Japan and Singapore Bring Mozart and Brahms to Bangkok

Singaporean Pianist Benjamin Loh (left) and Japanese violinist Jin Matsuno (right) acknowledge applause following their Bangkok recital on September 14, 2010

Goethe-Institut. Bangkok, Thailand. September 14, 2010. Traditionally, a violin and piano recital is headlined by the violin and second-acted by piano accompaniment. For instance, who even knows who the pianist is at a Yitzhak Perlman recital? But for me, a piano maniac, the roles are reversed---I primarily listen to the piano and allow the violin soloist to sometimes intrude on the piano. Seriously, though, regardless of the fame or prominence of the violinist, a violin recital is a partnership and can only be successful if both performers are in perfect accord with each other. Also, as once progresses out of the early classical era, the piano part is as prominent as is the violin’s, and rather than it being a violin recital with piano accompaniment, the recital is a violin and piano duo.

Violinist Jin Matsuno from Japan and pianist Benjamin Loh from Singapore showed the small Bangkok audience in attendance (alas, there’s no public for this type of music here), how two musicians from different cultures can be so together in the universality of classical music. Mozart’s Sonata in e (KV. 304) was a model of clear and fluent, evenly balanced, playing. Happily free from any interpretive excesses, the sonata was anything but dry. Both performers, in perfect control of their respective instruments, combined them into a smart and beautiful rendition of Mozart as only very good musicians can do.

The Mozart sonata was followed by Brahms’ Sonata No. 2 in A, Op. 100, which I have on CD, but don’t remember hearing live before. This is a “big” work, which admits of infinite interpretations. Matsuno and Loh effortlessly made the switch from Mozart to Brahms, and gave the Brahms sonata just the right mixture of classical structure and romantic texture. The difficult and full piano part never usurped the violin and vice versa. In short, a totally satisfying performance.

After the intermission, Matsuno and Loh performed five or so short pieces, the types one frequently finds played as encores (e.g., Dvorak’s Humoresque, Gershwin’s It Ain’t Necessarily So). The final number in the printed program, Piazzolla’s Libertango, was an exciting way to conclude a very enjoyable evening. This is Matzuno’s third visit to Bangkok and Benjamin Loh's second. I hope that both return, preferably as a duo, but separately as well.

Buzz chats with pianist Benjamin Loh