Drive by any house in a Malaysian suburb and you're likely to hear more than a few piano students banging away at Fur Elise or, if you're less unfortunate, some Chopin. And while we have our own share of notable concert pianists, pianist-composers are a little harder to find, especially if you've been under the radar as Ng Chong Lim has been over the years.

Quietly performing his remarkable piano works in festivals abroad, Ng showed that he was no mere dabbler as he produced one of the most powerful works heard at the Dewan Filharmonik this year, when conductor Kevin Field premiered his Xiang for full orchestra at the recent composers' forum.

With more than half of the written score consisting of hushed, sustained tones, Xiang is a moving orchestral meditation punctuated by distant tolling bells. A brief eruption of furious activity tries in vain to disrupt the peace, but blows itself out and the work ends in calm. Such orchestral Zen originates naturally from the composer, who exudes quiet modesty about his talents and insists he composes only as a hobby.

Off The Edge: Your musical journey started at the age four with Yamaha, piano lessons and all that - quite typical. But it took quite a turn during the 1992 Malaysian National Piano Competition...

One the of jury members, Frank Wibaut (who later became Chong's piano professor at the Royal College Of Music, London), invited me to go to RCM to study on full scholarship after winning the first prize. That's how it changed my life. I was in the UK for almost five years, doing a lot of chamber music, solo recitals and taking part in some competitions, and had lots of wonderful experiences there as a musician.

And then you started to compose?

In 1997, I moved to Austria to study with Elza Kolodin, and spent only a year over there, but that's where I met my composition mentor, Prof Beat Furrer, the founder of the Klangforum, a contemporary group just like the Intercontemporain in France. I actually went back to study with Beat Furrer in 2000, when I started composing a little more seriously. All three teachers have been the biggest influences in my music studies - they are very different, but all are very kind and supportive towards me. What are some of the memorable moments from those student days?

Performing the Tchaikovsky piano concerto with the RCM orchestra. At the same time, I was selected to be the soloist for the conductors' masterclasses with those young student conductors - they really had a hard time! Then, performing in Kharkov, Ukraine. I did the Schumann piano concerto with the Kharkov Youth Orchestra at the opera house, and they played superbly. We worked together very well.

I had a great time performing my composition Khatulistiwa, for two pianists and two percussionists, in Graz with the student musicians and the piano professor together with Prof Furrer - so much sharing and such great rapport.

What happened when you returned to Malaysia in 2002?

I started teaching, performing a little, and started to compose a little more. I spend about 60% of my time in my music, but I also have a small foundation right now, the H.E.A.R.T. Foundation. It just started in March 2007, together with two friends - the founder Ms Wong Siew Ngan, a Malaysian, and Maungmaung Myo Thaung, a Burmese living in Cambodia. The foundation helps children in Malaysia, Cambodia and the Thailand-Myanmar border. You don't often hear of local musicians getting involved in community projects; they're often more worried about commissions and status. How did you get involved in this?

I met the founder during the tsunami charity concert a few years back, and since then I've been doing my educational work with the orphanages here in Malaysia, such as tuition for the younger ones, and some music classes. We also introduce music to them by organising occasional children's concerts.

We're still exploring places all over the Southeast Asian countries... So far, we've built a small school near the Angkor Thom district in Cambodia, and have been supplying stationery and some food aid over the past three years, and much more.

Doing this work has changed my life. Of course, I feel guilty occasionally that I can't do as much as I should with my music, but I'm actually very happy that I'm given the chance to work with those children. That's been my dream for a long time!

As a pianist, you've performed other composers' works, such as Adeline Wong's Paces at the HSBC Piano Festival in 2005. How important is it for an instru mentalist to engage with living composers?

I think it's really important. You can get the most out of the music from engaging with them, every single detail, their ideas, their passions and the personalities behind the notes.

Despite having composed some fascinating works in the past, such as the 3 Sketches for two pianos that you performed in Taiwan, you only joined the MPO Composers' Forum this time around. What stopped you before?

I was actually a little worried about joining the Forum as I always felt I wasn't ready. As I told you before, I want to be a hobby composer and write whatever I want. In the end, Adeline Wong was the one who encouraged me to join.

How has the experience enriched you?

I had the chance to write quite differently than I usually do, and of course, now I have three more works! Meeting the musicians and the mentors gave me different perspectives in my composing - which meant I had to compromise more, as I never thought that much about the practicalities... I'm used to writing whatever I feel.

How would you describe your compositional approach?

It's really hard to explain, because I feel and think very differently before I write down each work. In general, I love nature, simplicity, and there are influences from my traditions as a Malaysian ... You can hear some gamelan modes in Rimba (last year's MPO Forum entry) and 3 Sketches. And I still believe in sharing emotions, having something to say in my music.

Xiang is a spiritual tour de force; I dare say, a Malaysian masterpiece. How did you approach its composition? It's certainly very different from the more experimental chamber work, Windows, presented at the same concert.

My respect and love for my late father led me to write Xiang in this way. It was an emotional journey for me to notate the music in the score, there's nothing technical in the writing or playing of this piece; it's a certain kind of spiritual feeling about how I look at death... Simplicity.

I have to confess that I composed Xiang with more heart than Windows... it was a really difficult process and I was stuck so many times - the Forum mentor, Fraser Trainer, knows this! Though the score looks simple, you don't know how many times I revised it.

It was a bold piece for such an intense competition; everyone's trying to present a showpiece with all the fireworks, and here comes something so totally opposite. I thought that was brilliant.

I didn't treat the forum like a competition at all; I just wanted to write something that I've been thinking about for a long time. I was very moved when I listened to it, although most of the musicians disliked it. Some thought the writing was too simple; some didn't understand it at all. But it's definitely no pressure, writing quiet music. I adore quiet music - Bach's Goldberg Variations (especial the Aria), Faure's Requiem, Mahler and Bruckner... and, of course, Ligeti's Lontano and Atmospheres!

What's in store for the future?

I've plans to write a few more Sketches for 2 pianos, and I will perform them as a cycle soon. I've some solo recitals coming up here and in Taiwan, maybe in Singapore as well. I don't look too far ahead at this moment, but I'm always looking forward to possibilities in my musical path.

- Off The Edge, July 2007

Related Links

• Ng Chong Lim's 3 sketches for 2 pianos

1 June 2010