This article focuses on the performance practice of Malaysian contemporary piano solo music, using Chong Lim Ng’s A Distant Voice of a Rain Forest (Fragments from Rimba…) for solo piano (2008, revised in 2012) as a case study. As contemporary art music is always challenging to perform, performers have the need to study the complex contemporary work thoroughly. Ng hugely emphasizes on the importance of deep understanding towards his creation, which also greatly supported by Soviet pianist and pedagogue, Heinrich Neuhaus on his artistic image theory. Neuhaus explains his artistic theory is manifested in sound during a performance. The way a performer perceives the musical substance of a work determines her decisions at the instrument. Chong Lim Ng’s A Distant Voice of a Rain Forest is much heavily influenced by gamelan music, and the pianist needs to grasp the Malaysian cultural characteristics before tackling the composition, which also highlighted by Neuhaus on his artistic image. Heinrich Neuhaus also pointed on the importance of familiarity to the musical content and solving the performance practice issues accordingly with great efficiency.
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