Simon Trpceski's transcendental technique in full flight

Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski last appeared here in 2013, performing at the Singapore International Piano Festival and with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

- Chang Tou Liang

CONCERT SIMON TRPCESKI PIANO RECITAL Victoria Concert Hall April 13 His most recent solo recital, presented by Altenburg Arts, showed that time has not dimmed the memory of an artist who has very personal ideas about music, married with a transcendental technique that invites superlatives.

The manner in which he hung on the opening note of Frederic Chopin's Mazurka In G Minor (Op. 24 No. 1) - for almost an eternity showed that rubato was a vital element of his Chopin playing. The delaying of the next note and making up for it with faster tempi was the lifeblood of Romanticism, also informing the three Polish dances of the set that followed. Some may find this mannered, but Trpceski has the ability to persuade, winning the listener over with beauty of tone and no little force of personality.