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T'ang Quartet impresses with Bach-inspired renditions
The Straits Times
|October 31, 2024
The T'ang Quartet as fans knew it in 1992, its inaugural year, does not quite exist any more.
An ensemble-in-residence at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, its remaining founding members – violinists Ng Yu Ying and Ang Chek Meng – now perform concerts with guest musicians.
Cellist and former student Cho Hang-oh joined for this concert, as did fellow faculty member violist Zhang Manchin for a performance of Soviet-era Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Quintet In G Minor (Op. 57).
Arguably the most performed 20th-century piano quintet, it took inspiration from the Baroque, notably German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Pianist Ning An's big opening chords on the newly gifted Fazioli grand were a statement of intent in the Prelude, from which a probing exposition sprouted and grew.
The tight ensemble continued into the lengthy Fugue, where individual voices and contrapuntal lines stood out with illuminating clarity.
This story is from the October 31, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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