Tommy Ng Recitals Australia Live Stream Wednesday 20 May at 12.30 pm

Violist Tommy Ng is the latest of the emerging artists series from Recitals Australia to stream live online.

Tommy Ng

Recitals Australia continues its emerging artists series with violist Tommy Ng, whom local audiences may remember from an excellent concerto debut with the Adelaide Youth Orchestra last year.

He began with the Bach Suite no. 5 in C minor for Solo Cello, BWV 1011 in a fine arrangement for viola. The Prelude began solemnly, the better to emphasise the triple and quadruple stopping, then took flight with an impressive fugue in which the trick is to convince the listener that they’re hearing more than a single voice at once, and in this Ng was very successful.

The Sarabande is one of Bach’s most extraordinary pieces, conjuring up a whole world of sound in single notes, at a slow tempo at that. One of his many works of genius. A sprightly pair of Gavottes, the second in graceful triplets, were very satisfying, though the final Gigue could have been much more rollicking.

Max Reger’s music remains largely unfashionable, with its density and textural extravagance, but works such as the three suites for solo viola, which are masterly displays of counterpoint in the tradition of the Bach suites, should be better known. The Suite no. 2 in D, op. 131d has a wonderful, singing quality, while the tune in the Andante, when harmonised, wouldn’t be out of place in a wild western landscape. Very enjoyable.

The recently departed Krzysztof Penderecki’s Cadenza for Solo Viola, an 8 minute tour de force, central to the viola repertory, was performed with considerable authority.