Piano party on 12th September

I hosted my second piano party last Saturday, 12th September 2009. As with the previous piano party that I hosted in February 2009, a lunch buffet was catered. The food was Peranakan, and from the same caterer as the last time.

There was a good mix of repeat and new guests. Earliest to arrive were Bihua and her husband (after her antenatal classes). Followed closely by Wzkit. It took Wzkit barely 2 minutes to get seated at the piano after stepping in the door. Here they are:

The first three guests

At the previous piano party Lynnette Seah (co-leader of the SSO) suggested that I invite different instrumentalists to play with piano accompaniment. Good idea, but none of the pianists I knew had any experience as an accompanist. As luck would have it, one of the new guests, Josh, likes to accompany violinists and always has a few pieces ready. So when he suggested accompanying Lynnette on some Kreisler I jumped at the chance, reminded Lynnette to bring her violin, and told her about Josh’s suggestion.

And so she turned up with her fiddle and some of her own scores! And not just Kriesler. After everybody had eaten we settled down for musical dessert.

Settling down for musical dessert

Josh and Lynnette started out with the following Kreisler pieces: “Liebesleid” (“Love’s Sorrow”), “Praeludium and Allegro,” “Schön Rosmarin,” and “Rondino on a Theme by Beethoven.” Wzkit was the page turner.

Josh & Lynnette, and Wzkit turning pages

Some of the engrossed guests

A couple of the guests had never heard the violin played live, and by a good violinist. While Lynnette was playing one said that the next musical instrument he wants to learn to play is the violin. What a daunting task that would be!

After the Kreisler pieces Lynnette pulled out more sheet music, Vittorio Monti’s “Czardas”. But none of us had the sight-reading skills nor chops to accompany her at full tempo. So we ended up with music for two pianists and violin. The two pianists were Jon (playing left hand) and Seng Kiat (playing right hand).

Intrepid performers gearing up for "Czardas"

Josh thought that it was a great idea to have two pianists share the piano load! Of course, this guaranteed that the fast bits would definitely not be at full tempo. Rachmaninov’s “Vocalise” (violin transcription) was also attempted, with Seng Kiat on left hand and Jon on right hand. There was one more, but I forgot what it was.

Czardas

We were very grateful for Lynnette being so sporting.

There was a bit of a lull while the caterer came to collect the buffet equipment. Needless to say the leftovers were retained.

Three happy guests

The picture above shows the Sauter dealer Alvin, Roxane (Steinway B), and Barnaby (Sauter Ambiente). Roxane and Barnaby are of course their PW nicks.

Roxane takes her ABRSM Diploma performance exam tomorrow 16th September, and played for us chunks from her programme. Fj_s tickled the keys for a short while, citing unpreparedness after an 11-year lay off as the reason. He still managed to tease with the opening page of Schubert’s “Wanderer Fantasy”. He’s promised to play more the next time.

We weren’t quite done yet with the piano accompanist thing, because Jon brought along his bassoon and played for us, accompanied by Seng Kiat. They were playing “Vocalise” from Lynnette’s score.

Jon on the bassoon, Seng Kiat on the piano

All-in-all it was a great afternoon of music, food and conversation.

Piano party report & pictures

Twenty-two people turned up, and we had a really fun afternoon. The piano playing was in a way secondary to the whole event. It was more an excuse to get some people together to have a good natter, some good food, and also some music.

There was a rather eclectic mix of non-musicians (some close friends of mine), classical pianists, a jazz pianist, and a violinist. The range of ‘real’ occupations was interesting. They included piano tech, piano dealer, economist, computer scientist (ex-academic), mechanical engineer (academic), music teacher, professional musician, IT project manager, HR officer, IT systems analyst, marketing executive, student (forensic science), school teacher, finance director, IT sales rep, and lawyer.

The professional musician was the violinist, Lynette Seah, co-leader of the Singapore Symphony. She was kind enough to attend, and was thoroughly delightful. She even obliged with a couple of short excerpts from Bach and Bruch. Sadly the cheap violin and shrill steel strings were not up to scratch. Lynette said that she would have gladly brought her own violin if I had told her that she had to play for her lunch!

The caterer arrived at 11.05h to set up the buffet table and start warming up the food. Shortly after that Alvin arrived to (a) fix a clicking damper pedal; (b) touch up my tuning; and (c) change the una corda from 2.5 strings to 2 strings.

Lunch commenced at 12.45h, and people kept eating from the buffet throughout the whole afternoon. For the record, here’s the full menu:

• Crabmeat/Chicken Ball Soup
• Nonya Cold Dish Platter
• Nonya Mee Siam
• Nonya Fried Rice
• Ayam Buah Keluak
• Itek Sio
• Spicy Grilled Prawns
• Ikan Chuan
• Nonya Chap Chye with Black Mushrooms
• Assorted Nonya Kueh
• Lime Juice

Of course, sambal belacan was provided as well. The food was pretty good on the whole. The only let-down was the soup — it was deliciously flavourful, but a little on the salty side. Lynette is no slouch in the kitchen with peranakan food, and she made approving noises while eating. So, for those who want to know, the caterer was Chilli Api Catering, a subsidiary of the Chilli Padi peranakan restaurant in Joo Chiat.

Myself and several guests played during the afternoon. Some were initially too shy to play, but eventually it became clear that everyone was there to enjoy themselves and not be music critics or snobs. It didn’t matter whether you played well or not. Everybody was welcome to have a go.

Now for a few pictures.

Ready for visitors

The caterer had just left, and Alvin had finished tidying up my tuning.

Where are they?

Right after I snapped this shot the first visitor arrived. It was my neighbour Jonathan with wife and young daughter.

Jonathan

Jon has fantastic facility on the keyboard. I can sometimes hear him pounding out Rachmaninov and Chopin (the ‘Military’ polonaise mainly) on his Yamaha upright. He says he plays loud to relieve stress. Jon did a lot to help me relax the guests. He got me, Wzkit and Roxane to play duets of solo pieces with him. Interesting. It turned out that Jon and Wzkit have known each other for many years, since the time when they were members of the Piano Ensemble at NUS.

One end of the buffet table

The other end of the buffet table

Lynette and Clarence

Lynnette always looks glamourous, even when dressed casually! Clarence is a close friend who lives nearby with his family. His whole gang (plus extras) came over to enjoy the company, music, and food (not necessarily in that order!).

Some guests

Some of the people in this shot are PW members, but I won’t associate person with PW nick, other than to say that in this shot you see snoopycar, cmk, and Roxane.

Darned paparazzi!

I led off the playing (not that I had any choice). Started with two Chopin preludes — #7 in A major and #20 in C minor — followed by the first movement of Beethoven’s sonata #12 in A-flat major, op. 26. Here I had just screwed up (one of several times) and I blamed it on the camera flash popping during Variation II of the Beethoven.

Lynette playing for her lunch

She played short excerpts from Bach’s ‘Loure’ (Partita #3), and the second movement from Bruch’s 1st violin concerto.

Listening to Lynette play

More people listening to Lynette play

And Jonathan was humming loudly!

Which one of us is Warus?

One of these ladies is the PW member ‘Warus‘. All the PW members present had thought that Warus was a guy. We were very wrong!

Wzkit at the piano

He’s great company, and a really good pianist. Here he’s playing Tchaikovsky’s ‘Octobre‘.

Wzkit playing some more!

Here he was playing Bortkiewicz’s ‘Consolation‘. The microphones in the foreground show that I had actually set up to record the piano. But mild stage fright caused me to forget to start recording before my stint at the keyboard. After that we collectively decided to just forget it this time around.

The leftovers!

So how do we finish all this food? The prawns weren’t touched at all the whole afternoon, probably because shelling them would have been a nuisance. So a few of us sat around and nibbled at the food until about 20.00h. Then I packed some to take to my parents for their dinner. We ate some more at around 21.30h (when the prawns were completely polished off!) and then some more late in the evening. We never did finish up all the food.

How long did people stay? Well, Roxane left around 18.30h while Wzkit left at 20.15h when I stepped out to take some leftovers to my parents for their dinner.

By all accounts the afternoon went well. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. I certainly did!

Will there be more? Maybe. I suggested to Lynette that if there is another piano afternoon that she bring her violin and an accompanist with her and play a violin sonata. Well, why just stop at violin, she said. How about having different instrumentalists visit on each occasion? Now that’s a thought, isn’t it.

One more thing I forgot: Norman, the jazz pianist, also played for us. To be honest, I am personally jealous of jazz pianists and their great musicianship skills.