T'ang Quartet impresses with Bach-inspired renditions

The T'ang Quartet as fans knew it in 1992, its inaugural year, does not quite exist any more.

- Chang Tou Liang

An ensemble-in-residence at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, its remaining founding members – violinists Ng Yu Ying and Ang Chek Meng – now perform concerts with guest musicians.

Cellist and former student Cho Hang-oh joined for this concert, as did fellow faculty member violist Zhang Manchin for a performance of Soviet-era Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Quintet In G Minor (Op. 57).

Arguably the most performed 20th-century piano quintet, it took inspiration from the Baroque, notably German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Pianist Ning An's big opening chords on the newly gifted Fazioli grand were a statement of intent in the Prelude, from which a probing exposition sprouted and grew.

The tight ensemble continued into the lengthy Fugue, where individual voices and contrapuntal lines stood out with illuminating clarity.