[ad_1]
REVIEW / CONCERT
YST Visiting Artist Series: András Schiff Piano Recital
Sir András Schiff (piano)
Conservatory Concert Hall / Oct 26 (Friday)
Just a year ago Sir András Schiff's all-Bach recital, which included the famous Goldberg Variations. This year the 2018/2019 Ong Teng Cheong Visiting Professor of Music at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory followed up with a sumptuous program themed around nostalgia, recollections and farewells.
The concert began with a fascinating ten-minute introduction to the works of the Intermezzi Op 117, Six Pieces Op. 118 and Four Pieces Op. 119 by Brahms. Schiff also requested that the quiet, reflective nature of the works, should be held until after conclusion of each half.
This reviewer had doubts that the legions of eager piano fans present themselves, but they did so most impressively, lending the concert a wonderful sense of reverence to the music.
Schiff's musical odyssey began with Variations on an Original Theme in E-flat Major ("Ghost Variations"). It is Robert Schumann's last work, written in a time of great inner turmoil, while he was battling for his sanity, and was only satisfied after he was rescued after having jumped into the river. Schiff played with great serenity and nostalgia.
The variations were followed immediately by the Three Intermezzi (short works) Op. 117 by Brahms, each performed with a tinge of melancholy and lament.
All evening Schiff played with great insight, an amazing clarity of lines and superb timing. There was nothing contrived or over-analyzed – every note spoke naturally. At times it seems as if it is not actually touching the keys, yet the music is simply a wonderfully tuned grand piano.
Bach's Prelude and Fugue no. 24 in B minor, one that sounds almost indulgent at times, but well matched to the mood of the concert.
Brahms' lifelong musical confidante and friend Clara Schumann, by then widow of Robert Schumann, was never far from his thoughts when he composed his final piano works. Brahms wrote to Clara that the first of the Four Intermezzi Op. 119 should be played "as if wanted to suck melancholy out of each and every (note)". Indeed this was how it sounded in performance.
The program came full cycle to close with Sonata No. 26, "The Farewells" by Beethoven. Through the evening, he was somewhat introspective and nostalgic in his interpretations. But he was just being faithful to what music dictated. In the fast section of the first movement and the joyful final movement, "Das Wiedersehen" ("The Return") of the sonata has played on renewed urgency, and brought the program to an exuberant close.
With the ecstatic hearing now able to fully express their appreciation, Schiff obliged with five encores. This was a farewell, and clearly Singapore music lovers can not wait for his return.
[ad_2]
Source link
