Wong Chiyan - 24th Singapore International Piano Festival

Wong Chiyan’s performance left me lost for words, not in the expressive notion as to being too stunned for words, but rather the literal meaning of finding words that can justify what I heard. The reasons being firstly, any attempt to translate good music making to words, I feel, will result in the latter being an understatement. To what extent this understatement is will differ for each performance, and I was and am sure that this attempt to reciprocate Wong Chiyan’s performance will be a gross understatement of the actual experience. Secondly, there comes a point when a performance will be beyond words. Whatever attempt to describe it will either (seemingly) devalue it, or simply be stating something that is blatantly obvious. For example, if I were to merely declare Wong Chiyan’s performance as one with “beautiful tone” or one with “long lines”, though all of these descriptions are very true, it serves no purpose of putting music into words. This will be an attempt to illustrate Wong Chiyan’s performance, in words.

Programme

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Fantasy in C minor, K.475

Frédéric Chopin – Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58

Mozart/Busoni – 5 Kurze Stüke, BV 296: No. 5 Nach Mozart. Adagio

Mozart/Busoni – An die Jugend, BV 254: No. 3 Giga, Bolero e Variazione

Ferruccio Busoni – Sonataina Seconda, BV 259

Liszt/Busoni – Réminiscenes de Don Juan, S.418

It is rather obvious when one hears the voice of the piano, and this is evident from the first notes of the Mozart Fantasy. One of the possible reasons how Wong Chiyan achieves this is his extraordinary ability to release every sound and make them resonate. Each sound regardless of the amount of force exerted on no occasion is a result of a perpendicular action of the hand, shoulders etc. “Tapping” is certainly out of the question. Instead, there is a great amount of “outward arm” movement that was a comcommitant of a buffered and reverbarative sound. Figuratively, a sound with great breadth and generosity that is extremely pleasant to the ear. This “buffered” sound is, I feel, the most distinguishing characteristic of Wong Chiyan’s performance, even in virtuosic instances of the Liszt. There is also great precision and measure in Wong Chiyan’s execution of each sound, but it is by no means cautious. This emanates from clarity of thought and careful calculation of the desired effect of each note before it is struck, but yet immense freedom and creativity in shaping musical lines. This “freedom” that is so perceptible in his performance is perhaps one of the reasons why the many silences in the piece occur so naturally, rather like breathing, instead of a sudden break that although result in an increased tension, is something that seems somewhat awkward and forced. Wong Chiyan also has incredible voicing apparent in the Chopin Soanta. Unlike Joseph Moog (who also performed a Chopin Sonata), Wong Chiyan brought out the left hand parts purposefully and with immaculate control to intensify the ongoing tension of the phrase to great effect. I would like to quote two adjectives (given in his biography) that I feel can fairly apt sum up his performance, that is “sincerity” and “authority”. To achieve both, I feel, one must be extremly grounded not only in technical and emotional requirements of the piece but also be utterly convincing in one’s interpretation that ultimately will be determinant of whether someone is a true artist or a dilgent student. Wong Chiyan who is able to achieve this level of depth and artisty at the age of 29 is absolutely phenomenal.