"I adore Mozart," Tchaikovsky wrote. "It is because of Mozart that I love music."

Tchaikovsky's admiration for Mozart's genius, which was shared by Einstein and countless other creative people, is hardly surprising. The Mozart piano concerto No. 17 performed on 2 August, however, was.

I am a fan of Mozart's piano concertos, and thus have high expectations of the musicians who perform them. James Dick, the soloist of the night, certainly had a nice touch with the piano. Soft in caressing the keys, almost erotic one might say. But in the context of an entire Mozart piano concerto, which was dragged out for forty-five minutes (though the length given on the programme was only 30 minutes), his style of playing became rather monotonous. His playing remained soft throughout, while the orchestra went on at full blast, drowning the piano out almost through the entire concerto.

The usual dialogue engagement between soloist and orchestra, I felt, was sorely lacking. At points where the piano entered, the strings were still going at full steam, where a drop in the sound level at times would have been appropriate.

As a soloist Dick showed good stagecraft, but flair in showmanship does not necessarily translate into good music. The finale, for example, which was a variation movement, was meant to be a build-up, a progressive rhythmic shortening that builds to a climax. But it was hardly built up, and Dick's piano playing failed to achieve the rhythmic tightness that the variations require as they progress to the end.

The other two items on the programme were Schubert's Symphony No. 5, which was lost after his death but later rediscovered, and Tchaikovsky's Mozartiana Suite. My comments from henceforth will be mostly positive, as I must say I did enjoy them, especially the latter.

The Schubert symphony opened the night, and certainly proved as lyrical as the program notes promised. The graceful first theme was handled by the strings confidently, though the woodwinds (here and everywhere else during the night) could hardly be heard most of the time.

The second movement was supposed to have "distinctive harmonic effects," which was evident but not fully realised. A more forceful delivery of the different voices of the orchestra would have made this more clear. The different sections played well technically speaking, but lacked that sense of confidence that would have rounded off the sound perfectly. For the final movement, the "spirited finale" was not too badly pulled off. The tempo and pacing were certainly good, the credit for which must go to Lan Shui.

After the interval came the crowning work of the evening, Tchaikovsky's Mozartiana suite. Here, the notes were precise and strong, and there was a discernible improvement in the performance quality. While I felt that in the entire concert the full potential of the orchestra's sound was never fully achieved, it came closest to being achieved in this suite.

Like most of Tchaikovsky's music, the Mozartiana suite has beautiful melodies that often stretch on for a long time, and he repeats them with full orchestration. The first two dance movements were good examples, and their perkiness was all the more delightful to hear after the disappointing piano concerto. Tchaikovsky added more complexity to the pieces he borrowed from Mozart, but nonetheless they were a delight to hear. The third movement, orchestrated from Liszt's piano transcription of Mozart's Ave verum corpus, K. 618, was of particular interest.

The final movement, the theme of which is based on an aria from Gluck's comic opera Die Pilger von Mecca (The Pilgrims of Mecca), certainly made one sit up and listen. Two things made this movement stand out from the rest. One is the effective way the comic elements were played up by the orchestra. The other was the extended solo passage by guest concert master Chan Yoong Han. Chan's convincing playing made up for the few errors elsewhere, and his solo came across as very knowledgeable and confident. Added to the alternation between strings, woodwinds and brass that is characteristic of Tchaikovsky's works, this skilful playing made for a very enjoyable conclusion to the evening's concert.

David Chew has a leaky quill when there is writing to be done.

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