Among the best…Anton Isselhardt , flutist from Germany and Thailand’s guitarist Pongpat Pogpradit in the Wind & Strings 2025 Tour Pan – Americana Impressions in Malaysia on Oct 2, 2025.
The concert featuring 23 pieces was inspired by the longest road in the world – Pan American Highway- says Lee Jae Phang who organised the event in Bandar Sri Damansara, Selangor, Malaysia on Oct 2, 2025.
Spanning some 30,000 km across 14 countries, the highway is a showcase of natural wonders, history and cultural diversity.
By Foong Pek Yee
foongpekyee@gmail.com
Oct 9, 2025
Photos: Courtesy of Lee Jae Phang.
While we may play different musical instruments or have our favourite composer/s, openness to musical experience is enriching and vital for musicality development.
On that note, the Wind & Strings 2025 Tour Pan – Americana Impressions – is a golden opportunity.
Drawing inspiration from the Pan American Highway, the renowned performers- Anton Isselhardt and Pongpat Pogpradit- with their selected pieces were able to bring the world famous route into focus.
Music transcends culture.
And concert pianist and teacher Lee Jae who brought in the concert notes that he is always inspired by imaginative progamming.
Welcome to Malaysia…Lee Jae (right) took Anton (centre) and Pongpat for nasi kandar dinner in Kota Damansara, Selangor, Malaysia.
A musical journey .. Pan Americana Impressions, inspired by the Pan American Highway, brings the scenic route into focus.
Anton has been the head of the Classical Music Program of the Goethe Centre in Phnom Penh since 2006.
He has organised various international music projects in the South East Asian (SEA) Region.
Anton is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Music at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh and performs regularly in Europe and in the SEA Region.
Pongpat is head of the classical guitar department and lecturer at the Silpakorn University in Bangkok.
He is the director of the Silpakorn International Guitar Festival and member of the Thai Guitar Society.
Pongpat regularly performs on many International Guitar Festivals in SEA and on other international stages.
Something special…Anton (right) briefly introduced the pieces to the audience.
Congratulations… Pongpat (left) and Anton. The concert ended on a high note.
Music taking shape…Internationally acclaimed concert pianist Lee Jae Phang performing The Piano Sonatas Part V. A Yamaha Music Malaysia event, the pianist’s virtuosity continues to entertain and inspire his audience. The event is part of a series on Beethoven’s legendary sonatas. This part kicked off at Yamaha Music Malaysia in Kelana Jaya on Sept 20, 2025, followed by Luxury Piano Lounge at LS Music, Great Eastern Mall, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur on Sept 21, 2025, Luxury Piano Lounge @ Digital Music Systems, Prima Tanjung, Penang on sept 28, 2025 and Luxury Piano Lounge @ Impian Emas Music Centre, Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru on Oct 5, 2025.
By Foong Pek Yee
foongpekyee@gmail.com
sept 25, 2025
Photos: courtesy of Lee Jae Phang
His deep love and fascination for Beethoven’s music…Lee Jae has recorded almost all of Beethoven’s 32 sonatas and published on his YouTube channel.
He won the 1st Beethoven Performance Award of the BPSE & Beethoven in Altaussee Festival 2016’s prize in Austria.
A story behind the music …Lee Jae gave a brief introduction on the piano sonatas at Yamaha Music Malaysia in Kelana Jaya on Sept 20, 2025.
Piano Sonata in G minor, Op.49, No. 1
Piano Sonata in G major, Op. 49, No.2
Piano Sonata in E – flat major, Op. 31, No. 3
Piano Sonata in F major, Op. 54
Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 57
(‘Appassionata”)
The two piano sonatas Op. 49 date from the final years of the 1790s even though they were published several years later.
Beethoven’s brother, Kaspar, deciding the sonatas were worthy of publication,
presented them to a publishing house without Beethoven’s knowledge.
Both sonatas are small pieces of two movements.
The first sonata is the more sombre of the two. It opens with a first movement in G minor marked Andante. The second movement (a Rondo marked Allegro) begins in the tonic major. However, the light character of the opening becomes more intense with the second theme, which is cast back in G minor.
In the second sonata, both movements are in G major. With the major key comes musical feelings of confidence, aplomb and a touch of bravura.
The second movement of this sonata (marked “Tempo di menuetto”) shares the melodic theme of the Minuet of Beethoven’s Septet for Winds Op. 20.
The Septet was written after the sonata, but it was published first, hence the lower opus number. It became one of Beethoven’s most famous pieces during his lifetime, much to his dismay.
Luckily for us, and for many students wanting to take their first steps into
Beethoven’s piano sonatas, his brother got to the sonatas before they became lost to posterity. The fact that Beethoven used the Minuet theme in his Septet and left the sonata unpublished suggests that he might have wanted to scrap the piano sonata altogether.
I think that the sonatas are wonderful pieces, and we have Kaspar to thank for his quick thinking.
The next sonata that I will perform is the sonata in E-flat major, Op. 31, No. 3.
Composed in 1802, it is the final sonata of this opus number set. Those of you who were present for the recital in Part IV will remember that I performed the first sonata of Op. 31 then.
Unlike the first two sonatas of the set, however, this sonata is cast in 4 movements.
Throughout the sonata, Beethoven maintains a playful jocularity. In fact, all 4
movements are cast in the major mode, with 3 of them in the tonic key.
A distinguishing feature of this sonata is the fact that Beethoven does not write an Adagio slow movement. The slowest movement is the lyrical Minuet third movement.
Another interesting structural feature to note is that instead of replacing the Minuet with a Scherzo (which is something he pioneered in his symphonies and early piano sonatas in the Minuet and Trio movements), Beethoven writes a Scherzo second movement in this sonata and follows it with a Minuet third movement. We are not forced to choose between the two.
In the opening bars of the first movement, Beethoven’s harmonic daring is evident.
He actually begins the sonata with a pre-dominant ii7b chord.
If I did not reveal the tonality of the sonata, we as listeners will not know that we are in E-flat major until the sixth bar!
The final movement of this sonata is likely the source of this sonata’s nickname “The Hunt”. It is filled with allusions to horn calls.
We begin the second half of today’s recital with an interesting and often neglected piano sonata – the piano sonata in F major, Op. 54.
Part of the reason that it seldom features on recital programmes is the fact that it is both preceded and followed by two gigantic piano sonatas. The “Waldstein” and “Appassionata” sonatas very effectively eclipse it with their length and prestige. It definitely does not help that this sonata also does not have a nickname.
Like the sonata in E minor, Op. 90 from Part IV, the Op. 54 sonata is in 2
movements.
The first movement of this sonata is marked “In tempo d’un menuetto”. The opening theme could not be simpler in its construction: in the first 4 bars, we are presented with three increasingly higher statements of the same rhythmic motif in F major.
Just as we grow accustomed to it, the simplicity and elegance of the music is rudely interrupted by a bombastic canon in octaves in both hands.
The movement proceeds with increasingly ornamented statements of the opening theme, finishing with a Coda.
The second movement is a moto perpetuo, also in F major. There are many
adventurous musical twists and turns (modulations to remote keys such as A major at the start of the Development section) and the movement concludes with a coda in a faster tempo. This idea is taken up again, as you will soon hear, in the finale of the next sonata.
The final sonata of today’s recital, the sonata in F minor, Op. 57, nicknamed the “Appassionata”, is one of Beethoven’s most beloved sonatas.
I will keep the introduction short as I am sure that the emotional power of the piece speaks for itself.
After the completion of Op. 54 and 57, Beethoven wrote no further piano sonatas for 4 years, his longest absence from the genre at the time.
The nickname “Appassionata” is apt because it refers to the tempestuous character of this sonata. In fact, this is one of the handful of works by Beethoven that begins and ends in tragedy. Beethoven often follows the pattern of darkness leading into light, but sometimes the darkness triumphs at the end. The other prominent examples of works beginning and ending in a dark mood are the violin sonata in C minor, Op. 30, No. 2 and the “Pathétique” piano sonata, Op. 13.
The “Appassionata” sonata is written in 3 movements.
The second movement of this sonata is a set of variations on a theme in D-flat major.
At the end of the final variation, Beethoven resolves the dominant chord onto a diminished seventh chord. There’s so much uncertainty in that chord that pretty much anything can follow it, and Beethoven does not disappoint us.
We are launched into the final movement, which is a near perpetual motion
movement, similar to the finale of the Op. 54 sonata. This movement ends with a spiral into the abyss of descending arpeggios in F minor.
Proud achievers …While learning, practising and playing the piano build music skills and is a form of brainpower training, performing on stage is an ultimate test. The Piano Students of Lee Jae Phang at the Studio Recital 2025 at Yamaha Festival Hall, Kelana Jaya, Malaysia on Sept 13, 2025.
By Foong Pek Yee
foongpekyee@gmail.com
sept 16, 2025
The recital is meaningful as well as enlightening for the students ; from celebrating their achievements to figuring out areas that need improvement.
As teacher Lee Jae puts it: “The concert is meant to be a learning experience for everyone. We only grow stronger with every performance we do, so you have bigger and better experiences to look forward to.”
Concert pianist and teacher Lee Jae delivering his welcome address at the Yamaha Festival Hall on Sept 13, 2025 recital.
Students who took part in the recital.
Learning piano to acquire the skills and mastering it is, a journey with its many milestones.
While some students may be talented, it takes discipline, hard work, diligent practice and most of all, the help and guidance of a good teacher to realize the students’ full potential.
The same applies to all students .
And guidance and support from their parents and/ or family members especially for the very young students, is equally important.
The presence of the students’ family members at the recital speaks volumes.
Every student is unique.
For this recital, preparations started from choosing the piece, practising the technicalities, polishing it, practise playing for others to stagecraft.
All in, the teacher, students and their family members made the recital a resounding success.
Making the grade: The joy and transformative power of music via deliberate daily practice, commitment to regular piano lessons and perseverance in the face of inevitable challenges along the way to improve one’s musical skills – piano teacher Lee Jae Phang.
Photo: A studio recital of Lee Jae’s piano students on Sept 7, 2024. Twenty nine of his students took part.
By Foong Pek Yee
foongpekyee @gmail.com
sept 25, 2024
A series on ABRSM Piano 2025 & 2026 by Lee Jae Phang.
Spring is here: Wan Zi Qian Hong conveys good health, happiness and longevity
By Foong Pek Yee
30 Jan, 2022
SHENTI JIAN KANG, WAN SHI RU YI (good health, all the best in Chinese), a trader greets customers doing their last minute Chinese New Year (CNY) shopping.
His sales pitch – good tidings with flowers – draws customers to his flower stall in the SPPK market in Ipoh on Sunday morning (30 Jan).
The flower – Wan Zi Qian Hong (tens of thousands of purple and thousands of red ) – an idiom on a garden in full bloom is among his most saleable items.
He says the flower conveys good health, happiness and longevity.
A pot of Wan Zi Qian Hong is priced at RM12 and RM35 for a pot of lime tree or Kum Kut.
Add value: Good service brings business
According to him, it takes six months to grow the Wan Zi Qian Hong.
The timing is such that they will bloom during CNY.
I bought his last three pots of Wan Zi Qian Hong while another shopper snapped up the last two pots of Kum Kut ( a symbol of prosperity
On a more serious note, he says farmers and traders are treading cautiously this round.
Besides the pandemic, he says the increase in the price of fertilisers and pesticides and labour shortage have also dampen the market.
A trader who sells cut flowers says there are not many varieties this round.
According to her, economic uncertainty, financial constraints and labour shortage saw many farmers cutting down on their production.
Her advice is to buy flowers early as stock is limited.
Among her saleable items is the yellow hulu (gourd) fruit – a symbol of good health, productivity and wealth.
Striking colour: The Hu Lu fruits of different size represent several generations together.
THERE is an air of festivity in Ipoh over the weekend.
With Chinese New Year (CNY) on Feb 1, the Ipoh old town is a hive of activity.
CNY or Lunar New Year or Spring Festival is celebrated worldwide.
The Koreans celebrate Lunar New Year or ” Seollal”
The boss of a shop in Ipoh old town which is famous for dried seafood appears in good mood.
On his most saleable items, he reels out a list – from abalone, mushrooms, scallops, oysters, sea cucumber to pistachio (hoi sum guo or happy fruit in Cantonese).
With his eyes glued to the workers unloading goods from a lorry, he went on to elaborate why business is good in the year of the Tiger.
Upbeat: A shop in Ipoh old town that specialises in dried foodstuff especially seafood, is all set for brisk business.
“People will spend their CNY holidays enjoying good food at home or in restaurants.
“Unlike previous years when there were people who went for overseas holidays, they cannot do so this round even if they have the money .”
Along the five-foot way, a man was engrossed writing Chinese characters with good tidings with a Chinese brush on pieces of red paper.
Best wishes: Chinese saying on anything good and written on red papers is an evergreen deco.
Steep in tradition: A bookshop in Kampar old town selling CNY greeting cards – a rare commodity in this digital era.
Good tidings: A shop in Tambun with its first batch of pomeloes.
But there may be a shortage of pomeloes this CNY – a much sought after fruit because its Cantonese name “look yau” rhymes with abundance rolling in.
According to a fruit shop owner in Tambun, Ipoh, the recent raining season which coincided with the trees flowering stage had affected the yields.
Tambun, about 7 km from Ipoh city centre, is famous for producing good pomeloes.
In Kampar wet market, a flower stall owner expects a shortage of flowers from Cameron Highlands as farmers are not producing at full capacity.
“Farmers are treading carefully after losing so much last CNY due to the movement control order,” says the stall owner who has been in the business for almost four decades.
On consumer spending, he says people are extra prudent nowadays because of the high cost of living and economic uncertainties.
Perseverance: This man who runs a flower stall for almost four decades tending to his CNY plants.
He says he will soldier on, and last weekend saw him busy meeting orders for bouquets from graduates at the convocation ceremony in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) nearby.
Spring is here: Wan Zi Qian Hong conveys good health, happiness and longevity
