Pineapple Pinnacles

Brianna and myself took the wrong bus one lovely sunny day and ended up at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music.

And boy! Was i glad to miss that National Heritage of Singapore and trade it with a showing of some of the finest musicians of my school – National University of Singapore (NUS).

It was a Noon Recital Series which comprised of 5 performances.

First was ‘Variations in F minor, Hoboken XVII:6′ performed by Hannah Kyoo-Hye Lim, piano.

By God, she’s fantastic. I think she’s Korean-Singaporean. At first, i didn’t much…till when she reached the middle of her song when all the notes started showing colourful emotions. she was awesome and she did it all in about 20 minutes – without any notes placed in front of her. Impressive to say the least.

Next up was ‘Solo de Concert’ performed by Li Zilong who played the Bassoon.

What i felt about the performance was that Liu Jia who played the accompanied piano piece was actually destroying that piece he was playing. I felt the tones clashed at parts and she was too aggressive when playing – almost like what a piano teacher would be; not what was expected from a performer. Overall, the Bassoon reminded me of the Australian Didgeridoo.

This was followed shortly by ‘Arabaske Op. 18′ Chin Ying han, piano.

Maybe it was due to her being only in her freshman year and she was after all competing with performers well into their last year..she didn’t quite leave a lasting impression in me.

Next up was Yao Jing with the Flute together with Liu Jia, again, with Piano.

Her flute was so shiny and golden – i have to admit it was scintillating. Well, the piano once again was i think not a great accompaniment for the flute. Liu Jia although this time was not too aggressive in her actions, she drowned the flute out at certain parts. This performance was okay.

Last was the ‘Le Grand Tango’ I. Tempo di Tango II. Meno mosso III. Piu mosso performed by Hsieh Meng-Feng, Cello and Low Shao Ying, Piano.

This had to be my FAVOURITE performance of the entire Recital. Hsieh Meng-Feng was just incredible with his cello and his tunes was full of feelings and emotions. At some point of time, i even felt like crying! Haha simply cos he conveyed emotions so well through his music. (Although Brianna told me his piece was supposed to be a happy piece – oh well, i still think she’s wrong) Those heavy breathing of his whenever he starts to pull his notes actually went well into the piece and of course the symphony of Low Shao Ying who played the piano went really well with his cello, and she was a performer, oh yes she was! At least, she didn’t distract me with wild gestures like what Liu Jia does.

He’s only in his second year and he should have a bright future ahead of him. I wish him all the best!

I was blown away by his performance that i wanted to give him a standing ovation – but stopped short cos my bag was resting on my thighs. Haha. But if Hsieh, you are reading this, your piece was excellent. But there’s one thing about it…i have no idea which was Tempo di Tango, Meno mosso and Piu mosso…maybe your pauses were not long enough for my little brain to comprehend they signified your next piece…but all in all it was really good.

Kudos to all who performed!