NATIONAL PIANO & VIOLIN COMPETITION 2013 / PIANO ARTIST FINALS / Review

NATIONAL PIANO & 

VIOLIN COMPETITION 2013

PIANO ARTIST CATEGORY FINALS

Sunday (8 December 2013)

The grand final of the Piano Artist Category of the biannual National Piano & Violin Competition is the closest thing one gets to the final round of any international piano competition. Three finalists get to play a full length concerto with an orchestra, a formula which also applied to international competitions I have attended in London and Shanghai. For years, it has been the grand showcase of piano talent in Singapore and the previous finals have been memorable to say the least. This year it was even better.

In some ways, this seemed like a repeat of the 2007 finals held at the Victoria Concert Hall. That edition pitted Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto (played by a Chinese student from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts) against Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.20 (by a student from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory), with a Grieg Piano Concerto as an also-ran. On that December evening, the Tchaikovsky triumphed.

Due to the order in which participants had drawn earlier, it was the Tchaikovsky that opened this final, accompanied by the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra conducted by Chan Tze Law. NAFA’s Wan Jing Jing (China) was a rock solid soloist, comfortably issuing big chords that thundered through the orchestra’s majestic statement of the main theme. The early cadenza was dispatched with relative ease. A crying baby (why are they even allowed entry?) did little to faze this assured young lady on her mission. There were a few missed notes in the long cadenza at the end of the first movement, but that mattered little.

The main problem with this warhorse of a concerto is that it calls for big gestures through most of its pages, stampeding octaves, emotionally driven romantic clichés and the like all worn heart-on-sleeve. Wan delivered these with true weight and aplomb, but the overall effect with her and the orchestra operating at full blast in this reverberant hall was one of sensory overload and exhaustion.

Some respite came in the second movement, where the serene opening theme was well contrasted with the quicksilver prestissimo central interlude. The rollicking finale was also well pulled off, with the orchestra build up towards the final salvo of octaves being one of the work’s most thrilling moments. Wan did not disappoint, and even though she could develop further by bringing more nuances to this less-than-subtle work, this was job well done.

There was a good reason why Camille Saint-Saëns’s Second Piano Concerto was not on the list of concertos for the last three editions of the competition. It was the 2005 final which infamously featured three consecutive performances of the piece, each worse than the last. It made for a mind-numbing concert that nobody was keen to repeat. Thankfully Yap Sin Yee (Malaysia) gave a swashbuckling performance that topped all three of those, thus restoring some faith to the superficial delights of this work.

“Bach to Offenbach” is the apt description applied to the concerto’s journey from sobriety to outright frivolity, one which Yap understood well and took to her heart. The opening G minor cadenza with its long held pedal-note was delivered in its full gothic glory. Hardly a note was missed in the loud parts of the first movement, but it was the fairy-tale lightness in the quieter passages that impressed. While the second movement’s scherzo could have done with more crispness, the waltz-like soft centre was milked to its max. Any more sentimentality would have been a descent into schmaltz, a fine line which the performers treaded quite gingerly. 

Any doubts as to this performance were dispelled in the tarantella finale, which saw Yap flying off the blocks at a furious pace. How she maintained this momentum from frenzied start to scintillating end was a testament to her athletic prowess, but one which took all musical considerations in the stride. Amid the chase, there was humour and an ebullience that sparkled like champagne.     

Singapore’s hopes lay in Jonathan Shin who cut a supremely confident figure in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor (K.466). He was informally attired and looked like an epitome of coolness. The playing was however one of warmth and svelte elegance, though he closely identified with the music’s sturm und drang. Making the music come alive, with its emphasis on natural flow and innate urgency, there was no resorting to ear-catching agogics or exaggerated accents. The Beethoven cadenza was well-chosen, dramatic and trenchant in its delivery.

The slow movement’s Romanze was poetically shaded, and if there were a minor quibble, he could have stirred up the turbulent central G minor a bit more to show up the movement’s contrasts. The finale was a return to the first movement’s dramatics, and while some thought that it was taken too fast, I felt that he maintained the movement’s tension well, culminating with an excellent cadenza. In certain ways, this was for me the most satisfying performance of the afternoon. This was not because Shin did not put a foot wrong, but because Mozart is so darned hard to interpret convincingly. He seemed to get everything just right.

So how does one decide between a sturdy Tchaikovsky, a rip-roaring Saint-Saëns and an urbane Mozart? I don’t for a moment envy the jury of Gennady Dzubenko, Dean Kramer and Ick Choo Moon who have to judge these things. For myself, and those fortunate to have attended the final, this has been a most absorbing concert – perhaps the best final in years. The result had to be a close one, and here are the placings:

3. Jonathan Shin in Mozart 20

2. Wan Jing Jing in Tchaikovsky 1

1. Yap Sin Yee in Saint-Saëns 2

The moment when Yap Sin Yee
finds out she has won.

Congratulations are in order to all the pianists, as well as the semi-finalists (I heard another three) who have set a very high overall standard for the cohort of 2015 to emulate. Till the next time!

All the three winners (from L):
Wan Jing Jing, Yap Sin Yee & Jonathan Shin

NAFA ORCHESTRA / Review

NAFA Orchestra

Lee Foundation Theatre

Wednesday (31 October 2012)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 3 November 2012 with the title "NAFA Orchestra at its best yet".

This reviewer has had the pleasure of witnessing the transformation and progress of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) Orchestra under its Music Director of just ten months, Lim Yau. This evening’s concert proved its most demanding concert to date, not just because of the range of repertoire performed but its sheer familiarity.

Almost all regular concert-goers know Chopin’s First Piano Concerto. Its orchestral part is not particularly gratifying, subjugated mostly to support the scintillating piano solo. Despite this, the orchestra helped set the tone in the opening Allegro Maestoso (Fast and majestically) tutti, ushering in the confident Chinese pianist Wan Jing Jing to shine.

Although she was not note-perfect, Wan gained in composure as the work progressed, crafting a dreamy cantabile in the slow movement and springing to life in the final rollicking Rondo. Her steadiness in rhythm and digital dexterity was well-matched by the orchestra’s unity and taut direction.

Arguably more difficult to accompany was Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, where dense orchestral textures are likely to overwhelm the singer. Fortunately Indonesian soprano Isyana Sarasvati possesses a bright and youthful voice, flexible and capable of scaling the higher registers with relative ease. Her intonation was close to pristine and German pronunciation more than acceptable.

However one wondered how someone this young could identify with the autumnal nature of these late songs, their world-weariness and death-laden undertones. In this respect, her contemplations on the ravages of ageing was less convincing, but will have the benefit of growing and maturing with this music in time to come. The violin solo in the third movement Beim Schlafengehen (Going to Sleep) was lovingly handled by concertmaster Wang Hao.        

The concert closed with Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture. Here the orchestra came into its own. The introduction and Friar Lawrence segment was taken very deliberately, almost achingly so, but with no detail out of place. This was in order to contrast with the furious feuding of the Montagues and Capulets that followed.

The love theme came through well, thanks to the violas and cor anglais, and the tumultuous music that ensued upped than ante and raised the overall temperature. With arms and hair flying, conductor Lim drove his charges, which included students, faculty, alumni and guests players, to an exhilarating climax and dramatic close. More will be heard from this group next year, when NAFA marks its 75^th anniversary.

1ST ARS NOVA INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2012

1ST ARS NOVA INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

30 July - 4 August 2012

It’s a strange fact, but Singapore has organised more Formula One Grand Prix races than international piano competitions. That sad stat is set to end with the conclusion of the 1^st Ars Nova International Piano Competition organised by MW Events Management, with an aim to bolster Singapore as a venue for the meeting of Asia’s (and hopefully the world’s) best pianistic minds. While the National Arts Council has been forever dithering on the pros and cons of organising an international competition, somebody had finally the guts and gumption to make it a reality.

To be honest, the competition was much low key in its publicity (no banners flying on street-lamps or major news in the national dailies) and the performances were held in unlikely venues like small studios in Thomson Plaza, Chinese Swimming Club and the Japanese Association, before moving to better known premises as the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. There were five categories in Solo Piano (Junior under 9 years, Junior under 12 years, Intermediate, Senior and Open) and three in Piano Duet (Junior, Senior and Open) performances attracting 204 international competitors and a further 270 non-competitive performers. Not bad for a first-time competition.

Time only permitted me to attend the Open category Piano Solo finals held on a Saturday afternoon at NAFA, and it proved time well spent. By this stage, the eight finalists (out of 17 who participated in this category) had overcome two virtuoso etudes (Round One), mixed repertoire (Round Two), and had now one major sonata to perform. Only in a piano competition can one sit through six Beethoven sonatas played consecutively without a break. With the exception of one shambolic performance of Op.110 from a Japanese lady who had more memory lapses than Rudolf Hess, it was pretty much pianophile paradise. 

Zheng Qingshu's very competent Op.101

First up was the androgynous Zheng Qingshu (China), a lanky young lady attired like a man in blazer and long pants, who gave a solid and competent reading of Op.101. Hers was a well-chiselled, accurate account that traversed the emotional highs and spiritual depths without much fuss or apparent effort, yet for me did not seem to unlock its more elusive secrets. Where was the aching nostalgia and that friendly face of recognition when the retiring first movement theme returns in the third movement’s interlude? This is one work that will surely grow with her in due time and further study. Much promise and potential displayed, it must be said.

A more feminine performance of Beethoven, Op.109 from Cai Ying.

I preferred the playing of Cai Ying (China) in Op.109, which revealed more of the music’s lyrical beauty and mystique through the ruminative first movement and the agitated prestidigitation of the second movement. The third movement’s chorale theme was well projected, and even if some of the variations came across cut and dried, there was enough variety and colour to sustain its entire duration. This culminated in the clangour of bell sounds and trills at the close of a very satisfying outing.

Li Ti's Op.110 was by far the more successful of two readings.

The one performance of Op.110 that did not come to grief came from Li Ti (China), whose grasp of its idiom and overall conception was a very strong one. She produced a robust but very musical sound in the varied first two movements, but these were almost undone by brief lapses in the slow movement’s dirge, ironically the least technical part of the work, and its return midway through the final movement’s fugue. In the fugue and its inversion, she produced an organ-like sonority that were easily some of the best moments in the afternoon.

Beethoven's Waldstein Thai-style from Thanakarn Limtham.

There were two young men who performed Beethoven’s Middle Period sonatas. Thanakarn Limtham (Thailand) gave a solid if not too subtle account of Op.53 “Waldstein”. He had the chops, power and the passion to do the music justice, and even the slightly unkempt facial hair and funny glasses to make the outing more Beethoven-like. There were some slips here and there, and the sort of rough edges to rule out a top three finish, but enough spirit and verve to make his performance an interesting one.

Appassionata from Malaysian Tang Der Chang. 

Tang Der Chang (Malaysia) perhaps tried too hard to vary the nuances and colours for his performance of Op.57 “Appassionata”, which resulted in some parts sounding too soft and mincing, and others just too plangent for comfort. These swings between extremes, though Beethovenian in character, came close to being a caricature of “mad old Ludwig” himself. The tempestuous finale was exhausting because of an over-reliance on speed and volume. If that did not engage me more than it should, it was because the performance of one and a half dimensional.

Best in the afternoon, Wan Jing Jing's Prokofiev Seventh.

My favoured performance of the afternoon came from Wan Jing Jing (China) who gave a close to perfect performance of the Prokofiev Seventh Sonata. Hers was not a one-dimensional relentless assault on Stalingrad, but one that was well conceived and with hammer to anvil, forged to just the right degree of steeliness. She knew exactly when to pile on the dissonances, when to relax, and these combination of contrasts made the piece truly work. The mock-Romanticism of the slow movement gave way to an unbridled escalation of violence, and when the machine-gun Precipitato finale came upon us, there was simply no let up. A magnificent performance this was, one that consigns Freddy Kempf’s frantic rendition at the 2001 PianoFest firmly into the shade.

       

There was one Singaporean in the finals to make up the numbers. That he gave a patent demonstration how not to play Liszt’s Sonata in B minor (misguided, pedantic, self-indulgent, vulgar and tasteless are adjectives that come to mind) is probably worth a passing mention.

For the record, the four man international jury (comprising Joseph Banowetz, Manfred Fock, Robert Chamberlain and Francis Yang) awarded First Prize to Zheng Jingshu, Second Prize to Wan Jing Jing and Third Prize to Li Ti. It certainly does begin to look like an Olympic roll call of medallists in the solo badminton or table-tennis events. I was later told that Cai Ying had placed fourth. Four out of four (but not necessarily the same placings) was not too bad for this arm-chair judge, I guess.

Overall, this was a very encouraging attempt to bring Singapore into the world of international music competitions. The next competition has been scheduled for 2014 and might up the ante to include a concerto segment. I (and Singapore's musical community) wish it all the greatest success.