Politics Economics Business Altruism Music

Effects of Government on Macro Economic Performance-Singapore Experience

2012-01-10T23:28:00.003+08:00

Human nature prevails that where credit is due, the queue to claim it can be mile long and on the same note, when blames needs to be apportioned, all and sundry will stay miles away from the situation. This small and young nation of Singapore commonly known as the little red dot was once near annihilation due to a multitude of factors like racial/religious divide, poor economy, low rate of literacy with absolutely no natural resources to live on the land. This was the era of the 1960s bear witness to the bitter struggle for independence that was also opportunistically made use by the communist to agitate the populace against their old colonial masters flying the altruistic flag of our struggle for freedom but with a more sinister underlying aim of converting the country into a communist state. Racial and religious issues especially racial issues were polarized to stir the pot of multi-racial harmonious co-existence and tolerance into a struggle for a monolithic society. All these are behind us save for the historians whose records of these events through their individual looking glass on what and why of the past. History was never meant to be an objective study although foundational principles are to there to shed light along our path towards the truth.

The then chief minister and the current minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew and his contemporaries many of which has left the cabinet and this life due to old age have pre-sided over a period of renaissance of Singapore economy with many years of double digit growth and structural transformation of the economy from a industrial/manufacturing to a knowledge and service orientated economy as Singapore survive one after another economic downturn with relatively small and quick healing battle scar of economic recession.

This period also witnessed the baton of premiership handed over from Lee Kuan Yew to Goh Chok Tong to our present prime minister Lee Hsien Loong who is the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew. The issue of cabinet remuneration and sustainable leadership quality was maturely brought up in the open as a discussion point for the public to opined on. The basic argument being that we cannot expect a quality leadership to bring Singapore into the next leap on an altruistic only basis and a comparatively pittance financial reward. A novel model was brought to bear that benchmarked the political leaders and top civil servants salaries against the top n earners of the captains of various industries like lawyers, doctors, engineers etc. The application of the model had the effect of pushing up the salaries of the these leaders fairly substantially. The basis of which was that it would be a model that will serve us well in good and bad times as the cabinet salaries would decline if the top salaries were to decline in an economic downturn and provides for a certain level of social equity as well.

My basic belief being that poorly renumeration of political leaders and top civil servants might lead be linked to poor economic performance but high renumeration is not a pre-condition for good economic performance and might not guarntee good economic performance in most cases.

First of all, we shall try to proxy good economic performance against a basket of indicators and this is not perfect not the best but would suffice for this discourse. The proxies are:

-GDP or GNP

-GDP or GNP compounded growth

-Measurement of government participation in economy - Fiscal Budget/GDP or GNP
-Years in power of head of state
-% of popular votes to ruling party
-% of seats controlled by ruling party
-Gini index
-UN Human Development Index

Our closest neighbour Malaysia has a parallel in having an iconic leader helm the top post for many terms. Mahatair Mohamed in the case of Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew in the case of Singapore. Fortunately or unfortunately, both countries does not have a ruling to limit the number of terms the prime minister can stay in office like in USA where it is limited to 2 terms. We shall measure USA differently on this proxy in terms of number of presidents that managed to serve their maximum two term. It is indeed a good record as Bush, Clinton, Ragean all did two two terms. It was only in recent past that Malaysia saw some movement after Mahatair stepped down. In both countries, it is not invisible that both iconic leaders continue to enjoy some influence over the political landscape even though they are no longer prime ministers.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter
Safe Harbor
Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

MF Global Debacle-Singapore Moral Chapter

2011-11-10T21:31:00.002+08:00

What is the difference between gaming and proprietary trading? The most obvious is on how you place your bets. In gaming, it is primarily based on instinct. There are some theorems that by card counting in the game of black jack, you are almost guaranteed in placing a winning bet but let's leave this controversial practice aside for the time being as casino operators have proven that they are guaranteed to be winners the world over.

In proprietary trading, it is usually based on a whole lot of analysis on the predictable and visible The little left that is not predictable and blind corners, human instinct and experience complete the process and a bet is made. Perhaps this is why a gaming license is needed to operate a legitimate casino but for proprietary trading, the amount of control that the monetary regulators ( MAS is the case of Singapore is both the central bank as well as banking regulator ) depends largely on your funding source. If funded by sophisticated investors with no retailing to the general public, MAS does little to control proprietary trading as well as protecting their investors in the name of free market. MF Global melt down is now common knowledge but little is mentioned that they also have a Singapore branch. Before I forget, the local press did mention that SGX has frozen their operations here for exchange traded products to reduce SGX counter-party risk. How about their positions in non-exchange traded derivatives and the like and their local investors and counter-parties? SGX stands for Singapore Exchange and also operates as security and exchange regulator of the stock market. A bit like NYSE and SEC all rolled in one in USA for efficiency and not to possible defray conflict of interest.

Singapore has been showcased the world over as a miracle economy that managed to achieve spectacular growth in the face of adversity starting with a tiny island state with no natural endowment of mother nature except for her people and geographical location along the major maritime trade lanes of East and West. The one and only ruling party since her independence is the well known Peoples' Action Party ( PAP ) and till date, they still hold more than 2/3 of the seats in parliament enabling them to change constitution, laws and policies almost unilaterally. To add injury, being a parliamentary system, there is the party whip to keep their own members of parliament in line. PAP's success both in winning the mandate of the populace at every election as well as making and keeping Singapore successful is based on a pragmatic moralistic meritocracy strongly espoused by the founder of PAP Lee Kuan Yew and I suppose accounts partly for their choice of all white 'uniform'.

Hong Kong is big in proprietary trading but has no legalized gaming and the same goes for major financial centers like New York, Chicago, London, Tokyo and Frankfurt. Cities known for big league legalized gaming like Macao, Los Angeles, Atlantic City and Monte-Car-lo have limited proprietary trading. If we combine casino gaming or what Singapore government white washed label as 'Integrated Resort' and proprietary trading in the financial center into the same gaming sector, this might place the city of Singapore uniquely in the gaming capital of the world. Well done PAP.

Cheaper Stock Brokerage?

2011-11-02T20:17:00.000+08:00

Of late, the competition in stock brokerage has intensified drastically with non-clearing members offering brokerage rates unheard of previously. As with all cheap things, there is always a catch to it. If you are thinking of fattening your trading profits or reducing your trading losses, do read the fine print carefully. The list of clearing members in the case of Singapore is available at www.sgx.com The differential between trading with clearing and non-clearing members are mainly as follows:

For trades with clearing members, stocks would be placed in a custodial company or custodial division of the stock exchange that would also have a common modus operandi with companies providing share registrar service. Trades though non-clearing members are normally held in a separate custodial company normally owned by the non-clearing member as well. Some do use the custodial services not owned or operated by them.
Voting rights at annual or extraordinary general meetings are non-existent for the smaller retail traders as the custodial company is listed as the owner of the shares. If you are a big player, arrangements can be made for the custodial company to proxy it back to you. If you are in the habit of collecting nicely printed annual reports for your coffee table, there will be none in this case. The situation is similar to trading using CPF and SRS funds.
The custodial fees charged by the custodial company are standard and transparent and same for all clearing member. The custodial fees and fees structure varies widely and this is where the savings on brokerage fees can get wiped out. The fee structure for custodial fee can be broadly classed into transaction fees for buy and/or sell and a custodian charge levied based on a mix of quantity and value of share as well as the custodian period.
Switching between clearing members is seamless because of a common custodial operator so the clearing members fight tooth and nail for customers especially institutional and private clients. Switching from a non-clearing member either to a clearing or another non-clearing member can be a nightmare as any existing open positions would have to be unwound in one way or another and this is most probably not where anyone wants to be in. The switching cost can be very high and the process tedious. Once the non-clearing members have you, they have you for good ad infinitum because of this switching nightmare.
The security of the custody is normally more secured because the common custodial service has a more protective legal framework to guard owners interest in case of liquidation, bankruptcies or dissolution. For non-clearing member, the protection element varies. After Lehman Brothers, no one is too big to fail.
Most non-clearing members tend to be larger and international geographically and might hold non-clearing or clearing memberships in markets outside of Singapore. Very useful for trading across markets.
These non-clearing member also tend to have more products especially forex based products that can lower your forex transaction cost by offering more competitive forex rates on spot or forward hedging options as well positions in multiple currencies on demand or fixed tenure. Only applies to the more sophisticated traders.

Before making any brokerage decisions, you cannot be too careful especially with non-clearing members and only trading on the local market not that I have anything against them.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter
Safe Harbor
Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Privatizing Profits/Socializing Losses-Economic Spring

2011-10-22T03:07:00.004+08:00

Holidaying in one of Thailand's tiny beach island in La Laanta resort that offers both beaches with pristine water and modern day creature comforts like air-conditioning and internet to attend my brother's twin city wedding has awaken some deeply recessed thoughts on capitalism,socialism,communalism and communism. These topics have disturbed my intellect endlessly with no absolute truism or compromised resolution.

Deeply stalked by the apparent lesser of two evils between capitalism and communism as well as the humanity of socialism and communalism. I have long threw communism out as an essentially non-viable state of being. I believe the empirical evidence on the break down of communism in USSR and eastern european countries have fortified my beliefs. Thinking I could rest my case and out comes the rise of China's economy makes me want to be more guarded in wanting to throw the bath water of communism together with the baby. Communism is not only entirely non-viable but has powered strong economic growth in China. Confusion confronted me and shifted my grey matter into higher gear.

On the other end of the spectrum lies capitalism and I have always assumed that since much of the world and USA success at being the largest economic and military power must show the relevancy of capitalism. This was until the capitalists wanted to have the whole nine yards of privatizing the profits of capitalism into their own self interest but when matters head southward, the capitalists wanted to socialize their losses on the premise of too big to fail trump card. This has not happened not only on wall street like the banks and insurance companies and main street represented by the big three auto companies of GM, Chrysler and Ford but also the sovereigns like Greece. Cerebrally, I pause to fathom that this is liken to heads I win and tails you loose. This is tantamount to cheating in my humble sense of justice.

The banks and insurance threatened the sovereigns that their failure might lead to ca-strophic and almost non-recovery of the world economy. When the economy seems to have recovered with a rally in wall street, the executives and rain makers started paying themselves what some might term as obscenely large pay packets. The 'occupy wall street' fever has spread to many countries and I believe rightly so on the basis of justice which should sometimes rise above arcade written laws.

Some of the main street executives travelled in their private corporate jets to Washington to beg for money. I do reverb some of the congressmen for chewing these executives about new theorem of begging. When the Euro became a common currency more than a decade ago, I was elated that finally, there is a disciplined currency with good foundations and principles against the fiat issue of USD that in a single announcement made the convertibility of USD into gold vaporize into thin matter. Next came slowly but surely a USD currency printing press based economy. The joke or reality is that their sovereign bonds promise to pay the bearer at a future date in USD full stop. I do not think that China which is currently the largest holder of USA sovereign bonds is likely to be bullied into seating pretty without any counter-measures.

Greece government came next as a nation that has not exercised fiscal discipline and spiraling their national debt into an un-manageable state and threatening to either default or exercise some form of reset including resurrecting their old Drachma or a substantial hair cut of about 50% which could possibly start a nuclear like fission in destroying the economy of the world. To make matter worse, their citizenry has already taken to widespread protest as a preemptive move to warn their government, ECB, ESFS, IMF and possibly the world that they will not swallow the likely prescriptive bitter medicine of fiscal discipline as pre-conditions for bailing them out. My question is why these bodies are taking Greece more seriously as they have forced such bitter measures into some governments especially those in the 3rd world in the past without as much as betting an eye-lid. Perhaps IMF has failed like the league of nations and ought to re-constitute and have a clean re-birth like the United Nations.

Do you think there ought to be an 'Economic Spring' along the same lines as 'Arab Spring' to inject a good dose of justice into the world economy?

Lesser Evil-USD or Euro?

2011-09-23T01:09:00.002+08:00

There aren't many international currencies to hide under current torrent of financial storm. In mind, USD and Euro is most probably the most liquid. Yen is predominantly still a bilateral currency used mainly in trade with Japan. RMB is not deliverable now although there are synthetic products by CME for RMB non-deliverable futures settled in USD. There are signs that the Chinese government is seriously examining the pro and cons as well as timeline and method to unleash RMB having been caught with one of the largest cachet of sovereign bonds issued by USA and Euro zone countries that seems to be in trouble. Of course we cannot exclude the shinning king of the hill Gold as an alternative but with many caveats.

My choice is simply and clearly the Euro instead of USD.

Now the complex reasons:

1. Euro is a good choice in the long or even medium term if Euro zone does not implode by itself.
2. Although USD is solvent as the Fed can monetize the debt by printing more USD to pay their sovereign bonds. Joke being that they promised to pay you at a future date stated on the bond in USD and definitely will.
3. Euro is structurally more secure on the monetizing front as ECB has a rigid golden constitution to prevent it from doing so. It seems that ECB has broken her silver constitution of not being allowed to buy sovereign bonds of its member states but has done so for 5 (PIIGS) countries on the open market.
4. Euro zone seems to be in a big mess and the most powerful man or oops lady i.e. Chancellor of German has kept almost silent and nonchalant about it. While I understand the need to turn domestic as her election is due in 2012 but surely this might be too early and careful. Sexist joke that she can hide under her own skirt for cover since she is a lady. Please laugh for my dry sense of humor.
5. Of the five problematic countries PIIGS, only Greece is real trouble if we were to take a second and more careful look of the situation. The rest Italy, Spain, Ireland and Portugal are most probably only knee deep if we keep speculators playing the credit default swap market betting on their failure and therefore might be self full-filling. A good numbers of the speculators are investment bankers in their seville row suits and my view of them is so low threatening that their extinction will not spell the extinction of mankind.
6. Another major stumbling block is the domino effect on the sovereign default is on the major banks that hold a large portion of these sovereign bonds and their failure will therefore spread like wild fire from wall street to main street. The major banks are mostly too poorly funded for what they are doing. We should revive Glass-Stegall to separate investment banks from commercial banks. I think it was a big mistake in the 2008 crisis to allow them to merge like ML brought under BofA. Commercial and investment bank can then have different funding ratios. Looked how Soc Gen stoc was hammered down by about 20% in a single day few weeks ago.

As a Singaporean, wonder if my fellow country men has noticed that SGD has weaken against USD in the last 3 weeks from about 1.19 to 1.29? Reasons like making our exports more competitive etc are tossed in state control media but might reflect the depth of market that hot funds occupy in our market. Perhaps money is going into USD for short term cover if arguement above is correct.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter
Safe Harbor
Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

SGX Prediction for 8 Aug 2011

2011-08-08T00:30:00.000+08:00

I predict that SGX index will take a hit and might even test the 2900 point intraday for the following reasons even though DOW recovered on Friday on the back of better than expected employment figures:

1. A portion of the sell-off on SGX last Friday could be due to foreign funds selling index linked stocks due either to profit taking or to increase their liquidity for margin calls on funds that are more highly leveraged.

2. SGD weaken against USD last Friday on both the spot and forward market partly because foreign funds that have convert back to their home currency. I am not sure if MAS has intervened to support SGD.

3. SGX is closed on Tuesday 9 August due to national day celebrations.

4. To add additional time window risk, there is a FOMC meeting also on Tuesday 9 August in USA.

Just my common sense and I can be wrong.

Oslo Carnage-Singaporean Perspective

2011-07-29T22:58:00.011+08:00

93 lives vaporized in a matter of about 90 minutes in Oslo on 22 July 2011 because 32 year old Anders Behring Breivik wanted to ensure that the authorities gave his beliefs the necessary attention. This event would change the Norwegian way of life like what 911 did to USA. Instead of taking his own life, he allowed himself to fall into the hands of the law and face the prospect of 20-30 years behind bars if convicted and accorded the full force of the law as Norway has no death penalty. Perhaps he wanted his day in court to promote his far-right ideology as by default, court proceedings are open to public and journalist. However, from his indictment proceedings which is unprecedentedly a closed one, his newsprint hours in court might not be that full. It was a surprising move as closed proceedings are the norm mostly in cases involving minors or of a sexual nature. Even the 911 court proceedings were open in US.

His actions are definitely pre-mediated over a period of 9 years but it most probably would not qualify for first degree murder as the victims are sort of random in nature. As of now, they prosecutors have not actually decided on what to nail Breivik and court has allowed a special 8 weeks of solitary confinement where only his lawyer is allowed access to give the prosecution more latitude in the conduct of the investigation and finally arriving at a charge. Perhaps extraordinary events call for extraordinary measures. On a lighter note on this very grave issue, perhaps it is a sort of reverse class action.

This event set me thinking on what can Singapore and Singaporean learn and take precautionary measures beyond policing and intelligence spheres but also on public, political, economic arenas and also rethink the meaning of justice beyond the restrictive meanings of those in the lawyering and judiciary profession. Perhaps also the parliament where our laws are made.

Punitive Measures
As a maturing society, we ought to come to terms that no amount of effort is enough to totally prevent such risks. On the same note, much can be done by our government and society acting in concerted effort to minimize the risks. To throw caution to the wind and do nothing just because it is an impossibility would amount to gross negligence.

The maximum punishment that laws in various countries differs widely but it can be classed as 3 broad categories. Death sentence by which ever means, time limited life sentence which can vary from 20-30 years and life sentence till death with no time limit. Various comparative especially between death sentence and life sentence and its impact on serious crime rates has not been totally conclusive that death sentence reduces serious crime rates. This is not a pro-life debate and one thing we can conclude that death sentence appears to be a cheaper alternative for the government in terms of managing such criminals. There is some co-relation that most first world nations consider the death sentence as cruel and so do away with it but in many states in USA, the death sentence is still the order of the day for serious crimes. It is rather conclusive that in almost all countries, the law is sufficient or perhaps too punitive in some cases.

Besides the law,the co-joining factors relates to policing and judiciary process. Being mostly libertarian at heart, I think that we need to titrate the level of policing to a sufficient level to have an acceptable level of public safety and law and order and not be driven to the extreme of being a police state with little or no freedom for the citizenry. This is a complex issue that the government in consultation with the citizenry must decide not only on the level of policing but also the matter and form as well.

Judiciary process is a very loaded item and I would be very careful else I run foul of the law. Basically, the two main categories are a judge based or jury consisting of the citizenry. There is no conclusive evidence of one over the other. I stand very economized here.

In terms of punitive measures, I am of the opinion that we overall fairly sufficient altogether there have been some controversies on both end of the spectrum. We had to contend with and grow up as a nation with regards to the escape whilst under Singapore custody of a key potential terrorist element Mas Selamat arrested by the police of our neighboring country Malaysia succeeding man hunting down Mas Selamat and extraditing him back to Singapore. On the other hand, we have also been criticized by NGOs like Amnesty International for Internal Security Act which allows for detention without trial. I recognized that this act is a caricature left behind by the British that used to be our colonial masters. I also see reasons for not dropping or changing this Act as Singapore was facing substantial struggle from communists or communalists elements both internally as well as externally like the Communist Party of Malaya and fast breeding of communism in our corridor like Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma with their larger over lords of Russian and China. This dispensation is most probably passe with communism running out of style as well as being reformed greatly like in China. Let not in our haste for popularism throw the baby out with the bath water by eliminating the Internal Security Act altogether but can explore changes to it to fit the political climate. USA enacted the Patriot Act and created a Homeland Security Bureau in reaction to 911 and perhaps having the backbone of an Act of similar nature, we can revise the Act instead.

As in all things, we must sought for balanced and well considered position rather than a knee jerk and more extremists measures. No doubt time is of the essence but we can always have temporary legislation subject to further review with a given time frame perhaps. The Patriot Act in USA is not without detractors internally as well as fear of turning the country into a police state or fear of misuse by those in powers for their own ends.

Social Glue-GINI index and Social mobility
There are research evidence co-relating high GINI with either terrorist activity, revolt and war. I see social mobility as part being a big part to address high GINI index overtime. It is my worry here as a Singaporean that our GINI index has been increasing even with a growing GDP. I am all for a meritocratic value system but it must be tampered with a humane heart and safety net for the those at the bottom of society as well as those that falls through the strict rules of the safety net. I know that the current PAP government is very resolute in not encouraging a lethargic socialist populace by holding back on expanding the social safety net. I am very concerned in this arena as a widening rich poor gap coupled with fairly porous immigrant labour laws which is a major part of the ingredients capitulating into the Oslo carnage.

Back on social mobility, history has shown that it is easy for a meritocratic society to transform into a class stratified society. The rich and powerful overtime will be tempted to change the rules of the game to preserve their place in society. Our now retired but still influential statesman Lee Kuan Yew recently was quoted by the press that he will feel sorry for Singapore if we were to have a two party government granted he has various merits for a one party system. History has proven in Animal Farm speak that absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is a very common tendency based on the strength of self interest as stated by Adam Smith. Many have mis-quoted or misunderstood his self interest for selfishness and if we look deeper, there is a big differential between self interest which is lawful, moral and normal to selfishness which can disintegrate a society into the vestiges of hell surely though it might not be immediately.

We have to be true to ourselves that in the same breathe that we speak of meritocracy, we cannot deny the fact that blood the flows in us is thicker than water. This is why I was very concerned when the PAP government decided to scrap Estate Duty totally as estate duty is there as one of the tools to guard against poverty trap. In addition, we ought to watch out and arrest the spread of nepotism as we push towards an equal opportunity society as it is a very human tendency to do so. The spread of the tax burden is also a very key policy instrument and I am in favor of an across the board consumption like our GST as a good and efficient tax practice as it is easier to administer, has fewer tax loopholes as well as encouraging savings for future versus consumption. GST also tend to have a negative effect of shifting the tax burden towards the poor as generally, the poor will save less than the rich as a percentage of their income. To add injury, we have also lowered corporate tax as well as skewed the personal income tax in favor of the rich by reducing the tax rate for those on the higher tax brackets. The rationale explained by the government for the corporate tax to for us to stay competitive with neighboring economies like Hong Kong and the tweaking of the personal income tax to discourage 'tax planning' activities. Perhaps we ought to re-examine the corporate tax, personal income tax, estate duty and GST holistically together.

I am certainly no anglophile but I endorse their making equal opportunity, transparency and equitable society as non-negotiable. England was as feudal state as one can be and remains one of the last few larger economies to continue constitutional monarchy. It took England about 200 years to transition itself from an executive monarchy to constitutional monarchy in a fairly peaceful manner although there has been bloodshed compared to the number of people that died in the communist revolution that overthrew the executive Tsar monarchy in one swoop.

This is not an opportunistic endeavor to use the stage of Oslo carnage to further my personal views but looking at the Oslo Carnage through Singapore looking glass.

Cheers,,,,, Pete

My Fellow American

Monetary Quadratic Mysteries-USD/Euro/Yen/RMB

2011-07-19T22:36:00.006+08:00

Peter Lye

Sometime back in May 2005, I wrote a similar topic called The Currency Trilogy Impact of USA Policy on the world Economy and it is timely for a review as RMB has gained much ground to warrant being ranked as one of the major currencies of the world. The economic backdrop and her twin sister; the political struggle has also changed significantly.

Technically, there are only 3 main currencies for international trade and reserve purpose because the RMB is non deliverable outside China due to exchange controls imposed by China. This is fast changing as China is experimenting on a limited scale in denominating both import and export in RMB. There is much controversy within China that it might in fact worsen the currency imbalance much like some patients dying from the chemotherapy treatment for their cancer instead.

While this is happening, fast thinking and creative investment bankers whom are partly if not mostly to be blamed for the economic hardship in 2008 following the demise of Lehman Brothers and CDO market have started to to offer products like non-deliverable RMB forward contracts where the settlement is mostly in USD/Euro/Yen. Such products has reached such maturity for Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CMB) being the first exchange globally to offer clearing facilities for such instruments to provide more liquidity, price transparency and reduce counter-party risks which wrecked havoc in 2008 for non-exchange traded products. Various exchanges has also jumped on the band wagon to provide such facilities with Singapore Exchange (SGX) being one of them for Asia Pacific region. Being a Singaporean, instead of being jubilant for Singapore, I felt uneasy as the exchanges will now bear the counter party risks. Let's hope that SGX will be disciplined and shrewd in its conduct of such trades if not God help us all in the next crisis.

In addition, a number of Chinese Banks with overseas branches have started offering deposit taking accounts denominated in RMB. The catch is that they are both non-interest bearing and acceptance and delivery is not in RMB but usually the home currency of the branch or USD. Customers are attracted by the money making possibilities based upon the upward trajectory of the RMB.

The US federal government reached its debt ceiling of USD 14.3 trillion in May 2011 and is likely to face a technical default in August 2011 if the dead lock in Congress in approving an increase in the debt ceiling continues. Surprisingly or not so surprisingly, US federal debt instruments continue to maintain investment grade rating by all 3 rating agencies i.e. Fitch, Moody and S&P. Not known to many, the oligopoly of this industry by these 3 companies is protected by US laws therefore there is bound to be COI as these rating agencies does a delicate balance of maintaining its external reputation and not biting the hands that feeds it.

In today's complex web of financial derivatives, the impact of a technical default of US Federal Government will be further ashore than USA and beyond the holders of the bonds unlike similar circumstances when US defaulted on its bond sold in london by George Peabody of JP Morgan in 1800. Some instruments or products can vaporize into zero value if they have a Credit Event clause tied to the US Federal Government embedded within. Many of these instruments are likely to be traded off exchange and it might take longer for such defaults to become visible. There is also the domino effect of such systemic failures to contend with. All things considered, it is likely to be a larger fire ball compared to Lehman Brothers.

Since the probability of such Credit Events happening is deemed as highly unlikely, correct risk pricing becomes more complicated normally resulting in a bipolar price situation of swinging between extremes at very short notice. This could wipe out products or instruments deemed as safe haven to reach cynaide grade toxicity in a blink of an eyelid. Post Lehman Brothers, only the shorter termed instruments would have expired or re-termed on better conditions but the longer termed instruments continue unabated in carrying such risks. Another class of assets that are likely to be at risk are issuers Credit Default Swaps (CDS). Go check the definition of Credit Events in www.isda.org which is frequently referenced and used and you will be surprised by how wide and easily invokable the definition is.

With the US presidential election due in 2012 and Obama playing his cards towards a second term presidency, he is likely to go for temporal pain relief type of measures than hard to swallow bitter medicine to garner more votes. Surprisingly, his own Democrats in Congress are calling for a more difficult double barreled measure of spending cuts and increasing taxes while the Republicans are only calling for spending cuts.

Both the Euro and the Euro zone seems to be deep in trouble with Greece topping the list at present followed by lesser counter parts like Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain nick named (PIIGS). Greece seems to be in locked horns over the populace unwilling to swallow the bitter pre-conditions of ECB/IMF lead rescue package of spending cuts and increase in taxes reasoning that the economy is already in dire straits with high unemployment. Monetizing their debt is not an option if they continue to stay un ECB as only ECB can print money and not the member states who typically finance their deficits by issuing Euro denominated bonds. The differential for CDS on German Bundesbank considered the gold standard in Eurozone now against Greek government bonds have been rising to proportions equating such bonds on par with junk bonds regardless of how the rating agencies peg them. This makes it very expensive for Greece to finance its deficit compounding the problem further.

Should the inevitable but not impossible event happens that Greece gets out of the ECB, the whole un-winding process back to their own currency is likely to be 10 times more complicated, painful and long drawn than when Greece entered the ECB. Firstly, valuation wise, the formulation, basis would be so wide ranging and controversial that market sentiments will likely rule the day. Perhaps break fuse would be enforced to prevent sudden unprecedented drop but such relief is only temporal and finally, the market still dictates its valuation. Secondly, with little or no bilateral or multilateral currency swaps agreement with partner countries, the new currencies is wide open and naked to predatory practices of short term market speculators. ECB is most likely to be provide this air-cover as part of the agreement but it is likely to be only effective for short to medium term as the politicians behind the ECB are likely to loose voter support especially in Germany and France. As the ECB is an economic and monetary union with each member state preserving their own political sovereignty, the election time table is on a staggered time line unlike in USA and this would buy the ECB some more time albeit a small measure.

Perhaps the national anthem for Japan should be changed to "God Saved our Prime Minister" in japanese language of course. Naoto Kan was on the brink of being booted out of office by a no confidence initiative when a devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident hit Japan on 11th March 2010. The aftermath of both the earthquake and tsunami rebuilding is underway but the nuclear accident is still un-resolved with unpredictable future outcomes as of now. With the nation facing a national calamity, Kan stay in office was temporarily secured as he promises to step down once the situation is more conducive and stable for a power transition. Kan is still in office amidst smaller calls for him to step down. Although Japan is the 3rd largest economy GDP wise, it is drowning in a huge internal fiscal deficit luckily it has a strong external trade balance to buffer it. There are concerns that the disruption in her industrial output could hamper production capabilities of other countries because less forgiving supply chain measured in days instead of weeks or months. It is not uncommon for a product to consists of parts from at least a dozen of countries or more. The re-construction will add to the huge fiscal deficit and the benefit is less likely to be broad-based but more narrowly focused on construction related industries. This could also a cause of worry for the re-emergence of Yakuza power as many construction related companies are infested with Yakuza elements in some way like the post 1972 Kobe earthquake re-construction.

If history can be relied upon to repeat itself, we could most probably rest more easily about Japan and Europe as most world-wide recessions in recent past have their roots mainly in US save I think for the Asian and Latin American economic crisis.

Of bigger concern is the forth-coming shift in economic and military power. Of the USD 14.3 Trillion debt, about USD 1.3 Trillion is held by China. In addition, China is also a major holder of Euro zone government bonds. These were the results of trade surpluses accumulated by China. It is almost a no brainer that if the current growth and decline continues with China and USA, China's GDP will surpass that of USA in about 2020. On a per capita basis, pro-literate camps in USA argue that USA still reign supreme on a per capita basis and this is what counts most. The flip side to this 'per capita' argument will also mean that China's GDP has far more growth potential to tap on as development continues in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and subsequent tiers of urban areas. My parting worry is that shifts in economic power rarely goes on peacefully and could result sew the seeds for another potential world war yet again.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter
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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Brahms Violin Concerto Opus 77-The Heart Strings Concerto

2011-07-07T23:33:00.002+08:00

Heart strings concerto because after listening about 5 versions of this piece, I was getting increasingly emotive. I was definitely not sure whether it is melancholy, romanticism, anger, triumph or perhaps a combination of them. Perhaps, I should change my will to have this played during my funeral, or over a romantic dinner or perhaps over a deeply philosophical reflective canvass. It did not help that Brahms did little commentary to help in the interpretation except dedicating to great hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim who was introduced to Brahms by another hungarian violinist Eduard Remenyi. Both violinists contributed much to this piece as Brahms was primarily a pianist but it was Joachim that premiered and gained most of the recognition for his contribution. My recommendation for enjoying this wonderful piece is against a dimly lighted room with a glass of full body and long finish french red wine and allow your mind and body to relax. Just in case, I am not an alcoholic.

Remenyi was no ordinary person and supported the Hungarian revolution of 1848-1849 and had to leave Hungary as a result. Career wise, though with less limelight than Joachim, he was a notably successful violinist with calling cards that included solo violinist to Queen Victoria. Remenyi was mostly remembered for dropping dead in the midst of giving a concert in San Francisco.

Although there is some evidence from various correspondents that Brahms intended it to be a 4 movement piece with a scherzo in between but the final product was a 3 movement piece. As with most Brahms music, there is little guesswork on the authoritative source as Brahms made sure only the final piece remains and discarded all work in progress.

The cadenza has about 16 versions by musicians like Leopold Auer, Henri Marteau, Max Reger, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, George Enescu, Nigel Kennedy, Rachel Barton Pine and Ruggiero Ricci. On this count, it could be classed as a virtuoso show piece rather than a symphonic work. A symphonic work is most probably more appropriate as it comes with a 90 bar introduction by the orchestra and also a pretty substantial melody line on the oboe in the second movement. When attending a concert of this piece, be prepared to see the solo violinist standing doing nothing there for a good part of the work.

Joan Chissell seems to imply that this concerto was written by Brahms to bridge the quarrel with Joachim for openly siding with Amalie Schneeweiss during her divorce proceedings in 1880. It is more likely for the another Brahms piece Double Concerto opus 102 composed in 1887 as an apology instead. Not exactly sure why Brahms remained single although he claimed that his love for music is too overwhelming to accommodate another love for a wife. However, he seems to be associated with wives of his friend like Clara Schumann in addition to Joachim's divorce.

The piece was premiered on 1st January 1879 by Joachim as soloist and Brahms conducting at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. There were two major views on the program for that concert based on historical records. This is not uncommon even in modern day concerts due to no-show or last minute logistical problems for the actual concert to vary with the program. The majority view was the concert went as per the program note with Beethoven Violin Concerto in D opus 61 for the first half and Brahms Violin Concerto also in D major opus 77 for the second half. This was most probably Joachim's idea to have a more familiar piece by Beethoven to pave the way for the new work as Brahms clearly preferred it the other way. The second view held by Charles O'Connell with the concert consisting of Beethoven 7th symphony and a handful of other minor works. This seems highly unlikely as it would have stretched beyond the normal duration of a concert.

My favorite movement is the subdued second movement with the woodwinds dominated introduction that moves my heart strings greatly. Another favorite part is the cadenza part of the first movement where the soloist can demonstrate their skills. The third movement provides a contrast to the first 2 movements but I cannot finger it as being celebratory, anger or triumph.

This piece is classed as one of the four great German violin concertos along with those by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Bruch. As such, it is also recorded by many artists but I would limit it to those I have heard and personally like it. Actually the inclusion of Mendelssohn can be a joke as the name itself is as Jewish as can be but he converted away from Judaism though.

For the more recent recordings, the two pieces that comes to mind are Joshua Bell and Julia Fischer. Another recording that has been highly acclaimed is Anne-Sophie Mutter second recording with Kurt Masur in 1997 after the death of her husband in 1995 as one of the more emotive perhaps emitting from her personal grief. As for the more dated recordings, I like Nathan Milstein second recording with conductor Eugene Jochum and David Oistrakh recording with Pierre Fournier. I understand from literature that Milstein first recording in mono is supposedly one of the best but I cannot comment as I have not heard it.

Here are the albums:

Peter Lye aka lkypeter

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

GINI out of the Lamp or Control-Equitable Pay for Singapore Politicians

2011-06-25T04:23:00.004+08:00

GINI is not a mis-spelling but a play of the words Genie and GINI. GINI coefficient is strangely used more widely by economists although it originated from an Italian sociologist Corrado Gini in his 1912 paper "Variability and Mutability". In essence, it postulated the dispersion of wealth within a socio-economic grouping. A value of 0 for total equal distpersion; everyone one in that socio-economic group gets the same measurable unit of value or money. 1 on the other hand represents maximal dispersion or spread. I have used the word dispersion in place of equality commonly used with GINI on purpose as dispersion measures the distribution strictly in a statistical sense whereas equality and inequality have a more complex bouquet of connotations of a moral, economic, and societal dimensions.

Lets deal first with GINI strictly based on dispersion. The dispersion of wealth in any socio-economic group is a multi-factorial matters some of which has its roots in the law of the land, migration/emigration, demography, governmental socio-economic policies, transfer payments, social safety nets which are likely to me more controllable over the horizon than factors like societal stratification,religion and commonly accepted moral mores. This list is not exhaustive lest my more scholarly colleagues strike me with their pen before I can begin. Let's first agree that a GINI coefficient of 0 is not tenable in any society including communal and communistic regimes nor is 1 acceptable as it is likely to result in anarchy mostly sooner than later. The answer is nether the mid-point 0.5 as each socio-economic grouping have different ideas on what it acceptable starting from 0 and also different threshold towards 1 before anarchy happens.

Secondly, lets attempt to thread the minefield of the more complex issue of equality and inequality. Dispersion measures the distribution of the fruits of labour without consideration of variability of efforts by individual in producing the fruits. These variability can be a result of more controllable elements like personal effort, education, foresight, equal opportunities etc. Thereafter the more tricky less controllable elements like demography, race, religion, migration/immigration, inheritance, intellect and congenital disabilities. I do not want to pretend to have an iota of how to define equality, what equalizers we can put in place and how far do we want to equalize the opportunities but not the outcome as each of us have to be responsible for our outcome to some extent. This affects people at both ends of the wealth spectrum and the sandwich class more to a greater extend

I sincerely hope that the committee looking into this would attempt to consider these factors. Their task is not an easy one as it is not a formulae to be dealt with but a multitude of complex issues. At first, I had a sense of shame as a Singaporean when it was announced that Gerard Ee was appointed by the PM to tackle this issue as at the back of my mind, no or not many countries have seen a need to do so. Politicians are supposedly in it wholly if not partly out of altruistic reasons but I am mindful that monetary dimension of the reward have to be enough for them to lead an acceptable level of living and not be aptly tempted to corruption. However, I also subscribe that if politicians have a tendency towards corruption, no amount of monetary reward is enough for this group. When Paul Getty one of the richest man of his era was interviewed at his death bed on what is enough, his answer was just a little bit more. However, great politicians like Ghandi was never motivated by the rewards but on the converse, it was the hardship that motivated him to do greater things.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Political Theme Song for Singapore Election Results-Bruckner Symphony No. 7 in E Major WAB 107

2011-05-22T21:52:00.008+08:00

The recent election results in Singapore have been termed water-shed for the ruling party People Action Party (PAP), opposition parties especially Workers Party (WP) and all voters. The outcome can mean many things to many some of which includes:

time and tide might NOT heal everything and over time, people might NOT forget. Politics is no longer a once in 5 year event during election campaigning,

whether there is a need to revamp the voting system especially the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system towards a system that moves us towards a more direct form of democracy,

what messages are the voters telling both PAP and the opposition parties on the brand of democracy they want to see in Singapore not only in the future but also in the near future within reasonable bounds,

last but not least, voters were politically emphatic about the voting scene due to the lack of choice in credible alternatives opposition parties in the past but is begining to realize that every vote counts and it starts with their own vote now that we have more credible, brave and altruistic opposition parties.

My position is not a binary one that runs along party lines of PAP or the opposition but how we as citizens of Singapore can participate more actively in the political process rather than treat it as a once in 5 year event. The fault for current state of democracy lies both with PAP as well as our political empathy in the past 30 years or so creating a vacuum of political power dominated by PAP. Perhaps the one party rule in the last 30 years by PAP has been an accidental fortune in that sense. A focused non-partisan rule could have been one of the major ingredients for our phenomenal economic and social growth achieved mainly by well tried and tested economic development model based mainly on foreign investment, regional service centers and export led of certain industrial clusters likes petrochemical, electronics, disk drive, wafer-fab, pharmaceutical and bio-technology. Leveraging our labour cost advantage, investor friendly policies and good industrial infrastructure, the unemployment problem was plugged by PM Lee Kuan Yew and his team. The foresight and gumption of the second generation leaders lead by PM Goh Chok Tong with the advantage of Lee and his team supporting Goh. The single party enabled Goh to execute a unilateral risky but calculated strategic move away from labour intensive to skill intensive by raising wages, skills and infrastructure in one bold orchestrated move and it worked again.

PM Lee Hsien Loong son of Lee Kuan Yew took over the reign from Goh. Lee jr started his reign with an unfair disadvantage having to defend nepotism right from the start. His father's generation was equated to building the hardware. Goh's dispensation built the software. Now that we have a complete solution in computer speak, Lee jr now is now charged with building the heart-ware to bring it from 3^rd world to 1^st world. Besides nepotism, Lee jr did not have a good economic and political developmental template to depend on unlike his dad and Goh. His team actually did not have the full mandate with his dad and Goh still looking over his shoulders closely most probably until recent past with his dad and Goh stepping down by exiting the cabinet formally.

Lee jr filled his team with capable technocrats that mostly graduated in the top tier of ivy leagues and I believe that most were well meaning in wanting to bring Singapore to 1^st world. Besides the unchartered water that Lee jr and his team were maneuvering into, they also had to face an aging and dwindling population as the total fertility rate headed south to reach 1.2. The technocratic team went into short term mode to cure it in a measurable manner that they knew best and with dated advice from his dad and Goh. Tax incentives and more child friendly policies were put in place to very little effect and the team sent in the crash cart and tried to revive the dying patient by immigration on a massive scale. Being a relatively young emigrant country, it was in the process of building a common identity. The mass immigration created a whole host of issues like depressing the wages of the lower strata of society and lead to a growing GINI index that accompanied good news rise in GDP. All was not exactly rosy on the domestic front for example health care cost faced by the population escalated because of a combination of aging population and public healthcare policies like mean testing. The escalating price of private housing spilled into public housing. Transport system was also facing congestion on public roads as the Electronic Road Pricing and Certificate of Entitlement meant to curtail usage and ownership respectively were not only unable to curb the congestion but lead to an increase in transportation cost overall. Public transportation was faced with sardine packed mass transit railway during peak hours mirroring the situation in Japan.

Many initiatives were put in place in the arena of heart-ware like giving the arts and cultural scene a lift and liberalizing censorship laws. These initiatives not only take relatively more time than hardware and software to show results but is also less measurable.

My reasons for choosing Bruckner as the theme song or symphony for this occasion are due to the following historical insights on this piece:

this symphony was the piece that launched the composer Anton Bruckner career into stardom. I sincerely hope that this particular water-shed election results will lead to a right angle turn for our country as a whole,
the second movement Adagio was used to announce 2 historically significant turning points like when Admiral Karl Dönitz announced Adolf Hitler death on 1^st May 1945 and also just before announcing his defeat in Stalingrad on 31^st January 1943. On this note, I do hope that the election results as a clarion call for danger ahead if we maintain status quo and dismiss the election results as noisy crying babies that can be easily pacified and forgotten.

It cannot be business as usual for PAP, opposition parties and the voters all alike and may we have a right angle turn like what Bruckner had with this symphony.

For those that like to have a deeper understanding of Anton Bruckner and Politics, there is a book "Bruckner's Symphonies-Analysis, Reception and Cultural Politics" by Prof. Julian Horton. Cambridge University Press (2004) ISBN-13 978-0-521-82354-8. I have not read the book personally but a cursory browse says it can be quite academic.

Cheers,,,,, Peter Lye

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Singapore Election Outcome-Direct or Representative Democracy?

2011-05-18T17:48:00.012+08:00

It is evident that democracy has become more eugenic amongst Singaporean for the rulers or rulers wannabe and the citizens of Singapore. Our elder statesman Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has made no bones that we need democracy in Singapore but not as what the West understand democracy to be. Now that that the election results are out, I shall factually attempt to look at the outcome using the dimensional framework of Direct Democracy and Representative Democracy. Direct democracy is loosely one in which the citizens participate more directly in the decision and law making process as opposed to representative democracy where citizens vote periodically for representative(s) to be their proxy for decision and law making. The two is not mutually exclusive but represents a continuum and where each state places itself along the this continuum and the mix of tools like elections, referendum employed in decision making.

The Facts
The election results although a landmark point in time event but what affects the results have to do with relevant happenings in the recent past and people's expectation of the future outcome based on their vote.

1. Creation of the Group Representative Constituencies (GRCs) in 1988 on the basis of ensuring that minority racial communities will be represented in parliament. To ensure this, at least 25% of total number of Members of Parliament ( MPs ) must be from GRCs and each GRC must have at least 1 MP from the minority race. As of now, out of the total 87 electoral districts, 15 are GRCs with 75 MPs another 12 independent electoral districts with the normal single MP or what is called Single Member Constituencies (SMCs).

The minority race factor especially for Malays is a sensitive topic as Singapore is a small country with a Chinese majority and sizable Malay minority geographically enveloped by two large Malay/Muslim countries i.e. Malaysia and Indonesia. I have used Malay and Muslim interchangeably as there is almost a direct equation of the Malay and Muslim especially in Malaysia although one recognizes that the former is a race and the latter is a religion. On this basis, I do stand behind the basis on which the GRCs changes were made as an antidote against possible cracks along racial or religious lines and also why a referendum on this issue is not possible because the referendum is likely to run along racial or religious lines rather than a more altruistic note. Just like the various equal opportunity initiatives in USA championed by the Union in the north against the confederates in the south. However, you will notice that there is a lack of a clarion call by the minority within Singapore as well as neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia in and around 1988. It hardly won us any significant brownie points with Malaysia or Indonesia. Is minority representation a reason or an excuse?
The creation of GRC could actually have the un-intended effect of making it more difficult for opposition to field candidates for elections as can be seen during the initial days that the un-contested electoral districts tend to come from GRCs rather than SMCs. In 1988 general elections, 3 of the 5 un-contested electoral districts were GRCs and we can say that this is marginal but if we compare the number of MPs it would be 9 out of a total of 11 MPs that belongs to uncontested GRCs. (Source: Singapore Election 1988 parliamentary results). The figures are more telling in the next election of 1991 for which 10 out of a total 11 uncontested electoral districts were GRCs representing a total of 40 of out a total of 41 un-contested MPs were from un-contested GRCs. (Source: Singapore Election 1991 parliamentary results).
One of the basis tenets of democracy embodies choosing a government from the people, by the people and for the people made famous by President John F Kennedy. The opposition parties have raised this point and the incumbent government has challenged them on the basis that it was not the fault of Peoples Action Party (PAP) but that of the opposition not being able to find and field candidates to avoid this problem of un-contested entry into parliament through tail coating on more influential candidates within the GRCs. We cannot deny the fact that the incumbent PAP government have two third majority in parliament to enable the party to change even the constitution of Singapore. We cannot totally exclude that the GRC system might have a more insidious intent of ensuring PAP's share of political power. Political science is rife with such examples of the danger of the incumbent misuse of their power and authority for their own end rather than representing the voice of the people. One good example is the fielding of Ms Tin Pei Ling in the GRC ward of Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. Even before nomination day, the social media has enough noise that it is not probable for PAP not to have heard the voice of the people against fielding a relatively in-experienced person and there were public outcry that if Ms Tin Pei Ling were to stand, it is only fair that she be fielded in a SMC rather than tail-coating under Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong's Marine Parade GRC ward. Even Goh Chok Tong was very candid to have remarked before nomination day that Ms Tin Pei Ling was not really his choice but that of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The reason for fielding a young candidate of 27 years old was for her to connect the PAP to the younger voters. PAP has clearly ignored the voice of the ground by fielding Ms Tin Pei Ling under Marine Parade GRC rather for her to earn her own stripes by standing alone in a SMC. I doubt we can believe when PAP leaders say that they hear the people but perhaps that is where it stops; hearing but not doing enough. Political science is actually clear that political party is one of the necessary evils of a democratic system and this is clearly a case in point where the political party and the people's interest can run counter to each other and yet triumph over it.

2. Contest between local and national interest. Like most Singaporean, I personally feel very sorry for Mr. George Yeo. If the system were to allow the people to choose between Ms Tin Pei Ling and Mr. George Yeo, the choice would be very obvious for the latter. The implementation of democracy is far from perfect and this is one of the more "unjust' outcome of the system.

The positioning of candidates by the party on nomination day can be more important than the outcome on election day itself. One of the key differential in this election was the appearance of a number key influential opposition candidates with stellar background to match or even exceed those of PAP candidates. My admiration goes to these people for choosing to take the more unconventional choice of riding on a lesser opposition vessel instead of the almost guaranteed easier route to power, wealth and glory via the PAP vessel. In the past, the main opposition characters that PAP had to watch carefully were Chiam See Tong, the late JB Jeyaratnam, Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim. This time round, we see more of such new blood like Chen Shao Mao, Kenneth Jeyaratnam, Vincent Wiseneraya, Ang Yong Guan etc. With such a backdrop, the stronger opposition parties has decided on a 'show hand' in polker game speak strategy by putting their best candidates into GRC instead of SMC. WP, SPP and SDP had almost all their chips in Aljunied, Bishan-Toa Payoh and Holland-Bukit Timah GRCs respectively.

PAP was not without choice in my view. They could firstly avoid a clash of the titans by placing all their current and potential cabinet MPs out of these GRCs to ensure minimal disruption to the cabinet lineup post election. This would also mean a very good chance of losing one or a few GRCs making it a history in Singapore as no opposition party has managed to win a GRC until the 2011 general elections. However, this route seems unlikely for the all mighty PAP as my guess is that they want total control of government by occupying all seats in parliament. This can be seen from the post election reaction in 1984 when PAP lost two seats in Tanjong Pagar and Potong Pasir to Jeyaratnam and Chiam See Tong respectively. In other countries, the ruling party would have popped champagne and call it a landslide win but it was a sombre occasion for PAP on why has the people in these two electorates given the man-date to the opposition. If the PAP had taken this route, it would have made it an easier choice for the voters in these 3 GRCs by voting purely on the merits of the candidates and their position on local issues.

As expected, PAP responded to the opposition 'show hand' by doing the same by fielding part of their cabinet in these GRCs. This put a heavier burden on the voters as theirs is no longer based on the merit of the candidates and local issues alone. Their vote could result in a few cabinet ministers losing not only their MP seats but also their cabinet position as Singapore law makes it mandatory for cabinet positions to be MPs. Now that the election results are out, we know that in the case of Aljunied GRC, PAP lost the battle. To me, this election is water shed for a few reasons. Firstly, opposition party winning a GRC and secondly, cabinet ministers like George Yeo losing both their MP and cabinet position. I can only make a guess on what went on cerebrally for the voters in Aljunied GRC. My guess is that majority of these votes for the opposition was a vote for a more democratic future of Singapore against the shorter term set back of losing a few good man like George Yeo. What was telling was also the drop in the percentage of popular votes from 66.1% in 2006 to 60.1% this time round. I would like to refute the reasons that PAP is facing a younger generation of voters this time round as one only need to look at the population pyramid going more inverted now than previously.

What if PAP has chosen the second option of preserving their cabinet members by not fielding them in these 3 GRCs? My guess is there is a greater likelihood of PAP losing possibly up to 3 GRCs but all would be well within the cabinet lineup. Even with this worse case scenario, PAP would still have two third majority in parliament with mandate to change anything and almost everything including the constitution of Singapore. Sometimes, it might be better to lose a few battles and win the war but my guess is this is not likely to be within the vocabulary of PAP.

Finally, 'absolute power corrupts absolutely' in animal farm speak but 'democracy without proper law can lead to anarchy' in paraphrase by the Grecian wise sage of old Plato in 'The Republic'. No explanation but fodder for you to consider seriously when casting your vote in the next election.

Please do circulate to as many friends as possible and can visit my blogfor other writings.

Cheers,,,,, Peter Lye

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Singapore Election Theme

2011-05-04T01:27:00.006+08:00

With so much written on our coming general election in Singapore, I would like to take a slightly different view for voters to ponder. I take this as an open letter to all Singaporeans as it is in my blog.

1. Are we really too small to afford a more balanced parliament with sufficient check and balance ? How about some of the smaller European countries with about similar population that have done so. In Animal Farm speak "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" and it must be done constitutionally both in the letter and spirit with another quote from Plato's Republic in paraphrase "democracy without law leads to anarchy'.

2. Minimal government can sometimes be prosperous like Hong Kong pre-1997. Bad government can lead to chaos and under-development I do not dispute. However, does well paid government leads to superior performance for the country if we were to take a co-relative longitudinal study of a few countries for comparison? I am not too sure it can lead to better government in my humble opinion. I would challenge that a study be done to proof the case and not get emotional on this and let the facts speaks for itself. Whilst paying so called market rate for government talent might reduce corruption but it might not as well as Mr. Paul Getty, one of the richest American billionaire when asked by a journalist at his death bed what is enough, his answer was just a little bit more. In addition, those who want to be in government must have a certain degree of altruism and not purely on economic grounds alone.

Please do circulate to as many friends as possible and can visit my blog for other writings.

Cheers,,,,, Peter Lye

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

German/British Parentage

2011-05-04T00:50:00.002+08:00

An award show host who was of German/British parentage remarked that his German part would like to take over the world but his British part is too polite to say so.....(source not traceable but have a good laugh. The original joke I lifted from a show did not have the German and British as it was a BBC program. In this way we do not have to think too hard to have a laugh.

Cheers,,,,,, Pete

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

2011-04-28T18:46:00.002+08:00

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ by Edmund Burke on Adolph Hitler

Cost of Government-FaceBook Post Chen Show Mao

2011-04-28T14:12:00.002+08:00

Peter Lye

Suggest you take up the issue of ministerial pay when the time is ripe. Their premise of low paying government tend to lead to bad governance I do not dispute but if we were to make a correlation between premium pay for government leads to better government has little or no political science backing. Perhaps someone myself should do a longitudinal study correlating GDP and it's growth, gini index, cost of governance taking into account glcs. Worth a thot. We ought to challenge on the premise of facts and not god has spoken. I have a personal blog on politics economics and classical music on lkypeter.blogspot.com. Cheers. Pete

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Tchaikovsky-Andante Cantabile Op. 11-Where is the forest?

2011-03-14T00:51:00.001+08:00

Whenever I am recommended famous standalone movement, I would diplomatically suggest that perhaps there is more hidden gems to be uncovered in listening to the complete piece instead. I was baffled when one of my friends told he how moving the piece of music Andante Cantabile by Tchaikovsky was and I suddenly held my breath and agreed wholeheartedly for the moment. I could not remember or figure out where this piece was taken from. Upon searching for an answer, I found to my astonishment that I have with me about 10 standalone movements of this piece but not a single complete version. To add injury, for once I did not know the origin of this piece but later found out that it was actually the second movement of Tchaikovsky's string quartet no. 1 in D minor Opus 11. As a consolation, I found out that even great artists like Maisky, Perlman and of course the more commercialized Yo-Yo Ma did not bother to record the entire 4 movements at all. My hunt for my Red October ( you should see this show about USA/Russian submarine warfare ) began and I finally managed to nail down two complete recordings by Emerson Quartet and Borodin Quartet.

The quartet was written by Tchaikovsky early in his musical career in 1871 and even the composer himself paid special attention to the second movement Andante Cantabile in B flat by writing an arrangement for solo cello and orchestra in 1888. There was much consolation to my intellect that my missing this might not have been such a big intellectual suicide after all. If you have not heard the entire 4 movements of string quartet no. 1 opus 11 where Andante Cantabile was taken from, I do urge you to do so as the other 3 movements sort of provide a larger canvas on which the melancholic Andante Cantabile was drawn on. Rest assured that most of you are likely to enjoy listening to the entire piece thereafter. This is why I added "Where is the forest?" to the title assuming Andante Cantabile to be one of the trees in the forest.

There is another interesting twist to Andante Cantabile itself that links Tchaikovsky to the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Edward Garden wrote in his work on Tchaikovsky and Tolstoy that while Tchaikovsky himself was a great musician, he was not well endowed literary; the libretto of his only opera Queen of Spades was written by his brother Modest Tchaikovsky. Tolstoy himself has on the same account distanced himself from much of anything musical that is beyond his comprehension although he did play the piano when he was young.

The two great Russians met in Moscow in 1876/7 resulting in Tchaikovsky's Andante Cantabile being added as part of the programme for the special evening of music in honor of Tolstoy. Although Tolstoy has limited appreciation of music, he has a great love for folk music and was moved to tears by the Andante Cantabile during that concert. Andante Cantabile has part of its origin in a Russian or Ukrainian folk song.

Tchaikovsky has fashioned a folk song of humble origin to be part of a great Romantic era music in Andante Cantabile or shall I say String Quartet No. 1.

Cheers,,,, Pete aka http://lkypeter.blogspot.com

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Bach Well-Tempered Clavier BVW840/BWV870-Out of this World Chicken Soup for the Soul

2011-02-21T19:02:00.001+08:00

What links Johann Sebastian Bach; the father of classical baroque music, Glenn Gould; a controversial Canadian pianist/interpreter ie player of Bach music, and USA NASA Voyager space mission to warrant this article? Perhaps I have gone bonkers but please hear me out before you put the verdict on me or this article. Unlike my favorite film producer Roman Polanski that like to put his audience in suspense until the end of the show or even leave many poignant questions unanswered, I shall kill your curiosity first.

NASA launched two one way ticket unmanned spacecraft in 1977 to explore the outer reaches of the universe as well as to tell any possible intelligible live form out there that there are humans on planet Earth. One of the means is via the Golden Record on board Voyager 1 and 2. This record contains many multi-media that best describes what we are like. One section contains 27 pieces of music selected across different, geography, culture and historical time lines. 3 of these pieces were composition by Bach out pacing other famous composers like Beethoven with 2 and Mozart with 1. Well-Tempered Clavier BVW870 played by Glenn Gould was one of them. Hope that satisfies your curiosity but continue to read on.

I was very moved when a old friend of mine whom I first met about 10 years ago invited me over to his place for dinner during the recent Chinese Lunar New Year holidays as it was supposed to be their close knit family affair and I was the only non-family. We had a hearty meal over lively conversations which included dry humor by the host that one of couple he knows has started to make love daily recently. Actually, he was referring to the long running Taiwanese serial called "Love" that the couple has become addicted to and will not miss the daily broadcast for the world. The laughter was not spontaneous as with most dry humor and I shall say that those who laugh first most probably are more witty or has simply heard the joke before.

After dinner, some of us proceeded to the music room which has an impressive collection of mainly classical music on both CDs as well as old world vinyl records that most probably numbers in the thousand. This is why I call it chicken soup for the soul as good music and company is equivalent to what food is to our stomach. He also has an equally good sound system that uses old world vacuum tubes instead of modern day integrated circuits and transistors. For my audiophiles audience, I shall not debate on which is better as this is not the purpose of this article. BTW, the entire sound system was vacuum tube based. To spare us the agony of choosing music from his vast selection, he has put aside about 10-20 vinyl records for us to sample and one of the record is Glenn Gould 1975 recording of Bach Well-Tempered Clavier. As the entire composition has some 48 pieces of preludes and fugues that will take hours to go through, we only managed to sample the first 2 which is BVW840. I am familiar with this composition and own two versions of it by Vladimir Ashkensay and Angela Hewitt (2008 version as she made a second recording of the same composition in 2009 as well). I have heard a few of Glenn Gould other recordings but not this composition and was half surprised by his interpretation of it. Since the host has chosen, I chose to be politically correct as I am known to be otherwise more so because of my altruistic and passionate pre-disposition. Being politically correct does not necessities me to not express my opinion and I told the host boldly that this is one interesting interpretation of the composition and told him of the other versions that I have heard. My second nature got the better of me and I continued to mention why it was 'interesting' like the unusually stronger accent on the first note of the right hand motif as well as a more pronounced and less legato treatment of the right hand motif. To save myself, I added that it is not easy to achieve this with a highly sustained and legato left hand motif as it requires the player to divorce his left/right hand as well as very good control over the pedals on the piano. Time passes quickly in good company and music and it was time to take leave as it was getting late.

On my journey home, Glenn Gould's piece kept on making repeated loops in my mind and once I hit home, it was time to re-visit the same composition by Ashkenazy and Hewitt and it confirms the differential that I have heard. Tempo wise, Hewitt's version was well ahead of the pack like catching the 'A' train and it was a little too fast for my liking. Somehow, most recent recordings tend to be faster and Hewitt's version is also the latest of the three. It seems that some musicologist are of the opinion after more evidence has surfaced pointing to a preference for a faster pace by the composer. This itself is a very grey area as the metronome was not invented till much later and the tempo were expressed in language rather than beats per minute which is not scientific. Phrasing wise, Glenn Gould's version does stick out like a sore thumb but not necessarily in a bad way on further listening as it breaks the monotony of the motif and gave a certain life like interpretation to the composition. With the Glenn Gould recording, if you listen carefully, you can hear him humming to himself also.

I hope I have linked the 3 pieces of the puzzle together well enough and last but not least, here are the pictorial representation of 3 albums on CBS Sony, Decca and Hyperion for those who would like to venture further.

Egyptian Humor amidst Turmoil

2011-02-10T01:35:00.000+08:00

Following quoted from Tuesday 7th February 2011 edition of TODAY on page 17.

"We don't want Suleiman, he is a symbol of Mubarak. If he becomes President, we will stage another revolt. We have been living for 30 years under humiliation and injustice," said Mr Omar Gamal, a 22-year-old teacher.

Have a good laugh. If you do not find it funny, the problem most probably rests with you and not me. Ha ha ha.

Cheers,,,, Pete aka http://lkypeter.blogspot.com

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Polarization in Asia Pacific-Possible Rocky Roads Ahead

2011-02-01T20:45:00.000+08:00

So much negative newsprint has been devoted to the situation in North America and Europe that perhaps Asia Pacific has been over-rated as the region that has done relatively well. As I seat back and ponder on the various hot spots in Asia Pacific, I grew more concerned as I live in Singapore which is part of Asia Pacific. Whether we should trea these situations as hair line cracks or a slow but sure polarization with dire consequences for the world.

Pakistan

Starting with the western end, Pakistan should worry us not so much with the assassination of of Punjab Governor Salman Taser. His death could represent a step backward for those championing secular democracy as opposed to a muslim democracy. Pakistan seems to be one of the few countries with a sizable muslim population that seems to be US friendly. This assassination would be more than an embarrassment for the Obama administration. Pakistan has been a key ally of the US in helping to maintain peace in the region as well as a purveyor of US oil interest into the neighboring oil rich Middle East.

What made this a bigger blow was how did his bodyguard that killed him pass the same screening process that Pakistan has so convinced the world that people manning their nuclear arsenal are screened to exclude muslim fundamentalist. The assassin proudly admitted to his act and was thrown roses on his way to court as if hailing him as a hero. This might signal a certain level of worrying possibility on the level muslim fundamentalism has infiltrated the populace in general.

My next question is on the nuclear arsenal in Pakistan. Is it in safe enough hands and whether the government has enough control over it to prevent muslim fundamentalists from using it to hold the world at ransom or worse spark off a nuclear conflict with India or against countries deemed as having a anit-muslim agenda directly or indirectly.

The hero like treatment of his assassin could also signal rising support for muslim democracy as opposed to secular democracy that Salman Taser has championed all his life. This could worsen the long standing conflict between Pakistan and India as the main raison d'etre for the conflict is religiously motivated more than anything else.

Korean Peninsula

North and South Korea who are technically still at war is definitely very tensse. South Korea has for the longest time a US ally and North Korea is both reclusive and hermit like towards the rest of the world perhaps with the exception of China.. It has been speculated that North Korea might have nuclear warfare capabilities and is definitely in the midst of power transition from Kim Jong-Il to his youngest son Kim Jong Un as the elder Kim as there has been rumors about the state of his health.

An unstable North Korea not only spells trouble for South Korea alone but for the Asia Pacific region as well as the world at large. South Korea is now a major economy in Asia Pacific and can send shock waves to an already unstable world economy. In addition, a conflict could politically draw the supporters of North and South Korea ie China and US to sucked into this conflict indirectly and raising the stakes of a wider conflict between China and US.

Russia and Japan

Russian and Japanese relations has been put to the test over the disputed Kuril Islands. This contest is not likely to be based economic or military motive but most probably due to the political bargaining chip for greater things or to feed the ego of the politicians.

China

In warfare strategy, there is no need to be on parity on all fronts with your opponents. The ability to threaten the capabilities of your opponents can be as effective. China's air-craft carrier killer missile is a case in point as the various US carrier group that has been freely roaming the international waters of water of their allies in the region without much threat and a show of force would be more restrictive especially nearer to Taiwan where China has claimed to be one of its provinces. China's readiness on the carrier killer missile would change the naval balance of power in the Asia Pacific and could also means the US carrier groups sphere of operation or influence. In addition, China has of late been taking a harder stand on international matter and does not yield easily to US or international pressure. This is evident in the its posture of their permanent seat on UN security council as well as the dialogue between the two presidents when the Chinese president visited the white house.

On the economic front, China is now the largest holder of US treasure bonds over-taking Japan recently and this will give China the capabilities to rock the US economy if she wants to or to use it as a bargaining chip. While the Chinese currency RMB is not ready to takeover US$ as a major medium of international trade as well as an international reserve currency, China is slowly but surely loosening its grip on the RMB to allow it to be used for bilateral trade with China as well as relaxing currency control measures.

Although we can hail democracy as the leading means of governance with the fall of the Berlin wall as well as Russia losing control over eastern europe, China could very well proof to the world that communism might be a viable form of governance. This would become more distinct if the capitalistic regime of US and Europe undergoes further crisis.

Thailand

Thailand's King has been the stabilizing force whenever the kingdom is in a power struggle and yet be able to let the democratically elected prime minister and his cabinet to rule freely during peace time. However, in the past 2 years, the unification strength of the King might have dwindled somewhat or the King has chosen not to interfere more actively as before. In addition, he is getting on in years and it seems that his heir apparent might not wield the same level of influence as the current king; at least not initially. This can be worrying as it can bring political and economic turbulence to a kingdom that is much in need of a stable platform to grow the economy and reduce poverty in the more remote parts of the kingdom. This is critical as some of the remote parts of the kingdom have muslim instead of buddhist majority and that can be an ingredient for separatists elements to fix a brew.

While we pay heed to the more substantial problems in US and Europe, we must also keep a watching brief over Asia Pacific also.

Cheers,,,, Pete aka http://lkypeter.blogspot.com

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

192K 24 Bits Linnrecords Mozart Symphony

2011-01-25T21:38:00.001+08:00

I have always loved recordings from LinnRecords for their consistent recording and have been buying their SACDs both via internet as well as from retailers. Last night I bought their 192K Studio Master of the above by the late Sir Charles Mackerras conducting the Scottish National Chamber Orchestra and was blown away by it as I seems to be able to turn up the volume and not have the jarring violin and brass. It blew me away....

I compared with the sister recording by the same conductor, orchestra but playing Mozart Symphonies 38, 39, 40, 41 on SACD and certainly there is a difference in the sound.

I am going for 192K to the extend that my finance allows it as it is not cheap as the 192K is USD 27 per CD which is dearer than SACDs.

The equipment I am using for the 192K playback are as follows:

1 .Buffalo NAS Linkstation Quad
2. Gigabit Ethernet
3 .MacMini Core2Duo 2.4 GHz 4GB OSX 10.6.6 iTunes 10.1.1 (AIFF files in 192K 24 Bits)
4. USB Cable-Stock from DAC Box
5. Wyred4Sound DAC2
6. Acrolink 6N-A2200II Interconnect
7. ModWright SWL 9.0 SE Tube Pre-Amp
8. Nanotech Golden Strada #201DCS Interconnect
9. Wyred4Sound Multi-Channel 4 Channel PowerAmp-BiAmp
10. Nanotech Golden Strada #79 Speaker Cables
11. Vandersteen 2ce Mark II speakers

The equipment I am using for the SACD playback are as follows:

1. Marantz SA11S2 SACD Player

2. IXOS Interconnect

3. ModWright SWL 9.0 SE Tube Pre-Amp

4. Nanotech Golden Strada #201DCS Interconnect

5. Wyred4Sound Multi-Channel 4 Channel PowerAmp-BiAmp

6. Nanotech Golden Strada #79 Speaker Cables

7. Vandersteen 2ce Mark II speakers

Beethoven Piano Concerto No 2 in B flat major Op 19-The Half Price Concerto

2011-01-21T01:34:00.002+08:00

Having wrote two commentaries on Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 opus 15 and No. 5 opus 73; his first and last for this genre, sometime back, I am into his piano concerto again. I shall be chronological at least in terms of the date of publicity based on opus number and write about his second concerto opus 19. The reason why opus number is not a good chronological gauge as it is common for composers to publish their work about a year or so later to ensure that they are the only performer and provide little basis for comparative critique especially when the piano is Beethoven's instrument of choice. In fact Beethoven himself said that musical policy demands that one should keep the best concertos to oneself for a time. Actually after more recent discovery of Beethoven's undoubted first piano concerto that pre-dates opus 15 named Piano Concerto in E flat major WoO 4 as no opus number was assigned as it was not published during his lifetime. Perhaps he considered this work too amateurish or juvenile to be associated with it like the phrase "I would not be caught wearing that dress".

Why half price? In selling this concerto to Hoffmeister, Beethoven only asked for 10 ducats instead of the usual 20 ducats as he remarked that he believe that this is not among his best. From this remark, scholars have argued both ways why it is his first attempt in composing the piano concerto genre. Those arguing why it is the first reasoned that it is likely his first attempt as it is less matured in many ways when compared to his piano concerto No. 1 opus 15. Those on the other side reasoned that after having published his piano concerto No. 1 opus 15, this remark is a comparative statement that it is not as good as the previous opus 15.

The concerto opens with a lively orchestra tutti that some remarked that the beginning is fashioned after Mozart flamboyant style while others opined that it is much more reflective of Haydn's gallantry especially the ending of the first movement and the most of the third movement. My favorite portion of this movement is the zesty orchestra tutti that launches this concerto as well as the ending where the soloist displays his ability to divorce his left hand from his right hand to execute the rhythmically polarized portions. On this note, I think that Martha Argerich interpretation of this solo part is my favorite as it sounded so effortless like a walk in the park.

Beethoven's imprint and style is so obvious in this lyrical second movement and to me, it could be connected to his sixth symphony. This is the movement to sit back and soaked up the gentile Adagio like a walk in the beautiful black forest of Germany during spring time.

The finale is the movement that Beethoven has done most modifications from differential in the various manuscripts that survived to the extend that one of them believed to be the original finale has actually been named as a standalone Rondo without opus number Wo4 in B flat major due to the large differential with later manuscripts. Barry Cooper of University of Manchester puts technical brilliance as what sets this movement apart from the rest of the concerto. The resolution at the end of this movement actually sums up not only this movement also the entire concerto nicely.

I have listened to 7 versions of this concerto in writing this concerto and tempo wise, it seems a reversal in trend. The later recordings like the version by Pierre-Laurent Aimard with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting being the slowest and earlier recordings the version by Alfred Brendel with Heinz Walburg conducting seems a tad hurried. Harnoncourt was a percussionist before taking up conducting and these are the artists that put the most emphasis on the tempo.Here are the versions pictorarily.

The Betrothal-Wieniawski Légende Op 17 in G minor

2011-01-07T01:25:00.003+08:00

Henryk Wieniaswki composed this piece out of desperation as Henryk was facing objection from Isabelle Hampton's parents for them to be engaged. It was not recorded what was the nature of their objection was clear but after hearing Légende composed by Wieniawski, her parents changed their mind and allowed the two lovers to be engaged and later marry and have children.

With such a romantic backdrop to this piece, I decided to listen more in depth into this piece and before long, I was humming it. This piece and composer was never on my radar screen of classical music but all that changed after this piece.

I am not going to mention how many versions I have as it would be embarrassing to have and not play and appreciate it. Suffice to all, it does not exceeds using all the limbs of a human being as counters.

This short piece of slightly over 7 minutes can be divided into 3 sections. Quite a rarity for such short pieces in my opinion. The orchestra or piano introduces the pieces for a few short bars before the solo violinist joins in. Perhaps the Henryk wanted to show his sadness in not being able to engage Isabelle. Before you know it, the piece launches itself from G minor to G major whilst maintaining the motif intact. With the transition from minor to major key, the moods brightens so does the tempo. This is perhaps to convey the sweetness of his love for his daughter. The second section ends with a dramatic descending chromatic scale and bring the piece back to the original G minor key. The descend perhaps as a parallel to her parents objection and how this decision could result in a sadness for both Henryk and their daughter Isabelle conveyed in the 3 section in G minor.

I have taken a lot of liberty in interpreting this piece and if you do not agree, I can fully understand. This piece so moved me and I was trying to search for its interpretation but found very scarce information and decided to write one myself.

Some of my recommended recordings IMHO are:
1. Anne-Sophie Mutter/James Levine/Weiner Philharmoniker-Carmen Fantasy-Track 2-DG

2. Itzhak Perlman/Lawrence Foster/The Abbey Road Ensemble-A la Carte-Track 8-EMI

3.Gil Shaham/Lasrence Foster/London Symphony Orchestra-Wieniawski Violin Concerto 1 & 3,
Sarasate, Zigeunrwisen-Track 7-DG

Guys, perhaps this could add to our bag of tricks to get the girl of our dreams or to dream on.

Economist-Wisdom of Recognizing Limitations

2010-12-26T19:35:00.003+08:00

In medical-pharmacology, new drugs are put through a series of test both within the laboratories as well as in the field to ensure their safety and efficacy are known before they are released for general use. Even with such rigors, it is by no means a 100% guarantee. We continue to have issues surfacing way after their their release for general use. Some of these were a result of ethically questionable treatment of information during trials to conceal information like in the case of Vioxx but many are due to our honest lack of knowledge as the human body is a very complex and we are no where near a complete understanding of although we have made great strides in recent past.

I used to discuss with my mentor Uncle John that recognizing how little we do not know about the unknown is one of the mark of maturity. Being a very curious and inquisitive teenager, I was hungry to understand all I could like reading the encyclopedia and dictionary from cover to cover. It dawned upon one day that how little I knew and it was a very humbling sensation.

Although mankind has made great stride in discovering the unknown especially in recent past, I doubt any worthy scholar would dare say that he has full understanding of everything in his field of speciality. In fact, it is sometimes such people that raise red flag to beware of the unknown.

Against the backdrop of the recent global economic meltdown, governments and central banks reacted differently and even for those that reacted similarly, the outcome varies. Unlike medical-pharmacology
discipline, economics is a relatively younger science or perhaps art where laboratory for controlled experiments for testing hypothesis is badly lacking due to the subject/object that simply cannot be contained in a laboratory for controlled studies. Most studies are a result of what I call a rear view mirror historical analysis and synthesis. Even with such studies, the limitations are vast due to its subjective nature.

Given such challenging vagaries that economists are subjected to, should they just throw caution to the wind and toss a dice instead. I think not. Rather I would venture to postulate that we need people with certain psyche where the unknown/blind corners are their best partners in crime and yet be able to apply what they deemed as appropriate in a very moderate manner.

I believe that economics has been plagues by extremism, dogmas and larger than life character in addition to fashion and fades. It is so severe that economists are proud to trumpet their "religion" without any need for apologies. Milton Friedman, a proponent of free market and minimal government. Lord John Maynard Keynes on the other hand championed the limitations of free market and the need to for fiscal intervention. Leading the monetarist camp, we have Anna Schwartz where supply and demand of money becomes the central theme. Inflation buster like Alan Greenspan with a strong faith in the free market in pricing risks and the firm belief that central banks should titrate interest rate to control inflation. The list goes on ad infinitum.

Under such a situation, perhaps we should champion situational economics for those who that are prepared to park their egos at home, recognize that what they know constitute most probably the tip of the ice berg. Like all good sailors navigating through ice berg infested water, it is the unseen and unknown that will most probably decide their fate.

Parting thought from Ronald Rumsfledd about the middle east war "[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know.We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know."

Cheers,,,, Pete aka http://lkypeter.blogspot.com

Safe Harbor
Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copyrights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Plato 'Republic' on Democracy, Freedom, Equality, Anarchy and Corruption-Singapore Perspective

2010-11-19T02:45:00.003+08:00

The ancient philosopher Plato wrote in the 'Republic' to criticize why direct unchecked democracy might not be the best form of government. Firstly, freedom by itself is a laudable value to pursue but the danger of excessive freedom of doing as one likes can lead to lost of freedom for others. One of my friend paraphrase it as 'democracy without law leads to anarchy' and it was this sentence that sets me thinking. Secondly, he espoused that equality is also a value worth pursuing but related to the belief that everyone has equal rights and capacity to rule. This could bring to politics all kinds of power-seeking individuals, motivated by personal gain rather than public good. This he say can make democracy highly corruptible that can lead to demagogues, potential dictators, and can thus lead to tyranny. All these are almost literal quotations taken from the 'Republic' by Plato.

Tracy Quek who is senior correspondent based in Washington for The Straits Times wrote an interesting article on 1st August 2010 edition of The Sunday Times which is the sister publication of The Straits Times on 'US "undermedia" undermines media' as a reflection on the fiasco in Obama's cabinet leading to the dismissal of Ms Shirley Sherrod a mid level aide and subsequent reinstatement of her job and apology from the president himself when the entire transcript was examined. Since the government in Singapore has openly admitted that unfettered press freedom of the genre of American press freedom is not suitable for the brand of democracy practiced here with an asian culture overtones, I can only guess that the raison d'tre for her article is to showcase how american brand of press freedom can lead to chaos. If this is Singapore's motive, it has strike while the iron is hot.

Firstly, all these so called evolvement of press freedom and democracy being one of the yardstick of human progress can readily be challenged as thinkers of ancient time like Plato has grasped the implications of such political arena long time ago. I believe that the main differential between ancient and current time lies mainly in the extent and the cultural overtones that has made the canvas of democracy and press freedom a modern art form. This is where we need to separate the ideas and the various adaptation of the ideas in our society and profit much from it in the process of doing so by learning from the thinking these old sages have thought through so that we can be spared the agony of repeating the walk along the same old yellow brick road. It seems that this is an almost an impossibility as each succeeding generation is likely not to heed these learnings and want to experiment in the belief that time and tide has changed and time to toss out the old ideas and start afresh. This is where I would like the government to have a re-think on the de-emphasis they have put accidentally on liberal arts education in favor of more technological and scientific based higher education. I believe that our nation as a whole is no longer living from hand to mouth and can afford time, space, money and a larger sand box on liberal arts. There is room for us to venture out of our more monolithic and almost homogenous pursuit of tangible materials in our society.

Cheers,,,, Pete aka http://lkypeter.blogspot.com

Safe Harbor

Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copy Rights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Bach Concertos for 2 Violins in D minor BWV 1043-Perfect 10

2010-11-06T00:31:00.000+08:00

After listening mostly to Piano pieces, I have switched to Violin pieces. An article on Gramophone Vol 88 on a mock court to decide which interpretation of Elgar Violin Concerto by soloist Albert Sammons accompanied by New Queens Hall Orchestra under the baton of Sir Henry J Wood for the prosecution and soloist Lord Yehudi Menuhin accompanied by London Symphony Orchestra directed by the composer Sir Edward Elgar himself for the defense. I was at first elated to discover that I actually have the Yehudi Menuhin's version in my collection. I was about to pop the champagne to find that I also have another version of the piece but it was to be by soloist Nigel Kennedy accompanied by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle (recorded before Nigel Kennedy turned to the dark side and became a crossover) and not Albert Sammons. I had a good listen to both pieces and according to the article, Yehudi Menuhin was far too slow but Nigel Kennedy's version was even slower and had a more inconsistent tempi and I take it that Sir Edward Elgar must have approved of Yehudi Menuhin as he was the conductor and he had intended this piece to be emotively played with much headroom for the soloist to vary the tempi.

After scanning through some of violin pieces, I stopped at Bach Concerto to 2 Violins as I was surprised to find that I have 10 full versions of it and many of them by big name artiste and I was surprised myself how on earth did I accumulate this much. Could be my failing memory as a sign of growing old when making purchases or this piece must have caught my fancy sometime in the past as about half were not purchases in recent years. I recalled that while I was younger, I had some intention to use the second movement of this piece for my organ competition but did not. First, let me pen down the versions and thereafter made some comments about the piece as there is something in common with Elgar Violin Concerto as the variation in timing between the various artistes were also wide ranging.

1. Andrew Manze/Rachel Podger,Academy of Ancient Music-Andrew Manze

2. Elizabeth Wallfisch/Catherine Mackintosh,The King's Consort-Robert King

3. Julia Fischer/Alexander Stitkovetsky,Academy of St. Martins in the Fields-Andrey Rubstov

4. Hilary Hahn/Jeffrey Kahane,Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra

5. Isaac Stern/Itzhak Perlman,New York Philharmonic Orchestra-Zubin Mehta

6. Baiba Skride/Daishim Kashimoto,Royal Chamber Orchestra-Shunsaku Tsutumi

7. Arthur Grumiaux/Arpad Gerecz,Les Solistes Romands

8. Anne-Sophie Mutter/Salvatore Accardo,English Chamber Orchestra

9. Itzhak Perlman/Pinchas Zukerman,English Chamber Orchestra

10. Yehudi Menuhin/Leon Goossens,Bath Festival Orchestra-Christian Ferras

This piece of work is popular even in current times like in Woody Allen's film 'Hanah and her sisters' and 'Children of a lesser God' and many more. This could have been the reason for being a choice recording by many artiste but most probably not in the recorded to death category.

The first movement is where you will hear the most differential in interpretation by the various artiste. Bach has marked it as vivace which means lively and fast or above 140 bpm according to Harvard Music Dictionary but the metronome was not yet in existence during Bach's time and 140 bpm did not exist in the dictionary then. However, you will find that the more contemporary artiste tend to take it as 140 bpm as the minimum and in Rachel Podger and Julia Fischer interpretation, it was more like catching the A train. Personally, I still like the versions by Arthur Grumiaux, Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menumin albeit the slower tempi, it sort of brings out the sweet aroma of the melody in an unhurried manner. Perhaps Bach meant lively more than fast when he uses the term vivace for the first movement.

I have always been fascinated by Bach music as it was in his era commonly known as the Baroque era that music started to start some form and structure and yet he his music is seems so simple but deeply matured. For example, parts of his Well Tempered Clavier is so simple that it is graded a beginner's piece and yet so deeply matured that it is played and recorded by many grand masters. With being religious, it is sometimes like the Bible that is simple enough for the simpleton and yet has enough mystery and depth to confound scholars through the ages. I think that when Bach personally remarked playing music is as simple as playing the right notes at the right time, he might not meant it as a joke really as some of his music can be so simple to be enjoyed and played by many and yet so deeply profound for the grand masters that want to have a full understanding of it.

Cheers,,,,Pete aka http://lkypeter.blogspot.com

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copy Rights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Singapore Women's Charter – Time for a Re-Think

2010-11-02T08:04:00.009+08:00

Sandra Leong wrote on 'Making defaulters pay' in November 1^st 2010 edition of The Straits Times which is somewhat connected to the Singapore Women's Charter ( which is commonly known in legal circles as Chapter 353 ). Although the title seems to champion the female half of the population in general but it also included a remark on “wider ranging submissions ..... and the possible renaming of the Women's Charter to the gender neutral Family Charter. To see such opinion in print is to me that Singapore as a nation has grown more matured being a relatively young nation that is about 45 years old.

This was song to my ears as I have been swimming blindly around on this topic which I have been meaning to write on. It has gone on countless iterations made and un-made after wise counsels from a good cross section of my circle of more opinionated friends consisting of male/female as well as married/singles/divorced. After reading Sandra's article, I was infected with a rush of inspiration on a totally new angle to approach my article. By the way, all these writings are on a pro-bono basis that have no sponsor and I do it as a matter of hobby-craft. It is in that sense quite clear of conflict of interest normally except that I am a married male which could be a potential conflict of interest in this rare case.

A democratic society like Singapore that has equality as a cornerstone of our core value should never have a partisan act called Women's Charter without a suitable Men's Charter also in place. Perhaps there is cause for it to be deemed unconstitutional and struck off. To even think that it survived the passage of the legislative due process then to become law can be quite un-thinkable. Pardon my strong language and it is not to be taken literally but as a figure of speech as I am cognizant of the social climate of Singapore around 1961 when the act was passed into law warranted it.

These words sound very derogative and perhaps not respecting of the leaders then who were responsible for the legislative due process then but no dis-respect is intended. Or perhaps quite un-Singapore in a more colloquial sense but allow me to put things back in the balance. I am not an outright bigot that equality only exists in nirvana and all effort in achieving it on mother earth is useless. Or to borrow a favorite phraseology of my friend that “resistant is futile”. On the reverse, it is my firm believe that society as a whole should pursue equality in access fearlessly and not cave in on the reasoning that it is not attainable. Or perhaps delegate it to the 'invisible hands' of Adam Smith to get the job done not that free and sound economic basis is not tenable but we have to use the right tools for the right job.

There is always room for a partisan act like the Women's Charter and it can be something of permanence like the children or young people's act in many countries to protect children and young people which would never achieve equalization on its own as we live in a predominantly adult dominated world for lack of a more elegant and appropriate term.

On the other hand, there is room for partisan act as a type of affirmative action with a discernible time horizon for equilibrium equality or self maintaining equality to mushroom. On the same note, I am a skeptic of such partisan acts in the name of achieving equality over time through a serious of measures. Look around the countries that have such practices like the first nation act etc. to help the under class. These acts normally end up as permanent crutches that leaves the under class permanently dis-advantaged as they grow accustomed to these privileges that is enough to sustain them to a level of contentment and not further progress. You could say that the therapeutic treatment to get them well has somehow become an opium that they cannot do without. This normally excavate into generational spiral of being disadvantaged. In the longer term, it might also lead to the general populace to question the need to support their habit and can lead so societal upheaval if not handed properly. There is no easy answer to these issues but we need to tackle them very pragmatically and normally a broad brush legislative or policy have difficulties in being as effective due to the limited flexibility that can normally be built into legislatures and policies. There is a role that NGOs, humanitarian and charity could play a more effectively. Normally, there is an inverse relationship between the effective tax burden and populace participation in charity. Simply put, if the government tax more, they should do more socially. The comparison between Europe and USA in the 1980s is a case in point.

Along this line of reasoning, isn't it high time that the Women' Charter be re-looked at fundamentally or perhaps be renamed into a more gender-neutral name like what Sandra has listed in her article. Women, in their quest for equality cannot on the the same breadth argue that they need a stronger crutch because they are weaker now than before. I am very sure that the various measures of equality will speak to the contrary. I would support the continuation of the Women's Charter as man and woman are equal but are made differently and therefore have slightly different roles in society. This is not a clarion call for 'Me Tarzan, You Jane' sort of maxim but man and woman are functionally different on some planes that will not change in the foreseeable future like only woman can take on the gestation role in pro-creation.

On the point of marriage being a sort of special class of social contract with some vital differences like:

Potential off springs from such union become an integral part of this contract not by choice as the contract pre-dates them in most circumstances.
It is a template contract made by the law of the land. In Singapore, it is either the Syriah or civil court.

I would not open the can of worms on the validity of pre-nuptial agreements under Singapore law.

I use to joke with my friends in the legal fraternity that in nirvana, lawyers only need to perform priestly duties to bless that new contracts that they have a hand in making. However, more often than not, when things go south on the contract, settlement and litigation lawyers are there also to perform their priestly duties but more akin to last rites metamorpjically speaking.

Lawyers always draw out the pomp and circumstances leading to the breakdown from their client perspective as ethically as possible. The opposing lawyers would try to out do each other to occupy the higher moral ground for an advantage just like soldiers would do so physically to occupy a higher vantage position on the battle field. Such posturing is important as it is one of key factors in who is whiter than white and who is darker than Darth Vader in StarWars speak. In reality, it is not the opposite end of the axis but the different tone of grey that makes the case.

Under the current Women's Charter, this attainment of moral high ground seems like a due process that has little or no girth as grounds for divorce can be as flippant as incompatibility for god knows what is the real reason. I am glad that HDB and the courts have decided to open their eyes and reduce the number of divorces on grounds of non-consummation because the legal marriage was to be legible to apply for a HDB housing that takes time to realize and couples could have fallen out of love without going through a customary marriage rite. I believe that the law is very clear that a marriage registered under the law is binding whether or not it is followed by a customary marriage rite.

Divorce laws can be widely divided into jurisdiction that are 'No Fault' or otherwise. It is difficult to debate on the merits of each type but the execution is important as it affects the outcome. More often than not, when a divorce is in motion, the possibility of saving the marriage is next to nil and what matters most are the terms of separation.

The compounding factor that makes divorce in Singapore especially for man in general more painful is that the settlement is ruled by the Women's Charter and has little or no regard to the circumstances leading to the divorce especially if the party in default is the woman. This would make it look like double jeopardy of sort as the innocent party not only suffers an emotional and social set back but also financially to continue supporting the ex-wife and losing custody of their children

I believe that the groundswell in the number of non-conformance by husbands in discharging their court sanctioned maintenance to their ex-wife could be an indication to either the judiciary in their interpretation of the law and/or the legislative responsible for making the laws that 'justice' in how the common man sees it is not serve by the current framework and either of both would have to be tweak.

Cheers,,,, Pete aka http://lkypeter.blogspot.com

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copy Rights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

"Northern Chopin"-Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor Opus 16

2010-10-27T13:38:00.019+08:00

The Nordic countries in Europe normally stands out from people in continental Europe just by being themselves perhaps due to the relatively harsher weather they are subjected to as well as the intimacy they have with nature. Edvard Grieg, a Norwegian composer is noted for two things in my view. Firstly, a large portion of his compositions are either for Piano or based on the Piano that some scholars nick named him the 'Chopin of the North' perhaps like Chopin, he is also a pianist that writes lots of piano based music. Secondly, his unique harmonic skills in infusing Nordic Folk songs into his compisitions in an elegant manner to qualify as main stream classical music. Classical music is used loosely here to refer to music that pass or surpass the theoretical sandbox of musical laws rather than the classical era that pre-dates the romantic era.

My reason for choosing to write on this piece is in line with my aim of creating or keeping interest in classical music alive in Singapore. It saddens me to see shops reducing their classical music sections or doing away with it altogether. Some of you might think it is strange as Grieg is not a household name along the lines of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms or the triple Bs. However, many of us would have heard excerpts of this piece as it is widely used as background music in numerous shows with acknowledgements of it so miniscule that we will surely miss it one way or another. Most do not even bother as copyrights to this piece has expired as Grieg has died for more than 70 years now. Arvid Vollsnes is of the opinion that there are more recordings of this piano concerto than any piano concertos written during the Romantic era. I beg to differ as Google it and you will find that it is most probably either Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninov Piano Concertos that occupies this spot and definitely not Grieg. Perhaps it is true in the Nordic part of the world.

Like Beethoven fifth symphony, Grieg Piano Concerto have a very distinct introduction. In the case of Beethoven, some scholars termed it as death knocking on the door. We cannot be totally sure about this as Beethoven himself did not explain the passage. For Grieg, the introduction is what I would term as surprising reality staring at your face. I got this notion from noticing film directors penchant for using this introduction to inject an element of surprise, fear, reality and almost exclusively in a negative sense. Like most minor keyed pieces, it is like starting a painting on a dark canvas metaphorically speaking. The examples are far too many to quote and do keep a look out for it.

In addition to the signature introduction, the first movement also have a too definite ending. It is not uncommon for hear a premature applause or two from the audience at this juncture mistaking it for an end to the paino concerto as the first movement is over 10 minutes. I would like to think that it is mostly a positive premature applause as opposed to a sarcastic applause that they have heard enough rubbish from the performers.

The second movement has a quieter entrance compared to the first movement and also a daring departure from the minor key to a contrasting major key. Most of the opinion that the second movement is thematically an island by itself but try putting on your thematic development facility and stretched your imagination a little further and you can most probably hear the thematic linkages between the 2 movements. This is a very unconventional posture and I am ready for volleys of canon from main stream opinion leaders.

The third and final movement takes a surprising detour to a Rondo like form away from the ABA form in the first two movements but it is done very cleverly by the composer to back link it to the theme of the first movement and leading it to a well resolved finale.

I though that there were only two versions of the Piano Concerto; the original (1868) and the final (1907). To my surprise, there are a total of seven principal versions. Most modern rendition is based on the Final (1907) version. You can still find recordings of the original (1868) version. For the other five versions sandwiched in between, I have not been able to lay my finger on them. Perhaps it is out there somewhere.

With an Opus number of 6, I would think that this Piano Concerto must have been done earlier in Grieg composing career but Opus 6 was assigned to the original version when Grieg was in his twenties with a wife and an infant in tow. The final version was autographed six weeks before Grieg death. This piece of music must have occupied a special sentimentality for Grieg to make life long revisions perhaps as a quest for musical nirvana or it is his favorite composition.

After rummaging through my collection and borrowed or stole some from my friends, I finally assembled the following recordings of this Piano Concerto.

Original Version (1868)

1. Derwinder/Hirokami/Norrkopping Symphony Orchestra

Final Version (1907)

1.Knardahl/Ingebretsen/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

2.Richter/Matacic/Monte Carlo National Opera Orchestra

3.O'hara/Judd/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

4.Ogawa/Rudd/Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Bergen premiered this piece)

5.Perahia/Davis/Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

The differential between the Original and Final version lies mainly in the orchestration and only small changes were made in the solo piano part. I could not lay my hands on any of the sandwiched versions to make a comparison.

Of the six renditions listed above, it is not surprising that the one by Richter stands out from the rest. Not only is the dynamic range between ppp and fff being more pronounced, the emotive force is also the strongest without compromising too much on technical correctness. This should not be surprising as Richter has publicly aired his view that he plays what he likes and does not care about the audience. I take it not as a prima donna with a bad attitude but perhaps Richter has discovered that by playing for himself, it will enable him to deliver the best music to his audience. Not many might agree as Richter has quite a character like last minute no show even on very special performances for the diplomatic corp.

Other giants in the list are Perahia who made his name in his Mozart and Beethoven interpretations and Knardahl who is noted for her interpretation of Nordic works. From my listening sessions, the renditions of these two giants sounded a bit main stream with little differential. Perhaps for more popular pieces like this Grieg Piano Concerto, the differential between the great and the greatest is so small that differentiating them calls for skills beyond my reach.

Happy listening.

Cheers,,,, Pete aka lkypeter

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Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Copy Rights of all contents in this blog belongs to Peter Lye unless stated otherwise.

Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 Opus 6

2010-10-17T20:03:00.009+08:00

Italians are renowned for their flair in design and the Germans for fine engineering. Furniture wise, we normally have great looking Italian pieces that sometimes lacked functionality and durability. German furniture on their hand are normally well engineered and durable but might not be as appealing to the eyes compared to Italian pieces in general. So it would be great to have the Italian conceptualize the design and the Germans to engineer and build it. Why the comparison about furniture on a piece of musical work? I have on hand a great Italian masterpiece in Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 Opus 6 but my favorite rendition thus far is by solo violinist Hilary Hahn who is of Germanic stock. Could be a marriage made in heaven if you consider the combination of Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Japanese conductor Eiji Oue in the same breathe. Swedish being associated mostly with safety like Volvo car ( although Volvo car now belongs to Ford ) and Japanese for their consistent quality of their produce.

Noticed that I have not keyed the title as there are some interesting angle as it can be in either D major or a combination of D major for the soloist and E flat for the orchestra as originally envisioned by Paganini. He originally wrote the orchestra score in E flat major and the soloist part in D major but have the soloist tune his violin half a semitone higher to match with the orchestra. Paganini did not state the reason for doing so but contemporary opinions being either he felt that E flat major being more appropriate tonality wise or because the soloist part is more easily executed in the key of D major. Almost all modern interpretations are done on D major for both the solo violinist and the orchestra.

With the violin being one of the instruments Paganini plays, it is therefore not a surprise that this piece was written with quite a fair emphasis on the solo violinist especially in the first and last movements. The total time for the piece is about 36 minutes with the middle movement occupying only about 5 plus minutes and the longest first movement of about 21 plus minutes. To attain a fuller enjoyment, I would recommend both listening and watching it as the solo violin portions contain a good dose of showmanship ( meaning in both gender ) like double stops in which the solo violinist have to bow on 2 strings simultaneously and portions of the piece that takes the soloists to almost the end of the upper register of the scale for violin and quick alternating notes between the first and last string of the violin.

I have always loved the lower middle registers of the violin where at the hands of a good violiniss and a good violon makes for a very unique tonality which I can only describe as very tunefully close to the human voice. Some like this portion to be played with vibrato but I beg to differ as I love the more ancient playing style with less or no vibrato. This is also one of my reason for preferring Hanh's rendition with less vibrato.

The piece promises lots of cadenza where the soloist is at their own devices with the orchestra silent. Having said that, this is certainly not a sonata disguised as a concerto but the more tuneful blending between the orchestra and the soloist is more prevalent in the brass and woodwind portions with a good dose of accentuation from the percussion group. The string section is mostly deployed in a more harmonic support manner in my opinion.

As this is my first writing on Paganini, it would be good to note that like most warm blooded Italian being more southernly geographically, his life is not short on excitement and uniqueness especially on the romantic front as he was ever quoted saying he is not handsome but when women hear him play, they would come crawling to his feet. Gambling was also one of his many favorite vices. Later in life, he even attempted to make money out of his gambling habit by opening a casino but it lead to financial ruin for him personally and he had to wind it up. The juiciest rumor is about his alleged pact with the devil to grant him special musical talent in exchange for something sinister. It does not help that when asked about it, he was quoted at replying how else could he be so good musically. I am of the opinion that this is most probably an egotistical and mischievous reply not to be taken seriously as he has quite a flamboyant and sanguine character. This alleged rumor could also be one of the reasons why his body was denied a timely decent Catholic burial until a few decades later.

Before penning off, some of the other more noted renditions of this work you might want to listen to besides my favorite by Hahn/Oue/Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra are:

1.Accardo/Dutoit/London Philharmonic

2.Grumiaux/Bellugi/National Orchestra de la Opera Monte Carlo

3.Perlman/Foster/Royal Philharmonic

4.Rabin/Gossens/Philharmonia Orchestra

5.Menuhin/Monteux/Orchestra National de Paris

Happy reading, listening and watching hopefully in that order.

Cheers,,,,, Pete aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

The Middle Child Sonata-Beethoven Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3 Opus 69

2010-10-08T11:33:00.011+08:00

Having laid off writing for a period, a dash of inspiration hits me after listening to this popular and tuneful Sonata. This Sonata occupies the mid-point of the five Sonatas Beethoven wrote for this genre. It is unique in more ways than one besides acting as a bridge between Beethoven's first 2 and last 2 Sonatas that are stylistically quite different. One possible reason being that Beethoven took about 10 years to complete these 5 Sonatas as oppose to about 3 years to complete his 9 violin sonatas.

I shall be a bit adventurous and indulgent to nick named this Sonata as a "Middle Child" Sonata. My reasoning (whether they hold water or not as I consider myself too novice and amateurish in classical music compared to the many esteemed scholars as this is hobby craft and strictly pro-bono in my case) is manifold other than numeracy if you could hold your horses on your comments and read on first.

Of the 5 sonatas Beethoven wrote for this genre, only the 3rd has 4 movements instead of the usual cookie cutter 3 movements. A Scherzo was added as the second movement and this additional movement is no incidental movement as Beethoven has sprinkled it with a number of notables. Instead of a slower or more contemplative movement after the vociferous first movement, this movement is lively without being attention seeking. It nicely continues to develop the theme introduced in the first movement in a very Beethoven manner like he did for his 5th Symphony which was written around the same time. He also put in a gymnastic for the pianist by introducing a changing of hands in the tied note which should be a visual feat for the audience especially for the more visual pianist of our time like the legendary Lang Lang. One of Beethoven's pupil Czerny noted that this was most probably added to create a vibrato effect on the tied note. Of the recordings I have heard so far, only the Hardwood/Berner stated specifically in their liner notes that they are playing according to this notation. Many modern pianists would most probably skip this notation as it is not only more difficult to execute on modern day piano but makes little difference on modern day piano as I am made to understand. On listening to the Hardwood/Berner recording I could not hear the difference but I am only an amateur. If you were to listen till mid way into the second movement, there is a longish single note written to test the cellist's skill and patience as it is also tempered with a vibrato. Must be some tired fingers on the left hand for the cellist for what would seems like an eternity.

Thematic development in this piece is so obvious of Beethoven's work from this period of his life onwards starting perhaps with his 5th Symphony where his art is most finely honed in my opinion. The simple theme from the first movement is fashioned into numerous connected forms that will baffle many. This is most probably further proof that this Sonata is most probably conceived in his mind between his 5th and 6th symphonies other than the Opus numbering suggesting so.

Beethoven is also a master in switching between an aggressive to melancholic tuneful serenity all within the same movement. This is quite evident for the 3rd movement of this Sonata as it starts like a slow boat to China but moves gracefully between melancholy and aggressive but in a less pronounced manner than in his 5th and 9th symphonies. Beethoven might have been a jack the rabbit motor fan if he were to be alive now as his pieces sometimes behave typical of hard ABS braking followed by sudden and strong acceleration forces but leaving his passengers in a magic carpet like ride without being nauseous. All these seems a bit contradictory but have a good listen and you will sase out what I mean.

This Sonata has no clear delineation between soloist and accompanist and this could be deliberate either to elicit the best out of both the cellist and pianist or to set the stage for a struggle between them. Even if Beethoven were to have the intention of setting the stage for a fight between the cellist and pianist, the fight must have been done so with the liquidity and graceful movements of ballet dancers. I have not decided myself on this matter after hearing quite a few versions repeatedly. Would highlight 3 versions where this is more obvious as the pairing is like a pairing of equal musical giants.

1.Rostropovich/Richter (1961)

2.Maisky/Argerich (1997)

3.DuPre/Barenboim (1970)

Rostropovich was vocal enough to warrant losing his entry permit back to his Russia motherland after migrating to US. It was only with a change in Russian leadership that paved the way for his return back to Russia and I am glad that he managed to spend his final moments on earth back in his Russia motherland. He is also the musician that played spontaneously at the Berlin wall when it came crumbling down knowing that it would further complicate his possibility of returning to Russia. As for Richter, he has said it openly that he only play pieces that he likes and not for his audiences when asked why he did not want to complete the recording of all 5 Beethoven's piano concertos. He has also done things like having Stalin walk out half way through his performance as a mark of disapproval of him but he said he was lucky that he did not 'disappear' like many who cross the path of Stalin have a habit of doing so. Many of us did not notice that more people died during the communist revolution in Russia than number of Jews that were murdered during the Holocaust. On the contrary, he was one of the pianist that was performing during Stalin funereal. Richter himself remarked that this must have been a joke of sort as he did not get Stalin approval when he was alive but did so in his death. I have listened to this version of recording but did not sense any struggle for limelight and the two giants seems to gel so wonderfully together. What a surprise.

Maisky himself has also served about 18 months in prison or what they term as re-education camp for god knows what the reason is and thereafter was welcomed into the arms of Israel. He was also a student of Rostropovich. His equal in this case comes from Argentina. Argerich is very talented but has a fast and furious temperament and at about 30% of her concerts were no show for the most trivial of reasons. She blends her spirit with the music and is not straight jacketed by technicalities but have a healthy respect for it. This version makes for interesting listening as you can hear the challenge for lime light in all 4 movements between Maisky and Argerich but it was done so tastefully that it makes for very spirited listening. Perhaps, this was the interpretation Beethoveen intended.

DuPre and Barenboim is a husband and wife teaming but lets not guess who wears the pants at home. DuPre was a highly regarded cellist during her short and challenging life on earth of about 50 years due to multiple sclerosis. DuPre's fame and her health challenges could well be a formulae or excuse for unruly behavior but she is just the opposite as fellow performers, conductors, studio staff have good things to say about her gentle and joyful demeanor. Barenboim is a notable pianist and conductor himself and also a very intelligent and good at managing talented musician. In this recording, I believe that Barenboim had played more or less a supportive part but not without putting himself on the pedestal when the part calls for it without out living his welcome on the pedestal.

Before I pen off, it is widely held belief that the middle child in the family is normally the forgotten child and thus it is not uncommon for middle child to go after the lime light on every available opportunity in my opinion. This is my reason for naming it thus. Other versions worth listening to are:

1.DuPre/Stephen Bishop (1965)

2.Wispelwey/Lazic (2004)

3.Hardwood/Berner (2006)

Good weekend.

Cheers,,,,,, Pete

Brahms Sonata Opus 78-The Godson Sonata

2010-07-20T20:24:00.009+08:00

There has been some confusion about this sonata as it seems to be bipolar namewise as it has two names. It was orginally a violin sonata keyed in G major but was later transcribed into a cello sonata keyed in D major. Hope that clears the air on the mystical naming for this sonata and this is why I left the key out in the title.

Although this article is about Johannes Brahms compsition, you will find me kaing references to the Schumann fmaily as the sonata was written as a dedication to then recent passing of Schumann's son Felix Schumann who is also Brahms' godson due to tubercolis. I have taken the liberty of naming this sonata as "The Godson Sonata" and hope that both Johannes Brahms and Felix Schumann will not turn turn in their final resting places as it is well intentioned to promote this beautiful sonata and get more people to gain an interest in this beautiful sonata.

Felix Schumann is the off spring of the famous Robert Schumann and his wife Clara Schumann. The dedication of this sonata is evidenced by a letter from Johannes Brahms to Clara Schumann as Robert Schumann had already passed on and not because of his secret love for Clara Schumann as some music historian postulate it to be in my humble opinion. It has been a tumultous time for the Schumanns as they have seen 3 succeeding deaths within a short space of a few years. It started with Robert Schumann and followed by their son Felix Schumann and thereafter their daughter Julie. To add to this, their youngest son Ludwig Schumann was also struck with the same mental illness that beseiged his father and had to be put into a mental asylum like his dad.

Inspite of these sad events, Clara Schumann has stood by the Schumann family faithfully as she has done for her husband Robert Schumann when he is alive. I would love to have a wife like Clara Schumann's character of unwavering love and dexerity. Both Robert and Clara also shared a common interest in music and Clara Schumann has written some music although not as popular as her husband.

Although there has been whisperings in the history department of musicology that Brahms and Clara were an itemtowards the end of Robert Schumann sojurn on earth and thereafter but I beg to differ. I accept that there is enough evidence on hand to make a case that Brahms like Clara romantically butlittle or no evidence of Clara recipocating his advances. I find this to be quite intriguing as Brahms is noted for leaving little of no trace of his work in progress manuscripts which he deligently destroyed leaving us mostly only his final renditions and yet he left enough evidence to point to his romantic interest in Clara. This cannot be a Freudian slip on the part of Brahms but a purposeful declaration on the part of Brahms.

Between the original Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major Opus 78 and the transcription as Sonata for cello and piano in D major, I actually much prefered the later one as I personally find that the cello is better in transmitting such emotions. It has been a controversial topic as to who did the transcription. The famed cellist Janos Starker commented that no one but the compose himself could have the audacity to have made the modifications to one of Brahms work. Horst Scholz however maintained that the transcription was the work of a Leipzig conductor Paul Klengel who is the brother of cellist Julius Klengel whom Brahms admired greatly. There is consensus that the cello transcription was published in 1897; the year that Brahms passed away.

I have a total of 6 rendition in my humble collection and 3 are for violin and 3 for cello.

The cello renditions are as follows:

1.Brahms Sonatas Op.38 Op.78 Op120 Nr1 by Pieter Wispelwey & Dejan Lazic-Channel Classics SACD-CCS-SA24707

This is my favourite of them all as Wisepelwey played it in a very emotive manner and the Pianist Lazic just work so well as a team as they have done various recordings together on a number of occassion. There is very little competition for the limelight between the two. Not to be missed.

2.Brahms Cello Sonata-Pontinen & Thedeen by Torleif Thedeen & Roland Pontinen - BIS-SACD-1606

This recording is done at a more leisurely pace and also paint a weekend type of feeling unlike the Wisepelwey & Lazic which is played in a more seriou note.

3.ArtistsRepertoires-Janos Starker & Shigeo Noriko-BMG Classics LC00316
I think Janos Starker needs no introduction and his signature thick tonality of the cello is very evident in this recording. In terms of tonality, this piece is a must have. Janos seems to overshadow the pianist Noriko but overall not too bad a combination.

Actually I should have done the Violin rendition first as this sonata was first conceived for the violin but I love the cello too much and have put the cart before the horse.

1.Brahms-Sonata-Horn Trio Vieuxtemp Ballade-Grumiaux-Arthur Grumiaux,Gyorgy Seebok, Francis Orval, Dinorah Varsi-Pentatone 5186 155
Grumiaux playing on this piece was fabously expressive and yet controlled and not a runaway. His nose for precision is evident in this recording like his other recording.

2.Brahms Violin Sonatas-Anne-Sophie Mutter & Alexis Weissenberg EMI CLASSICS 7243 5 74560 2 9
This recording done in 1983 when Anne Sophie was probably dealing with sickness and eventual death of her first husband whom she had all her biological children with. I can sense a certain thinge of anger in her playing perhaps reflective of her situation then. Sometimes an artist emotional state gets translated into their playing.

3. Johannes Brahms-Complete Chamber Music-Disc 11 of 12 Hyperion CDS 44341-Krysia Osostowicz & Susan Tomes
This recording was part of my effort to collect the complete Brahms music but I am still far away. Of the 6, I think this is most probably the only one not recorded in a studio but a hall or church as I can hear the reverb of the room. The playing is very exact and there is nothing I can fault on but at the sametime, I could not finger an appropriate word of praise for the artist as well.

Cheers,,,,, Pete aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

Reprise-"Waves of worry over freight rate fall"

2010-07-03T00:12:00.006+08:00

Straits Times senior correspondent Goh Eng Yeow had pretty good newsprint given that his above captioned article occupied half of the last page of the friday 2nd July 2010 edition of the paper. I gave the article more than a once over as I find the topic intriguing and the reporting could perhaps do with a slightly more balanced view than make the fall in the Baltic Dry Index as a plausible sign of slowing down of China's economy. Eng Yeow has done well in listing some factors that make the Baltic Dry Index a good leading indicator of China's economic growth like:

1. The Baltic Dry Index is not a tradeable index and therefore a more transparent indicator. I whole heartedly agree with remisier Alan Goh on this point but perhaps we should also consider that not being tradeable could also make it less reflective indicator due to a smaller market and lower denominator also and whether 41% drop was seasonally adjusted as well.

2. A similar pattern in late 2007 and mid 2008. The fact that both events happened together does not proof a co-related event. Perhaps it should also be mentioned that the service component of China's economy has most probably occupied a larger share of her GDP as it is quite a norm when a country progresses economically and economically surely China has progressed without a shadow of doubt. As the services share of the economy takes more centre-stage, the Index is also likely to be a weaker indicator as services are less co-related to the index.

3. While it is rightly stated that new export orders fell by more than 2% point after adjusting for seasonally lower February output, this might not be a very good causative argument firstly because US is still the largest trading partner as compared to EU. Secondly, China has slowly but surely been increasing her trade with former Soviet Union eastern bloc countries as well as Soviet Union as well especially in the area of energy related sector especially in natural gas which will reduce China dependance on oil for to meeting her energy needs.

4. Perhaps the recent action by China to allow RMB to have a wider band could have affected cost parity to come into play and therefore augmenting the argument that the Index has gone down in-spite of lower import cost for China to import now than previously.

On the whole, I would like to credit Eng Yeow for the good write-up as well as sounding the bulge horn call for a possible nightmarish event that is likely to happen and hope that he takes my comments positively.

Cheers,,,, Pete aka lkypeter

Last Words-Mozart Piano Concerto No 27 in B flat major K595

2010-06-03T20:35:00.017+08:00

This writing started with a dear friend who wanted to loan a CD of pianist Emil Gilels having heard his rendition of Rachmaninov Predule No 23 Op 5 on uTube. I found that I only have a single CD of this pianist and in it was Emil Gilels playing Mozart Piano Concerto No 27 with Karl Bohm conducting the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra. It jogged my memory that this piece was one of my favorites as I have 6 variations of this piece in my collection just that time did not permit me to explore the circumstances behind this piece. With some time on hand, I decided to listen to all 6 versions and surprised me that this piece is normally performed with the pianist as the prima dona of sort with the pianist playing the role of the soloist and conductor in some of the circumstances. So there is no question on who rules the stage.

I am listening to all the 6 versions as I pen this and it surprises me that my collection consisted of many famous pianist.

1. Emil Gilels with Karl Bohm conducting Vienna Symphonic Orchestra (Time Magazine Supplement)

2. Mitsuko Uchida with Jeffrey Tate conducting English Chamber Orchestra-Philips 475 7306

3.Christoph Eschenbach playing and conducting London Philharmonic Orchestra-EMI 0946 3 81793 2 0

4.Daniel Barenboim playing and conducting English Chamber Orchestra-EMI 7243 5 86632 2 8

5.Rudolf Serkin with Claudo Abbado conducting English Symphony Orchestra-DG 445 516-2

6.Peter Schmalfuss and Stanislav Bogunia conducting Westbohmisches Staatorchester Marienbald

You can see from above that there is a mixture between separate and combined soloists/conductor and this makes for interesting listening session.

Child prodigy Mozart started piano lessons at 4 and was already performing publicly from between the ages 6-8 but died at a tender age of 35 after leaving a legacy of about 600 compositions. Some say that it is the life in your years that matters more than the years in your life. Of this he left us with a total of 27 piano concertos but the first 4 is generally regarded as amalgamation of other works by other composers. Another interesting point being that his piano concertos covers almost an entire spectrum of his life from his childhood to the year of his death in 1791.

It is believed that Mozart has always had a very bad commotion about his Requiem as it was his belief that its completion is likely to mark his final days on earth but it was actually this piano concerto to have this infamy not that this is piano concerto is his last compisition as there are more to follow. He is likely to have completed the piece around January 1791 and he premiered the concerto himself around March 1791 and died in December 1791. Although this concerto is keyed in the major scale and have a reasonable dosage of gayness, the second movement would reveal a veneer of melancholy especially in the slower portion of the second movement. The final movement also seems to end on a certain finality as if to signify his final concerto.

Although Mozart is known to be sloppy and fickle minded in his concertos normally leaving the cadenzas little much than an empty sheet. For this concerto, the cadenzas in both the first and last movements were very well documented and perhaps that he has a pre-motion that this might be his last piano concerto and wanted to have it documented properly for posterity.

Mozart also made contribution to the concerto genre by breaking the traditional mould of alternation between the soloist and orchestra with the orchestra having a very minor accompaniment part. Mozart not only added many more instruments like the famous clarinet concerto K622, he also broke away from the old mould and created interesting harmony for the soloist and the orchestra to blend rather than alternate. This influence is to be continued by later composers like Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov and we have Mozart to thank for this development.

Finale Mozart and though you were to die rather inappropriately for your part in music development in the form of a re-cycled casket and a pauper's mass grave, we salute your contribution.

Cheers,,,,,Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

Channel Classics-Making of a SACD

2010-05-30T23:38:00.003+08:00

I came across this video produced by Channel Classics on how a SACD recording is made and was totally surprised that the storage drive used is a Western Digital external disk storage.

Do look out for it at 4:37 into the 20 minutes video and you can see it.

BTW, Channel Classics is one of the labels on my list of better recording quality and perhaps we audiophiles have taken things too far in our purist sound.

No pun intended. Just an observation. I am also using Western Digital drives on my MacMini as well at home. So comforting.

Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5 in E-flat major Op 73 Emperor

2010-05-29T23:50:00.002+08:00

I did a write up on Beethoven's 1st Piano Concerto not too long ago and thought that it would be appropriate to write about his 5th or last Piano Concerto as it is also one of the recorded to death pieces having been recorded by many artists both established as well as green shoots genre. In the Anglophile world, it is also commonly referred to as the Emperor piece and this arose my curiosity as I remembered that Beethoven who was to dedicate his Symphony number 3 to Napoleon Bonaparte was angry enough at the news of Napoleon declaring himself as Emperor to rename the piece to Eroica instead. There is some period between Eroica Symphony and Emperor Piano Concerto as the former carries an opus number of 55 whereas the latter was assigned an opus number of 73. The opus number roughly reflects the chronological order in terms of date of the work being published and does not necessarily reflect the time the composer started or completed the work actually. Putting this aside, I can think of why the name Emperor as Beethoven might have gotten used to the idea of Napoleon making himself emperor or perhaps pragmatism rules the day even for eccentric tempered Beethoven as Napoleon's campaign has walked over much of Austria where he largely lives. One thing is definite that Beethoven did not dedicate this piece to Napoleon as it was clearly addressed to Archduke Rudolf.

Actually Beethoven did not meant the Emperor Piano Concerto to be his last as there is evidenced pointing to fragments of work in progress on the 6th Piano Concerto but too little of the Piano or Orchestration parts exists for modern day Beethoven scholars to piece together a respectable Piano Concerto. It is also at this period that his hearing has almost been reduced to nil and much of the composing is done through his mental perception rather than auditory perception of his work. I was interacting with a customer in a hifi shop today and I advised him that hifi is a hobby that is best enjoyed younger as our hearing sensitivity decline with age.

Beethoven is not as tightly associated with piano music as Chopin where every single piece of his features the piano either in major or minor roles. To Beethoven, the piano is a convenient platform to test the orchestration for his symphonies, concertos etc. All being said, Beethoven did a strange thing by having the solo piano start the piece for almost 2 minutes before the orchestra joins in. This is not very common in classical era works but was sometimes used by composers in the romantic era like Tchaikovsky in his piano concerto and Mendelssohn in his violin concerto. To me, there is no question here that the soloist is meant to be the star of the piece rather than the orchestra.

Although this piece consists of the template 3 movements concerto tradition, it is sometimes mistaken as a 2 movement piece as movements 2 and 3 is connected by a single bassoon note. This technique is also used by some other composers perhaps to ensure that the less musically inclined audience does not disturb the continuity of the piece by clapping in between movements.

I shall refrain from making a comparison of the various recordings as I have not done enough comparative listening to do justice and shall only list the pieces I have listened to in writing this review.

1. Piere-Laurent Aimard with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting Chamber Orchestra of Europe

2. Christian Zacharias with Hans Vonk conducting Staatskapelle Dresden

3. Alfred Brendel with Zubin Mehta conducting Vienna Symphony Orchestra

4. Artur Pizarro with Charles Mackerras conducting Scottish Chamber Orchestra

5. Steffan Viader with Barry Wordsworth conducting Capella Istropolitana

6. Vladmir Ashkenazy with Zubin Metha conducting Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

As I related to some of my friends, my motivation for writing about classical music is to help propagate classical music to the next generation as it would be a waste if classical music declines starting with my generation. I have not succeeded in getting my two children interested in classical music but I do hope that they will someday.

Economic Tsunami

2010-05-28T18:52:00.009+08:00

I had a great week in the altruistic dimension of my life this week as I had the good luck of spending time with 2 persons of considerable intellectual capabilities but none of them are ladies not that I am a sexist. On a more serious note, we spoke about many things that does not interest most Singaporean which are chasing after their noble 5 Cs of which I am not at the moment. As I watch the turbulence on Wall Street gyrating up and down on both sides of the Atlantic, I begin to ask myself are there certain patterns or attributable causes and my simple mind began to wonder into dangerous water and I thought I hit on some ideas that could be novel in my limited knowledge but might have been professed by someone else before me.

The first trend is on the eastern end of the Atlantic, we began to see failures on the corporate front starting with the CDO and cumulating into the meltdown of Lehman Brothers and government funded rescue using the TARP funds as the too big to fail maxim took charge and Captain Obama even said that "...at this hour, it is not possible for the government to do too much." in his state of the union address and rallying support for the TARP scheme into FEDS. FEDS have been pursuing a inflation targeted monetary policy since the days of Greenspan and thereafter onto Uncle Ben insisting that this is the right long term move. However, when Wall Street failure hit Main Street and the population at large like the 2 of the 3 biggest auto makers; General Motors and Chrysler sparing Ford into likely bankruptcies if no rescue plan was in place. However, on the western seaboard of the Atlantic, Europe seems to have an easier time until the PIGS ( Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain ) suffered a sovereign debt issue.

The stark difference could perhaps due to the nature of the retirement funding. In USA, retirement is generally funded privately by companies whereas in more socialistic Europe, it is generally funded by the government. With a rapidly aging population, retirement IOUs are beginning to experience their first few years of negative cash flow as there are less taxpayers in Europe while retirement funding by companies is eroding their competitive edge in USA. I shall stay quiet on the intentions of the Singapore government but look at the trend of policy changes with regards to CPF and also read our PM May day address more carefully and you will hear something said about CPF ordinary, special and retirement accounts. With the post war baby boom generation hitting retirement, we have a definite Economic Tsunami at hand whether you are of monetarists or fiscal persuasion. At the end of the day, input must equal output in the long run. My view is that USA is now buffered against a sovereign debt crisis but it could be a matter of time if Obama does not practice more budgetary discipline. China is already the largest holder of American T Bills displacing Japan.

The second is the velocity in which government aid has been administered. In USA, there 9 regional Federal Reserve Banks together with the FEDS in Washington, they can make monetary policy independent of executive and political influence. In fact, The Economists once had an article on who the FEDS are accountable to. Such a mechanism, though not the most consensus seeking allows for quick and independent decisions to be made. Over in Eurozone, the ECB is an animal with a very different DNA from that of FEDS. Decisions are made by consensus and voting by the member states whose representatives have to watch their back as they cast their vote because of the need to ensure they make the correct populist move which might not necessarily be the right for Europe as a whole. German voters are asking why must they pay for Greece's ill fiscal discipline of not keeping deficit to less than 3% of GDP if they themselves swallowed the bitter pill that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Greek voters are against cut in government budgets as they feel that fiscal discipline in this economic climate is equivalent to swallowing a cyanide pill that will kill the country. Since history of money, only Argentina has defaulted as a nation and I do not think any country want to have hold the title of being runner's up chronologically. Oops, some are of the opinion that when USA axed the exchangeability of US$ for gold during Nixon's watch, it is technically a country default but I would not argue this point here.

Thirdly, US$ has existed for a long time and in my limited knowledge however the Euro was only created in recent history in 1999. The US$ was created out of necessity because of the political amalgamation of the states whereas the Euro was created as one of the many milestones that proof that a truly single European Union (EU) coined in Maastricht is attainable. Thereafter, there were some progress with two notable signs which are the creation of the Euro sans without the participation of some countries like UK and the increasing membership of EU. A monetary union without a political union is like putting the cart before the horse and it is only a matter of time before it crashes as predicted by many even before the 1999 inauguration of the Euro.

Fourthly, there has been speculation in two of the largest Euro countries why not get out of the burning house of Euro instead of trying to doze the fire. If the creation of the Euro is analogous to scaling K2, its reversal would be a taller order than scaling Everest. Although there are some automatic mechanism in place like the PIGS countries are finding it more costly to raise money through government bonds that are still denominated on the Euro, their higher CDS price would make it comparatively more expensive for Greece than for Germany to raise money using bonds. However, the spill over effects of the strength or weakness of the Euro against the major currencies will also mean that countries outside of PIGS in Euro zone are impacted by the actions or inactions of the PIGS. My prediction is that the monetary union tension would spill into the political and perhaps later the military arena with dire consequences. Although the first two world wars can be attributed to many reasons but economic tension has never been absent from this platitude of reasons for the start of both world wars.

Last but no least, the twin deficits that Obama is faced with will not disappear into thin air and it is only a matter of time before it hits American shores and pockets in a more drastic manner even if Obama believes that the entire world will share in its burden as US$ is widely held and transacted. Sanity,justice or rule of quantification (if I may borrow from my friend) will prevail finally.

Cheers,,,,,Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

Melancholic Piano Music-Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 14 ‘Moonlight Sonata’ in C# minor Op. 27/2

2010-05-27T10:47:00.015+08:00

I have recently written a review of a fairly melancholic piano piece by Chopin on his Nocturne No. 20 in C# minor and it not any co-incidence that it is keyed in minor. I also wrote a review on Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major as I was quite into piano music of late and my thoughts were to write a review on Beethoven’s last piano concerto which is No.5 but his Piano Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight Sonata” caught my fancy as a good twining between Chopin Nocturne No. 20 and Beethoven piano sonata no. 14 first movement is almost similar to Chopin nocturne No. 20.
Firstly both pieces are keyed in C# minor and to my ears that are not very trained in classical, I sometimes mistaken one for the other. I would not say that they might have got the idea from each other as there was about a good 30 years between the composition; Beethoven composed his around 1800-1801 and Chopin did his around 1830. I would rather use the word that Chopin might have been influenced by Beethoven if I were to reason it chronologically. The strange thing is that Beethoven lived mainly in the classical era and Chopin witnessed the start of the Romantic era and I was wondering how did such a romantic music come out of Beethoven in 1830? He might have been branded as someone ahead of his time fashion wise and this might not been a good thing.
Secondly, the dark C# minor canvas against which the two pieces were written against makes the music very suitable for listening in a dimly lit room to accentuate the mood. A good glass of Shiraz with a long finish could make the experience. Actually Nocturne translated into English is night. What struck me was the entire Chopin piece was draped in the dark and yet you feel a certain closure at the end of the piece and this is in my mind the very signature of a grand master. The same can be said about Beethoven first movement. There were times that I was almost moved to tears but I was taught from a young age that only girls cry and boys never do.
I thought it relevant to say a few things about the circumstances surrounding Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 14 before I get carried away by the second and third movement. The piece was actually sort of ao commissioned piece and was dedicated to Countess Giulietta Guiccardi but not in the strictest sense a commissioned piece if we think along the lines of the many commissioned pieces that Haydn did and was handsomely rewarded for it. The dedication came after the completion of the piece unlike a commissioned piece for which the composer is told of the occasion in which the music would be used for and what type of structure it should roughly have. The Beethoven must have been an almost plain canvas leaving Beethoven a lot of leeway for his imagination and creativity to turn it into a work of art. This piece was aptly numbered Opus 27/2 because it was either meant to be co-joined together with his Sonata No. 13 as a set or the work of the music publisher to market it as a value for money set since Beethoven most probably handed two pieces to his publisher at around the same time. Your guess is most probably as good as mine on this. I have not listened to his Sonata No. 13 to make an opinionated call here; perhaps later. The name ‘Moonlight Sonata’ was not in the original manuscript as Beethoven most probably did not intend to name the piece. Many Beethoven experts believed that it was Ludwig Rellstab that christened it ‘Moonlight Sonata’.
At the end of the first movement which was in ¾ time signature, the second movement not only changes the time signature to 4/4 but was also uplifted us into a different mood. If we pen the first movement as emotionally melancholic, the very short second movement brings us into the cerebral plentitude of deep contemplative thoughts after the emotionally moving first movement and when we come to the third movement, we can plainly see why the second movement serves as a bridge to bring the Sonata to a closure in the third movement.
The third movement as compared to the first movement is liken to hell and heaven or heaven and hell as the more normal expression. The very first note of the third movement is in a strong definite piano forte chord and continues its explosive display right to the end of the entire piece. It was as if Beethoven has seen the light at the end of the tunnel and I think this piece might also qualify as a piano technician nightmare with the strong and heavy chording. A caution for listeners; if you kept your volume at the same level as when you started the first movement and is in the habit of louder listening, the third movement can blow your system away as it is LOUD by any standard.
I normally would do a comparison of the various versions that I have listened but in this case, I would just merely list them for your reference as I am totally blown away by Beethoven.
1.Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas-Paul Lewis-Harmonia Mundi HMX 2901902.11-Disc 7 Tracks 9-11

2.Beethoven Piano Sonatas-Artur Pizarro-Linn Records SACD CKD244-Tracks 4-6

3.Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas-Bernard Roberts-Nimbus 1774-Disc 10 Tracks 5-7

4.Beethoven Piano Sonatas Volume 1-Gerard Willems-ABC Classics 4650772-Disc 2 Tracks 1-3

5.Beethoven Sonatas 8, 14 & 23-Daniel Barenboim-EMI 0724356697621-Tracks 4-6

6.Simply Beethoven-Bruno Leonardo Gelber-Simply(Denon) 36-Disc 2 Tracks

7.Ultimate Beethoven-Claudio Arrau-Decca B000ICMF5I–Disc 5 Track 7-9

Cheers,,,,Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for

Oracle / Sun Humour

2010-05-26T10:46:00.007+08:00

C. Montgomery Burns said
"Since the dawn of time man has dreamed of destroying the sun!"

However Larry Elison have managed to buy SUN and integrated its name into Oracle recently.....

Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

George Whitefield Chadwick-Suite symphonique in E flat

2010-05-10T22:47:00.005+08:00

What prompted me listen to this piece was because I suddenly realized that I know two Chadwicks;an American lady from Chicago that used to work in Singapore and British gentleman that used to work in Hong Kong. No further details as I do not have their permission but some of my closer friends who read this would know who I am referring to or at least one of them. I was looking through my library of CDs and I have put aside those that I have not even listened at all in one corner and I sometimes wonder I am still buying CDs when I have quite a number in this corner. I think I have been stricken with the disease of collectivism if ever there is such a word.

For some reason, I have two CDs from pieces composed by Chadwick and both of them have not even been unwrapped yet. I could not even remember when and why I have bought them. Perhaps because of the recording label Reference Records reputation for good recording. Although I consider myself to be more of a music person as opposed to a sound person as I think that the music comes first. With good music, you will need good recording as well as good system to play them to enjoy it. Some of my friends are from the other camp that puts the sound system and recording above the music. There is no right or wrong but a matter of taste and preference.

After returning home from the office, I wanted something refreshing. This drew me to the unexplored part of my CD collection. Of the two Chadwick CDs that I saw, the one with the more graphic cover caught my attention proving that I am still a normal male Homo Sapien. I then sunk myself into my so called listening position or sweet spot and spin the CD and started to read the cover note of the CD. I was expecting it to be a neo-classical era as I have not come across this composer but it surprised me that he lived 1854-1931 and that the piece in question was composed at the turn of the century around 1907. When I meant neo-classical, my reference was mainly to composers that are still living today or born after 1900 although that is not quite right technically speaking.

The piece comes in four movements as with most symphonic works although I understand that Chadwick himself has avoided the label Symphony like poison and this could be the reason why it was named in that manner but after listening to the piece a few times, it really fits squarely into the classic symphonic template not only because of the 4 movements but also the order and choice of movements. It starts with a fairly energetic Allegro molto animoto that ends on a fairly percussion centered ending. It then makes way for a very lyrical Romanza in the second movement. I could not put my finger on a term but my heart just went jelly from the very first note of this movement to the last note. The second movement is awesomely sentimental and moving. I played it repeatedly a few times and it is my favorite movement.

After all the lyricism of the second movement, the third movement is a scherzo like Intermezzo e Humoreske like a good joke after all that sentimentality. Another signature of this movement is the transition into and out of the odd time signature of 5/4 and Chadwick did this not once but twice. My modern re-collection of this time signature goes to the song Take Five but the entire piece only have one time signature. This says very much about the creativity and living on unchartered water for the composer as this was done in 1907 and not in recent past where almost anything and everything that makes a sound can be music. After the joke, it is back to serious matter and the composer takes us to a rhythmic and grandiose finale befitting of the piece. The finale is like a full bodied red wine and it makes good and extensive use of a large orchestra and there is little time out for most members of the orchestra.

If you have 36 minutes to spare, this is a great piece of music not to be missed and I wonder why it is not as popular as it deserve and it is to me like uncovering a rare gem. Enjoy.

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

Schumann 200th Anniversary-Kinderszenen Op 15 No 7 in F major "Träumerei/Dreaming"

2010-04-29T00:00:00.011+08:00

The week has been very interesting for me as I started my gear shift on my new job and started to explore new possibilities. It was also because of my job that necessitated me to re-connect with someone I know long time ago whom I know to be very passionate about classical music. After the business talk with him was done, I asked him where was he on the classical music front and told him that I have just written a review of Chopin Etudes earlier this week because this year is Chopin 200th year anniversary as he was born in 1810. He then asked me how about Robert Schumann and I said I love his music as well sad that he had a rough ride in life living part of his life being institutionalized in a mental asylum but he has Clara as his wife who stood by his side come what may and also a good friend Johannes Brahms. This was where we sort of disagreed, his took the view that Brahms was there more because of his love for Clara rather than for Schumann himself. Since the scholars cannot agree on this, we agreed to disagree. He then reminded me that this year is also Schumann 200th year anniversary but most probably forgotten because Chopin might have been a larger personality than Schumann. Since I love Schumann music as well, I shall help elevate it by writing about it and hopefully more people would notice it thereafter.

Schumann like Chopin love the piano. Whilst Chopin composed exclusively for the piano or pieces that involves the piano, Schumann likewise did the same until 1840 when he started to compose other genre. I previously wrote a review of his Symphony No. 4 and also noted then that Schumann was an avid composer of piano music.

I have always touted the maxim that one should listen to the complete work to appreciate the beauty of the entire composition and not listen to snippets of popular movements but I would have to break my own rule and start writing on a snippet here. The piece Träumerei or Dreaming is taken from the seventh piece of his Kinderszenen or Scenes from childhood Op 15 composed when he was about 28 so it must have been his re-collection of his childhood. This piece was made popular when it was adopted the theme song for the 1944 movie on Robert Schumann. It was titled by the film director as Song of Love to signify Clara's love for Schumann. Perhaps the director did it deliberately due to the movingly romantic hues of the piece or out of ignorance of the background of the piece.

Since then, the piece has appeared in various arrangements in addition to the original piano arrangements. Some of the arrangements that I have come across are cello/piano, violin/piano, orchestra/cello. The piano arrangement has also been graded as a grade 3 piece by ABRSM and therefore within the capabilities of most pianists.

1.Cello Adagios,Decca,Bruno Canino/Lynn Harrell,2:54 CD1 Track 9

2.Travels with my Cello,Philips,Julian Lloyd Webber, English Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas Cleobury,3:32 Track 4

3.Ultimate Violin,Decca,Arthur Gruimax,Istvan Hajdu, CD5 Track 4,2:33

4.Schumann: Piano Works,DG,Wilhelm Kempff, CD2 Track 20

Of the 4, I still like the 4th recording though it is dated and sonically not that great because of the state of technology then. It is clean, crisp and transparent. Wilhelm Kempff though a noted pianist during his era has been touted by some of his critic as being just average in terms of his Schumann pieces but I think most probably to this piece as it is a grade 3 piece and how wrong can a maestro go on such pieces. The version by Julian Lloyd Weber with the English Chamber Orchestra did not go down too well with me as the arrangement seems to be too cluttered as I feel that the beauty of this piece is in the clean and simplistic arrangement but played with lots of emotions and melancholy and it suits either a piano only arrangement or a violin/piano or cello/piano. In particular, I thought the cello/piano version by Bruno Canino and Lynn Harrell particularly melancholic.

Cheers,,,,,Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

Chopin Etudes Op. 10 No 3 in E major "Tristesse"

2010-04-27T00:23:00.005+08:00

As we celebrate Chopin's 200th birthday as he was born in 1810, I began collecting and more importantly listening to Chopin pieces because being a al cheapo, retailers were offering Chopin pieces at a discount. I have written previously on Chopin Piano Concerto and his Nocturnes, I shall now embark on another genre of his composition; Etudes. Etudes translated into English means study or more correctly studies in Piano. Chopin is about the only composer that centered all his works around the Piano. Even his piano concertos, Cello concertos etc all had a strong piano part in it. The Piano is used by other composers because of its polyphonic nature to minimick an orchestra and other genres like quartet etc but Chopin saw the Piano as a performing platform by itself rather than a means to try out new multi-player genres.

Chopin composed a total of two sets of Etudes published as Op. 10 and Op. 25. Our attention is focused on the third piece of the first set of Etudes which has been named "Tristesse" by Chopin himself which means sadness. Some scholars are of the opinion that this piece was composed when Chopin heard that his motherland Poland has been occupied forcibly by the Russians but this does not seems to tie in chronologically as there were more facts pointing to the entire Op. 10 being published when he was 23 years old which is before the Russian occupation. Anyway, sadness is the theme of this piece no matter what the root of his sadness. The fact that Chopin put a name to this piece is of significance as he did not name all this Etudes save for a handful of them.

This piece is also known for its romatic fluidity as Chopin himself commented later on in his life as follows. "In all my life I have never again been able to find such a beautiful melody." I actually thought his Piano Concerto No. 1 as his greatest piece of work always but anyhow, the maestoro opinion counts more than mine. Herbert Weinstock in his biography on Chopin that "if it is realtively easy to play, it is maddeningly diffcult to play well." Actually this comment most probably refers to the Theme portion of the piece as the other two portions; Variations and Iterations are no child's play with some of the more difficult chromatic chord manipulations. Chopin has actually meant a steady 2/4 beat of Lento ma non-troppo but many interpreters has taken liberty in following their heart instead of pursuing technical excellence over the years. I tend to agree as the later recordings has a more varied tempo then the older ones and I find the more modern recording more befitting style wise for playing this beautiful romantic piece. The same biographer also went on to comment that "No lesser pianist should play it except to himself." This makes it like the Bible that can be plainly understood by laymen but has enough depth to drown many a biblical scholar.

Enough about the generalistes of the piece and I have done a comparison of the piece with the following. I have decided to excludes transciptions for other instrueents and cross over versions. Please forgive my purists pursuit o this note as cross over artists occupy a different part of my heart when it comes to music and this is a very peronal opinion.

1.Chopin:The Complete Etudes, Earl Wild, Chesky Records 4:30

2.Chopin the Complete Works, Garrick Ohlssohn, Hyperion 4:20

3.Chopin Etudes, Murray Perahia,Sony Classical, 3:51

Chopin Etudes, Murray Perahia,Sony Classical

4.Favourite Chopin, Vladimir Ashkenazy,Decca, 4:21

Of these 4 pieces that I have listened over and over again, my vote goes to Ashkenazy as he seems to playing though Chopin;s hand literally. Technically, Perahia is most probably the most consistent. I find the Earl Wild a bit over the top in terms of personalizing the piece by injecting his entire being into it. Ohlsson who is a well regarded Chopin figure seems to have something missing overall in the piece although I cannot fault any portion of the piece but the sum of the parts somehow did not add up.

I shall try to continue to write on Chopin after having bought quite a number of Chopin CDs of late and tune in soon.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter.blogspot.com

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

"The Pianist"-Chopin Nocturne No. 20 in C# Minor-Sequel

2010-04-08T23:31:00.015+08:00

Some weeks ago, I wrote on the connection between Chopin Piano Concerto #1 and the high acclaimed show "The Pianist" which was played towards the end of the show. I would now attempt to write one the musical note on which the famous Polish director of the show Roman Polanski has chosen. Not a surprising move that he chose Chopin Nocturne No. 20 in C# Minor who is also Polish. In fact the show centered around Polish/Jewish life in Nazi occupied Warsaw during the Second World War. There were some debate about how many Nocturnes Chopin actually wrote and it would be 18, 20 or 21 depending on which persuasion you belong to.

The first 18 Nocturnes were common ground held by all and sundry as being Chopin. However, some question marks were placed over Nocturnes 19, 20 and 21 for a few reasons. Firstly, there was no solid evidence beyond any shadow of doubt that Chopin has endorsed them. Secondly, there is some circumstantial evidence based on the style and third party accounts on these pieces that point to him being the composer. Because of this debate, these 3 Nocturnes were assigned larger numbers although they point to an earlier conception but the gestation was most probably long and the delivery of dubious nature.

This piece was conceived as a Piano Nocturnes but has been delivered in a few arrangements like and arrangement for Piano and Violin by the famous violinist Nathan Milstein that many are very critical of and it is also the shortest clocking about 3 and a half minutes compared a shade above 4 minutes for the original. This could have been due to the limitation of 78 rpm LPs that could not accommodate pieces beyond 4 minutes. Craig Leon also did a concerto for violin ( and perhaps the harp should also be acknowledged as it is fairly visible throughout although mainly as apogees )arrangement with an orchestra. In this concerto like arrangement, the orchestra party is very subdued so I would not dare call it a concerto but only concerto like.

The piece is definitely very melancholic in nature throughout that suddenly transforms into a major keyed chorus pointing to lushness and hope before falling back to melancholic minor again. Chopin like some composers like Haydn like to have a false ending and in this piece, it happens roughly just after the 2 minute mark. It is not uncommon to have some audience starting to clap at this juncture. If you do not want to be embarrassed or be a faux culture vulture, beware of this bear trap but one can always give an excuse that Chopin is not on my radar.

For this review, I listened to five different versions; 3 were based on original piano only arrangements played by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Garrick Ohlssohn and Yundi Li all of which are very renowned pianist with Ohlssohn and Li having some claim to being Chopin sub-specialist especially Ohlsson who has recorded the entire Chopin collection; Nathan Milstein arrangement played by violinist Ruggiero Ricci and pianist Ernest Lush which is also not small standing in classical music fame during their era; last but not the least, we have an violin Joshua Bell that some critics has labelled as having gone to the dark side in Star Wars speak as being a classical crossover artist with Craig Leon himself conducting the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

I have always loved Ashkenazy both as a pianist as well as a conductor and his handling of this piece is very emotive and involved and yet way ward technically given how equally he has executed the odd numbered notes like the triplets and thrills. For Ohlsson's version, you should pay pay very close attention to volumetric control for a piece that has many single noted accents. His control of the sustain pedal is also extraordinary well done so that there is enough of it to create legato like without sounding muddied. What surprise me most was Yundi Li which I have commented as normally being overly zealous but he showed control and maturity in this piece. The album is very recent as it was only recorded in November 2009 and January 2010 in Zurich. Perhaps he could have matured with age or the cold wintry months has evoked his melancholicism into the piece.

Joshua Bell's playing concerto like arrangement was hard to fault and yet difficult to put a handle on what was exceptional. The most obvious grace so how well Craig Leon controlled an almost oblivion to let the violin and harp shine in the piece and rightly so. Although the recording quality of the playing by Ruggiero Ricci of Nathan Milstein arrangement together with Ernest Lush was my favorite although the background hiss is visible in these older recording. Ricci's bowing was as if the bow was an extension of his hands tugging at his own heart strings. I am now a little confused if Chopin intended this piece for the piano only or transfer-ably between the piano and violin as a piano does not have the legato of a violin. The violin on the other hand does not have the overlapping sustain and reverb effect possible in a piano

Enough comments about the pieces and now for those who might like to have the exact recordings that I used:

1. Ultimate Chopin 5 CD set - CD3 Track 6 - Vladimir Ashkenazy - Decca 475 8046

2. Chopin the Complete Works by Garrick Ohlsson 16CD set - CD 9 Track 9 - Hyperion CDS44351/66

3. Frederic Chopin - Complete Nocturnes - Yundi Li - 2 CD set - CD2 Track 8 - EMI Classics 5 099960 839121

4. The Essential Joshua Bell - 2 CD set - CD1 Track 3 - Sony/BMG 0 886970 741620

5. Virtuoso Violin - Ruggeiro Ricci - 2 CD set - CD1 Track 13 - Decca 458 191-2

Happy listening. Cheers Pete aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

Symphonic April Fool

2010-04-01T23:07:00.006+08:00

The day 1st April has been a day of jokes or joke of THE day in the year. Whatever its origin, I never bothered to find out but when I started my interest in composer Jospeh Haydn, I found out that he was born on 1st April 1732 and some musicians have actually opined that he was born the day before instead and the 1st April date was a joke. However, the more widely accepted date of his birth is 1st April 1732.

Haydn broke the record of having composed the most numbers of symphonies; to be exact 104 in all. I have been trying to collect his full collection of symphonies but it was effort in vain as it was 104 too many. I came across a complete compilation of all his 104 symphonies in one of the online stores in UK and it was recorded by a single conductor and orchestra; Adam Fischer conducting the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra on Brilliant Classics (99925) on 33 red book CDs. Did some poking around on the internet and found this be to pretty well recommended and decided to take a click of faith and swiped out my credit card to order it together with some other CDs and part of the order arrived yesterday which contains the 33 CDs Haydn set. How timely for this article.

I have listened only to the first CD which contains his first 5 symphonies and it was my first time hearing these 5 symphonies as I my collection tendered to sway towards his later symphonies especially those composed in London. It is always very refreshing to hear the embryonic works and contrast it with the later works to see the progression overtime. In classical music speak, symphonies is largely considered the epitome amongst genres like concertos, sonatas, suites, songs etc as it is normally the most complex genre of classical music.

Although Haydn cannot be credited with the title of inventor of symphonies but he was the earliest to championed the genre to a level of popularity and sophistication that no one can hold a candle to. In my opinion, Haydn is most probably a systematic and tradition bound musician as he has sticked to the 4 movement rule for symphonies for most of his symphonic works. Even in cases where he uses the 3 movements template, there is a almost consistent fast/slow/fast transition between the movements typical of this genre.

The link between Haydn and Mozart has been widely debated but I would lean closer to the understanding that Mozartis not likely to be a disciple of Haydn as the two rarely meets physically as they were in different places and both have a healthy dose of respect for each others music. Haydn has remakred that "Mozart is the greatest composer of the world" shortly after the premiere of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Mozart likewise dedicated a set of 6 string quartets to Haydn. During his relatively shorter life on planet earth, Mozart composed a total to 41 symphonies and this by no means a feat considering his contribution to other genres like Operas, Concertos etc.

The next person on my list is Beethoven who was a pupil of Haydn. Although he only composed 9 symphonies during his life time besides other classical genres, but his name supersedes that of Haydn and Mozart if we were to do a random street straw poll of whom you think are the most popular composer of classical music. Perhaps someone might want to take this up as an experiment? Part of the reason could be the all time popularity of his 5th and 9th symphonies that has been the subjected to many treacherous interpretations by many crossover artists.

My last worthy mention which is most probably as important as the former 3 is Brahms. He was the youngest of the 4 composers and it is in my opinion the torch bearer for symphonic genre as symphonic music has had its renaissance and was beginning to waiver in popularity with the accent of modernistic music by the likes of Liszt. Although he composed a total of 4 symphonies, he has stayed faithful to the symphonic genre by sticking to the tradition bound symphonic structure under the onslaught of modernist and neo-classical appeal of the public. He could have been a good politician as he has done this not so much by throwing insinuations with modernism and neo-classicalism camp but by promoting how good symphonic work is. This is no easy task for a man that has a complex love life. Brahms was good friends to the Schumanns in good and bad times. Robert Schumann has not been a very emotionally stable person and has attempted suicide and was institutionalized in a sanatorium till his death. But Clara Schumann was a model wife in seeing and supporting Robert Schumann in good and bad times. Brahms is believed to have an interest in Clara Schumann but I guess his friendship and his personal moral high ground has prevented him from pursuing Clara romantically even after Robert Schumann's death. The friendship between Brahms and Clara never went further than being platonic although they were good friends and this created a very deep internal struggle in Brahms and this is evident in some of his music as you listen to it closely and with your heart instead of your mind. Brahms did very little by way of commenting on his works and hardly any pre-manuscripts can be found as it seems that Brahms has intended it to be such and destroyed all his work in progress leaving mostly only the final rendition behind.

If I have a life maxim, I would love a Haydn/Mozart like character to grow it. A Beethoven like character to take it to the next plateau and for a Brahms like character to keep the flame going. As for a spouse, it would surely be a Clara like character of in sickness and health, through rich or poor.

Good Friday. Cheers,,,, Peter Lye aka lkypeter.blogspot.com

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

Beethoven Symphony No. 6 in F major Op. 68 "Pastoral"

2010-03-21T23:37:00.015+08:00

Beethoven wrote a total of 9 symphonies ( some say 10 but the 10th is unfinished ) but only 2 of the symphonies were named by him; symphony No. 3 named "Eroica" meaning heroic and symphony No. 6 "Pastoral". Some might want to add symphony No. 9 as 'Ode to Joy' but remember that it only applies to the chorale part and not the symphony and there is little evidence of Beethoven naming it on the score except that he is adapting a poem written by Schindler of the same title. I therefore do not consider it a named symphony as such.

Symphony No. 3 was started as a tribute to Beethoven's hero Bonaparte but when Bonaparte crowned himself emperor, Beethoven lost most of the respect he has for Bonaparte and changed it to Eroica which can be translated to Heroic roughly. I shall reserve my comments to a later date.

What prompted me to write on this Symphony is because it was premiered on 22nd December 1808 and both 21st and 22nd December are birthdays of two men that is very close to my heart and for privacy reasons, it shall remain so. Some of you reading it might be able to guess but please do not comment on the names and respect the privacy please.

Beethoven's 9 symphonies occupy such a large turf in classical music arena that Stefan Kunze commented that "it was the standard against which the claims of all serious symphonic were measured." I could not agree more although the likes of more contemporary symphonic composers like Shostakovich and Schnikte has taken symphonic music to a very new dimension especially with Schnikte.

To start off, symphony No. 6 is peculiar as it has a total of 5 movements instead of the standard 4 movements structure. His other symphony that has 5 movements is symphony No. 9 but I am not sure some would agree with me that the finale Chorale as an adjunct to the 4th movement rather than a movement by itself. As the father of symphonic genre, I guess you reach a certain stage where the person becomes the rule of the day rather than the statutes.My thoughts are that Beethoven might have intended it to be a 4 movement symphony because he placed the schezro in the 3rd movement which is normally followed by the 4th and last movement. However, Beethoven might want to avoid his composition to end up as another tone poem which has become so overly used that Goethe commented " Painting sounds with sounds - thunder, crashing, plashing and splashing has become detestable". This is purely speculation based on circumstantial backdrop against which surrounded Beethoven at that time.

The first movement is to convey his arrival at the pastoral which is the country side as it was commonly known in his time. The feeling is one of cheerfulness as it might have been a large contrast to the city of Vienna where Beethoven was staying at that time. The very subtle entrance could also mean an entrance into quietness and tranquility. There seems to be a parallel with his symphony No. 5 structure wise of letting a single motif move from one part of the orchestra to the next like starting with the strings, followed by woodwinds and finally with the brass section.

The second movement and also the fourth movement is where Beethoven got himself in a tone poem fashion most probably to serve as canvas rather than the painting itself. These 2 movements are bipolar in that the second movement seems to portray the beauty of the country side. The fourth movement on the other hand paints how a thunderstorm could change the canvas of the country side so much just like it does in the cities where he was more accustom save for some sarconant differences in the two places.

The 3rd movement must have been the most beautiful dance of all the dances he has composed in my opinion. The dance starts leisurely and simply perhaps to give the dancers time to admire each other before it launches itself into a romantic heart wrenching melody that could turn any heart of stone to jelly. Thereafter comes the more demanding parts to the dancers to concentrate on the music and their steps. The ending is grandiose and launches straight into the 4th movement. Time to take a back seat and enjoy the music. The 4th movements is also punctuated with many dramatic kettle drum parts where it punctuates the tune with strong and staccato type beats mimicking the storm.

The 5th and the last movement is where the symphony finds resolution in the form of man and nature having a happy co-existence and respect for each other. Perhaps Greenpeace might consider it as a possible tune for their occasions.

I spent a good part of my Sunday listening to all 5 versions of this symphony that I have in my collection. What I find interesting is that for most Beethoven pieces, the more recent recordings tend to play on a faster tempo than older recordings but it is the reverse for this symphony in that the later recordings are played much slower.

The versions that I have are as follows and album art and fuller details would follow as it is about bed time for me now.

1.Beethoven 9 Symphonien - Herbert von Karajan,Berlin Philharmonia. DG

2.Beethoven Shmphony 5 & 6 karajan gold-recent re-issue of the above recording done in 1982

3.Harnoncourt, Chamber Orchestra of Europe-Warner Classics-Winner of best classical album in 1992.

4.Osmo Vanska, Minnesota Orchestra-BIS-SACD Award winning also

5.Andre Cluytens, Berlin Philharmonia-EMI

If I am not mistaken, the version by Vanska listed in number 4 is about the slowest of the 5 interpretations.

Cheers,,,, Pete

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

Rachmaninoff Piano No 3 in D minor Op 30

2010-02-23T23:08:00.013+08:00

Sometime in Dec 2009 while I was on leave from work for almost a month, I was introduced to a new fellow HiFi fraternity while on one of my regular visits to HiFi wonderland. He was there to test out an equipment and the owner asked what he would like to listen to and he mentioned classical and a CD of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 3 was lying on the coffee table and he suggested why not try this as it is something he is familiar with. This was my second encounter with a HiFi fan that loved this piece and the other person actually brings a recording of this piece around HiFi shops as a reference sounding board. The shop owner introduced me to his customer as one that loves classical music and he said to me that surely I must have this piece as it is almost like staple food of classical music. I did not answer his question as Rachmaninoff was not on my list of favorite composers and I only vaguely remembers his signature Piano Concerto No 1. Not wanting to be embarrassed, I told myself that I must go find out more about this piece and do some serious listening.

To my pleasant surprise, I found that I have 2 full recordings of this piece and decided to start listening to it and at first, I must admit that I was of the opinion that this piece must be an acquired taste like durians; you either love it or hate it and there is no two ways about it. The piece fell off my listening priority for a few weeks and one late evening or shall I say wee hours of morning whilst I was in a contemplative moods, I turned on Apple IPod and was intending to listen to Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 1 but accidentally swipe the click wheel too quickly and it landed me on his Piano Concerto no 3 and suddenly, the beginning motif seems to catch my attention and I listen on to all the 3 movements and it began to grew on me. It must not have been the superior sonics as I was listening miniature Altec Lansing speakers attached to my IPod and it was an old recording by famous pianist Van Cliburn and therefore it had to be music. Moreover, it was a live recording with a somewhat nosier audience or perhaps the sound engineer was lacking in skills in removing the audience noise from the recording. Some of my HiFi friends told me that there are basically two categories of HiFi fans, those that listen to the equipment against those that listen to the music. I try to strike a balance between the two and this is perhaps the reason I ended up with a decent size library of about 1400 classical CDs.

After listening to all 3 movements for a second time, I think I am beginning to like this piece like never before. The next day, I listened to the second recording I have by Zoltan Kocsis with San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under the hand of Edo deWaart. This recording was slightly faster paced than Van Cliburn version and between the two, I preferred the latter one as it the tempo seems to jive better with the melody and more emotive as possible to Kocsis catch the 'A' train tempo.

Not long thereafter, during one of my online shopping, I chance upon a live recording of this piece by world renown Chinese pianist Lang Lang version of this piece and in it went to the basket and it arrived at my door step a few later thanks to the snow storm plaguing USA coupled with the Christmas season. I was pretty surprised as I expected the version by Lang Lang to be more exuberant than normal as with most of his pieces but he surprised me with a tempered playing style that was much closer Van Cliburn and I check my CD player to make sure that I had the right CD and it was correct.

A bit about the origin of the piece. As Dvorak has his symphony no 9 'New World' as he composed it in USA, there is some parallel between the two. Rachmaninoff was to have a grand tour of the about 30 cities in USA arranged for him and he wrote this piece specifically for the tour. However, due to sudden death of his USA concert tour sponsor and he thought that the deal was off but it was not to be the case as Rachmaninoff actually contracted with the company and not the dead person and he was obliged to full-fill the USA tour. He wrote most of the entire piece in continental Europe and finished it save for the cadenza. An ingenious Rachmaninoff prepared a cardboard to mirror the keys of the Piano and he wrote the cadenza silently so to speak while crossing the Atlantic to USA on ship that took days instead of hours by air now. On the opening night, he played his silently composed cadenza for this first time to much acclaim of the audience not knowing the background. He swore never to have such a close shave again.

This piece was to become a much loved and requested piece of music during the tour and also subsequently when he left Russia motherland for good for USA to escape the communist revolution taking place then. He lived his last days in USA and never got a chance to return back to Russia that he so loved.

For those of you that are keen, here are the details of the 3 CDs from which I have used to write this commentary:

1.Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 3 Lang Lang-TELARC SACD-60582 (SACD)

2.Rachmaninoff/Prokofiev/Van Cliburn-LIVING STEREO 82876 67894 2 (SACD)

3.Rachmaninoff: Complete Works For Piano And Orchestra-Philips B00005O83Z

Have a good listen to this piece composed around the turn of 1900 and be patient and the bouquet would unfold slowly but surely onto you like all good wine and perfurme that takes time to mature and cannot be rushed.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Beethoven Piano Concerto No 1 in C major Op 15-In memory of Michael Chan Khay Ghee

2010-02-17T23:32:00.027+08:00

It is close to a year now since my maternal grandpa has passed on on 1 March 2009. It is with much trepidation since this is Chinese Lunar New Year week as it seems only yesterday that I visited him during Chinese Lunar New Year of 2009. Shortly thereafter, pneumonia took my grandpa away as he fought to fight the infection fiercely. I shared many of my younger days as a teenager with grandpa because we shared hobbies like HiFi, organ playing and photography together. He was also someone that I admired from a far as he has rode the roller coaster of life having made a small fortune and losing it all during his 40s ate a humble pie to be an employee to put food on the table for the family. To me, it is the hall mark of dexterity.

I have been listening to Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 1 for over a month and has fallen in love with the piece and felt a certain connection between this piece and the sweet memories I had of my grandpa although I could not put a finger to it but would try explaining it. What got me started on the frenzy for this piece was the purchase of this piece played by Dutch Ronald Brautigam with Swedish Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra conducted by a British Andrew Parrott. What got me to purchase this SACD was the removal sale at HMV and having heard Brautigam I thought I cannot be too wrong with my selection. The CD went home with me as usual without any listening done as I normally buy a few at a time and do not want to bother the sales person too much as we have sort of become familiar with each other and greet each other on first name basis. As I gravitate towards the piece, I went hunting in my humble CD collection and found that I have 7 full versions of this piece in my collection not counting excerpts as I usually buy the full works. The 7 CDs are as follows:

1.Beethoven : Les Concertos (Zacharias/Hoelscher/Schiff-Vonk/Masure)-EMI 0946 367578 2

2.Beethoven KlavierKonzerte Nr. 1 & 2 (Argerich/Philharmonia Orchestra/Sinopoli)-DG 445 504-2

3.Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3 (Michelangeli/Weiner Symphoniker/Giulini)-DG 289449 757-2

4.Piano Concertos 1 & 2 (Aimard/Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Harnoncourt) Warner 2564 63779-2

5.Beethoven Piano Concertos 1 & 3 (Brautigam/Norrkpoing Symphony Orchestra/Parrott) BIS SACD-1692

6.Beethoven Klavierkonzerte Nos. 1 & 4 (Lang Lang/Orchestra de Paris/Eschenbach) DG 477 6719

7.Alfred Brendel Plays Beethoven (Brendel) VOX BOX CDX3 3502

As in the case of Chopin's piano concertos, his second piano concerto in B flat major Op 19 was actually written before his first piano concerto but the second piano concerto got published first and therefore had a lower opus number of 15. There is some opinion within a small camp of Beethoven experts that claim otherwise stating that just before the inaugural concert of the piece, it was discovered that the piano technician has tuned the piano a semi-tone below and therefore Beethoven had to play his so-called second piano concerto a semitone higher in C. However, this line of reasoning has limited following and we shall assume the posture of main stream wisdom.

The piano concerto is divided into 3 movements with a cadenza in this first movement. Beethoven himself penned 3 versions of the cadenza and of all the recordings I have, only Zacharias attempted to improvise on the cadenza and most of the other recordings made use of the original cadenza written by Beethoven. Argerich used the shorter but more difficult of the 3 versions of the cadenza together with Brautigam and the rest used the slightly longer cadenza written by Beethoven.

The first movement in Allegro con bio have the orchestra introducing the piece as usually done in concertos with the exception of a few. The piano enters with the motif that is to be the cast for much of the first movement. This motif is repeated through the various instruments of the orchestra and also with some transposition to other keys as far away as E major and then comes what seems like an abrupt end of the first movement at around the 9th minute and thereafter the motif transforms into a motif that seems far removed from the initial motif but works its way towards the initial motif towards the end of the movement for a final resolution of the movement. Of worthy mention in this movement is the amount of air-time devoted to the solo clarinet but not substantial for it to qualify as concerto of that genre.

The second movement in Largo is not a popular part of this 3 movement concerto but I must say that Lang Lang has done the second movement justice by juxtaposing his emotions into this very lyrical, romantic, waltz and slower movement. I have always equated Lang Lang's style as being over zealous in most of his other recordings but this took me by surprise. Perhaps I should have the conductor Eschenbach to thank for as you never know who is the master in a concerto; the conductor or the soloist and I still have not resolved this differential myself. I think it is more important for the conductor and soloist to have good chemistry.

The third movement in Rondo is the fastest of the 3 movements with a march like celebratory twist. Some have attributed this to the influence that Mozart's musical style might have influenced Beethoven citing similarities between this movement and Mozart's concerto K.491 as a case in point. Whichever way the debate falls into, I love this grand movement as it gives the concertos a final resolution as a celebratory concerto that is sometimes used in occasions like weddings. To add, there is quite a few humorous or cheeky sections in this movement.

Now back to the hard decision if there is a fire in the house and I only have time to save one of the 7 CDs, which would I choose. My choice would be the version by Argerich from Argentina. Her playing might not be technically as brilliant as Michelangeli, as exuberant as Lang Lang or have the originality of Zacharias but she seems to string the 3 movements very well into a complete concerto.

Cheers,,,,Peter Lye aka lkypeter

My Humble HiFi Setup

2010-02-01T22:43:00.018+08:00

The pictures listed above is my current humble Hifi setup and I am very pleased with the sound. All power cable are Golden Strada #201 except for iTransport and BenchMark. iTransport because it uses special transformer and BenchMark because I ran out of funds :(

For Lazy Listening

1.MacMini CoreSolo with iTunes or Wadia iTransport i170 with Apple iPod Touch 64GB or SqueezeBox3

2.Toslink Cable to Benchmark DAC1

3.RCA unbalanced Acrolink to Modwirght SWL36.5

4.2 pairs of RCA unbalanced Golden Strada #201 to Wyred4Sound MC2X250,2X125 Biamp

5.2 pairs of Music Strada #79 speaker cable to Vandersteen 2CE Signature speakers

For more serious listening usually on weekends and holidays on SACD

1.Marantz SA11S2

2.RCA unbalanced Acrolink to Modwirght SWL36.5

3.2 pairs of RCA unbalanced Golden Strada #201 to Wyred4Sound MC2X250,2X125 Biamp

4.2 pairs of Music Strada #79 speaker cable to Vandersteen 2CE Signature speakers

I can say that I am at home with the sound now especially on classical music.

Cheers,,,,Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Resurrecting Dead Musicians-Rachmaninoff/Gould/Karajan

2010-01-27T15:16:00.017+08:00

Through the marvel of technology, audio-visual engineers has been able to resurrect dead musicians from their grave and have them re-perform their pieces. I was first exposed to this by a friend Ray who told me me a special CD of Rachmaninoff plays Rachmaninoff which is not done by the usual re-mastering of old vinyl or master tape through post processing to rejuvenate the sound and remove static noise inherent in recording technology of that era. He asked to me look for the CD on his behalf but I failed to find it in a fine music store in downtown Singapore. For those of you who are interested in this recording, you can visit www.zenph.com.
During the visit to the music store, I was casually browsing through the DVD section which is very unlike me as I have so called dedicated myself to stereophony and does not wander into un-chartered waters of DVDs, surround systems etc. as my limited reasoning and knowledge concludes that with only a pair of ears, you can only handle sound from 2 speakers. Being an al-cheapo, I started with the discount section and saw 3 DVDs of Karajan ( who has passed away ) going for S$9.95 each and I must confess that it was the sticker price that drew my attention more than anything else. On reading about the DVD, I was fascinated that this was not a re-mastering of his old recording but a sort of re-performance. I shall quote from commentator Tobias directly as I cannot find a better way to describe it.

"Sony BMG Masterworks have announced the release of 3 special DVD sets to commemorate the 100th birthday of Herbert von Karajan. The DVD boxes will be released on April 5th of 2008 and comprise video footage of Herbert von Karajan conducting all nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven, symphonies 4, 5 and six by Tchaikovsky as well as Richard Strauss’ Tone Poems. The label announced the DVD sets as a visually appealing extravaganza, which had received additional audio treatment through a very special re-recording procedure: “With an intricate speaker matrix, a well-levelled signal was generated on stage to trigger the room acoustics”, Sony BMG Masterworks explained. “In direct relation to the source material the room signals were then re-recorded with an orchestra-like microphone array and newly balanced – a technology spearheaded by a team around sound engineers Philipp Nedel and Michael Brammann at the Philharmonic Hall in Berlin and the Musikverein in Vienna – two main performance sites of Karajan’s career and also two halls world-renowned for their acoustics.” Almost 20 years after his death in 1989, Herbert von Karajan thus continues to be one of the record company’s and the entire classical scene’s most profitable brands."

On reaching home, I slotted the DVD into a Pioneer DVDS969AVi which was the flagship of Pioneer's range of DVD players many moons ago. This was hooked up to my stereo system via a digital coaxial cable to my Benchmark DAC and etc for the audio portion and through a HDMI cable to my flat screen but I set the volume down the flat screen to zero as putting it on mute will entail having a nagging "mute" insignia on screen which I detest but have not found a way to overcome it except to turn the volume down to zero. As explained above, the audio reproduction was fascinating unlike any re-mastering that I have heard. However, the video portion was a bit of a let down as Karajan was almost perpetually placed at the left hand side of the screen and my explanation being that the video mixing engineer could have either fallen asleep on the job or something to that effect. I spent the next 3-4 hours enjoying the 3 DVDs until the wee hours of the morning at considerably loud volume but I am lucky that there is some distance separating me from my neighbors plus some of the additional effort I put in to keep the sound mostly trapped within my room. Done the al-cheapo way again with materials from the neighborhood DIY store. Otherwise, I would have neighbors telling me off or calling the police or perhaps I have very understanding neighbors. With a certain excitement, I brought the 3 DVDs to Ray and told him about what I found and lent him the 3 DVDs and it has been with him since and I do hope it is because he enjoys it and not collecting dust in his home. This is what I call commanding Karajan from his grave for a re-performance. Luckily, I did not hear or see anything eerie while enjoying the 3 DVDs in the early side of morning like 3am.

Not sure why but all these mention of re-performance against re-mastering gathered momentum . Ray had a new acquisition of Glenn Gould's re-performance of his 1955 Bach Goldberg's Variations recording by first using sophisticated computer technology to MIDI like files. The main difference being that standard MIDI has only 128 bits resolution but this modified form has a resolution of 1024 bits. This makes it possible to be almost equal to Glenn Gould's fingers and legs. This modified MIDI was feed into a modified Yamaha DISKLAVIER to accept the 1024 bits. This modified grand piano is then place in a concert hall to get the ambience and reverberations of a concert hall. The files were then fed into the grand piano and the keys and pedals then move in almost exact manner in which Glenn Gould would have done so in the 1955 recording. Microphones were placed around the piano and hall and recorded and transfered to CDs like a normal modern recording except that the you have Glenn Gould's ghost playing it instead. For a full description, visit www.zephn.com The re-performance enjoyed the advantage of current recording technology plus a stroke of genius of a dead musician Glenn Gould. I happen to have a 1981 Glenn Gould recording of Bach Goldberg's Variation done a few months before he died and both Ray and myself came to the conclusion that the two recordings sounded different sound wise as well as playing style. Perhaps an older and dying Glen Gould in 1981 has a different perspective to the piece as opposed to his 1955 recording. I am still searching for the actual mono recording of his 1955 recording so that we can conclude whether it is the MIDI re-production technology that made it sound different or the artiste actually played it differently. Perhaps the difference could be due to the piano used itself. I do not have the brand or model of the Piano used in the original 1955 recording but the re-production was on a Yamaha Grand and the 1981 on a model 'D' Steinway.

The latest re-production technology was also an introduction by Ray and it was a Telarc re-performance of Rachmaninoff playing his own compositions and recorded on music roll in 1930. I thought that Thomas Edison invented recording on Vinyl but was surprised that before that, there was a technology called music roll which was essentially rolls of paper and as the pianist plays on a special recording piano, holes were punched on the paper roll to indicate which keys and pedals were in play. Rich households then usually have a 're-producing piano' and by feeding the music rolls into the re-producing piano, the piano would play by itself as if the recording artiste was playing it. Wayne Stahnke has managed to lay his hands on some of these music rolls as many of these have vanished or destroyed over time. He then wrote a special computer scanning program to scan these ancient music rolls into a computer and then re-produced these music rolls again as the originals were in too frail a state to be used. For pieces that he has multiple copies, his special computer program would actually make a comparison of the different versions and make an approximated guess of what is deemed the most correct. He next managed to find an ancient Bosendorfer 290 SE re-producing piano and had it restored to its almost original condition. The new music rolls were then fed into this piano and modern microphones were used to record the sound produced by it. Do visit www.telarc.com for more details.

I stand amazed at the ingenuity of our human specie in raking up these new ideas to so call resurrect the dead musicians back to for a re-performance. As for my friends in the legal fraternity, it would be interesting to have a hypothetical debate on who owns the intellectual property rights of these works. Perhaps, if I am brave enough, I would openly make copies of these recordings and post it on the internet and see if a legal suit would come my way. I have looked up the covers of all these 3 recordings and they have copyrights attributed to their respective record company but wonder if it would stand in court.

Cheers,,,,Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Saint Peter @ Pearly Gate-Legal Angle

2010-01-26T21:32:00.007+08:00

Four death row criminals appeared before Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates and he asked them have they been honest in their life and their answers are as follows:

1. I was honest to the prosecutors and landed here after a lethal injection.

2. I did not lie under cross examination and had my death sentence commuted to life sentence and ended here after a gang clash between the inmates.

3. I replied factually under cross examination and got my death sentence commuted to life sentence with parole possibility but was killed by my victim's relative outside prison wall.

4. The prosecutors asked the wrong questions and was pronounced innocent and lived to a ripe old age until old age took me here.

Have a good laugh. An original joke by lkypeter aka Peter Lye

Choo Hoey Returns - Many Happy Returns

2009-11-08T18:30:00.009+08:00

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) last Friday was aptly named Choo Hoey Returns. It was a concert that I was looking forward to not so much for the program but for the conductor Choo Hoey whom I have grown to be very fond of as it brings back many old teenage memories as I grew up listening to his performances when he set-up the SSO in 1979 when I was just a teenager starting to appreciate classical music. I would have wished for the concert to be at Victoria Concert Hall (VCH) instead of the newer Esplanade Concert Hall as SSO first home was VCH and had recently moved to Esplanade Concert Hall from VCH when it was completed. This would have completed the nostalgia. Perhaps Singaporean should cherish the old whilst keeping in step with her development.

Choo Hoey is no ordinary conductor. Back in 1979 when he first agreed at the bequest of former Minister Dr. Goh Keng Swee to help setup SSO which is the first for our little island state, he was doing well in the West but gave up his little ambition to pioneer SSO. For this, I am ever grateful to Choo Hoey for the instrumental part he played in the birth of SSO. Being a guy, I also grew up admiring the ever gracefully dressed Lynnette Seah who has been with SSO as long as Choo Hoey I think. She is currently co-leader for SSO. I must say that whilst many lady musicians in SSO chose to wear pants, I could hardly remember a concert seeing Lynnette Seah in pants. She is ever so elegantly dressed during concerts.

The first piece was a french piece Printemps by Debussy. It is a piece that I am not familiar with and it was my first hearing of the piece. I read from the program commentary by Marc Rochester that Printemps in french is closely equivalent to Spring in english. He continued that it is a controversial piece because the original score was destroyed and Debussy had no intentions of resurrecting it and was being resurrected by another musician named Henri Busser. I like the piece and would most probably go look for it to add to my collection. Choo Hoey was his usual effervescent self making it both an audio and visual treat for me.

The second piece had Chloe Hanslip playing a very familiar piece Tchaikovsky only Violin Concerto. I have about 10 full versions of this piece on recording and have heard it live in concert countless time. Familiar is the piece but it is not an easy piece and pile that with the easy comparison as this piece has been remarked by some as being recorded to death. Although the piece opened with gusto under Choo Hoey, Choo Hoey was his usual style in conducting concertos allowing the soloist space and ensured that the orchestra stayed as an accompaniment rather than the lead role. This is not easy approach to adopt as Choo Hoey is a larger than life conductor on stage but when it came to concertos, he knew the orchestra station. SSO under Choo Hoey did very well in this light but my favorite for this piece is still with Julia Fischer. I have reviewed this piece on my blog last year.

The final piece after the interval was the last symphony that Dvorak wrote in his homeland before leaving for America. It is Dvorak Symphony No 8 with Symphony No 9 nick named The New World having been written in America. This Czech piece was very gallantly played by the SSO watching Choo Hoey direct SSO was an equally if not a bigger treat for me. When the piece was completed, the audience was clapping zealously and Choo Hoey had to hold the hands of Lynnette Seah out of the stage otherwise the night would have gone on and on.

Why Many Happy Returns for this article is because the starting and ending pieces were happy pieces. As for the middle piece by Tchaikovsky, it is most probably one of melancholic as Tchaikovsky wrote it shortly after his disastrous marriage perhaps as a cover rumor of his being gay. In addition, personally it brings back many happy teenage memories. I remembered once taking my date to a SSO concert and she was so straight jacketed by the audience silence that she could not wait for the concert to end. Perhaps this is the reason why we did not end up together but neither is my wife a person appreciative of classical music.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

"The Pianist" and Chopin Piano Concerto No 1 in E Minor Op 11

2009-11-01T00:25:00.006+08:00

The 2002 show "The Pianist" by director Roman Polanski is about the real life experience of a Polish/Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw in the second world war and how he managed to survive whilst other Jews around him perished at the hands of the Nazis. The first thing that strike me about the film was its opening and ending not that there isn't anything substantial about the show. In fact, the entire show had my eyes glued to the screen reminding me about the atrocities of war and ears to the nicely paired background music that accompanied it.

The opening and ending had Szpilman playing Chopin pieces under different circumstances. The opening was of him playing the piece at the Polish National Radio Station midway when Nazi bombs started littering the streets of Warsaw and how he held on and continued playing albeit at increasing tempo until the piano was destroyed. The ending shows a post war concert of him playing the same piece.

Chopin wrote two piano concertos in his short life but many romantic piano pieces. Perhaps the good dies young and the wicked suffers a longer sentence on planet Earth. This piano concerto was written after his second piano concerto but was published first and therefore had a lower opus number of 11 as opposed to 22 for the second piano concerto.

The piece has 3 movements. The first starts with a longish orchestra introduction that puts the pianist twiddling fingers or nervously waiting for his turn to show his skills. Have been to concerts and saw videos of this piece and has watched varied postures taken by the pianist during this anticipatory start some of which are worth a laugh or two. At the ripe moment, the pianist enters with a very loud first minor chord and thereafter to finger runs along the piano as it is very Chopin to be very notes centric rather than chord centric like Rachmaninov or Tchaikovsky. Some sources have it that Chopin aptly named this movement Allegro maestoso not that it will be a walk in the park for the maestros but rather only maestros need attempt this walk.

The second movement is both romantic and fairly lyrical and clocks in at roughly half the length of the first movement which runs for about 20 minutes. It does seems to me that this second movement is more like a bridge to the finale with most of the glory of the piece being exhibited in the first movement.

The finale is a Rondo that thunders in with an orchestration starts just like the first movement before bringing the concerto to a grand finale.

If orchestration is your meat, best to look towards Beethoven, Mozart or even Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninov but the beauty of this concerto likes in the striking piano parts that can almost stand on its own as Chopin is primarily a pianist at heart and it shows in this piece where his heart lies.

I spent the last few days going through my collection to hunt for various recordings that I have of this piece and was nicely surprised that I have 7 but I thought 8 as one is missing somewhere. Was able to do so as I have almost ripped all my classical CDs into iTunes and could search at light speed compared to going through the CDs on the rack. The 7 recordings are as follows:

1.Garrick Ohlsson with Kazimerz Kord conducting the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra recorded in 1997. Ohlsson is considered one of the living Chopin experts on two counts on having recorded the entire Chopin repot-ire and having won the Chopin Piano competition himself.

2.Olga Kern with Antoni Wit conducting the same Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra recorded in 2004. Olga was a gold medalist at the 11th van Cliburn paino competition and she has a slightly wider range of composers centering on more Russian composers like Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov.

3.Martha Argerich with Charles Dutoit conducting Montreal Symphonic Orchestra in 1998. Argerich name is on the top top list of pianist and her rendition of this piece blows my mind away.

4.Nikolai Demidenko with Heinrich Schiff conducting The Philharmonia recorded in 1993. I have seen Demidenko live and he is very balanced and technical in his ways as in this album.

5.Yund Li with Andrew Davis conducting The Philharmonia recorded in 2006. Yund Li is also a Chopin Piano medalist like Olga Kern.

6.Lang Lang with Zubin Mehta conducting Weiner Philharmoniker in 2008. Lang Lang is a very successful pianist from China having recorded extensively with many renown conductors and orchestras. Perhaps the loud and some egotistical ways gets filtered into his interpretation making it over exuberant. I just hope that attraction of money and fame does not tip him into the dark side of pop-ciscal as in giving classical music a pop interpretation in future not that he has done it now.

7.Polish pianist Alexis Weissenberg with Stanislaw Skrowaczeski conducting Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire recorded in 1967.

After a couple of days of intense listening, my vote goes to Martha Argerich as she shows she is in control of the piece and yet lets the emotions deliver the musical message. On first hearing, I was about to strike it off my list due to the orchestra start which I felt was a tinge too fast but she and Dutoit does tango well as there is very little signs of struggle between the pianist and the conductor/orchestra.

Left Brain Right Brain

2009-11-01T00:19:00.002+08:00

Heard this joke from one of my kids that purports that is was their original and not a re-post.

There is nothing right about my right brain and my left brain has nothing left!

Shostakovich Symphony No 1 in F Minor Op 10

2009-09-16T22:24:00.015+08:00

It is often said that great works are followed by sequels of disappointments and finally unfinished business. However, in the case of Shostakovich, his first symphony is more like an insight to greater things to follow as he wrote a total of 15 symphonies in his life time.

This symphony was written during his teenage years but the symphony shows no sign of childishness or undecidedness due to biological hormonal transformation that plague many teenagers. Maturity and insight into larger social and political issues seems to underline the symphony against a backdrop of social and political transformation under the newly minted soviet communist regime and power transition from Lenin to Stalin. The minor scale of a dark canvass belies the piece. This is punctuated by many mysterious and surprising corners through a clever play of the timpani and inter-play between brass and woodwind sections.

The drum roll that begins the fourth movement gives one an expectation of the start of a triumphant or regal piece but it quickly blends in with the first 3 movements of mystery and surprises with the drum roll repeated a few times within the piece before ending on a note of what seems like an end of a significant event that is neither jubilant or dark. This suspenseful insigna of Shostakovich is to follow in his many pieces that can leave both a political intrigue or the largest politico-musical scandal of the communist regime now unfolds before modern day Shostakovich interpreters.

There is also a hint of romanticism influence in between the shrouded mystery of the piece. The composer is said to be under the weather emotionally and was institutionalized in an asylum and thought to have attempted suicide during the 1-2 years of writing this symphony.

Although he was poor, Shostakovich is believed ( not by his contemporaries but modern day scholars ) to be a firm believer of the merits of the democratic system and the devil that underlies the communist regime. Some say that they hear a cry for justice out of a summary execution and you be the judge. The piece was premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1926.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

Prelude to the Music of Political Sarcasm

2009-09-01T00:23:00.008+08:00

Dimitri Shostakovich lived during the era where Stalin ruled over communist Russia and he is one of the few composers to have gain the stamp of approval as music to rally the country into the communist cause. How that the Iron curtains are down and much more exploration is done on his music, there appears a lot of sarcasm embedded in his so called nationalistic symphonies. When I read about this, I jump up in enthusiasm and decided to give a music a deeper look as I have always though it was just typical neo-classical genre with their complex form that eludes the character.

This is just a short prelude as I have armed myself by going out to buy his complete 11 symphonies as I already have some of his violin concertos and some other minor music of his. With lots of Coke and a good listening ear and reading up. I shall be putting my discoveries soon.

In our language 'Akan Datang' or coming soon.

Late now and I have to sleep

Peter Lye aka lkypeter.blogspot.com
Peter Lye aka lkypeter
Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye