky.

Chua Zhan Au & Joshua Ngeow
Defending the Yellow River.

The former Soviet Union saw Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Youth Concerto, a pleasing Socialist Realist potboiler. The first movement has sappy tunes but was well-played by Mao Huanqing and Zhao Yushan. In a similar vein was the populist finale Defend the Yellow River from the China Central Philharmonic Committee’s infamous Yellow River Concerto. Shamelessly jingoistic and copying from Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Grieg, and throwing in The East Is Red for good measure, a suitably bravura account was afforded by Chua Zhan Au and Joshua Ngeow, which closed the evening on a flag-waving high. 

The late Nikolai Kapustin will be pleased
his music's being played in Singapore.

Best performance of all!
Tan Chong Ren & Ma Yuchen in Kapustin.

Wait! Stop press! I have not even mentioned the best performance of the evening. That had to be Tan Chong Ren and Ma Yuchen’s no holds barred recital of Nikolai Kapustin’s Fourth Piano Concerto, which has to be a Singapore premiere. Scored in jazz and popular dance idioms, this freewheeling work received as rhythmically vibrant and unbuttoned reading as could be hoped for. That the duo mastered this completely from memory was just a staggering thought. 

If anyone had said these pianists (and the other 26 for that matter) were Conservatory students, I would have been none the wiser. A hearty molto bravissimi to all! 

N.B. The NUS Piano Ensemble is now tutored by Dr Choi Hye-Seon, vocal coach / accompanist at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory.

We're not gangsters.
We're from NUS!

The nice professionally taken photos were by Marcus Soh Zheng Yang. The others, you can lay the blame on Pianomaniac. 

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.

We Remember PAUL ABISHEGANADEN (1914-2011)

We remember veteran Singaporean conductor PAUL ABISHEGANADEN who passed away peacefully on 31 August 2011 at the age of 97. I was acquainted with Paul long after he had retired from the musical scene, having reviewed his book on musical history in Singapore, Notes Across the Years. I was also fortunate to have interviewed him for the National Library Board's NORA project in 2007. 

I was always touched by his warmth and kindness. He possessed a good sense of humour as he recounted his days as one of Singapore's pioneering musicians, one touched with much humility. Despite his advanced age and progressive deafness, he and his late wife Theresa (Terri) were always in high spirits whenever I visited them. I am honoured to have sung at the last concert he conducted (excerpts from Handel's Messiah) in 1997, a special event for the World Hospice movement, and privileged to have counted him as a friend.

Here is a biography of Paul Abisheganaden which I wrote for the National Libary Board:

PAUL SELVARAJ 

ABISHEGANADEN

(b. 27 March 1914, Penang - 

31 August 2011, Singapore)

Paul Abisheganaden, musician and conductor, was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1986. Although Paul was born in Penang, the Abisheganaden family relocated to Singapore in 1916 in search of better job opportunities. Paul was taught violin at the tender age of four by his father and pursued further studies in London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. 

He is Singapore's first home-grown orchestral and choral conductor, and is affectionately referred to as Singapore's Grand Old Man of Music. He founded the Singapore Chamber Ensemble, which became the most active amateur orchestra and chorus in Singapore for almost 30 years. His book Notes Across The Years is a definitive history of Western classical music in Singapore. His pioneering work in music paralleled an illustrious career in the education and administrative service.

Early Life

Paul Abisheganaden was born the eldest in a family of nine children. On the day of Paul's birth, Penang was shelled by the World War One German cruiser Emden. In his mother's words, Paul was born to the sounds of a 21-gun salute. Young Paul was taught the violin at the age of four by his father, a keen amateur musician who played many musical instruments.

At six, Paul started receiving lessons from Chee Kong Tet, leader of the Chia Keng Tai Orchestra, Singapore's first orchestra formed by local musicians. His lessons cost $5 a month, and this expense was considered a big sacrifice for the family. Paul studied in Serangoon English School (a small branch of Anglo-Chinese School) and later Saint Andrew's School, passing his Senior Cambridge examinations in 1931. He studied arts subjects at Raffles College and graduated with a Diploma in the Arts in 1934. He joined the education service, and taught at the Geylang English School. Here he composed the music and lyric for what was to be the first school anthem, humbly entitled the "Geylang English School Song".

Paul's full-time career was in education. He was Principal of Victoria School from 1959 to 1962, and Teachers' Training College from 1963 to 1968, and Chief Inspector of Schools until his retirement in 1969. For a short stint in the late 1950s, he was put in charge of the Cultural Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Education, which oversaw overseas cultural missions in Singapore. The 1960s and 70s also saw Paul as an indefatigable organiser of large-scaled cultural events and leader of massed voices. In 1963, he helped organise the Ministry of Culture's first Southeast Asian Festival of Arts at the now-demolished National Theatre, which he referred to as the "Mother of All Festivals". In the 1970s, he was instrumental in developing classical music programmes for Singapore's first FM stereo radio station with Radio Television Singapore (RTS, later the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation).

Career in music

Although his full-time work was in education, Paul was making a name for himself as a violinist and singer, performing in recitals and church concerts. His tenor voice stood out in the Saint Andrew's Cathedral Choir, where he and his late brother, Gerard, were the only child choristers. He was taught the basics of conducting by Welshman Glan Williams, Master of Music for the Colony, the first such appointment in any of the crown colonies.

During the Japanese Occupation, Paul taught English, English literature, history and music in a number of schools including Raffles Institution, Anglo-Chinese School and Saint Anthony's Boys School. With permission from the Department of Education, he also played the violin in the Japanese-led Syonan Kokkaido Orchestra. He remembers teaching in the mornings, and after a quick lunch, hurrying to orchestral rehearsals in the afternoon. 

It was in this orchestra that Paul got his first taste of conducting. He had to conduct movements of Haydn's Surprise Symphony when the orchestra's leader was indisposed. He was paid in cash, and more importantly, in rations like rice, vegetables and cigarettes. The latter fetched a considerable sum of money in the black market, and the earnings kept his family from much hardship.

After the end of the Second World War, Paul played in the short-lived ENSA (Entertainments for National Service Associations) Symphony Orchestra led by the Scottish musician and composer Erik Chisholm. This was the first professional orchestra to assume the name of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Paul remembers its very high performing standards and the championship of contemporary music, including those of the young Benjamin Britten.

In 1947, Paul became the first Singaporean to receive a British Council scholarship to study in the United Kingdom. He spent two years in London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying singing and conducting. Singapore was in need of trained teachers for the voice and choral conductors, and Paul's training helped fill this void. He studied conducting with Joseph Lewis (well known for his work with BBC orchestras) and observed the work of conductors like Sir Adrian Boult and Edric Cundell. He also had opportunities to conduct the college orchestra in orchestral works and operatic highlights.

Upon returning to Singapore in 1949, he became the acting Master of Music (the position vacated by Glan Williams, who returned to UK) at the Music Department, operating from the Music Studio at Monk's Hill School. Here he coordinated all musical education activities in schools, which emphasised group singing, and also led a teacher's choir.

In 1949, he formed the string orchestra of the Singapore Chamber Ensemble (SCE) and one year later its choir. The SCE gave its first concert in 1950. For almost thirty years, the largely amateur SCE became the leading concert orchestra in Singapore's musical life, prior to the formation of the first fully professional orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO). 

Paul also led the Singapore Junior Symphony Orchestra (SJSO), formerly the Singapore Children's Orchestra and the forerunner of the Singapore Youth Orchestra. The SJSO and Combined Schools Choir gave a historic concert at the Palm Court of Raffles Hotel on 12 August 1949. This was the first concert by any Singaporean musical organisation to raise funds for the new University of Malaya, located in Singapore.

In recognition for his services to music and culture in Singapore, he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1956. In 1958, the Singapore Chamber Ensemble performed and recorded Zubir Said's song "Majulah Singapura", specially composed for the opening of the refurbished Victoria Theatre. This song was later revised and adapted by Paul, in consultation with the composer, and later adopted as Singapore's National Anthem in 1959.

In the first Southeast Asian Festival of Arts in which Paul helped organise in 1963, he conducted a concert by the Singapore Festival Symphony Orchestra. In 1978, he led a 4500-strong choir at the Billy Graham Crusade that performed nightly at the National Stadium. With the formation of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 1979, the SCE lost its main core of voluntary musicians who turned professional, and soon ceased regular concert activities. Paul however revived the then-inactive Singapore Youth Orchestra (SYO). It made a grand reappearance in a concert at the Singapore Conference Hall in 1979 before becoming an ensemble under the auspices of the Ministry of Education in 1980.

In 1979, Paul assumed directorship of the Centre for Musical Activities (CMA) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). There he founded and became the first Music Director of the NUS Concert Orchestra, which later became the NUS Symphony Orchestra. Ironically this became Paul's first salaried job as an orchestral conductor, leading him to jest that his newly acquired remuneration had paid for thirty years of conducting for free. He led the orchestra in local concerts and tours to Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan. Besides performing in concert halls, the orchestra also played in various unusual venues including on a barge in the Singapore River (celebrating the Clean Rivers campaign in 1987) and the foyer of the Australian High Commission.

For his services to music and culture in Singapore, Paul was awarded in 1986 the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's highest accolade for artistic achievement. In December 1996, the Singapore Chamber Ensemble gave its last concert of choral music in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. He conducted his last concert in October 1997 at the Harbour Pavilion, conducting highlights from Handel's Messiah in a special concert for the world hospice movement.

In 2005, the National University of Singapore published Paul's book Notes Across the Years: Anecdotes From A Musical Life, a semi-autobiographical volume detailing the history of Western classical music performance and teaching in Singapore from the 1920s to the 1980s. Its attention to factual detail and vivid narration made it an invaluable reference and resource for all students of musical history in Singapore. In his retirement, Paul remains a lively raconteur and source of inspiration for all music-makers and musicians, amateur and professional.

My review of Notes Across the Years may be found here:

http://pianofortephilia.blogspot.com/2009/06/notea-across-years-by-paul.html

TOMMY KOH AND I

Oops, I've done it again! This time, a quote of mine appears above the head of Professor Tommy Koh, Singaporean former ambassador to the United Nations and all-round intellectual. This was taken from Artzone magazine, the triannual publication of the National University of Singapore Centre for the Arts.

Here it is, the cover and relevent page of the Aug-Dec 2011 issue of Artzone.

BLUFF YOUR WAY THROUGH CLASSICAL MUSIC

BLUFF YOUR WAY THROUGH CLASSICAL MUSIC
NUS CFA Speakers Series
Tuesday (22 March 2011)
NUS Museum

So its finally over! My little contribution to the National University of Singapore Centre for the Arts ongoing Speakers Series took place on Tuesday afternoon, attended by an audience of almost a hundred people, family and friends included. It was hosted by Professor Wang Ya-Hui (below), who quizzed me on a number of subjects, including the catchy title of the talk, and how an absolute rank musical amateur like myself entered into the world of classical music. Its quite simple actually - I was a failed pianist! And failed musicians take the easier option and become doctors!

The audience was a warm and receptive one, even if one errant handphone went off (it had to be that Nokia ringtone!). How did I fill up those 90 minutes? By having an acute attack of verbal diarrhea (a speciality of mine) certainly helped, besides being obliged to play some music on CFA's quite lovely Ibach grand piano.

What did I play? I began with the Intermezzo in A major (Op.118 No.2) by Brahms after a long preamble, and to while the time away before the Q & A session, the final movement from Schumann's Fantasy in C major (Op.17). As with other public performances, I must admit to have played much better when no one's listening. And to suffer the ignominy of having the piano lid fall on my fingers while clumsily trying to turn a page! It was thus a relief for both performer and audience when the ordeal came to a close.

The short encore was Marc-André Hamelin's Ringtone Waltz, previously known as Valse Irritation d'apres Nokia! By the way, the handphone that went off (and I have Mrs Tan Suan Imm to thank!) was completely unscripted. How's that for "Bluffing Your Way Through Classical Music"?

My thanks go to Prof Wang Ya-Hui, Christine Khor, Lai Zhenhua and the technical crew of CFA for their hard work, forebearance and patience.

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.

Geoffrey Saba Piano Recital: Beethoven's Last Three Sonatas

GEOFFREY SABA

Piano Recital

University Cultural Centre

29 August 2008

This review first appeared in The Straits Times on 1 September 2008

"When it rains, its pours" so they say. Not a reference to Singapore weather but how musical events seem to cluster together. Right smack in Singapore's first Beethoven piano sonata cycle at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts was yet a further Beethoven recital presented by another education institution (the National University of Singapore’s Centre for the Arts), featuring the last three Sonatas of the great German. The interloper was the Australian-born pianist London-based Geoffrey Saba.

Performed without interval, there was a natural flow to the trilogy that was both logical and spontaneous. Beginning with the Sonata No.30 in E major (Op. 109), poetry issued forth from Saba's hands. His was not an over-analysed, over-calculated reading, often encountered in competitions or student recitals, but one that suggested a lifelong experience and struggle with the inner messages of Beethoven. Knowing when to surge forward and then hold back was part of the game, and the contrasts in the three movements were well brought out. Nostalgia was emoted in the theme and variations finale, notably with the reappearance of the E major theme, which provided some magical moments.

Between each sonata, a selection of Beethoven's letters dating 1821-23 were read, and acted out by Mark Sim, an NUS chemical engineering student. Although not a theatre major, he successfully brought out the composer's angst, which centred not so much on musical matters but the mundane - publisher's whims, proofreading woes and money worries.

While the Sonata No.31 in A flat major (Op. 110) juxtaposed lyricism with legendary temperament, the static calm of the third movement proved the most gripping. The concluding fugue and its inversion displayed clarity but was dogged by lapses towards the end. Nobody's perfect, not even Schnabel. Especially Schnabel. The ultimate Sonata No.32 in C minor (Op.111), with its abrupt and tonally ambiguous opening, received arguably the best performance. Saba was fully in tune with Beethoven's fist-shaking and sabre-rattling rhetoric, and the valedictory final movement - another set of variations - exhibited his full gamut of dynamics. That this epic cycle of 32 sonatas ends quietly, on a harmonious C major chord, speaks volumes. All is well in the world.

Footnote: Geoffrey Saba gave the Singapore premiere of Bartok's Piano Concerto No.1 with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Choo Hoey in the late 1980s, and his last recital here in 1989 featured Liszt Sonata in B minor.