review: president's charity concert 1998

Victoria Concert Hall (Friday, 18th September, 1998)

As a teenager, Elaine Chew impressed critics as the youngest finalist in Singapore's first major piano competition.

On Friday, more than a decade since that event, the 28-year-old Singaporean pianist returned to thrill in a concert that offered the audience the regrettably rare opportunity to hear world-class homegrown soloists.

While Richard Strauss' youthful Burleske In D Minor Op 11 is more of a delectable romp chock-full of flashy writing than soul food, it is to Chew's credit that she could still find room to display keen, mature musicianship.

The reading started at a relatively low temperature, increasing in fire and momentum gradually as the pianist unveiled her engaging multi-faceted personality.

Whether dispatching chordal thunder, sprinting through scintillating virtuoso runs with sparkling fingerwork, or whispering tender poetry, she embraced all with panache, entertaining aplomb and an acute sense of wit, revealing herself as a real minx, coy but full of flair.