A review of the concert on April 19, 2003 by Phil Young.
On April 19th 2003, I had the good fortune to attend the Du and Sim piano duo recital at Le Petit Trianon, sponsored by Steinway Society The Bay Area. The overflowing beauty of the concert was so refreshing that it will be impossible to forget.
It is worth pointing out that the two pianists, Ning-Wu Du and Helen Sim, are husband and wife. They met as students at the Juilliard School in New York. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why their collaboration was so perfect and seamless — their breathing and pulse were harmoniously and thoroughly blended.
Being a composer myself, I was most deeply impressed by Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, arranged for one piano four-hands by Hugo Ulrich. In the past, while listening to orchestral works arranged for piano duo, apart from experiencing a sense of novelty, all I heard was a disappointing bunch of clanking notes. The particular colors and textures of an orchestra had to be made up by the listener’s imagination. However, in the rendition by “Du & Sim”, I heard gorgeous phrasing, transparent texture, and mellifluous and cantabile melodic lines. Even more admirable was the way they brought out the orchestral effects — the sonorous brass, the cascading strings, the sad plea of the bassoon, and even the rumbling of the timpani.
The piano is a percussion instrument on which it is difficult to achieve a naturally sustaining singing effect such as produced by the human voice, the strings, and the winds. Yet, under their amazing fingers, the pianos sang with infinite variations of color.
The concert’s program also included three of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances for one piano four-hands, Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 2 for two pianos, Milhaud’s “Scaramouche” Suite for two pianos and Gershwin’s 3 Preludes arranged for two pianos by Gregory Stone. The encore piece was Lutoslawski’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini for two pianos.
Du and Sim’s interpretation of each work was distinctive and full of vitality. I have never heard such beautiful rubato before. A famous musician once said that an important distinction of a great master lies in his rubato. I could feel that the audience was completely conquered by this heart-stirring performance.
The hall, with added seats, was filled to the rafters. The seemingly undying applause and cheers of the rapturous audience revealed an unwillingness to leave. I believe everyone in the crowd, like myself, went back to his daily life carrying with him an exquisite aftertaste. As a frequent guest at Le Petit Trianon, especially at all the events by Steinway Society, I had never attended a better or more memorable performance in this hall. I firmly believe that “Du & Sim” will become a world-class name and leave a page in history.
(Pianist and composer Phil Young is currently the music director of Chinese Performing Artists of America. His music has been performed in China, the USA and internationally, including the very theater — Le Petit Trianon — where his commissioned Concerto for Konhou and String Orchestra was performed by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra in 2001.)
