Shimmering Sounds of the Soul: Shaun Choo Piano Recital

SHIMMERING SOUNDS OF THE SOUL

SHAUN CHOO PIANO RECITAL

ESPLANADE CONCERT HALL

28 JUNE 2014

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 30th June under the title "Pianist hits all the right notes"

We live in a country where every young musical talent is hyped as the next big thing, only to see them fade into oblivion. Fairytales about having to carve keyboards onto tabletops make good headlines, but more often than not it does not translate into actual abilities.

23-year-old pianist Shaun Choo has been garnering accolades in competitions like it is going out of fashion, but this was his first solo recital in Singapore. His program was a welcome ambrosia for those grown weary of having their senses assaulted by flashy showpieces of little artistic value.

While the works he chose are probably standard fodder for conservatory pianists, one would be hard-pressed to imagine a student pull-off the level of refinement and care he brought into his playing.

The entire first half was dedicated to the music of Chopin, and one was immediately thrown back to the golden era of great pianists such as Dinu Lipatti. Performances of Chopin’s works are often littered with pornographic amounts of rubato or unnecessary flashes of virtuosity, but Shaun’s approach delved into the understated introversion of the frail composer. Has anyone ever heard the Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor so gracefully sparkle, or the over-played Grande Valse Brillante Op. 18 made to sound like a courtly ballroom dance?

There was nary a misplaced accent and the manner in which he brought every note to life was almost unnatural. One could almost hear his thoughts speaking through his music, and in the popular Ballade No. 1 in G minor, phrases were sculpted with the utmost caution. It was as if one was listening to Arthur Rubinstein, such was his ability to draw the listener into his world of music-making.

The elegance of the polonaise in Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise, where he made even fortissimo passages sound gentle, hinted of a maturity that shouldn’t exist in a musician this young.

To say that Choo is not a virtuoso would be wrong, but the ease of his delivery of the Bach-Busoni Chaconne and Rachmaninoff’s G minor Prelude made one forget about how difficult these pieces are. While some might have appreciated a more robust approach, it was impossible to not appreciate the singing lyricism he elicited from even the most tricky passages.

It takes a confident artist to present his own compositions in a recital, as Choo closed the recital with his original work The Time Traveller’s Sonata. It allowed the audience a glimpse into how he viewed music, and his fusion of melodious elements into virtuosic writing was a joy. Hints of Hummel, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff could be heard throughout the work, and he even showed he was equally adept at jazz with a short freewheeling section that sounded totally improvisatory.

His encores included two more of his own writing, Together Forever, which sounded like a cross between mandarin pop and a hit Disney theme song, and Tango, where one was transported to the world of Piazzolla and Albeniz. Having performed for over two hours, it was apt that he sent the audience home with Liszt’s transcription of Schumann’s Widmung (Dedication.)

The fickleness of the classical music industry makes it impossible to predict the career trajectory of pianists nowadays, but if Shaun isn’t performing in the biggest concert halls and with the top orchestras of the world in a few years, it would be the biggest injustice.

#shaunchoo