CD Review (The Straits Times, April 2017)

REVERIE

YU-CHIEN TSENG, Violin

with Rohan de Silva, Piano

Deutsche Grammophon 886 046-9 / *****

In 2015, Taiwanese violinist Tseng Yu-Chien was awarded the 1^st prize at the inaugural Singapore International Violin Competition. Within the same year, he won 2^nd prize at the International Tchaikovsky Violin Competition in Moscow, undoubtedly an even more coveted accolade. 

This debut recital disc issued by Universal Music Taiwan shows the confidence of youth in abundance. Not all of the programme is virtuoso fodder, as he displays a totally musical and more lyrical side in Mozart's Violin Sonata in B flat major (K.454), Chopin's Nocturne (Op.27 No.2) in August Wilhelm's arrangement and Tchaikovsky's Melodie from Souvenir d'un lieu cher.

Even in flexing his Paganinian prowess, there is much nuance in Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata, working from its calm and sanguine opening to an increasingly frenzied conclusion. In the unaccompanied Last Rose Of Summer Variations by Heinrich Ernst, the intricacy, detail and perfect intonation of his playing becomes more apparent, reaching full fruition in Wieniawski's fearsome Variations On An Original Theme. 

The 1732 Guarneri del Gesu violin he plays on, on loan by a Taiwanese foundation, and veteran piano accompanist Rohan de Silva prove worthy partners. Heartily recommended. 

LISTENING TO TAIWAN / National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra / Review

LISTENING TO TAIWAN

National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (3 April 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 5 April 2016 with the title "Dazzling musical treat ... with joyous finale".

The National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra (NTSO), based in Taichung, is a proud ambassador of Taiwanese musical heritage. What else would explain the fact that four out of six works performed in its two-day Singapore tour were by Taiwanese composers. Conducted by its former Music Director Chien Wen-Pin, Taiwan's oldest orchestra (founded in 1945) gave an excellent account of its pedigree.

The evening opened rowdily with Chung Yiu-Kwong's Festive Celebration, originally a work for percussion but later arranged for wind band, and orchestra. Raucously rhythmic, drums and brass went on overdrive but retaining the essence of  the popular Wild Dance Of Golden Snakes by Nie Er, who also composed the Chinese National Anthem, March Of The Volunteers.

Putting politics aside, this was a impressive display of orchestral cohesion in a frenetic piece of music, but this soon cooled down for Tyzen Hsiao's Violin Concerto in D major with Tseng Yu-Chien (1^st Prizewinner of the 1^st Singapore International Violin Competition in 2015) as soloist. Composed in the late 1980s and premiered by Lin Cho-Liang, it hardly sounds more modern than anything written a century before.

Hsiao's idiom is unapologetically Romantic, using melodies of faintly Chinese countenance and minimal pentatonics. Lovers of concertos by Bruch, Glazunov and Wieniawski would have much to enjoy here, not least in the virtuosic 1^st movement cadenza and movie music-like slow movement.

The busy finale owes much to the corresponding movement of Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto and a brief but curious episode pairing violin and solo harp which reminded one of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Tseng's expressive and virtuoso qualities provided a prime outing for the work, and the string wallow continued in his encore, the slow movement from Bach's Unaccompanied Second Sonata.

Further proof of the orchestra's prowess came in Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, with an unfussed and breezy account. The 1^st movement's slow introduction was arresting in its delivery, paving the way for the unbridled vigour of the ensuing Vivace. A full-bodied sonority filled the hall, dominated by lushness in the strings, and the taut pacing of the symphony carried through its four movements.

Without a true slow movement, the Allegretto served as a surrogate by being only less brisk. Its variations and fugue were very clearly rolled out and there was to be no lingering about. Quick reflexes and pin-point accuracy accounted for the bounding dance of the 3^rd movement's Presto, while all stops were pulled for the joyous finale.

Deemed the “apotheosis of the dance”, there was no way one could take that too literally unless seriously punch-drunk. The furious pace was upped, and then some more; the orchestra responded brilliantly, with a vivid incisiveness matching Chien's unerringly exacting beat.

This life-affirming account was heartily received, garnering a standing ovation from segments of the audience. The encore was a Taiwanese cradle song, sumptuously arranged for strings, providing a fitting send-off by a gleaming gem of an orchestra. 

SSO CONCERT: SCOTTISH FANTASY / Review

SCOTTISH FANTASY

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (14 August 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 August 2015 with the title "Music keeps Choo Hoey young".

The SG50 celebrations of the past week have brought sharply into focus the nation's achievements and a reflection of the people in history who made Singapore happen. It was thus appropriate that the first Singapore Symphony Orchestra concert held after the 50^th National Day be conducted by its founding Music Director Choo Hoey, who led the orchestra from 1979 to 1996.

Now in his early eighties, Choo has lost some sprightliness in his step. The walk onto the stage appeared a little more effortful, but on the podium itself, he seemed revitalised. The spark of leading his charges and long-time friends in music-making returned, albeit for two whole hours.

The well-attended one-night-only concert opened unusually with Darius Milhaud's ballet La Creation du Monde (The Creation of the World). Scored for just 17 players, this was modern chamber music of the 1920s that embraced both the old and new worlds. Old because its form was classically conceived, even incorporating the fugue, and new because of that infectious Afro-American strain called jazz and the blues.

The performance bristled with a fervid beat, with solos by Tang Xiao Ping (on saxophone), Ma Yue (clarinet) and Rachel Walker (oboe) standing out. The balance of sound in the reverberant hall was however not favourable to the strings, as both violins, cello and double bass were virtually shut out by the winds, brass, percussion and piano.      

The orchestra's might also threatened to overwhelm the soloist in the next piece, Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy. Thankfully, the young man on centrestage was Taiwanese violinist Tseng Yu-Chien, 1^st Prizewinner of the 1^st Singapore International Violin Competition in January. His annus mirabilis continued with winning 2^nd Prize at the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in Moscow. Although not an overtly showy perfomer, his playing was brimming with confidence.

A bright clarion tone, with perfect intonation, lit up his entry in the opening movement, and shone out like a beacon in the 2nd movement when orchestral volume could have got out of hand. The 3rd movement's variations on the Scottish tune I'm Down For Lack Of Johnnie found the best balance of all, and how his violin truly sang. The bellicose finale provided a stirring show of fireworks from all on stage, and the audience cheered and clamoured for an encore. The soft-spoken and thoughtful soul obliged with further purity of tone in the first movement of Bach's unaccompanied Second Sonata. 

The second half was The Choo Hoey Show, in the familiar warhorse that is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. If the listener had expected broad tempos and stolid posturings in the manner of Klemperer or Celibidache, one was to be surprised. Clocking in under 35 minutes, this was no slouch of a performance, nor was there the litheness and light textures that come with modern approaches. Choo demanded a rich, full-bodied sound through its four movements, and he got it.

The iconic 1^st movement was brisk, tautly held together, but it never sounded hectic. The strings were given ample space to breathe in the slow movement, which brought out the work's lyrical best. The lightly traipsing 3^rd movement was given more nuances than one suspected, with virtuosic ensemble playing in its agitated middle section. The expectant lead-up to the grandstanding finale was exciting, only bettered by the actual article itself. The brass - two French horns, two trumpets and three trombones – were in top form, and who would have thought Beethoven giving in its final pages such prominence to the humble piccolo?

The breathless close, brilliantly marshalled, brought out prolonged accolades for the revered maestro. There seemed to be one common thought that ran through the house: Music makes one young again.