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Wednesday 23 February Victoria Concert Hall Albert LIN piano |
ALBERT LIN PIANO RECITAL |
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Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856) Carnival, Op.9 Lowell LIEBERMANN (b.1961) Gargoyles, Op.29 Francis POULENC (1899-1963) Sextet for Piano and Winds Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) Piano Concerto No.2, Op.18 (arr. piano duo) with: MOHD Rasull flute · Frankie TOH oboe XIE Xiu Shan French horn · ZHANG Jin Min bassoon TAY Kai Tze clarinet · ONG Lip Tat piano (Rach) |
OVERALL NOISE RATING:
3 (restless audience with kids having to be carried out, and
some un-lady talking unabashedly on her cell phone at the back of the hall.
And the audience! Can't keep absolutely silent.)
The Noise Rating Index is a partially-objective measurement of pager and handphone blasts, 9pm and 10pm watch beeps, coughing-during-the-pianissimo-bits, intra-audience conversation and other mind-bogglingly inept noises emitted in the concert hall during actual performance of music. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 5, in increasing annoyance.
by Soo Kian Hing
Over pasta and Campari by the Singapore river, during the post-concert
celebration supper with his sextet and some close companions, soft-spoken
Albert Lin is your typical boy next door. While personable with smiles all the way,
he does not hesitate to mercilessly tackle his friends with cheeky, well-timed jibes.
Yet, beneath the charming demeanour of this unassuming youngster - he's only one year
past twenty - belies the belly of fire that commanded the awe of everyone
in the audience tonight. After all, even Rachmaninov himself was said to
smile and play pranks in the company of close friends.
Robert Schumann was a prolific composer for piano, and in his early composing life
wrote many technically challenging pieces for the instrument, at which his
beloved Clara Wieck was a formidable exponent. Op.9, Carnaval, was
written at the age of 24, at a time when he was actively involved in his
"David Club" against the artistic philistines. Youthful energy abounds
throughout the work, interspersed with the composer's own brand of
contemplative Romantic lyricism; reflecting the two polarities of his
creative genius, Florestan and Eusebius. Albert played the work with the
consummate grace of a poet, yet his untainted disposition matched the sunny
Florestan through the collection of twenty-one short pieces, each of which
was a simple depiction of a character.
Lowell Liebermann is a prodigious pianist and composer, having made his
Carnegie Hall debut at the age of sixteen. Gargoyles, despite its
modern leanings, is a neo-Romantic work of four movements, set in a Gothic
paradise for these creatures of the dark. As the midnight bell tolls,
Albert negotiates the treacherous fingerwork with wild abandon, giving his
own jaw-dropping virtuosity a deservedly good showing. The unsettling calm
of the second movement, set in dual-tonality which employs major and minor
modes simultaneously, was very effective, as was the final movement, a
dramatic toccata not unlike that of Prokofiev, though vastly more daring in
harmony and demanding in technique. And as the faint rays of the new dawn
send the Gargoyles back to their abode, so did Albert's fingerwork dispel
any doubt that he is material poised for the Major League.
After the intermission, Albert presented his skills at a different genre of
music - chamber. Not many solo pianists understand effective ensemble
playing; Martha Argerich, for one, has ditched solo recitals to play
chamber, which she considers more rewarding in terms of growth as a total
musician. Albert was definitely in his element here as one of six equal
partners in music-making, to the effect that the intended result became
greater than the sum of each individual. Poulenc's Sextet was composed for six
very disparate instruments: piano, flute, charinet, oboe, French horn, and
bassoon. Possessing unique timbres and vastly different qualities of sound,
the six instrumentalists nevertheless managed to amalgate the myriad jumble
of witty dissonances into a logical path through the piece. Consisting
entirely of non-professional wind players except for Zhang Jin Min, who is
Principal Bassoonist in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the sextet
achieved a harmonious sound where nobody outshines the others and navigates
the piece with sparkle and elegance.
Finally, the highlight of the night - Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto (in piano duet version).
Despite being stated otherwise in the programme notes, I still believe that
the Second is more popular with the general public than the Third, forming
the staple of many pianists' recordings. The Second is immensely more
Romantic, with massive rolling arpeggios and equally massive melodies which
spiral round and round like the endless waves on a tumultous sea. Played
well, it can rouse the listener into a timeless dimension where nostalgia
washes over him/her like a tsunami.
However, as the composer himself
pointed out, the Second is more difficult to play than the Third; given the
numerous huge chords and other technical difficulties as well as
opportunities for expressivity, it is not hard to see why. Albert
definitely has the technique to pull through the piece, and the audience
watched with bated breath as he recited the whole piece from
memory, seemingly in a trance, letting his heart pour directy into his
fingers.
Possessing a warm lyrical tone that can melt hearts, Albert showed no lack of
fiery pyrotechnics as well, tossing off chords and fingerwork written to fit
Rachmaninov's own oversized hands (which easily negotiated more than
one-and-a-half octaves, something which most pianists wished they had).
However, more nuances and subtlety in inner voices and transit passages
would have been appreciated; these would come with insight and stylistic
accomplishment.
Despite occasional lapses into arrhythmic garble and missed
notes - he was visibly tired - Albert nevertheless displayed the air of a
master at the keyboard, complete with an the overwhelming talent of being able to
express his pure passion for the music he loves. Coming from someone who
considers himself still in the amateur circuit, it would be worthwhile
and fun to see him metamorphosize and eventually conquer the limitless
sky.
Having won the third prize at the National Music Competition in 1995, Albert Lin
became the youngest undergraduate student at Peabody Conservatory, USA.
He toured New York and Baltimore with Grammy-Award-winning percussionist
Jonathan Haas, and was an official school accompanist for all the
Conservatory's major ensembles. Transferring two years later to study with
Professor Arthur Greene at the University of Michigan, he assimilated a
repertoire with an avid interest in esoteric music, and participated in the
semi-finals of the 1999 California International Young Artists Competition.
He has also played Rachmaninov's Second and Third Piano Concerto while in
the States, before returning home to Singapore for National Service in
the Armed Forces this coming April. After homecoming, Albert has busied
himself in the local music scene by giving various recitals, playing in
concerts and performing in a sextet (featured tonight), all for the love of music.
Soo Kian Hing is now inspired to put in 8-hour practice
sessions every day.
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