Tang Tee Khoon with Sam Haywood: Spring Recital

SPRING: A VIOLIN AND PIANO DUO RECITAL

TANG TEE KHOON, VIOLIN/SAM HAYWOOD, PIANO

ESPLANADE RECITAL STUDIO

28 MAY 2013

This review was published in The Straits Times on 30th May 2013 under the title "String Mastery That's Hard to Beat"

We live in a world with a contagious obsession for speed. It is no different in classical music, and recitals nowadays mostly feature flashy showpieces with attention drawn towards the performer while music takes a backseat.

How often does one get to hear both Mozart and Beethoven in a single performance? In her recital, violinist Tang Tee Khoon showed that maybe old-school musical values still do exist.

An oft overlooked fact is that both Mozart and Beethoven's duo sonatas were titled Sonata for Piano and Violin, and not the other way round thus revealing the composers' intentions for the piano. Lesser musicians would have gotten it all wrong, but not this duo. Tang, partnered impeccably by British pianist Sam Haywood, played the part of the most sympathetic accompanist when needed.

Performing on a 1750 J.B. Guagdanini on loan from the National Arts Council, the pair brought a penetrating intelligence to Mozart's Sonata in G major, K 301. The opening movement was full of sparkling elegance in its clarity, with Tang's singing lyricism complimented by Haywood's titillating fingerwork in the deceptively tricky writing. Dispensing with superfluous vibrato, the purity of her tone infected the listener with a dancing lilt in the Minuet and Trio, all the while displaying an air of intense seriousness and concentration reminiscent of a younger Midori.

The duo's refreshing approach to Beethoven's famous "Spring" Sonata Op. 24 revealed a hidden angst and turmoil rarely associated with the work. Not content with merely executing the written notes, they probed at every phrase and did not for a moment let the music ease up on fleeting cadences. The composer's dramatic shifts during neurotic mood changes were thoughtfully explored and their scintillating partnership was at the forefront in the Scherzo and Trio, before ending the work with a hint of optimism in the Rondo.

In between the two classical sonatas was the fiendish Violin Sonata in E-flat major Op. 18 by Richard Strauss. In its struggle for supremacy between the two instruments, there was no let-up in intensity from both musicians. The brutal piano part was navigated with fervour allowing Tang to bask in the romanticism of a full-blooded performance, and all doubts about the diminutive violinist's ability to cope with the physical demands were quickly dispelled. The ponderous singing in the second movement was more akin to a world-weary old soul, while the immaculate syncopated commentary in the frenetic finale had everyone on the edge of their seats.

Her faultless reading of Sarasate's Ziegeunerweisen paid meticulous attention to detail. While her performance was one of astonishing maturity, the encore of Elgar's Salu d'amour revealed her more youthful and passionate embraccing of love.

Showing that one does not need to resort to Hollywood theatrics to captivate an audience, this performance will be a hard act to beat.

#tangteekhoon