OVERALL NOISE RATING: 4.5 (Mobile phones still going off, plastic bags being shuffled around, people coming late despite the new time of 8.30- Well that’s our gracious society for you.)

The Noise Rating Index is a partially-objective measurement of pager and handphone blasts, 9pm and 10pm watch beeps, coughing-during-the-pianissimo-bits, intra-audience conversation and other mind-bogglingly inept noises emitted in the concert hall during actual performance of music. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 5, in increasing annoyance.

This review has been kindly sponsored by the Singapore Symphonia Co. Ltd

In Goh Yew Lin’s forward to the notes this year for the 7th International Piano Festival, he brings up the point of allowing the pianist to pick their own program. As a result, the wide range of music, suiting all kinds of different tastes, ranged from works by Haydn to Chopin, to Messiaen and Prokofiev. This year the programme began a familiar name from his win at the 1998 Van Cliburn Competition - Jon Nakamatsu.

When Jon went into the final he was not the favorite - the favorite was Yakov Kasman, the outstanding Russian pianist. Having heard Yakov Kasman in 1998 I was in fact very disappointed with his playing; on the other hand, after hearing the Gold Medal disc by Nakamatsu there is no wonder that Jon took the first prize. From that disc, it has become evident that Jon Nakamatsu possesses a wide array of repertoire. His renditions of music by Bolcom and Schubert were probing, showing intelligence in his playing.

Jon began the program with Haydn, not the most popular of composers for the piano but still a major contributor to piano literature. It was evident that he played with elemental vision from the opening bars. His harpsichord-like phrasing and lack of pedal was able to penetrate through the music to result in a riveting reading. I did not particularly like the second movement which I found lethargic initially, but there were some clean thrills and a good measure of color spanning the various ranges which made the piece interesting. These came about with communing ease and finesse. His staccatos - be they semi-staccatos or full staccatos - were always finely executed. There was nothing careless about his intellectual interpretation.

For the set of Chopin, in both the Fantasie in F minor and Scherzo No.3 there was always spontaneous expression. The former was well-executed but I would not say that there was anything out of the ordinary. The middle sections were somewhat overdrawn out. I particularly liked the Scherzo, more than the Mazurkas which I found to be lacking any depth of color. In my opinion, they were quite dry. His playing of the Scherzo stood out with its ferocity, as seen in the later half of the work in the "Presto con fuoco". His reading was very exact, clearly thought out; lissome and flexible, allowing him to express himself and to indulge in the longer phrases a bit longer. His runs were clear and immaculately detailed; and he definitely stamped his authority with clear dynamics which were well-emphasized - every note could be heard. In fact I have always loved a robust reading of this particular work (a fine recording which comes to mind is that by Martha Argerich).

The second half of the program produced two works of different liking. The first piece is seldom heard. The variations incorporate of lot of the elements of the seasons and some of the virtuostic elements of the famous B-flat concerto. This was especially seen in the upper registers for the right hand where Jon was called upon to bring out some of the precise filigree needed. He did this splendidly. Some of the octave chordic elements were also well-done, with the tone produced never hardening. I was quite impressed by his chordic playing as seen in the awesome equality of his fingers across the keys.

The Rachmaninov Second Sonata which was performed was - to my delight - the second version of 1931 instead of the 1913 version. Jon Nakamatsu once again showed all the elements of virtuosity. His interpretation was technically flawless and in many respects effortlessly profound. I did feel however that the "abandonment" section was slightly lacking in indulgence and fire. I did like some of the central portions of the first movement where Nakamtsu was able to explore the intimate and heroic reaches of the piece. It was here that he managed to stake his all to express himself for the moment. In the second version, Rachmaninov lets the pianist through the chordic sequences to breathe life into the chords. Where there are moments of silence, Jon’s use of the sostenuto pedal demonstrated this.

This piano festival has been an inspiration to Johann D'Souza who has decided to go back to piano playing after a long absence - it’s back to Hanon and scales.

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727: 3.7.2000 ©Johann D'Souza

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