Light and Shadow

Concert Review

The Boston Musical Intelligencer Boston, MA October 27, 2013

Sonic Light from Chinese Chamber Players

“Light and Shadow” at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall Saturday night was sponsored by the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts, a worthy non-profit organization devoted mainly to boosting young Chinese musicians and artists. The pianist and three string players who appeared in various combinations through the evening were well beyond boosting.

Felix Mendelssohn’s Sonata for cello and piano No. 2, opus 58, composed for his cellist brother Paul, allows the piano and cello to perform as equals in this lively pairing so carefully balanced. The startling full-bore opening in allegro assai vivace by Bion Tsang’s powerful cello established themes and moods to follow. Tsang’s playing, reflected in his telegraphing smiles and frowns, was something close to exquisite. But the most interesting movement to this reviewer was the second, which sets off in allegretto scherzando with Meng-Chieh Liu’s lively piano theme, echoed in pizzicato by the cello. Soon Tsang took over with a second theme backed by Liu’s lush yet transparent playing. The extended molto allegro vivace finale recalls Mendelssohn’s classic “Spinning Song” from the Songs Without Words, as the tempo increases to feverishly.

With storied Meng-Chieh Liu at the piano and his three partners, cellist Bion Tsang, violist Scott Lee and violinist Nai-Yuan Hu, this ad hoc but very simpatico group of established pros played as if they had been touring together for years. In fact they had recently played the same Faure in Chicago and Dallas, and the experience showed.

The foursome launched into the quartet with an allegro molto moderato piano theme soon taken up by the violin, then passed around and developed by tout l’ensemble. The scherzo changes the mood to a delightful, spirited solo piano opening echoed by pizzicato strings. The theme and its echo recur twice as the scherzo races on. A deeply emotional adagio follows, richly melodic, finally giving way to the surprisingly big sound of the allegro molto finale. By the end, a listener to these seasoned players is virtually floating airborne.

Perfection of ensemble is not all that matters, even though we got a successful marriage of four strong personalities whose individuality was not subsumed: Liu was the expansive visionary and colorist, Hu the bel canto singer, Lee the Ethel Merman (“Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better”), and Tsang the dominating swashbuckler.

By Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson is a former Moscow correspondent who writes on music for the International Herald Tribune, Clavier Companion, and other publications. He divides his time between Bordeaux and Brookline.

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For Toby Saks

Bion Tsang was amongst dozens of musicians who gathered at Benaroya Hall in Seattle to celebrate the life of cellist Toby Saks. Amongst the works Bion performed was the Grave ed espressivo from Guiseppe Tartini's Cello Concerto in D Major with pianist Craig Sheppard, which was heard just before Toby’s husband, Dr. Martin L. Greene spoke at the close.

Steve Slaske

Steve Slaske Drawing

Yesterday, Bion Tsang performed a recital with pianist Meng-Chieh Liu on Chicago Chamber Musician's First Monday Concert Series at Preston Bradley Hall in the Chicago Cultural Center. The noontime concert, which was broadcast live by WMFT, was captured with pen and paper by architectural illustrator and artist Slave Slaske. See more of Steve's art at Skyline City Prints or steveslaske.com

Come Together

Concert Review

Chamber Music International starts off its new season at Dallas City Performance hall with a bang.

September 28, 2013

DALLAS — Chamber Music International is a producing organization rather than a presenter. This means that they assemble players for a specific program. This is not as random as it might appear because they frequently use the same players, in different configurations, throughout the season. In fact, violinist Nai-Yuan Hu has played with the organization from the start. Artistic Director Philip Lewis has impeccable taste in programming, and there is usually something written in the 20th or 21st century on each program.

That said, this opening program was an exception to that rule. Mozart, Mendelssohn and Fauré are hardly adventurous, even though the selections are not performed all that often.

Mozart's Duo in G Major for Violin and Viola received an energetic performance from Hu and the excellent violist, Scott Lee. This piece, ghost written as a favor for a composer friend of Mozart’s who was ill and couldn't complete his commission, is an amazing example of the miraculous way music flowed. He dashed this out and gave it away. While Hu was impressive as always, it was Lee's rich viola sound that caught your attention. It was dark-hued yet still had much of the brilliance of the violin. This three-movement piece is the equivalent of a full-blown sonata and requires complete technical command of the instruments. This the two players ably demonstrated. Although limited to two instruments, Mozart's genius filled in the entire work so that you never were aware of the limited palette.

Mendelssohn's Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Major Op. 58 is rarely heard, which is a shame because it is brimming with everything you love about the composer's music. As in most of his compositions, there is never a break in the forward motion, sometimes not even between movements, and even the slow movements have continuous motion. His music is also very difficult to play and full of very fast passage work. All of this is true about this sonata and perhaps its extreme difficulty, for both the cello and the piano, is part of the reason it is not heard more often.

Cellist Bion Tsang and pianist Meng-Chieh Liu were certainly up to the task. Both players gave a definitive performance, technically clean and musically adept. Tsang's tone is so dark and rich that you wondered how light on his feet he would be in the nearly impossibly fast passage work. However, he maintained the depth of the sound no matter how lightly or quickly he played. This piece is written with both parts being equal: the piano is a partner, a collaborative pianist, rather than an accompanist. Liu demonstrated equally nimble fingers and kept pedaling to a minimum so that all of the passage work rang out with great clarity. The chorale in the slow movement, played in big arpeggios in the piano, was Mendelssohn's hat tip to Bach. In a nice touch, Liu lathered on the pedal in this passage so that we were aware of the underlying structure and harmony.

The Fauré Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15 is another piece that is rarely performed and a welcome one to hear. It is a relatively early work, with more Brahms in it than this later style would allow. The three, Liu, Tsang and Hu, gave it an exceptional performance. They brought out the elements that would be the hallmarks of the composer's later style and never overplayed. Hu was occasionally on the inside of the pitch, but not enough to mar the performance. It also would have been better, in both the Fauré and the Mendelssohn, if the Yamaha piano, with its brash bass, had not been played with the lid full open. The half stick would have been served the ensemble.

By Gregory Sullivan Isaacs

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Brilliant, Expressive Performances from Chamber Music International

Bion Tsang helped Chamber Music International open its 2013-14 Season at the one-year-old Dallas City Performance Hall on Friday, September 17, performing the Mendelssohn Cello Sonata in D major, Op. 58, with pianist Meng-Chieg Liu and the Faure Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 15, with Liu and violinist Nai-Yuan Hu and violist Scott Lee.

Scott Cantrell of the Dallas Morning News had this to say of Tsang's performance: "It’s hard to imagine any cellist anywhere playing Mendelssohn’s little-known D major Cello Sonata (Op. 58) better than Tsang. In music of pretty formidable virtuosity Tsang seemed incapable of playing a single 16th-note out of tune, and everything, fast as well as slow, was elegantly shaped."

And, about the group, Cantrell wrote: "It was a treat to hear Gabriel Fauré’s irresistibly tuneful and harmonically lush C minor Piano Quartet. CMI’s ad hoc ensembles don’t always blend into cohesive wholes, but here violinist Nai-Yuan Hu, violist Scott Lee and cellist Bion Tsang seemed wholly of a mind in boldly sculpting and warmly savoring the music. The slow movement, so tender and longing, was especially beautiful."

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