Malaysia's Lee mesmerizes Indonesian audiences
By Emilie Sueur
JAKARTA (JP): The Royal Netherlands Embassy welcomed the Malaysian pianist Dennis Lee Wednesday evening. Organized by the British Council and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, the recital was the first salvo of three days of performances in Indonesia.
Lee was played Thursday at the French Cultural Center in Bandung and yesterday at the Heritage Executive Club in Surabaya.
The recital had some pedagogical aspects to it as Lee always stopped to describe the pieces he would play.
The information was really welcome however as his choices were quite unusual.
He did not opt for simplicity. His program included unusual sonatas from Ludwig van Beethoven and Etudes from the foremost Polish composer of the early 20th century, Karol Szymanowski.
He started the recital with the astonishing sonata in G Major, opus 31/1 by Beethoven. Those who are used to the strength of Beethoven's music, would be surprised by this light piece, dyed with humorous connotations.
The 50-year-old pianist found the perfect childlike spirit required to play this cheerful sonata.
From then on the recital was dominated by an atmosphere of evocation.
After the two Szymanowski's Etudes laced with passionate romanticism, Lee interpreted in a remarkable way two pieces by the French composer Claude Debussy.
The composer had been inspired to write Pagodes (Pagodas), from a series titled Estampes, after meeting Asian composers at an international exhibition held in Paris at the beginning of this century.
Lee, who lives in London despite his Malaysian origins, clearly felt comfortable in this mix of western and oriental influences.
The second Debussy piece, Reflets dans l'eau (Reflections in the water), could be the perfect illustration of Paul Dukas sentence about the French composer, "One must seek the poetry in his work".
Reflets dans l'eau is completely impregnated with the impressionist influence of the period. Lee offered the audience, thanks to his exquisite interpretation and phrasing, a sumptuous walk through Claude Monet's Giverny garden.
But this nice wandering was interrupted in the most impolite way when a mobile phone rang.
But Lee, thanks to remarkable concentration, managed to smooth the surface of the disrupted water so that the reflections would not become completely blurred.
Lee then turned away from his impressionist meanderings and approached one of the greatest ever pianists, Franz Liszt. One look at Lee's resume was enough to presume of his skills.
We had here, in musical terms, the fruits of his 44 years of practicing, his career awards including first prize in the Royal Overseas League Festival in London.
The sonetto 104 del Petrarca confirmed the great sensitivity of Lee's playing. The pedaling, the accentuation and the breathing of the music enlightened this musical translation of the Petrarch's poem addressed to Laura, an inaccessible love.
To round the program off Lee flung himself into the Polonaise no 2 in E major. This piece, as with most of Liszt's compositions, requires a high level of technical competence.
Not only did he overcome all the difficulties, he even gave to the music the brilliance of the Slav spirit it required. The audience didn't miss it and returned all the energy given by the pianist in warm applause.