“Magical or Bizarre? You Decide.”

Reviewer: Andre Joseph Theng
Performance: 29 August 2015

Margaret Leng Tan’s Cabinet of Curiosities cleverly combines different art forms, but is an acquired taste that not everyone will enjoy.

As the audience files out for the intermission, I overhear some trying to describe what they had just seen to their friends.

That was magical, said one.

I am not sure if I entirely agree.

Cabinet of Curiosities is a commission for the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) and features renowned pianist Margaret Leng Tan performing on a collection of toy instruments, including the toy pianos she is known for. Included in the programme is the world premiere of a piece by Phyllis Chen entitled Curios, played by “instruments” such as crank toys, bowls, a music box and featuring video clips.

Performed at the School of the Arts Studio Theatre, the production toes the line between a classical music performance and a theatrical performance. Tan is of course, first and foremost a classical pianist and she performs some pieces with the music sheets before her. At the same time, she also takes on the role of an actor. For example, in the piece entitled “Wrong, wrong, wrong”, based on an ancient Chinese poem, Tan transforms into a Chinese Opera performer, performing single-handedly an ‘orchestra’ of 16 instruments as well as singing and making sound effects with her voice.

The sharp, tinkly, bell-like sounds of the toy piano do create an aura of mystique, well in line with the “Cabinet of Curiosities” theme. The theme refers to collections of weird objects, antiques or pieces of natural history, as kept by the rich in days of old. The Phyllis Chen piece is accompanied with a video of old carousel rides and carnivals, and her music provides a nice soundtrack of sorts although the video was mostly a distraction from the music.

With the rather abstract and unusual nature of the performance, Cabinet of Curiosities pushes boundaries of traditional and modern art resulting in something rather creative and intriguing. In one piece, James Joslins’ ‘Hatta’, she moves between two toy pianos facing each with an amplified chess set between them. The movements of the chess pieces against the board created sound effects that contrasted with the pianos. In another, Alvin Lucier’s ‘Nothing is Real’, she performs with a tea pot. She opens and closes the lid, a small speaker from within grows and dims in volume with the Beatles’ ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ wafting out of the teapot.

I have to say while I appreciate its creativity, I am not a fan of such avant-garde work. Such work is often an acquired taste. In any case, the very well-behaved audience seemed to appreciate the performance, watching and listening intently to every detail and every sound produced by the variety of “instruments”. Perhaps it is genius, and perhaps I just don’t get it.

“Satisfaction brought it back”

Reviewer: Casidhe Ng
Performance: 28 August 2015

Continuing Singapore International Festival of Arts’ (SIFA) trend of works that push the boundaries of any given medium is Margaret Leng Tan’s Cabinet of Curiosities, a series of compositions that are as theatrical as they are musical. At the end of the 2-hour performance, as the house lights come up for her curtain call, Tan stretches her hands out in admiration for her fellow contributors onstage: a plethora of instruments, knick-knacks, toys and masks.

Cabinet of Curiosities is arguably a perfect encapsulation of Tan’s New Music. It is an extensive showcase of her capability to oscillate between virtuosic musician and emotive performer, but is ultimately an indication of her sensitivity toward the utility of objects in creating sound. In Alvin Lucier’s Nothing is Real, the Beatles’ track “Strawberry Fields Forever” is amplified through a teapot, producing an intriguing quality of music that reverberates in the air. It is fascinating to watch. For a moment it seems that Tan herself disappears and the pot, entirely alive, sings through each lift of the lid.

It is with similar sophistication and respect that Tan brings her other objects to life: chess pieces on a board move with different personalities, the toy pianos become cheeky, playful creatures singing their otherworldly tunes whilst Tan herself brews tea. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! by Lu You is the highlight of the evening: Tan is at her best as a singular performer as she embodies each feeling of regret and lost love with remarkable capability, constructing the universe through the sounds of birds and crickets but never straying from the strength of the translated text. The poem, recited in Peking-opera fashion, is standalone beautiful. Yet, it is the pairing of its lyrics with Tan’s emotive disposition, intertwined with the disjuncture of its disparate sounds that makes the experience so unique. Finally, Curios illustrates Tan’s instrumental flair, from her work with cymbals, gongs and bowls with a background projection of the Kassino clowns, to the utterly captivating music that emanates from her little music box.

At times, the paraphernalia seem underused, or jarringly in contrast to other elements with no apparent purpose. The projections, though occasionally effective in creating arresting stage pictures, seem intrusive and distracting with their drastically differing styles.

In its entirety, Cabinet of Curiosities presents an interesting music-theatre experience that is booming with potential, a play on forms and mediums that are rarely (if ever) seen in Singapore. Charged with truly awe-inspiring moments, Tan’s work, though occasionally overwhelming, is nevertheless audacious, groundbreaking and idiosyncratic. Come for Tan’s musical technique, but stay for her provoking creations, her lovely instruments, and the images conjured by everything combined.