CABINET OF CURIOSITIES by Margaret Leng Tan

“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.