SINGAPORE CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL: FRIENDS, NEW & OLD, GALA CONCERT: CELEBRATION! / Review

SINGAPORE CHAMBER 

MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024 

FRIENDS, NEW & OLD 

GALA CONCERT: CELEBRATION! 

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall 

Wednesday & Saturday 

(31 January & 3 February 2024) 

This review was published in The Straits Times on 6 February 2024 with the title "Chamber music festival closes with eclectic programme and touching tribute".

The third evening of the Singapore Chamber Music Festival showcased locally-based professional musicians fronted by the Concordia Quartet in partnership with overseas friends. An eclectic programme spanning the classical to contemporary eras was the result. 

Performed first was Mozart’s Oboe Quartet in F major (K.370), with veteran Dutch oboist Joost Flach, a resident in Southeast Asia since the 1980s. Partnered with Concordia’s violinist Kim Kyu Ri, violist Martin Peh and cellist Lin Juan, this tuneful work highlighted the reed’s piquant timbre over backing by mellow strings. The ensemble blended beautifully, not least in the chirpy closing Rondo. 

Much sterner stuff was Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor which saw Japan’s splendid Aoi Trio teaming with violinist Yang Shuxiang and violist Peh. Although the first two movements were a neoclassical Prelude and Fugue, jarring dissonances informed the work’s grimmer agenda. Pianist Kosuke Akimoto projected authority, balanced by paradoxical moments which included the Scherzo’s madcap vitriol and the finale’s unsettling light-heartedness. The five players demonstrated in the music that one could still bring out a smile while under severe duress. 

The Concordia Quartet – Edward Tan (violin), Kim, Peh and Lin – were on their own for two movements from Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E minor (Op.44 No.2), contrasting smooth congeniality with swift elfin lightness. The 4-year-old quartet, formed just before the Covid-19 pandemic, is now an assured and seasoned outfit. 

Tchaikovsky’s very popular String Sextet in D minor, or Souvenir de Florence, for pairs of violins, violas and cellos, generated rich sonorities. Leading was Singaporean violinist Jonathan Ong (first violin of the USA-based Verona Quartet), with the juiciest solos. His repartee with cellist Leslie Tan in the slow movement’s gorgeous melodies was a joy to behold. The group completed by Kim, Jeremy Chiew and Edward Tan (violas) and Lin made the best case possible for the usually morose Russian’s sunniest score. 

The festival’s grand finale featured no less than 32 musicians in a celebration of chamber music’s myriad varieties. There were three string quartets, the youngest being Pythagorus Quartet (average age of 11) which cut their teeth in Haydn with much confidence. 

Pandan Quartet from Oberlin, Ohio comprised undergraduates with Asian ancestry, and their maturity displayed in Mendelssohn was just as astounding. Jurong Quartet, formed by young local professionals gave a crisp and clear-headed account of Beethoven. All performed first movements from string quartets. 

An outlier was the opening movement from Mozart’s Horn Quintet in E flat major (K.407) with Alan Kartik, the concert’s only wind player, partnered by violin, two violas and cello. Even more arcane was a rare performance of 20th century Russian Alfred Schnittke’s Piano Quartet by The Music Circle (violinist Tang Tee Tong, violist Christoven Tan, cellist Leslie Tan and pianist Cherie Khor), a work of grating dissonance and deep disquiet. Both received gripping performances. 

“Grand Dame” of Singaporean pianists, Toh Chee Hung, still sparkling in her seventies, partnered with Akimoto in two of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances. She was joined by violinist Ong, violist Peh and cellist Tan in the final two movements from Brahms’ Piano Quartet No.3 in C minor (Op.60), contrasting sheer lyricism with outright passion. These were a touching tribute to Penang-born pianist Dennis Lee, Toh’s husband and ardent supporter of the re:Sound Collective, who passed away last year. 

What could top the sight and sound of eight string players coming together for Mendelssohn’s Octet? Its rapturous finale, performed by all the strings from Concordia, Aoi and violinist Yang and violist Chiew, quoted Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, which more or less summed up what everybody on and off stage were feeling. 

So what is the big deal about chamber music? It is ultimately a meeting of minds, a celebration of talented and inspired people working and playing, and having a great time together.

CHAMBER PLAYERS / The Chamber Players / Review

CHAMBER PLAYERS

The Chamber Players

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra

Sunday (15 March 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 March 2015 with the title "From the familiar to the obscure".

The Chamber Players is the only surviving non-professional classical music ensemble that existed during the early 1980s. In those days, classical music here was just the newly-formed professional Singapore Symphony Orchestra and a small handful of amateur groups. After a hiatus of almost twenty years, The Chamber Players returned under the leadership of engineer, French horn player cum Straits Times music critic Mervin Beng, becoming the mainstay of the Singapore Chamber Music Festival.

The Festival is now run by the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, and The Chamber Players makes regular appearances with interesting programmes that juxtapose the familiar with the rarely heard, like the one this evening. Very familiar was Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, designated as a Serenade in G major, but resembles a 4-movement symphony in miniature.

The ensemble brought out a rich string sound, unafraid to apply vibrato whenever possible. Performing without a conductor, the players took their lead from experienced concertmaster Seah Huan Yuh, one of few professional musicians assisting the group. The slow movement radiated warmth, and even the tricky fast central section held little terrors. The 3rd movement's Minuetto flowed unabated, but the quicksilver finale was taken a tad too cautiously to be truly thrilling.

Rather unfamiliar was the Viola Concerto in D major by Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754-1812), a German-born Viennese better known as a music publisher and close friend of Beethoven's. This innocuous and attractive little work gave much by way of display to young violist Jeremy Chiew, who lapped up every virtuoso turn with relish, including a couple of showy cadenzas.

His tone was healthy and robust, putting paid to those violist jokes about violin envy. The ensemble included two oboes and two horns which contributed to overall body of sound in this Mozart-like work, which closed with a jocular Rondo that stretched and extended the players' abilities to the max.

Very obscure was Bohemian composer Leos Janacek's Idyll For Strings, an early work from the 1870s before he developed his spare but immediately recognisable hallmark style. The spirit of Dvorak looms over its seven movements, with a melodic charm that is hard to dislike. Based on folktunes and rhythms, its occasional irregular meters troubled the players at times, which was when the ensemble could have benefited from a conductor's baton.

The fifth movement's Adagio saw some of the best playing, a heartfelt plaint based on the Slavic dumka, a lament that distinguishes much of Eastern European musical tradition. Despite the inherent difficulties, the general outcome was a positive and admirable one, enjoyed by the Kent Ridge faithful. It was thus a pity that the ensemble briefly acknowledged the applause, and then immediately broke rank and disassembled.

Milking the applause for the efforts of weeks of rehearsals is also part of showmanship and the concert game, something that musical amateurs can learn from the professionals.

SHANGHAI QUARTET / 6th Singapore Chamber Music Festival / Review

SHANGHAI QUARTET

6^th Singapore Chamber Music Festival

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Wednesday (30 January 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 February 2013 with the title "Shanghai Quartet's explosive rapturous night".

The Shanghai Quartet has been regular visitors to Singapore, and it had the honour of opening the 6^th Singapore Chamber Music Festival with a recital of stark contrasts. Beethoven appears in many string quartet programmes, because his 15 quartets broke new ground on a form that began with his teacher Haydn, and went on to define the genre.

Even if his G major Quartet (Op.18 No.2) was an early work, traces of future greatness may be discerned. The foursome articulated its themes with crispness and clarity, in a very cohesive performance all round. The slow movement had a hymn-like quality, looking forward to Beethoven’s fondness for longeurs, but also showed how the quartet coped with sudden shifts in dynamics when lingering Adagio cantabile quickened into a brisk Allegro.

If young Beethoven was adventurous and somewhat impetuous, then mature Bartok was an outright radical who rewrote all the rules. The Hungarian’s Fourth String Quartet was the vanguard of modernism in 1928, and its grinding dissonances and bald discords still sound provocative today. The Shanghai Quartet coaxed a totally coherent reading, one that brings to mind that stupendous outing by the Tokyo String Quartet in 1991. 

Its second movement was a study of pianissimo and prestissimo, of nervous disquiet not quite dispelled by the third movement’s spooky nocturne. As if in sympathy with things that go bump in the night, a spotlight in the ceiling of the stage exploded with a terrific rupture, just as the players readied themselves for the famous pizzicato fourth movement (below). That and the rumbustious finale in a driving Bulgarian rhythm, unerringly wrought, brought out the cheers.

Like in the evening before, the visiting main act was joined by locals for a grand finale. Singapore’s T’ang Quartet faced off with their Shanghai counterparts in Mendelssohn’s celebrated Octet Op.20. The stunning work of genius by a 16-year-old, its symphonic pretentions were apparent, as was the virtuoso part written for the first violinist as if in a concerto.

For this, Weigang Li rose to the occasion with a quiet and distinguished aplomb. Never seeking to upstage his seven associates, his paradoxical role was that of leader and equal partner. Together, their performance was one of intoxicating passion and camaraderie. The sheer sonority of strings in the outer movements, despite each player having a different and distinct part, had the homogeneity of oneness. In the popular Scherzo, a fairy-like lightness provided the music and spirits a life-affirming lift. These fine qualities, in a nutshell, are the essence of good chamber music. 

The 6^th Singapore Chamber Music Festival at the Conservatory continues well into March. All concerts are non-ticketed and admission is free. 

DUO RECITAL / Qin Li-Wei & Ning Feng / Review

DUO RECITAL

Qin Li-Wei & Ning Feng

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Tuesday (29 January 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 31 January 2013 with the title "Feast ahead of chamber music fest".

It is one more day till the official opening of the Singapore Chamber Music Festival at the Conservatory, but no one would have guessed or bothered given the hive of musical activity this evening in the company of cellist Qin Li-Wei and violinist Ning Feng. Their duo recital, a rare occurrence in Singapore for this instrumental combination, was more than just a meeting of mighty musical minds.

It was a feast. The first half alone lasted some 55 minutes, showcasing the two most intense and musically exhausting works in the repertoire. Zoltan Kodaly’s Duo and Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for violin and make for challenging and concentrated listening, but the rewards were bounteous. Both works used pentatonic themes, and given the inflections and nuances that resembled Oriental music, seemed to suit the two Chinese virtuosos to a tee.

It was the interplay between the violin’s higher-pitched impassioned cry and the cello’s deeper and mellow sigh that impressed the most. Though possessing separate voices, they breathed and moved in one accord; one part singing the melody and the other providing the accompaniment. Within a split second, they exchanged roles, so seamlessly and effortlessly that one took the treacherous thorns and myriad intricacies in the score almost for granted.

In the Lent slow movement of the Ravel, the voices were so densely intertwined in its prayer-like countenance that it was nigh impossible to extricate the two penitents. This innate chemistry then diffused into the wild dance-like finales, bristling with not so much gypsy elan, but exuding a raw and lusty earthiness. This performance of the Kodaly has completely effaced memories of the version by Pinchas and Amanda Zukerman at the Singapore Sun Festival in 2007. 

If the first half was decidedly hard core, the second half was positively congenial. Feng and Qin were joined by pianist Albert Tiu, with true singing qualities brought forth in Mendelssohn’s First Piano Trio in D minor. Far from being totally relaxed, the threesome was made to work hard to bring out the Victorian niceties and filigree. Tiu’s scintillating fingers stood out in the extremely tricky yet delicate role, elevating the pretty and precious into some higher plane.

At the music’s stirring conclusion, deafening cheers from the clearly enthused audience was rewarded with further confectionary, a bite-sized titbit by Shostakovich. The plentiful riches of the chamber music festival had begun one day early.