Saturday 31 December 2016

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF MUSIC GALA-CONCERT / Review


SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL
FESTIVAL OF MUSIC GALA-CONCERT
Living Room, The Arts House
Thursday (29 December 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 31 December 2016 with the title "Local-born pianist thrills in comeback".

Music lovers with long memories might remember Singapore-born pianist Koh Poh-Lin who was active here during the 1980s before moving to Vancouver, Canada where she is now based. A student of the late pianist Ong Lip Tat and later the legendary pedagogue Lee Kum Sing, she was a semi-finalist at the 1989 Rolex Asia Piano Competition. Among her contemporaries are Singaporean pianists Shane Thio, Christina Tan, Lena Ching and Victor Khor.


She marked her long-awaited return to the local stage with a performance of Chopin's First Piano Concerto in a chamber version accompanied by a string quartet and double bass. Formed by members of the Singapore International Festival of Music (SIFOM) Orchestra, the string group that partnered Koh was unfortunately ragged and under-rehearsed.

The martial opening tutti was hesitant and out of sorts, with intonation being mostly a hit or miss affair. It seemed like an eternity before Koh's imposing entry of big octaves and chords, which broke the spell of mediocrity. The hall's Shigeru Kawai grand piano was not in best shape, but she made music with a sensitive and limpid touch, and the music's over-arching cantabile came through winningly.


Where the adrenaline level was upped in the 1st movement's development section, she responded in kind, providing some of the concerto's more thrilling moments. With the strings scrambling to keep up, the collegial qualities that characterised chamber music at its finest was intermittent at best. When the ensemble seemed to gel at times, these were unfortunately not sustained for longer stretches.

The performance's best minutes came in the slow central movement, where its title Romanze was taken at face value. At a more relaxed pace, all six players luxuriated in the music's warm glow and seamless lyricism.


The finale's Rondo might be described as rough and ready, one which would have benefited from more rehearsal time. Other than a short section where a variation of the dance-like theme was missed out or not observed, Koh's pianism was otherwise one of steadfastness, the unifying factor that kept the ensemble together through to the concerto's romping close.

Would a solo recital have been a better choice to make one's comeback in front of a hometown audience? A standing ovation accorded by a full-house might encourage her to do just that in next year's edition of SIFOM, a festival that celebrates local talent.

Amanda Chia plays de Beriot.
SIFOM Artistic Director Darrell Ang
interviews the Hwang sisters, Claris & Crystal.
Crystal Hwang plays Debussy
  
On the same platform this evening were three younger Singaporean musicians. 16-year-old violinist Amanda Chia gave a confident reading of Charles de Beriot's Violin Concerto No.9 accompanied by pianist Iryna Vokhmianina. Sisters Claris and Crystal Hwang put the polish on a Haydn sonata movement and Debussy's First Arabesque respectively. Given time and hard work, they might one day emulate the achievements of Koh Poh-Lin themselves.

Iryna Vokhmianina and the Hwang sisters
are based with Tanglewood Music School.
A Rolex Reunion, after 27 years!
Koh Poh-Lin, with Albert Tiu and Susan Lai
took part in the 1989 Rolex Asia Piano Competition.

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