Pascal Rogé is one pianist I have always wanted to hear performing chamber music. His countless visits to Singapore over the years have invariably yielded performances of piano concertos, inevitably by Saint-Saëns, although he has had outings with Beethoven and Mozart. There was a recital in the 1994 piano festival (with a matchless Debussy Préludes Book 1) and more recently chamber music with Pierre Amoyal in an all-French programme. I had missed the last and was determined not to miss out again, even if it was a chamber concert in Hong Kong.

Persistence pays off and it is refreshing to witness a different facet to a great musician. Happy to be away from coruscating runs by the afore-mentioned Camille or Maurice Ravel, Rogé is completely at home as a Mozartian.

With the LCO’s Charles Sewart (Violin), Joel Hunter (Viola) and Robert Max (Cello), Wolfgang Amadeus’ wonderful Piano Quartet in G minor, K.478 came across as very relaxed, free of tension, neuroses or any hint of tragedy. It is tempting to read too much into Mozart’s minor key works (which are indeed in the minority) and to put on a long face and a performance to match. No worries here as Rogé’s singing tone blended like one with his string partners despite the soloistic part that one would come to expect from Mozart. The Andante flowed like an intimate conversation between lovers, with Rogé’s sensitivity shining through.

As if to compensate in contrasts, the statement of the bubbly theme in the playful Rondo (marked Allegro moderato) came on a bit too fast, closer to that of an Allegro scherzando or Allegro animato.  The consequence of that was to follow with quite rapid ensemble playing which tended to obscure the details. Despite that, the repartee between musicians was very much first rate, ensuring that the performance fizzed like champagne. The surprise modulation to E flat major just before the end merely heightened the palpable excitement to be had in this enjoyable performance.

Next up were five movements from Max Bruch’s Eight Pieces for clarinet, viola and piano, proving there was more to this German composer than his ubiquitous First Violin Concerto and Scottish Fantasy. Mark van der Wiel did the honours, carrying two clarinets on stage. The pieces performed were as follows:

No.1 Andante (in A minor)

No.2 Allegro con moto (B minor)

No.4 Allegro agitato (D minor)

No.6 Nachtgesang: Andante con moto (G minor)

No.7 Allergo vivace non troppo (B major)

The influences of Mendelssohn and Schumann (and even Brahms) are evident in these delightful trifles, and the selections were varied enough. Van der Wiel’s creamy sonority was a salve that alternated from melancholy and dreaminess in the slow numbers to agitation and stormy restlessness. His partners were equally attuned, with violist Joel Hunter providing a seamless line to a lovely counter-melody in the Brahmsian Nachtgesang. Rogé was far from being anonymous too, being the ever-supportive pianist that played along with the myriad shifts of moods and emotions.

The second half of the concert comprised only one work – Cesar Franck’s mighty Piano Quintet in F minor. Here Teutonic formality and granite-like sturdiness clash headlong with Gallic elegance and refinement, so what gives? In the angst-laden opening, the string quartet supplied an atmosphere fraught with mystery, setting the tone for Rogé’s contemplative entry. Then came the onslaught of turbulence that more or less permeated this passionate work. There is a sense of remarkable suppleness and flexibility that distinguished the quintet’s playing. The ability to apply tension and then to relax in a split moment, swinging between iciness and warmth within an instant, provided all the drama necessary to keep one on the edge of one’s seat.

Franck, like Liszt and Wagner, was a master with motifs, short pithy themes that recur within a piece. “Where have I heard that before?” was a recurrent thought that flashed across the mind as the “big” Franckian tune revealed itself in the first movement. It is this psychological play on the mind that provided a certain unity, cohesiveness, and to the listener, a definite satisfaction in Franck’s big works, like his Symphony in D minor and Violin Sonata. It was to be no different in the Piano Quintet.    

The slow movement had its rapt and hushed moments, and despite this, there was no shortage of electricity that coursed through the playing. Rosemary Furniss’ violin was in particularly fine form in the sensitive opening sequence. The small audience (much, much smaller than the concert deserved) was so silent that one could hear a pin drop on the wooded floor of the Cultural Centre. This was to be the calm before the storm of the amazing final movement.

The chromatic finale is a monothematic, gradual and inexorable crescendo that needs to be witnessed in order to be appreciated. Mere words cannot describe the level of febrile intensity, nervous tension and white-hot passion that can be generated in a good performance. Subject the earlier angst to the power of the Nth degree, and one could still fall short. Suffice to say, Rogé upped the ante with his bare piano octaves and chords, and gradually the screws were tightened and pain level intensified. The result: a suffocating and almost orgasmic fifteen minutes. Melodies? There were none until the pivotal reintroduction of the first movement’s big Franckian theme, a short reprieve before the final cataclysm.

Thus concluded arguably the most musically satisfying night of four enjoyable evenings in The Joy of Music Festival. Congratulations go to The Chopin Society of Hong Kong for its choice of high calibre pianists and in-house chamber group, the London Chamber Orchestra.

Only one point of contention: could the publicity for this wonderful festival have been more extensive?  The low attendance that greeted three of the four evenings (the sole exception being local wunderkind Rachel Cheung’s recital) I attended was depressing, to say the least. The throngs that flooded the Grand Finale of the First Hong Kong International Piano Competition were nowhere to be seen.

More and more of Hong Kong’s classical acts pay for publicity and advertisements on MTR walkways. Why should The Joy of Music Festival be any less well promoted? It could also drop the eerie, quasi-spiritual dark brown festival design by Christos Bokoros for something more upbeat and eye catching. Anything less would do little justice to the wonderful musical treats on offer.

And so to the 2007 festival!

by Chang Tou Liang

 

Our Awards	Write for us!	Writers' Profiles	Martha Argerich	Contact Us!	Random Review

All original texts are copyrighted. Please seek permission from the Classical Editor
if you wish to reproduce/quote Inkpot material.