Brilliant Alpine, Awful Lefevre

The concert on 27 February 2010 was one that had curious extremes. The piano soloist Alain Lefevre returned to the DFP for another visit. Thank God I missed his first concert. This concert saw him performing Beethoven's Emperor Concerto. I rather think he bashed through the whole of this concerto with an exceptionally fast tempo which saw no moments of repose. Also, he did not have a good touch on the piano either - often it was heavy (and indeed he thumped the poor DFP Steinway piano) and he did not play anything soft at all. Those delicate and far-reaching Beethovenian modulations from E flat major to B major had no impact on my sensitive ears at all. In my professional opinion, he is the worst pianist that I have heard in the DFP - even worse than Andreas Haefliger (I did not like his interpretation of the Schumann Piano Concerto).

Thank God, I heard a stunning performance of the Richard Strauss Alpine Symphony by the MPO and their chief Claus Peter Flor. We had been treated to 2 prior performances of this symphony but this interpretation easily surpassed those performances. There was precision, drama, a drive and most importantly, a picturesque interpretation of all the 22 sub-sections of this magnificent work. On this showing, the MPO and Flor is one of the classiest orchestral-conductor acts in the Asia-Pacific region. Kudos to the DFP management for bring Flor and the MPO together and may they bring great music to the DFP-going concert public for many, many years to come.