SSO Chamber Series: Schumann Piano Quintet

25 MAR 2017 | SAT

SSO Chamber Series: Schumann Piano Quintet Chiao-Ying Chang, piano Musicians of the SSO Yang Zheng Yi, artistic administrator

MOZART Piano Trio No. 6 in G major, K.564 16’00 Chikako Sasaki, violin Peter Wilson, cello

BRIDGE Miniatures for Piano Trio, Set 2: Romance, Intermezzo & Saltarello 9’00 Cao Can, violin Wang Zihao, cello

Intermission 20’00 SCHUMANN Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44 32’00 Chan Yoong-Han, violin Cindy Lee, violin Marietta Ku, viola Ng Pei-Sian, cello

CHIAO-YING CHANG piano Described by the press as ‘a true artist of elegance, thoughtfulness, passion and immense power’, Chiao-Ying Chang has distinguished herself as one of the leading pianists of her generation. A top prize-winner at the Leeds, ARD Munich, AXA Dublin and Taiwan International Piano Competitions, she has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Hallé, Royal Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, National Irish Symphony and Munich Chamber Orchestra. As recitalist she has performed at prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Carnegie Hall in New York, National Concert Hall in Dublin, and Konzerthaus in Berlin.

Equally at home as a chamber musician, Chang has collaborated with renowned artists including James Buswell, Lawrence Power, Alison Balsom, So-Ock Kim and the Ysaÿe Quartet. She is a founding member of the Fournier Piano Trio, winner of the 2013 Parkhouse Award and 2nd prize of the 2011 Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Chang studied with Yu-Chiou Tchen at the Affiliated High School of National Taiwan Normal University before winning a full scholarship to London’s Royal Academy of Music, where she studied with Christopher Elton and the late Maria Curcio, one of the most celebrated pupils of Artur Schnabel. In 2015 she was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM).

Chang has given masterclasses in the UK, Norway, Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Her CD recordings include the complete Schubert Impromptus for German label Audite, a collection of 29 works by Chopin for Musica Indo inc. in Japan, and piano trios by Mendelssohn, Fauré and Ravel with Resonus Classics and USK.

CHAN YOONG-HAN violin Violinist Chan Yoong-Han is the recipient of the 2004 NAC Young Artist Award and the 2000 Shell-NAC Arts Scholarship in Singapore. In 1994 he was awarded Second Prize at the 1994 Corpus Christi Young Artist Competition (USA). Chan is currently the fourth chair first violinist in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra as well as Concertmaster of the Singapore Festival Orchestra and the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra. He is also a regular Guest Concertmaster with The Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Music Makers. A graduate of Rice University and the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), his principal teachers include his father Chan Yong Shing as well as renowned violinists Beryl Kimber, Sergiu Luca, Charles Treger, David Cerone, Kurt Sassmannshaus and Dorothy Delay. Chan was invited to perform as soloist at the 2003 SSO President’s Young Performers Concert and the 1999 President’s Charity Concert. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Szeged Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Music Makers, among others.

CAO CAN violin Cao Can has been a first violinist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra since 2011. She started learning the violin at the age of five, and in 1999, was admitted to the Affiliated Middle School of Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 2005, Cao received a full scholarship from the National University of Singapore to further her studies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of Zuo Jun. Cao participated in the Houston Festival, the Pacific Music Festival, and served as the Concertmaster.

In 2009, Cao was awarded the Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance. In 2011, she obtained the Graduate Diploma in Music Performance and became an assistant teacher in the Zuo Jun studio.

Cindy Lee violin Born and raised in Taiwan, Cindy Lee started piano lessons when she was four and violin lessons at eight, and was selected to take a double major in both instruments in a special programme directed by local schools under full scholarship. During her school years, she performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 and Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with various school orchestras. Following her graduation from the National Taiwan Normal University, Lee continued her studies under Oleh Krysa at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, under full scholarship.

She has participated in the Asian Youth Orchestra, Orchestra Academy at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and Spoleto Festival. A former member of the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Cindy Lee joined the first violin section of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 2004. She has appeared as soloist with the Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra and the SSO. Lee performs on a 1814 Pietro Pallota violin, Italy.

Chikako Sasaki violin Chikako Sasaki graduated from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore in 2015 where she studied violin performance with Zuo Jun. Prior to joining the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, she has worked with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Chikako began her violin lessons with Yoko Tanaka in Japan. She then moved to New Zealand in 2007 and continued her lessons with Emma Barron and VesaMatti Leppänen, Concertmaster of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

While in New Zealand, she appeared as soloist with the Wellington Youth Orchestra and the Manawatu Sinfonia performing concertos by Sibelius and Saint-Saëns. In 2013, she was given the opportunity to perform chamber music with distinguished musicians, Elmar Oliveira, Barbara Westphal and Emmanuel Feldman at the Heifetz International Music Institute in the U.S. She was also invited to take part in the Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy in Okushiga in 2014 where she performed under the baton of Seiji Ozawa. She plays on a 1914 Annibale Fagnola generously loaned by the Rin Collection.

Marietta Ku viola Marietta Ku was born in Singapore into a musical family.

The piano was her first instrument before she switched to the violin at the age of nine. Under a SSO-PSC scholarship, Ku studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she was a student of violist Roger Tapping, violinist Howard Davis and pianists Aaron Shorr and Antonietta Notariello. In the UK she has worked with the Amadeus, Alberni and Chilingirian Quartets, and has been appointed Principal Violist at the Edinburgh Music Festival, the Reigate Music Festival and the Lake District Summer Music Festival. She is also the first Singaporean prize-winner at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition.

Ku currently holds the dual post of violinist-cum-violist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Co-founder of the chamber group SPITZE, she is an active recitalist and chamber musician.

Ng Pei-Sian cello Ng Pei-Sian was Commonwealth Musician of the Year in 2007, and winner of the Gold Medal and First Prize at the 55th Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition held in London. He has performed concertos with the major Australian symphony orchestras, Malaysian Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Estonian National Symphony and Oulu Symphony, among others. Born in Sydney in 1984, Ng began studies in Adelaide with Barbara Yelland and later with Janis Laurs at the Elder Conservatorium of Music before winning the Elder Overseas Scholarship to study under Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he was awarded the RNCM Gold Medal. Recently Ng performed Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Variations with the Orchestra of the Music Makers under Chan Tze Law and Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under Arvo Volmer as part of the 2014 Adelaide International Cello Festival. Ng Pei-Sian is currently Principal Cellist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and faculty member at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. He performs on a 1764 Giovanni Antonio Marchi cello, Bologna.

WANG ZIHAO cello Born in Jilin, China, Wang Zihao started to play the cello at the age of four. At 13 he was admitted to the middle school of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China, where he studied with Na Mula. With his outstanding accomplishments, he won the outstanding professional award at the conservatory. Wang was Principal Cellist of China’s Youth Symphony Orchestra. For three consecutive years, he was admitted to the Morningside Music Bridge International Academy in Canada, where he won the First Prize in the Concerto Competition and Etude Competition with a published CD recording. As a result he was invited to perform with the Symphony Orchestra of Gdańsk in Poland. Wang recently graduated from Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music where he studied under Qin Li-Wei and won the First Prize of the Concerto Competition. He plays on an 1896 Muller Joseph on generous loan from the Rin Collection.

PETER WILSON cello English cellist Peter Wilson is a graduate of the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London, where he received lessons from Alexander Baillie, Leonid Gorokhov and Anna Shuttleworth. During his time at the RCM, Peter won the Anna Shuttleworth Competition for unaccompanied cello and was presented with the Leo Stern Award. He has played in masterclasses with William Pleeth and Steven Isserlis. Prior to joining the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Peter has worked with many orchestras in Britain and overseas. Most recently, he has worked with the RTÉ (Raidió Teilifís Éireann) National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the Longborough Festival Opera Orchestra. Peter has a diverse range of performing experience, performing regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company on productions in StratfordUpon-Avon, and also recording solo cello for radio, film and television. Peter’s solo cello can be heard on Academy award-winning film score composer Steven Price’s BBC documentary ‘The Hunt’.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791)

Piano Trio No. 6 in G major, K.564

16’00

Allegro Andante Allegretto The Piano Trio was brought to its full maturity by Mozart. As the harpsichord made way for the pianoforte, Mozart, who was at the right place at the right time, was able to take advantage of this technological development. He provided well balanced parts for the piano, violin and cello where previous composers had mostly conceived of the idiom as merely the string instruments accompanying the keyboard.

The Piano Trio in G major, K.564 was composed in 1788, with his great last three symphonies, and like them, is a perfectly weighted classical masterpiece.

While simpler, shorter and lighter than his preceding Piano Trios, this Trio is perhaps the most precisely crafted of them all.

The charming Allegro gently courses along, with two somewhat related lithe themes rippling out and melodic material passed between the piano and violin.

Mozart springs a surprise by introducing a new, slightly darker theme in the development section instead of developing the first two themes. This slightly more agitated section soon passes, and Mozart restates the first two themes with some alterations – including providing the cello with one of the melodic lines as the movement comes to an agreeable close.

The Andante contains six variations on a theme which resembles a minuet.

Here, Mozart deploys his gift of providing delicately beautiful musical material for all three players, with melodic and accompanying material evenly distributed across the instruments. A minor key variation replaces the fullbodied instrumental sound with a quiet mediation, allowing the final variation to arrive in full glory.

The Allegretto presents a simple little tune, which comes back in different guises – a lyrical song, a peasant dance, and in a slightly overcast atmosphere as Mozart shifts the mood, crafting an entertaining narrative, before an effervescent coda brings this delightful Piano Trio to a delightful close.

FRANK BRIDGE (1879–1941)

Miniatures for Piano Trio, Set 2: Romance, Intermezzo & Saltarello

9’00

Frank Bridge wrote three sets of three Miniatures for Piano Trio in the early 20th century. Bridge studied violin and composition at London’s Royal College of Music and was later the violist in several professional quartets. He also conducted and taught composition, with Benjamin Britten as his most famous pupil.

Bridge’s extensive performing experience must have contributed to his ability to craft pieces for musicians of varying abilities. He wrote the Miniatures for one of his violin students, Betty Hanbury, and her cellist sister, Rachael. A third sister, Patricia, played the piano part.

Professor Renz Opolis wrote about the Miniatures in an oft-quoted yet very relevant article for The Chamber Music Journal: “There is a difference between works written for students and student works and it can be said with certainty that the Miniatures are not the latter and they ought not to be dismissed as inconsequential student works suitable for neither amateur nor professional.

To the contrary, any one of these tonally diverse and brilliantly written cameos would serve as a superb encore for a professional piano trio while amateurs will spend many a happy hour with these delightful works.”

The second set of three Miniatures was composed in 1910. A melancholic Romance ruminates over a lovely melody which builds to a moving climax.

A brief and jaunty Intermezzo then follows, before the brilliant Saltarello – with an upbeat West End-esque tune in the middle – concludes the set of Miniatures.

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856)

Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44

32’00

Allegro brillante In Modo d’una Marcia: Un poco largamente Scherzo: Molto vivace Allegro ma non troppo One of his most frequently performed works, Schumann’s Piano Quintet is a pioneering composition for this combination of instruments, inspiring those by Brahms, Franck and Dvořák.

Schumann wrote this in September 1842, taking just five days to sketch it, and two weeks to complete the score. It was dedicated to his wife, Clara, who was to perform the piano part at the premiere on December 6 of the same year.

Unfortunately she fell sick and Felix Mendelssohn took over, sight reading the part. After the premiere, Mendelssohn suggested some modifications to the Scherzo, and Schumann wrote a more energetic replacement for the second Trio.

The Allegro brillante opens with a bold, assertive theme, and metamorphoses into a warm, lyrical variant. The cello and viola hold a conversation, from which the warm second theme emerges. Schumann develops the opening theme with virtuosic piano running over sustained string chords, before the opening ideas are recapitulated with some additional adornments and the movement brought to a stirring close.

In Modo d’una Marcia (In the Style of a March): Schumann conjures here, a funeral march. The solemn tread contrasts with an anxious second theme.

These two themes are juxtaposed, rapidly increasing in intensity, before the opening march closes the movement.

The Scherzo provides an unceasing torrent of scalic action, with scales passed around all five instruments in different dynamics and combinations. The lyrical first trio offers a welcome respite, with undulating broken chords passed around the ensemble. The high octane second trio however introduces a perpetual motion of a different kind.

The finale brings us back to the sturdy assertiveness of the first movement.

The muscular principal theme is declaimed by the piano, over stormy strings.

A contrasting quiet and songlike melody acts as a foil, and it is ruminated upon for a time, before the first theme returns triumphantly. Schumann shows his considerable compositional prowess in a remarkable coda containing a three-voiced double fugue. The main theme of the first movement is recalled, and the finale’s principal theme is combined to create a double fugue, before elements of previous themes return briefly, bringing this masterpiece to a rousing close.

Programme notes by Christopher Cheong