OVERVIEW
This concert / recital was brought by Aureus Productions involving the British Pianist and recording artist Freddy Kempf presenting a selection of Kapustin, Chopin and Rachmaninov. Freddy is more well known for his love of Chamber music and his explosive style of play.
Ticket prices ranged from 38-68 SGD a pop which is actually reasonable considering how difficult his repertoire line up as follows:
1. Selections from Kapustin's Concert Etudes (I, VII and VIII)
2. Chopin Etudes Opus 10
(Full Run)
3. Rachmaninoff's Opus 39 Music Tableaux (
Full Run)
Presentation
His presentation of tonight's repertoire was simple and straightforward without any need of emceeing. I always liked the jazzy groove of Kapustin Concert Etudes which he selected the first and the last two. Hence it was nice that he was able to pull that off. The first half however I thought was a bit rushed especially once he got to the Chopin Opus 10 Etudes after the Kapustin Concert Etudes. However I can understand as I did a few of the Opus 10 Etudes, just not in one sitting like he did. He would need this kind of adrenaline rush to keep that pace and momentum up, more for the faster paced ones.
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I always have soft copies of the sheet music in hand for reference.
Either from IMSLP or Scribd |
But this comes at a brutal tradeoff that really drove me insane last night. The thing is the acoustics of the Esplanade Hall which is more suited to an orchestra, rather than an individual piano. It naturally caused too many of the running passages to be excessively muddy. Even cutting the use of the damper pedal was not quite enough to eliminate most of the blurry lines. It was not as bad with Martha Argerich's debut in June due to her generally slower pace of her repertoire. Yet I would not attribute this fault to Freddy Kampf either because of the understandably vicious demands of his first half. In fact I was actually appreciative that he was able to tame the hall and pull back the tempo for his 2nd half program featuring the Music Tableaux by Rachmaninoff so it did sound clean. Freddy's playing as a whole was undeniably explosive and he made it look easy. Nevertheless, the acoustics of the hall just did not do any justice for him, especially the first half.
Another bummer was the encore. As a virtuoso like him and myself, I expected a bigger encore by him like a Scherzo or a concert etude by Liszt like La Campanella, that'll keep many of us who are piano aficionados like myself in this hall happy. What he played was the waltz in A-Flat Minor Opus 69 No. 1, a simple work compared to his first half. Likely he ran outta gas, I don't know.
Audience etiquette
Audience etiquette, boy that could definitely be improved. A few very obvious moments where some screech popped out here and there. However what irked me the most are latecomers to the concert. In that case
I sure wished the ushers and the emcees could enforce that latecomers could only enter or leave during the intermission. If they really want to catch the rest of the 1st half, have them occupy any unoccupied rear seats and bar them from entering the center stalls till after the intermission. Especially those in the front row who came late. Freddy was actually nice enough to allow them to enter and fill the front and wait for them to settle down before proceeding. But concert goers, please avoid doing that as it is kinda disrespectful to the performer. My guideline is to be early and seated about 15-20 minutes before the concert begins.
Bottom Line
With the likes of Martha Argerich who also recently came to Singapore already at her advanced age, it is pretty much up to a new breed of virtuosos to keep the ball rolling. Freddy Kempf is a master of his craft. However, maybe next time a smaller place like the Recital Hall or VCH or have some movable sound dampening material.
+ Excellent Lineup
+ Controlled 2nd half
+ Fair Ticket Prices.
- Unacceptable Acoustics, the Concert Hall is just not suited for it.
- Concert Etiquette could be improved
- Bummer Encore.
