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.

THE WONDER CHAMBER / Red Dot Baroque / Review

 

THE WONDER CHAMBER

Red Dot Baroque

Chamber @ The Arts House

Saturday (9 May 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 11 May 2026 with the title "Red Dot Baroque revives 17th century rarities in delightful concert".

A wonder chamber (Wunderkammer in German) is a collection of curiosities and oddities assembled in wealthy households, where novelty and rarity become virtues. This concert of 17th century works by Singapore’s leading early music ensemble Red Dot Baroque (RDB), curated and led by French-Canadian guest director and harpsichordist Olivier Fortin, was full of such surprises.

Fortin waxed lyrical about “stylus fantasticus”, a style in the baroque which broke from traditional forms and focussed on free expression and improvisation, like an early precursor of jazz. Opening the concert was Sonata “Tausend Gulden” by Habsburg court composer Antonio Bertali (1605-1669), so nicknamed A Thousand Guilders as it was highly prized by its patrons.

The Italian term sonata, or “sounding out”, did not have the same meaning as it does today. The music was a delightful succession of dances, alternating between fast and slow, before closing on a sublime quiet.

Thanks to RDB founder Alan Choo’s proselytising, the name of Bohemian virtuoso violinist Heinrich Biber (1644-1704) is no longer obscure in Singapore. Two of Biber’s Sonatae Tam Aris Quam Aulis Servientes (Sonatas Suitable for Altar and Court) got an airing, featuring the sonorous baroque trumpet of Danny Teong. Sonata X in G minor had the plaintive quality of a lament, contrasted with the celebratory tone of Sonata IV in C major.

From the Augustinian priest Romanus Weichlein (1652-1706) was the Sonata in B minor (Op.1 No.11) from Encaenia Musices (Musical Enchantments). Here, violinists Brenda Koh and Placida Ho, in conversation with the viola da gambas of Leslie Tan and Mervyn Lee, presented a series of increasingly syncopated variations.

Intimate dialogue and timbral contrasts between Ho’s animated violin and Lee’s elegiac gamba were the focus in the Sonata in D major by Hamburg native Dietrich Becker (1623-1679). Soaring over Christopher Clarke’s theorbo and Fortin’s harpsichord continuo, a playful sense of improvisation soon became apparent.

In Sonata II in G minor from Armonico Tributo (Harmonic Tribute) by the well-travelled Georg Muffat (1653-1704), student of Jean-Baptiste Lully and Arcangelo Corelli, a fusion of French, Italian and German styles emerged. Alternating slow and fast movements, solemnity, seriousness, humour and jocularity all became part of a heady mix of moods and emotions.

The ill-fated Italian Alessandro Stradella (1643-1682), stabbed to death for his serial philandering, displayed far more temperance in his Sinfonia in D minor for violin, cello and continuo. Violinist Koh and cellist Zoi Tzu-Jou Yeh had virtuoso roles, trading cuts and thrusts in an exhibition of control and exuberance.

The 75-minute concert closed with the full ensemble in Biber’s Sonata Jucunda (Joyous Sonata), juxtaposing high art with popular culture, the latter being the music of commoners – tipsy dances, drunken slurs, fiddle flourishes and unison passages resembling Turkish music, as opposed to celestial harmonies. This musical joke, representing a happy democratisation, makes the world go round. Whoever thought Biber was a socialist?

The Wonder Chamber by Red Dot Baroque was part of the Voilah! French-Singapore festival. 

NOWELL, NOWELL! / Red Dot Baroque / Review

 

NOWELL, NOWELL!

Red Dot Baroque

The Arts House Chamber

Sunday (14 December 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 16 December 2025 with the title "Red Dot Baroque ushers in Christmas with joyous concert".

It was a wet and soggy Sunday afternoon, and it almost seemed a chore to haul oneself away from the comforts of home to attend a concert. However, this was not any concert, but a celebration of Christmas by Red Dot Baroque (RDB), Singapore’s only professional period instrument group. The much-needed tonic for one nursing a cold, its infectious high spirits instantly drove away the blues.

Photo: Yong Junyi

Opening with the distant wail of Law Chi Yan’s bagpipes, the tenor voice of Reuben Lai followed by Teng Xiang Ting’s soprano began this uncommon procession, a Yuletide offering from the British Isles not previously encountered in sunny Singapore. RDB knows how to put on a show and its 75 minutes were a treat from start to end.

With music from the Emerald Isle, this was a programme built around the legendary blind harper Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738), considered Ireland’s national composer. His Welcome was the perfect greeting for the dances – which sounded familiar by the Celtic fiddling – in Cup and Favourite Jig to come.

Photo: Yong Junyi

After RDB founder and leader Alan Choo made his entry, the floor of the Old Parliament’s chamber was transformed into some country barn. Joined by fellow fiddlers - Brenda Koh, Placida Ho and Gabriel Lee – they begun to make merry. Their free-wheeling moves abetted by foot-stamping by the audience made for an enjoyable musical spectacle.

Photo: Yong Junyi

The famous Wexford Carol, shared by Teng and Lai, well and truly ushered in the spirit of Christmas atmosphere. Crossing the Irish Sea to England, Pastime With Good Compayne by King Henry VIII, the infamous monarch with six wives, brought in more cheer.

Other RDB’s instrumentalists, Gerald Lim on electronic keyboard substituting for harpsichord and Christopher Clarke on archlute accounted for more intimate music by William Byrd and John Dowland. The alternation between instrumental and sung pieces worked very well, with the English segment closing with Nowell, Tidings True and Masters of this Hall, adapted from Frenchman Marin Marais’ music.

Climbing over Hadrian’s Wall into Scotland, there was more intoxicating fiddling in On the Wings of Skorie and Old Grey Cat. The soothing Skye Boat Song was sung by Lai with a distinct Celtic accent, while the witty and bawdy verses of Henry Purcell’s Twas Within a Furlong of Edinburgh Town were perfectly captured by Teng.

Returning to Eire, O’Carolan’s final work before his passing, Farewell To Music, made for some poignant moments before the jigs Apples In Winter and The Mason’s Apron closed the show with a proper hurrah. RDB’s splendid ensemble was completed by Leslie Tan on cello / gamba, Cheryl Lim on flutes and whistles, and percussionist Govin Tan who left his tablas at home.

Cheryl Lim

Leslie Tan

Govin Tan
Photo: Yong Junyi

The audience singalong was suitably rousing with seasonal hymns ironically by two German composers, Felix Mendelssohn’s Hark, The Herald Angels Sing and George Frideric Handel’s Joy To The World. With the current turmoil and violence, the world could do with more of Red Dot Baroque’s joyous message of goodwill and peace.

Photo: Yong Junyi

Photo: Yong Junyi

More photos from the concert 

may be found here:

pianomania: 24 VARIATIONS ON RED DOT BAROQUE'S NOWELL, NOWELL

24 VARIATIONS ON RED DOT BAROQUE'S NOWELL, NOWELL

There are Christmas concert and there are Christmas concerts. One cannot have said to have lived without attending a Christmas concert by Red Dot Baroque (RDB). Led by Singaporean violinist Alan Choo, Singapore's only period instrument outfit, RDB has made it a fine art of bringing out the real joy that is the Advent season. There are none of those cheap commercial songs or jingles, but genuine articles of faith which have defined the true meaning of faith. The different Christmas cultures of old Europe are celebrated, and on this occasion (Sunday 14 December 2025), music of the British Isles were showcased. What a joy it was to be there, to witness RDB's irrepressible spirit and energy, and here are some 24 photos from my trusty camera.

Tenor Reuben Lai and
soprano Teng Xiang Ting open the show.

Cheryl Lim, Govin Tan & Brenda Koh.

The Wexford Carol sung as a duet.

It's the turn of Gabriel Lee to fiddle.

Placida Ho takes centrestage.

This looks like a proper barn dance.

Keyboardist Gerald Lim.

All the strings on show.

Christopher Clarke on archlute.

Alan Choo is simply irrepressible.

A lovely duet by Alan & Brenda.

Cellist Leslie Tan looking wind-swept.

Placida returns to the stage.

Govin Tan without his tablas.

Law Chi Yan on bagpipes.

It's time for the audience singalong.

Red Dot Baroque, take a bow!

The Straits Times review 

may be found here:

pianomania: NOWELL, NOWELL! / Red Dot Baroque / Review