A thrilling evening of Brahms and Shostakovich

This programme began with the majestic sunset of Johannes Brahms' second piano concerto and concluded with the night terrors of Dmitri Shostakovich's fifth symphony, delivered with power and thrilling playing by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and guest conductor Wong Kah Chun.

- Geoffrey Lim

CONCERT KAHCHUN WONG AND GERHARD OPPITZ - BRAHMS AND SHOSTAKOVICH Esplanade Concert Hall March 28

The Brahms is a work that requires its soloist to possess the technique of a young firebrand and the soul of an old poet.

It is also one of those frustrating works that sounds far less difficult than it really is. While it is filled with tendonitis-inducing trills, fistfuls of double-note passages, Olympian keyboard leaps and all manner of pianistic perversions, most of its exertions pass unnoticed by audiences acclimated to the more demonstrative virtuosity of lesser composers.

The distinguished German pianist Gerhard Oppitz is no young firebrand, but age has seasoned his playing with gravitas and a sense of poetic understatement reminiscent of his teacher Wilhelm Kempff.

This evening, he delivered a thoughtful, frequently delightful performance whose graciousness and innate musicality mostly transcended its occasional technical limitations.