Jonathan Mui (violin) Patrick Keith (Piano)
Programme:
Sinding: Suite in the Old Style
Brahms: Violin Sonata No 3
Debussy: Violin Sonata
Saint-Saens arr Ysayë: Etude in the form of a Waltz
Associate Artist: Patrick Keith
Jonathan Mui was born in Hong Kong in 1991 and started playing the violin at the age of five. He moved to Sydney in 2002 where he continued his studies with the world-renowned pedagogue Prof. Shi-xiang (Peter) Zhang. At the beginning of 2005, he was offered a scholarship to the summer course at the Meadowmount School of Music in the USA, where he spent seven weeks in July of that year. Soon afterwards, in October, he gave his first solo performance of a concerto with the Symphony Orchestra of Guangxi Province, China.
In June 2006, Jonathan won the Outstanding Performer Award in the Ku-Ring-Gai Concerto Competition, an event organised annually by the Ku-Ring-Gai Philharmonic, one of Australia’s leading community orchestras. In September 2007, Jonathan was the winner of the first prize at the Kendall National Violin Competition (Aus), and was also the inaugural recipient of their Travel Scholarship. In October of the same year, he performed with the Queensland Youth Orchestra, and was a joint winner of the National Youth Concerto Competition 2007, held in Brisbane. As a recipient of the Travel Scholarship, he travelled to London in December 2007 for private tuition with Prof. Kun Hu, a distinguished Chinese violinist and currently a member of the Royal Academy of Music faculty. Jonathan completed a recital tour in February 2008 as the winner of the Kendall Competition, performing in Mosman (Sydney), Nambucca Heads and Kendall.
Jonathan entered the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in February 2010, where he currently studies with internationally acclaimed Norwegian violinist and pedagogue, Prof. Ole Böhn. In December 2010, Jonathan won first prize at the Gisborne International Competition (NZ), and was a joint winner of the Prize for the Best Interpretation of a New Zealand Composition. In January 2011, he was invited back to New Zealand to perform at the Australian High Commission in Wellington. In June 2011, Jonathan was selected to participate in the inaugural Lausanne Summer University, an intensive chamber music course bringing together five leading music institutions from around the world: Sydney & Singapore Conservatories, Guildhall School (London), Peabody Institute (Baltimore), HEMU (Lausanne). In July, Jonathan performed string quartet and solo recitals at the Vigeland Summer Concert series in Oslo, Norway, and also appeared as a guest artist at the celebration concerts for the 102nd anniversary of the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro. In 2012, Jonathan has continued his work in Scandinavia, returning to perform in Oslo in February and July, and also participated in the prestigious Carl Nielsen Festival and Competition in Odense, Denmark.
Jonathan appears frequently as a member of the Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra, and has recently served as concertmaster for both these ensembles. Highlights in his orchestral playing include the Chamber Orchestra tour to USA, which featured joint concerts in October 2010 with the Juilliard School, San Francisco Conservatory and the University of Boulder (Colorado).
Patrick Keith is rapidly emerging as an exciting collaborative pianist, currently completing a Bachelor of Music specialising in Accompaniment at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under Phillip Shovk and David Miller. During his early studies, he participated in the Piano! festival held at the Australian National Academy of Music in July 2010 under the direction of Boris Berman and included tuition from Berman, Piers Lane, and Michael Kieran Harvey amongst others, and broadcast for the ABC Classic FM radio for the ISCM New Music 2010 festival. In the collaborative field, he has participated in masterclasses given by Emmanuel Pahud, Dieter Flury, Peter Bruns, Steven and Carolyn Warner of the Cleveland Duo, and Marie Van Hove-Parker AM, all specifically on duo repertoire. Recently, with flautist James Kortum, he placed third in the Geoffrey Parsons Accompaniment Competition, performing the Liebermann Sonata amongst other works. He has had the pleasure of working with Michael Halliwell, a concert featuring Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire with sopranos Wendy Dixon and Narelle Yeo, and a recital with Goetz Richter. Patrick wishes to further his studies as a postgraduate student, specifically in a select accompaniment course in Germany.
The Program:
1. Sinding: Suite in the Old Style Op. 10 (1889)
1. Presto
2. Adagio
3. Tempo giusto
2. Brahms: Violin Sonata in d minor Op. 108
- Allegro
- Adagio
- Un poco presto e con sentimento
- Presto agitato
3. Debussy: Sonata for Violin and Piano (1916)
1. Allegro vivo
2. Intermède, fantasque et léger
3. Finale: Très animé
4. Saint Saens arr. Eugene Ysayë: Etude in the form of a Waltz.
5. (Encore) Sir Edward Elgar: Chanson de Matin.
Reviewer: Neil Mitchell
Reviewer’s comments: Please also see the Program Notes elsewhere on this site.
The concert was held before a large audience (ca. 120 persons) on an unseasonably cold and drizzly day. Nonetheless, the audience was warm and the performers were lively.
Sinding: The suite constitutes a nineteenth century musical view of the baroque world.
It was a daring decision to begin a concert with this suite, beginning as it does with the challenging presto movement. All of the technical difficulties of this suite were well within the grasp of the performers, including the negotiation by Mr Mui of the outsized cadenza in the final movement. The audience was excited by music and by its performance.
Brahms: This sonata is about as extroverted and virtuosic as Brahms’ music gets. It is written in three four movements, instead of the usual three. The sonata is structured in an orthodox classical framework with the use of a scherzo as a third movement. It requires performers of the highest calibre. Notable in the sonata are the deceptively simple and tuneful inner two movements whereas the outer movements are exciting and even heroic in terms of their technical demands on the performers. The performance was of the highest standard in terms of accuracy and precision of interpretation and Mr Mui’s splendid violin tone was well suited to the inner two movements. No excess romanticism occurred; the composer spoke for himself.
Debussy: The performance of Debussy’s music enables considerable latitude if only because the composer began life as a romantic (see his Trio for violin, ‘cello and piano) and the surviving piano roll recordings show that he never abandoned this predilection. Nonetheless, Debussy’s music can also be performed to advantage in a more clinical style. Today’s performers leant towards the latter interpretive style, keeping the tempi brisk and moving forward all the while. A challenge in this “sonata” is its cyclical thematic material and lack of a “proper” structure (no sonata form, no rondo in the finale) and this makes a coherent interpretation vital. The performers gave a beautiful reading with fine ensemble playing and an exquisite violin tone. Mr Keith’s accompaniment was so well modulated that Mr Mui’s pizzicato could be heard at the back of the hall.
Saint Saëns arr. Eugène Ysayë: This piece is typical of Ysayë – elephantine and technically demanding. M. Ysayë has a fearsome reputation amongst violinists, demanding startling virtuosity. The original solo piano piece would have been safe in the hands of Mr Keith. However, today’s performance was assured and well-paced, leaving the audience excited and hoping for more.
Sir Edward Elgar: The encore was flawlessly played but perhaps a little fast for this reviewer’s taste.
General Comments: The artists were well-prepared, more than equal to the demands of the program and have fine ensemble playing. They are worthy inheritors of great artistic traditions. Mr Mui would seem to fine career ahead of him. Mr Keith certainly looks like a pianist in the style of Jorge Bolet, Wilhelm Stenhammar or Sergei Rachmaninoff but surprises one by his nuanced and sensitive accompaniment. That is one got to hear playing in the tradition of Artur, not Anton, Rubinstein.