Four pianists perform Bertram Wee’s arrangement of Kelly Tang’s Symphonic Suite On A Set Of Local Tunes on two pianos as part of Piano Extravaganza 2024. Piano Extravaganza 2024 Series founder Chang Tou Liang’s description of this concert as a “piano recital” is a gross understatement. Four young pianists, two pianos and a programme of 10 works is huge.
But often, less is more. The pianists invited to this edition of Piano Extravaganza spanned the gamut, with three conservatory post-graduates Natalie Ng, Jonathan Shin and Lin Xiangning joined by Geoffrey Lim, a graduate in English who also holds an MBA. Ng’s delicate touch and care in voicing the lines using just one hand did justice to Frederic Meinders’ transcriptions for the left hand of Franz Schubert’s Ave Maria and Litanei Auf Das Fest Allerseelen (a Singapore premiere), but the pieces were odd picks to kick off an extravaganza.
Lim joined Ng, taking the upper half of the keyboard in what felt like the real opening work, the Fantasie In F Minor for four hands, also by Schubert. One of the mainstays of the four-hand repertoire, the four sections encompassed love, joy, strife, anger and more. The duo played with maturity and insight, though the pathos of the late Schubert was lacking.
Lim’s performance of Frederic Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 was played in a similar vein – thoughtful and without excess, but lacking depth. His take on Claude Debussy’s L’Isle Joyeuse in the second half could have done wi.
