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Victoria Concert Hall (Saturday, 19th September, 1998) Excerpted from The Flying Inkpot review.
In addition, Ms Chew - founder of one Aurelius Ensemble, selected to accompany Yo-Yo Ma, chosen to premiere new music - has a really delicate touch. It isn't so often that the VCH piano (I don't know which one she chose - couldn't see) sounds so light, even "French". Obviously, the piano is responsive in her hands, those of an intelligent soloist at work, one with personality. She plays with a spontaneous quality, a kind of knowing nonchalance which fits so well into the teasing nature of this music. I thought this made the performance decidedly... sexy. |
This is my first encounter with Richard Strauss's Burleske for Piano and Orchestra. A "burleske" is a humorous representation of something serious, or something trivial made funny by being solemn about it. So it was with an expectation of this kind of ironic wit that I watched Elaine Chew, a 28-year-old PhD candidate in statistics, Massachusetts, enter the stage with a Mona Lisa-ish half-smile. She is obviously in her element in this work. Not only was the performance totally unfazed, exuding an easy confidence (as it was for Grace), Elaine captures the music's mercurial pulse(s), belying a kind of subtle humour that never bursts out laughing. This subtle immersion is very much evident in her body language, as she swayed upper body to the orchestral accompaniment, head bobbing with the dancing musical lines, mouthing her parts and essentially loving every moment. Here is evidence that if the soloist is enjoying the music, you couldn't possibly not as well.