This is not about a luxurious hotel suite somewhere in a remote, romantic hideaway where I spent a wonderful weekend.

No, this is about Bach and one of his English suites, not the average suite played by a ‘lambda’ pianist. I have always preferred Bach’s English suites over his French suites, not because they are more complex or difficult, but because the musical structure touches me more deeply.

And among the English suites, I have a very special appreciation for No. 6. I have listened to numerous recordings from well-established pianists and my favourite has long been the one by Glenn Gould, until the day I heard Piotr Anderszewski’s – a revelation.

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Well, writing about the royal wedding – yes, the one with Will and Kate – seems a bit passé now, but I’m here to talk about the music, not the wedding itself.

The day of the royal wedding, I was in Seoul with a bunch of good friends. I didn’t watch the wedding live since we were having a much better time celebrating a business venture, toasting new friends, savouring fusion cuisine, sipping Dom Pérignon and listening to classical music.

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For me, Valentine’s Day is no more than an occasion for retailers to sell flowers and chocolates. But for lovers, I think every day can be Valentine’s, and a special thought, sweet message, or just a tender hug can be more inventive, expressive and seductive than mere flowers and chocolates.

I’ve received my share of Valentine’s gifts, from red roses (although I have a preference for white) to fancy chocolates with multicoloured fillings (while I crave only plain dark chocolate with almonds), and handmade cards lovingly prepared by my children (probably my favourite).

But so far, I have yet to receive any music.

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For years, my New Year’s resolutions have looked like this:

Get better grades;
Find a handsome boyfriend;
Increase revenues in my business;
Lose some weight;
Get married;
Have a baby;
Lose more weight;
More babies;

You get the idea.

As I reached a more mature age, I began making birthday resolutions on top of my New Year’s resolutions – probably as a way to double my efforts to reach my personal targets.

On my birthday this year, following the usual Happy Birthday song, I had an epiphany. I decided that for the rest of my life, I wanted all my days to start with an H, as in Happiness. I shared this with my Pilates master, Lisa, who kindly came up with a whole bunch of other H words – lots of motivational and indulgent ones – to get me started.

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The first time I ‘met’ Jian Wang, it was through the documentary ‘From Mao to Mozart’, an exceptional award-winning account of the musical journey taken by violinist Isaac Stern through China in 1979. In it, little ten year old Jian performed in front of one of the most famous artists in the world with composure and focus. He was completely immersed in his music, displaying astonishing maturity for one so young. It was an entirely memorable experience.

Many years later, during my Haydn period (yes, dear reader; although my favourite composer is and will always remain Bach, I do have periods of fondness for others – right now, it is Brahms), I fell in love with the Cello Concertos and proceeded to acquire a dozen or so recordings from various cellists. So as I was browsing the Haydn section in a local record shop one day, an unforgettable face on a CD cover caught my eye. Although it depicted a mature young man, I immediately recognised the unmistakable intensity of Jian Wang. His eyes remained very much the same as those of the little boy on the stage some twenty years ago. Needless to say, his recording became by far my favourite.
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Niu Niu had his Wigmore Hall debut in 2006, when he was just nine years old. Introduced to the London public by pianist Leslie Howard and sponsored by David Tang of Shanghai Tang fame, Niu Niu received a taste of limelight and glamour in one of the foremost concert halls in the world.

In July, Niu Niu had an all-Chopin concert staged at the Shenzhen Concert Hall, the Shenzhen Daily interviewed his entire family as they promoted the concert. Here is one of the highlights I picked up from the ensuing article: “Niu Niu’s parents say they have been protecting him from the pressure of fame.” And then there is a quote from Niu Niu himself, where he admits, “There was a period, around the age of seven or eight, when playing the piano felt like a burden to me. It was then that my parents told me to clear my mind and make a choice: either completely give it up or continue, and put in even more effort.”
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We have been celebrating Chopin’s bicentenary for the whole of this year. Numerous articles have been written, prominent pianists have been performing his music all over the world, major festivals have featured special Chopin days, not to mention all the “Best of Chopin by xxx” CDs that have been released over the course of the year.

So what more can I write here? Well, nothing! Although I love Chopin, this article is not about him. It is about how to rediscover your appreciation for your favourite music, and I have chosen Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 3 as my example.

It takes time and investment to find the best interpretation of your favourite music. When I was young, my limited budget allowed me to buy only one record of the music I liked, and I would listen to the same artist over and over again. The disadvantage of having only one version is that you get so used to that interpretation that you are reluctant to appreciate other renditions. Thus, you miss out on the way a different artist might bring a higher dimension with unusual colours to the music that makes it almost like an entirely different composition.
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A very close family friend of ours who was a prominent and extremely successful barrister recently decided to retire to go back to school. He has chosen to study archaeology, one of his passions, and has just started his first year. I imagine the whole experience – the learning process, the integration into a strange environment where kids speak a language you’re no longer able to relate to, the unfamiliar IT tools – is all very exciting, but also extremely stressful for someone who left college over 30 years ago.

I definitely wouldn’t like to be in his shoes, although it was a close call for me. No, I didn’t discover a passion for archaeology; rather, as I was selling my business, I gave serious consideration to going back to school. I was of course very tempted to take a course in music, but also in history, which was my best subject when I was in secondary school.

I didn’t want to join a normal course since I couldn’t see myself seated next to kids who are practically my children’s age. I’d considered the adult learning programmes given by the local universities, but after some reflection I gave up the idea for two main reasons: I hate homework, and didn’t wish to give up my flexibility to travel.
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When bass vocalist Alexei Tanovitsky visited Hong Kong to perform Wagner’s Die Walküre, he was heard coughing and choking onstage. Similarly, following his concert in Hong Kong, Tom Jones was forced to cancel the remainder of his Asian tour due to laryngitis. Not to mention all the performances I attended where an apologetic notice informed the audience that in order to “accommodate” the performing artists, the temperature of the performance hall had to be raised. And there are probably others—performing artists or otherwise—getting sick after visiting Hong Kong. So what is happening to Hong Kong, Asia’s self-branded world city? World city of what?

In Hong Kong, you need to bring a coat indoors.
Air conditioning is on full force even when it is only 10°C outside.
There is no way to adjust the temperature because all landlords compete to have their central air conditioning on full blast, since cool is apparently glam.

In Hong Kong, there are buses everywhere.
We might be considered lucky to have such a great public transportation system.
But most of the time, our buses are old and almost empty, and they create traffic jams and poison our air.
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E15 is the name that has been given to the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, by journalists who were struggling to pronounce the full name properly. The nickname is derived from the somewhat daunting number of letters that come after the E.

So why am I grateful to E15? Well, I was scheduled to be in London the week of the eruption and as usual, all my concerts had been planned and tickets booked. I was awaiting my date with Mark Padmore at the ENO with excited anticipation, along with the meeting with Il Turco in Italia at the Royal Opera House, not to mention dinner with my children at Jamie Oliver’s new restaurant. But suddenly there I was, bags all packed and my flight cancelled!

Despite the disappointment, I consider myself very lucky to have been stranded at home. Just think of all those travellers forced to extend their stay in a foreign city, unable to fulfil their personal and professional obligations. It must have been a very stressful time.
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