Saturday 12 August 2000 Victoria Concert Hall	MASTERS SERIES Beethoven Piano Concerto Cycle
	Igor STRAVINSKY (1882-1971) Fireworks (Fantasy for Orchestra), op.4 Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Piano Concerto No.5 in E-flat major, op.73 Charles Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921) Symphony No.3 in C major, op.78 "Organ" Giovanni BELLUCCI piano TANG Muhai conductor

OVERALL NOISE RATING: 4 (Well-behaved until a blaring handphone went off in the middle of the 1st movement of the Emperor Concerto - SSO Management, PLEASE do something!!!! It’s really annoying.)

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.

Sound Bites from Bellucci by Benjamin Chee It is, to say the least, an unexpected circumstance that finds us having lunch with Giovanni Bellucci. We - a musician, an orchestra executive, Signor Bellucci and myself - are in the basement food court of a Shenton Way building, and our choice of foods reflects the eclectic variety of local cuisine: won ton noodles, mee goreng, "economical" rice. Bellucci, partaking of the latter, has selected sliced pork and kang kong with rice in curry, along with a frosty mug of Tiger. His combination's a bit spicy, but he doesn't seem to mind. And we're talking, of all things, about the weather and food. "It's OK, the last time I was here, I tried the - what was that called - nasi goreng," says Bellucci with a lip-smacking gesture. "The ones that are really spicy, the chopped red ones, pepper, which is dipped in salt ?" He's referring to chilli padi: "The small chopped red chilli in light soy sauce," I say, "are probably the hottest ones around." Bellucci eats another mouthful of rice, almost gratefully, that his is only gravy flavouring. "What is the worst time of the year ?" he asks, referring to the weather, having just been waiting out in the open sun at the foot of the Raffles fountain, before deciding not to wait any more and joining us for lunch first. Apparently his vehicle has missed the appointment. "About now - this time of the year," we tell him. "The air is still, there is very little wind, and it gets very humid. It's basically like summer here this time of the year." Somehow, we get the feeling that this isn't what he wants to hear, and he queries further, "How cold does it get ?" We look at each other. "About twenty-six, twenty-five at night," with an apologetic look, giving the temperature in Centigrade, "Twenty-four at four o'clock in the morning." It's practically a heatwave where he comes from: born in Rome, but currently residing in Paris. He asks if we see ever snow, which rather predictably goes unanswered amidst the good-natured smiles. Bellucci wants to know how much the orchestra rehearses, with more than a hint of underlying concern. For the Beethoven, the reply comes, this (Thursday) morning's was the first time; the orchestra has already started work with the Saint-Saëns as early as Monday. "We should have more time," Bellucci enthuses between mouthfuls, "you know, sometimes we need to discuss and talk about it. It's hard if you want to play it in a certain way, and you know that you cannot play it in the way you want because you have not talked about it." "I'm going back to France to play at a recital next week," he tells us. "I will depart on Sunday, and perform on Tuesday. When I play Beethoven, like the Fifth, it's basically an entire cadenza from start to end," He puts down his utensils and waves his hands in the air to emphasize his point, "You need to play it with a lot of...", he leaves the adjectives unspoken as he hums a passage from the first movement while playing air piano with emphatic, authoritative gestures. We talk a bit more about local orchestras in the region, and he asks, "Do you have any local compositions ? Or famous composers ?" We are more than happy to reply: "In fact, we now have a composer-in-residence, Leong Yoon Pin, who has written a number of orchestral and choral works in the past. In the last two seasons, we have premiered five new works by local composers. There is an American composer, now based in Singapore, Dr John Sharpley, who will be premiering some of his new works in a chamber concert next week." Bellucci nods very matter-of-factly, pointing out that, "back in Europe, we also have a lot of premieres. But the problem is not premiering the work, but getting it to be played a second time." He has, of course, pointed out one of the main problems with modern compositions that get performed once and then disappear into obscurity. We elaborate further, "Sometimes we make recordings of some local composer's works - Leong Yoon Pin has a CD of symphonic works, for example - not so much as a commercial venture, but just so that we have a recording of these new works; upon which we can build a musical tradition." Bellucci understands where we're coming from, and presses further, "Do you have classical music on TV? Does the radio broadcast the orchestra's performances ?" Conscious of the fact that there is a very strong tradition of classical radio broadcasting elsewhere in the world, our reply is somewhat less than convincing, "There is some classical music on TV," studiously avoiding mentioning names like Vanessa-Mae and Sarah Brightman, "and there is a radio station for classical music." He has to find a way back to the hotel after missing his ride, so we don't wait around too long. He grimaces as we reemerge into the midday sun, Armani jacket draped over arm, and he has a firm departing handshake.

Giovanni Bellucci is currently 35 but only discovered the piano at the age of 14. In 1992 he won 1st prize in the International Piano Competition "Biennale" in Pescara and also emerged the winner of the "Ferruccio Busoni Competition" in Bolzano.

In 1993 Bellucci became the first musician in Western Europe to win the 1st prize of the "Prague Spring Competition" since its establishment in 1948. Rudolph Firkusny as President of the jury awarded him the special prize for his interpretation of the "Queen Elizabeth Competition" in Brussels and in the following year, he won the 1st and sole prize of the Monte Carlo Piano Masters, a competition reserved exclusively to winners of major international contests.

He has performed with the best of orchestra’s under the Baton of renowned conductors like Abbado, Chailly, Inbal, Litton and Simonov. A former student of Lazar Berman who once described him as "an extraordinary mature approach to music" and "phenomenal virtuosity". His contacts with Paul Badura-Skoda, Alfred Brendl, Murray Perahia and Maurizio Pollini have now made him a much sought after pianist.

An Inkpot prediction- this seldom happens but after hearing Bellucci in the Emperor Concerto I was am pleased to say that I believe Bellucci is destined for greatness. Not since Li Chuan Yun (who performed the Khachaturian Violin Concerto here last year ) and Nikolaj Zinaider (Bruch concerto, 7 March 1998 ) have I been touched by someone with such charisma, taste, finesse and musical sense.

With typical Italian looks and resembling much like the young Claudio Abbado, Bellucci delivered what was to me one of the most sensitive accounts of the Emperor Concerto I have listened to in a long while.

One cannot but bring up his teacher Lazar Berman (who also performed here recently ) for influencing him, because of his foresight and musical understanding of the work which has some reminiscence to his teachers playing . I like the way Bellucci handles the allargandos and chordic runs, especially the descending runs.

This concerto has chromatic progressions and contrary motions of great difficulty which Bellucci handled with a consummate ease. Even the recapitulation and repeats of phrases were treated individually with a strong involvement into the music. His ability to grip the note before releasing it added just a little more weight to the chord before letting go.

There was always a pervading sense of yearning in his performance as he demonstrated his ability to pull out the salient melodic line which differentiates him from many of the other pianists I have heard.

His rendition of the slow second movement was deeply introspective and inward looking yet always allowing for elastic tempos with a strong sense of directionality.

Conductor Tang Muhai has to be commended for leading the way in holding the orchestra under its strong grip so that they do not overpower the pianist. I did somehow feel that the second movement may have been a bit slow and while Bellucci tried to get the orchestra to move at a slightly faster pace - the orchestra merely trotted along - this was the only flaw in the performance.

For a pianist of only 35 years, the maturity in the performance, especially in this work, displayed not only his impeccable technical prowess but also his possession of a strikingly wide range of colour.

Stravinsky’s Fireworks was performed with color and displayed the sheer grandeur of spirit which is needed. There was a big acoustic which certainly enveloped the orchestral image yet everything was marvelously coherent although that impression does not come immediately.

The Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony has easily got to be one of the grandest, most majestic of great musical works. This symphony demands a great amount of virtuosity from every single player in every section. Judging from Saint-Saëns' other works, like his violin concertos, this music not only puts a mental and physical strain on the performer but demands a little bit extra in terms of musicality.

I particularly loved this performance but had my reservations in specific areas. Tang started the work rather cautiously but soon got to pace quickly. This work is expressive and phrasing plays an important part in sculpturing the central melodic line. Tang provided this guidance from the beginning and while the pace seemed more prestissmo than Allegro Moderato, the brass did well with the Berlioz-like tuttis which were performed with vigour and strength.

I somehow did have my reservations with the strings at certain points. While the divisi was well-balanced there were points when the speed between the 1st and 2nd sections seemed to lack a bit of coordination. This was seen especially in the descending runs . Souptel led the charge and while his forces may have faltered slightly he never relented and kept the flag flying for the first violins.

Margaret Chen, Singapore's Dame of the Pipe Organ, belted off her chordic displays with panache and renewed vitality. As usual my only contention has to be the Hall. I look forward greatly to hearing this piece at the Esplanade or even the Dewan Philharmonik in Kuala Lumpur with Margaret Chen at the helm in the future.

The projection of sound seemed to be lost through the mighty walls. While the organ only takes up its position mainly in the 2nd and 4th "sections", there are short intermittent entries in the first movement - it's the grand presence which makes Camille Saint-Saën a genius. He intertwines the organ through the mush of difficult intertwining passage work which can be an orchestral nightmare if not under the baton of a conductor who lacks understanding of the work.There were some beautiful lyrical and well thought out passages in the first movement which especially stood out which I was able to take home.

Johann D'Souza just heard a rumor that Gavrilov could be returning to Singapore to play in a programme for two pianos. Well keep your fingers cross we could have another great concert coming up.

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759: 21.8.2000 ©Johann D'Souza

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