Take 5 Quintet Series: Faure and Brahms

TAKE 5

PIANO QUINTET SERIES X

ESPLANADE RECITAL STUDIO

1 DECEMBER 2013

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 3rd December 2013 under the title "Take 5 breathe brilliantly as one"

It is often remarked that the strength of a cast lies in the sum of its weakest parts. When then happens when 5 of Singapore’s most prominent virtuosos, all former first-prize winners of the National Music Competition, come together to form a piano quintet? The result are performances of stunning technical supremacy and musical cohesion.

In the tenth installment of their quest to perform the entire piano quintet repertoire, Take 5 presented the pairing of Gabriel Faure’s lightweight Piano Quintet No. 1 with Johannes Brahms’ warhorse Piano Quintet in F minor.

While Faure’s work was completed in 1905, it was hardly one of his more mature works. Having been drafted and conceptualized in the 1880’s, it lacked the usual harmonic complexity synonymous with the composer.

Despite the general sparseness of the work, the performers created a seamless blend of radiating beauty and melancholy. Its opening movement was a showcase of their remarkable ability to fully integrate their sound into the fabric of the work, as pianist Lim Yan’s glimmering cascade of notes allowed the strings to deliver its ethereal sonorities.

Through no fault of the five-some, the work lacked contrast between the movements due to Faure’s understated and subdued writing. Yet a most miraculous moment was in the long Adagio movement when they sang as a united homogenous voice in the middle unison section where the listener could hardly pick apart the strings from one another.

Brahms’ ever-popular Piano Quintet is ample proof that some of the most technically and musically demanding works were written for this ensemble setting. Despite it being full of potential pitfalls, it was executed with surgical precision and although there were fleeting moments of wavering intonation, was a much more convincing performance than the Faure.

The symphonic majesty of the work was captured brilliantly from the first bar of the imposing opening theme, with the five breathing as one. With a heightened sense of drama, first violinist Foo Say Ming reveled in the work’s lyricism while violist Chan Yoong Han provided the setting for the more somber and darker moments.

The breakneck pace at which they tackled the notorious Scherzo was one of jaw-dropping cohesiveness. Never missing a beat, every nuance and articulation were perfectly placed. While it would be easy to sit back and treat their parts as mere supporting acts, cellist Chan Wei Shing and second violinist Lim Shue Churn more than held their own with their intelligent responses to musical probing by the animated Foo.

This latest offering by Take 5 showed just why they are starting to garner a rabid following in Singapore, and they certainly did not disappoint. This was a performance that would rival any recording, and they certainly deserve all the accolades coming their way. We can only hope that they do not run out of quintet repertoire anytime soon.

#take5