Young pianist delivers Rachmaninov's First Piano Concerto with bravura

Russian music has such a following in Singapore that a large audience assembled to attend the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestral Institute's latest concert conducted by Jason Lai.

- Chang Tou Liang

The name of Sergei Rachmaninov is guaranteed to sell tickets, even if it was with one of the Russian Romantic composer's less often performed piano concertos. The First Piano Concerto In F Sharp Minor (Op. 1) was composed when he was a conservatory student of 18, but underwent a major revision in 1917.

It is this most commonly-heard later version that was performed by Indonesian pianist Edenia Maureen, a final-year student and prize winner of the conservatory's concerto competition. Her diminutive frame was no impediment to creating a big sonority, evident by the opening cascade of octaves and chords.