17 September 2011 was the 2011-12 season's opening gala. It brought together the MPO's music director Claus Peter Flor and three Malaysian pianists who had made their debuts before in previous seasons. The pianists were Foo Mei Yi, Bobby Chen and Tengku Ahmad Irfan. Despite a long holiday weekend (due to Malaysia Day on 16 Sep), there was a very decent turnout of guests (which included previous PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed).
The evening began with a sprightly account Prokofiev's Classical Symphony, with fine solo contributions from the principal flautist and oboist (Hristo Dobrinov and Simon Emes respectively). Bobby Chen then gave a fluent account of Prokofiev's youthful Piano Concerto No 1. In my opinion, it is still an immature composition, which lags behind Prokofiev's 2nd and 3rd Piano Concertos. An alternative to the 1st Concerto could have been Kabalevsky's dashing and also youthful 3rd Piano Concerto or Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Concerto (both of which have not been playing at the DFP Hall - even after 14 years).
After the interval, we were treated to Bach's Double Piano Concerto BWV 1062 with Foo Mei Yi & Tengku Irfan. This is a transcription of Bach's famous Double Violin Concerto BWV1043 in D minor. Now there were some weird musical and interpretative choices here, with the tuning pulled down a semitone from D minor to C sharp minor. Also, the orchestra was quite gargantuan for historically informed performance (HIP)-type of interpretation. Finally, the 3 double-bass players trooped in late after the conductor and soloists were already set to commence playing.
This interpretation was notable for Mei Yi's lyrical playing but Tengku Irfan was very much in the background and was not able to compete and converse musically in Bach's contrapuntal melodic lines. A great disappointment.
The Mozart Triple Piano Concerto K 242 fared a little better. By far, Mei Yi was again the dominant and most lyrical player here, with Bobby Chen trailing slightly behind. Tengku Irfan was yet in the shadow of the other two more mature Malaysian pianists.
They then emerged to play an encore each. Bobby Chen played Stravinsky's Russian Dance from Petrushka, with many clusters of wrong notes and mishits. Most impressive was Mei Yi with her rendition of JS Bach's Sarabande from Partita No 1 BWV825, full of lyrical grace, with lovely sustained playing and phrasing. Tengku Irfan performed an astounding Liszt Transcendental Etude No 10, with aplomb. If only he had been braver and played with more conviction in the Bach and the Mozart! Then, that would have been a more enjoyable concert.
No comments:
Post a Comment