RUSSELL WATSON La Voce / Review

RUSSELL WATSON La Voce
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (29 January 2010)

This review was published by The Straits Times

on 31 January 2011 with the title

"Russell Watson's syrupy love-in"

Let’s make one thing clear: Russell Watson, marketed as “The Voice”, is no opera singer. An opera singer learns, internalises and sings full roles, such as Don Jose, Cavaradossi and Calaf, acts and interacts with fellow singers, and projects his voice naturally in a hall without the help of amplification.

Having said that, people come to a Russell Watson gig not to hear a sermon, nor be enlightened, but to be entertained. On that count, his Singapore debut was a massive success. The likeability factor, boosted by good looks, working class background and his recovery from brain tumours, was high, despite being a professed Manchester United fan (who are by and large an annoying, smug and self-congratulatory lot).

The programme was typical of crossover fare - operatic arias and hymns sitting comfortably alongside popular songs and numbers from musicals and movies. His voice heavily amplified until the ears ached, Watson sounded comfortable in standards like O Sole Mio, Franck’s Panis Angelicus and Schubert’s Ave Maria, emoting much in the easy way that Pavarotti and company used to do.

He chatted to the audience casually in between songs, even dedicating to his late grandmother the Intermezzo from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, sung to the words of Ave Maria in Italian. Doesn’t everything sound better and more romantic in Italian, a language with many vowels? This was applied brilliantly to Io che non vivo (You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me) and Parla piu piano (Speak Softly Love). “Amore” definitely beats “lurve”.

Watson also got his listeners involved, shaking hands as they chanted the echoes of Volare and clapping along to Denza’s Funiculi Funicula. The charmer also substituted the words of I Left My Heart In San Francisco to that of Sunny Singapore, much to the audience’s delight. This love-in just got even more syrupy as the evening continued, one to send any diabetic into ketoacidotic coma.

Time and space was afforded for the appropriately named young local Melodie Tan, whose slender soprano voice, well-honed for Broadway musicals, joined Watson in David Foster’s The Prayer. She then gingerly brought out O mio babbino caro (Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi), clearly a work in progress.

The evening was accompanied by the Singapore Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by the highly animated Robert Emery, which filled in with movie music by John Williams and Ennio Morricone amongst others.

Puccini’s Nessun dorma (Turandot) closed the evening, and three encores including Leoncavallo’s La Mattinata and Elvis sent the sold-out hall into a standing frenzy. To say one and all enjoyed themselves, including this crotchety old soul, would be understatement itself. If only one could get the heaving throng into Singapore Lyric Opera productions to witness some real opera.

RUSSELL WATSON La Voce was presented by Esplanade Theatres on the Bay.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, January 2011)

HAYDN Piano Sonatas
YEVGENY SUDBIN, Piano
BIS SACD-1788

*****

It is gratifying to note that more young pianists are taking on the challenge of playing Haydn’s keyboard Sonatas. While not possessing Mozart’s utter charm or Beethoven’s fist-shaking passion, the secret is in bringing out Haydn’s wit and wry humour. Russian pianist Yevgeny Sudbin’s readings are never dry or scholarly, but always alive to Haydn’s turns of phrases, dynamic and harmonic surprises. He liberally sprinkles on his own ornamentations whenever appropriate, never sounding unidiomatic or obtrusive. Aided by lush piano sound, he turns the three unassuming essays exercises into little epics.

He also includes the pensive Andante and Variations, possibly Haydn’s greatest single movement for piano and the chirpy Fantasia in C major, allied to the quirky finale of Sonata No.60 in C major. As an encore, Larking With Haydn, Sudbin’s own transcription of the finale of Haydn’s Lark Quartet takes flight, capping an enjoyable outing with classical music’s most underrated genius.

DON’T MISS:
YEVGENY SUDBIN performing
SCRIABIN’s Piano Concerto
with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
conducted by KRISTJAN JÄRVI
Esplanade Concert Hall
Friday, 28 January 2011, 7.30pm
Tickets available at SISTIC

SSO Concert: Journey's End / Review

JOURNEY’S END
Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Lan Shui, Conductor
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (22 January 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times

on 24 January 2011 with the title

"Great journey with Mahler"

One way of gauging how an ensemble has progressed over the years is to chart its performance of an iconic work as a series of landmarks. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra has lived with Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony for twenty years, its first performance conducted by Choo Hoey in 1991. Since then, it has been performed in three further seasons, including the China premiere in 2001.

And how it has matured under Music Director Lan Shui’s direction, both band and leader growing in stature in tandem. No longer is the orchestra content in accurately churning out the notes, but actually living the music and faithfully bringing out the essence of the composer’s intentions.

This was Mahler’s last completed symphony, his swansong to life. It is a world-wearied trudge; a reminiscence of past glories and tribulations, a resigned but quiet affirmation of one’s existence. The sublime performance this evening encompassed all of these, and with a little more to spare.

The gentle opening, characterised by a quivering pulse (portending death from rheumatic heart disease), was deftly handled, gradually expanding into a full-blown cry of anguish. This shuddering heartbeat was unerringly maintained, proceeding like some tottering march into the unknown.

The best parts were not in the cataclysmic climaxes but the close-to-silent and static moments when time literally stood still. Murmurs in the strings spelt unease, pleading soliloquys from woodwinds and brass paroxysms added to the all-pervading sense of isolation. All departments were in top form.

The middle movements provided the contrasts, first a deliberately gawky Ländler (Austrian country dance), that began innocently naïve and lurched into intoxicating revelry. The grotesque Rondo-Burleske turned a banal theme into a raving malediction, culminating in a mad dash towards doom.

Through breathless excitement, Laurence Gargan’s perfectly executed trumpet theme emerged like a ray of hope illuminating in a vale of darkness. This set the tone for the valedictory finale, a Beethovenian farewell which rapidly thawed the ice and gradually warmed the spirits.

Never has an Adagio resounded with such finality, each mincing step pregnant with meaning as fragile life ebbed away into nothingness. The glacial dynamics and extreme pianissimos seemed insupportable, but Shui’s charges held sway to the very end. The extremely attentive audience held its collective breath; they had just witnessed a Mahler performance for the ages.

BIZET'S CARMEN / Singapore Lyric Opera / Review

BIZET’S CARMEN
Singapore Lyric Opera
Esplanade Theatre
Friday (21 January 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 24 January 2011 with the title "Bravo for a unique Carmen".

Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen is so popular and familiar that it runs the risk of being a museum piece, endlessly rehashed and flogged to the benefit of the box office. Not so, the Singapore Lyric Opera’s fourth production of Carmen in its short history, which presented new vistas while remaining true to its original spirit.

As the rousing Prélude was being played, Sophie Fournier’s Carmen and Lee Jae Wook’s Don Jose appeared on stage sealing a love pact in blood, even before a single word was uttered. This mere act alone was to pre-determine its slightly modified but nonetheless fatal ending some three hours later.

In between were some of the best moments to be witnessed on the Singapore opera stage. Director David Edwards, of the wackiest Barber of Seville of seasons past, returned with a vengeance, but this time balancing radical ideas with urgent gravitas. Carmen and Jose were no mere singing cardboard cut-outs but multi-layered characters who ultimately evoked genuine sympathy.

Fournier mesmerised not only with her dusky voice, but with moves and gestures that flaunted every single asset she possessed. Femme fatale she was, but also a complex psychological basket case, which swung wildly from a Boudicea-like revolutionary to a bitch-in-heat writhing uncontrollably on the stage floor. Lee was equally believable, caught between two loves and emerging in a confused daze rather than murderous rage.

The supporting cast was one of the strongest assembled in recent memory. Melvin Tan, Peter Ong, Cherylene Liew and Satsuki Nagatome elicited splendid chemistry as the smugglers, and even had a vaudeville number on their own, complete with canes. Huang Rong Hai’s Escamillo and Li Yang’s Micaela sang their standout arias well, while William Lim’s Zuniga was suitably bathetic.

The set was simple and effective. Wire mesh, corrugated boards and planks conjured the barrenness of an industrial wasteland, aptly reflecting the lives caught within, completed with a screen displaying scenes of Spanish landscapes and the bloodfests that are bullfights. The uniformed presence of soldiers suggests a totalitarian state, one policing mobs yearning for liberté.

Choral scenes, augmented by male voices from Beijing’s National Centre for Performing Arts, were superbly handled, and the SLO youth and children’s choirs a total joy, despite singing past their bedtimes. Joshua Kangming Tan’s direction of the SLO Orchestra was taut and precise, without being excessively driven. Some of the instrumental solos could have been more accurately executed.

The final scene of Carmen and José will be this production’s talking point. There was no face-off, instead both sang into the audience, indicating that their split to be final and irredeemable. Without revealing too much about the ending, there are only losers when a love affair dies. 

This rather unique Carmen plays for two more nights (24 & 25 January), and it would be a shame to miss it.

MUSICAL OLYMPUS FESTIVAL CONCERT / Review

MUSICAL OLYMPUS FESTIVAL CONCERT
Singapore National Youth Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall
Thursday (20 January 2011)

The Musical Olympus Festival is an international platform showcasing top young musical talents of the world, including winners of international music competitions, performing in the world’s great concert venues. Founded in St Petersburg, Russia in 1996, Musical Olympus has made its mark in celebrated locales such as Berlin’s Philharmonie and New York’s Carnegie Hall. Singapore’s debut in this prestigious series was to be no less auspicious or rewarding.

Supporting this concert was the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO) led by its newly appointed Music Director Darrell Ang. Considering the age of its musicians, the orchestra did a fine job accompanying five excellent soloists, rising young artists all, in various concertos and concertante works.

First off was Armenian saxophonist Hayrapet Arakelyan who performed Francois Borne’s Fantaisie Brillante on Carmen, adapted from the original flute favourite. It is a somewhat darker cousin of the famous Sarasate Carmen Fantasy for violin, but nonetheless contains the ubiquitous Habanera and wildly swirling Danse Boheme. Arakelyan crafted a creamy, mellow sonority, deeply breathed and freely wheeling, typical for the instrument usually associated with jazz. Never strait-jacketed, he allowed the music to breathe and flow unabated, a virtuoso outing setting the tone for more fireworks to come.

Russian Ilya Maximov is more than your common garden Russian pianist who thrives on keyboard gymnastics, which is the minimum requirement for Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto. At once, his incisive and fearless approach made one sit up and really listen. Thunder he did in this chord-heavy and octave-strewn score, but there were also moments of introspection, in the second movement and finale, where sheer poetry came to the fore. When it came to barnstorming, he left the orchestra breathlessly trying to catch up. But they did, living dangerously if not for Darrell Ang’s razor-sharp direction that held this tricky masterpiece together. Credit also goes the excellent young clarinettist in the opening solo, which was rock-steady and confidence itself.

Young Singaporean violinist Kong Xian Long, just 15 years old, was invited to share in the spotlight. A multiple winner in the National Violin Competition, his version of Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy was in no way overawed by the surfeit of prodigiousness on display. His unerring articulation in the many twists and turns, and close-to-faultless intonation was a marvel to behold. Notwithstanding some raw edges, he is a major local talent to observe in the years to come.

Lanky Hungarian cellist Istvan Vardai, at 25, was the most mature of the instrumentalists, and the most subtle of them all. His lovely singing tone, supple and flexible, was a joy to behold in Schumann’s late Cello Concerto in A minor. This was a performance conceived on a large scale, with every theme and phrase lovingly nuanced; no detail was too minor to be overlooked. He blended nicely with the orchestral cello in the reflective slow movement, and paid due emphasis to the resolute three-note-motif that drove the finale to its satisfying close. A subtle work from a sublime soloist; it’s just as simple as that.

The audience’s favourite was most probably Korean tenor Jaesig Lee, who sang three popular operatic arias. His compactly-built frame belied the booming quality of his voice, which was as fresh and youthful as they come. He evinced genuine nostalgia and regret in Lensky’s Aria (Kuda kuda) from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, followed by the flush of young love in Rodolfo’s Che gelida manina from Puccini’s La Boheme. His is a totally believable and likeable portrayal of opera’s heroes and anti-heroes. Verdi’s La donna e mobile (Rigoletto) brought on the cheers, which was amply rewarded with an encore - a heroic Nessun dorma (Puccini’s Turandot), one that is ripe for any of the world’s top opera houses.

This audience was asked to vote for their favourite star on this Musical Olympus. My vote goes to conductor Darrell Ang and his Singapore National Youth Orchestra, which grew together to became solid and dependable accompanists within a short week of rehearsals. Without them, this two and half hour musical feast of champions would not have been possible.

The Musical Olympus Festival was presented by the Musical Olympus Foundation.

FANTASIE: MELVYN TAN LIVE! / Review

FANTASIE 

MELVYN TAN LIVE! 

Esplanade Concert Hall 

Wednesday (19 January 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 January 2011 with the title "Lovely homecoming for Melvyn Tan".

About ten years ago, BBC Music Magazine published a list of 100 most influential people in classical music. There were two Singapore-born personalities, Melvyn Tan being one of them (Vanessa Mae was the other). Then the London-based pianist was universally renowned for the fortepiano, the piano’s antiquated forerunner. But he had also been playing the modern instrument, and dreaming of a trip back home. What a glorious return in his first recital here since the 1970s, especially for a generation of Singaporeans who have never seen him perform “live”. Playing a mostly Romantic programme, it was both an emotional and historic event. One might say this was a Singaporean version of Vladimir Horowitz’s momentous 1986 return to Russia.

Schumann’s music opened, and a more pearly and intimate sound would have been hard to imagine in Des Abends (Evenings), the first of eight Fantasy Pieces Op.12. Such was his total mastery of the 9-foot Steinway, every caress of the fingers shaped with the same care and conviction as storms and stresses raging within these mini-epics. Contrasting muses of Florestan and Eusebius, alternating agitation with calm, were evoked. In der Nacht (In The Night) recounted a perilous sea voyage, far removed from the love declaration in Ende vom Lied (Song’s End), but Tan’s keen sense of storytelling knew little bounds.

A different sound palette coloured Debussy’s first book of Images. Seldom has the sustaining pedal been employed to such liquid effect, that Reflets dans l'eau (Reflections on the Water) took on a shimmering luminescent glow. The feathery lightness of Mouvement defied gravity, spinning effortlessly into a distant horizon.

Tan’s Chopin had a touch of the impetuous. Refuting the common but misplaced notion that Chopin was sickly and effete, he presented two late works as statements of fortitude tinged with bittersweet regret. There was no naval-gazing in the Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major (Op.61). Its directness was apt, as was the gentle but insistent polonaise rhythm, ebbing and flowing before a heroic close. Similarly urgent was the popular Third Sonata in B minor (Op.58), which had none of the indolence or faux-profundity through protractedness that some younger pianists prefer. An oasis of respite was provided by the well-judged slow movement, before the mighty finale’s gale-force swept one and all away.

Two Chopin Études (Op.10 Nos.8 & 12) served as virtuoso encores but special place will go to the little Andante from Mozart’s Sonate-Facile in C major (K.545), which Tan reminisced having last played it as “an 8-year-old in Victoria Theatre,” and that, “the simplest things were also the most beautiful”. How right he was.

Fantaisie Melvyn Tan Live! was presented by CultureLink.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, January 2011)

MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN Études
Marc-André Hamelin, Piano
Hyperion 67789

*****

Franz Liszt wrote Transcendental Études catered to his own inimitable brand of virtuosity, not for mere mortals. Similarly, Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin throws down the gauntlet in his 12 Études In All The Minor Keys. The final Étude No.12 (Prelude & Fugue) is already well known, having performed it in Singapore as far back as 1997.

A number are re-definitions of pre-existing works, including impossibly wicked takes on La Campanella (Paganini-Liszt), La Danza (Rossini) Tchaikovsky’s Lullaby Op.16 No.1 (arranged for left hand) and the infamous Triple Étude, a contrapuntal feat combining three of Chopin’s Études. The latter is only surpassed by Étude No.4, which reaps the whirlwind with two even more fearsome Alkan Études. Some are completely original new works - Coma Berenices (No.2), Toccata Grottesca (No.4), Erlkönig (No.8) and Minuetto (No.9). All require piano technique of a superior kind, and it is interesting to play “guess the influence”

Hamelin shows a softer side in his Little Nocturne and Con Intimissimo Sentimento, a suite of miniatures which reveal a penchant for fantasy, gentle chromaticism and jazz. Cathy’s Variations, dedicated to his fiancée, is an elegant tribute to the finale of Beethoven’s Sonata Op.109, itself a set of variations. Hamelin’s playing is one of a kind, befitting one of the most amazing piano discs of all time.

BACH Cello Suite No.1, 4 & 5
MAXIM RYSANOV, Viola
BIS SACD-1783

*****

It is not too far-fetched to imagine Johann Sebastian Bach’s six Cello Suites being performed on a viola. There is a school of thought that Bach originally wrote these works for a violoncello piccolo, a smaller instrument slung around the neck and bowed across the chest, which would have sounded much like a viola.

These viola transcriptions by Simon Rowland-Jones take nothing away from the cello originals. The fast rising young Russian violist Maxim Rysanov plays with little vibrato but the sonorous polyphonic quality of the music comes through gloriously. Whether in the exercise-like Preludes, otherworldly slow Sarabandes - where time virtually stands still – or the lively dance movements, this is aural heaven. No more viola jokes, the second volume of Bach’s suites are keenly awaited.

Notes from the Balcony / T'ang Quartet and Boston Brass / Review

NOTES FROM THE BALCONY
T’ang Quartet & Boston Brass
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (15 January 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times

on 17 January 2011 with the title

"Cool music from the Balcony"

William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the tragedy of ill-fated love caught in a family feud, has spawned much good music over the centuries. That was the subject of this successful collaboration between Singapore’s Tang Quartet and USA’s Boston Brass which kept one transfixed and enraptured for almost two hours.

One poser was about the balance of ensemble: how do four string players stand up to five brass players? The solution was simple: the strings were amplified, while the well-arranged scores ensured that the two groups did not get in each other’s way, instead engaging in witty repartee. In climaxes, brass dominated, with percussion and piano added to the highly piquant mix.

Seven pieces from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet handily showcased this chemistry, from the playfulness of The Young Juliet, through the passionate Balcony Scene, to the choreographed violence of Tybalt’s Death and Montagues and Capulets. The give and take between strings and brass, whose apparent rivalry was humorously highlighted by the players themselves, was totally engaging.

Percussion, provided by students from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, played a big part in the exuberant Symphonic Dances from Bernstein’s musical West Side Story, which rumbled, mambo’d and swung with great energy and verve. Who but the ever-resourceful Lenny (Bernstein’s nickname) could fashion a full-blown fugue from the number Cool?

The excellent Boston Brass had moments on their own, opening the concert with Nino Rota’s brief Fanfare for the Prince from the Franco Zefferelli movie and selections from Soviet composer Dmitri Kabalevsky’s own Romeo and Juliet, tuneful enough music but almost a poor man’s Prokofiev.

T’ang Quartet sans brass tackled four of Elvis Costello’s Juliet Letters (arranged by the Brodsky Quartet) including a three-second long vocal debut in Romeo Seance. How were they as singers? It’s anyone’s guess as their efforts were submerged by audience laughter and applause.

There were no programme notes provided, but euphonium player Lance LaDuke and cellist Leslie Tan served as entertaining and very funny emcees. The single encore, the Puerto Rican-influenced America (West Side Story), sent all that attended home with a smile.

SINGAPORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 32nd Anniversary Concert / Review

SSO 32ND ANNIVERSARY CONCERT
Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Lan Shui, Conductor
Esplanade Concert Hall
Friday (14 January 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times

on 17 January 2011 with the title

"SSO reaches for success".

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra makes a habit of featuring local soloists in anniversary concerts. On this occasion, SSO first violinists Chan Yoong Han and Foo Say Ming resisted programming a familiar concerto, instead going for the obscure. Their choice of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu’s Concerto in D major for 2 violins was an inspired and enjoyable one.

Written for teenaged twins, the work resembled a concerto grosso from the baroque period. Joined at the hip like some musical Chang and Eng, the solos showcased close chemistry between Chan and Foo, two of the nation’s most active chamber musicians. Their violins sang and breathed as one through the 20-minute work.

The second movement married Bohemian folkdance with American barn dance in a quaint way, before launching uninterrupted into a kinetically charged finale which culminated in an elaborate cadenza, deftly handled by the duo, colourfully clad in batiks.

The second work was Mozart’s last piano concerto, No.27 in B flat major (K.595). From the doyen of Chinese pianists Fou Ts’ong, now 77, one expected musical insights rather than fireworks. Frail and stooped at the keyboard he might have been, but the true spirit of chamber music-making remained undimmed.

Operating within a narrow dynamic range which hardly ventured beyond forte, every phrase carried its weight in gold. He made one listen intently, never missing a beat nor glossing over details. Even if the cadenzas sounded effortful and enervating, the pulse of intent was never lost.

From his hands, the slow movement radiated simple yet graceful beauty. Many a young, hot-headed virtuoso can learn from this patrician of musicians. The audience accorded him a standing ovation, rightly deserved.

For the Brahms Second Symphony in D major that concluded the concert, comparisons with the last orchestra that performed it here – the Berlin Philharmonic – were inevitable. In terms of sheer passion, SSO concedes very little. Music Director Lan Shui held the reins tautly but allowed the music to breathe, as in much of the first two movements.

Strings were especially fine, and if there were quibbles, these would be in exposed wind and brass passages, and trombone chorales where intonation and balance were sometimes suspect. Rough edges exist but these should not cast a pall on the bucolic joy and sunshine exhibited for the last two movements.

One British critic has challenged the SSO to reach for greatness. Come another 32 years, that possibility could become reality.

The decoration on SSO's 32nd Anniversary cake.

Angels amd Demons / Jessica Mathaes Violin Recital / Review

ANGELS & DEMONS
JESSICA MATHAES, Violin
WANG YA-HUI, Piano
University Cultural Centre
Wednesday (12 January 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times

on 14 January 2011 with the title "Devil's best tunes thrilled".

The first chamber concert of the year took some time to warm up. Beethoven’s early Sonata in A major (Op.12 No.2) was the appetiser in the recital by American violinist Jessica Mathaes, Concertmaster of the Austin Symphony Orchestra in Texas.

The opening was taken at a sprightly pulse, with staccato playing that was both light and flighty. The slow movement was well-paced, leading to a lively finale that could have done with a little more humour, No signs of angels nor demons yet, until Giuseppe Tartini’s Sonata in G minor, better known as the Devil’s Trill, took hold.

Here the gremlin was in the Theatre’s dry acoustics, which did not flatter the statuesque Mathaes’ robust tone on her 1807 Johannes Cuypers violin. Legend has it that Tartini had dreamt of Satan fiddling away furiously at the foot of his bed, thus inspiring its composition. Its performance hinged on the music’s ability to conjure up a hair-raising experience. Unfortunately, the menace of diablerie did not surface, instead remained firmly under the sheets.

The second half was more engaging. One suspects Mathaes to be more comfortable in evoking angels, as her performance of Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending was true beauty to behold. Its meditative soliloquys revealed a purity of sound that was ethereal, and taking wing on a flight of fantasy that was the central episode’s pentatonic melody.

Pianist Wang Ya-Hui (formerly the Music Director of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra) proved a rock-steady partner throughout, always sensitive and alert to the shifts in dynamics, even if she was not completely note-perfect.

Both musicians were taxed to the limit in Saint-Saens’ Violin Sonata in D minor, a work so thorny that angels fear to tread. Here Mathaes and Wang were no fools rushing into trouble, instead infused with the devil-may-care bravado to go for broke, and making the outing work.

The final two movements were more than just an exercise in fast playing. Part of the adrenaline rush was to witness the performance teeter on the edge of the abyss, and then righting itself for a breathless close. Their resolute showing brought on hearty applause, later topped off with Vieuxtemps’ fiendishly delicious Variations on Yankee Doodle. As they say, the Devil gets the best tunes.

This concert was presented as part of the ExxonMobil Campus Concert series at the National University of Singapore. All photos courtesy of NUS Centre for the Arts.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, January 2011)

MARTHA ARGERICH
Chamber Ensembles
Deutsche Grammophon 477 8847 (6CDs)
*****

Martha Argerich has not made a solo recording for almost 30 years but chamber music has been the obvious beneficiary. This box-set celebrates some of her choicest collaborations. Her duo act with Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire occupies two discs, including the live recording from the 2009 Salzburg Festival, bringing together Ravel’s La Valse and Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances in some edge-of-the-seat music making.

Their Bartok Two-Piano Sonata and more Ravel (Spanish Rhapsody and Mother Goose Suite) enjoy riveting percussion partnership from Peter Sadlo and Edgar Guggeis. Still on 2 pianos, Argerich and Mikhail Pletnev rip through the latter’s delectable selection of dances from Prokofiev’s Cinderella.

A meeting of great musical minds also united cellist Mischa Maisky and violinist Gidon Kremer in an incomparable take on piano trios by Tchaikovky and Shostakovich. Is this the “million dollar trio” of our time? Violist Yuri Bashmet joins the threesome for Brahms’ First Piano Quartet, where all four let down their hair with wild abandon in the Hungarian-flavoured gypsy Rondo. At budget price, this collection is close to priceless.

OMM Goes To The Movies / Review

OMM GOES TO THE MOVIES
Orchestra of the Music Makers

Chan Te Law, Conductor
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (8 January 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 10 January 2011 with the title "Magical music from movies".

After conquering the lofty peaks of Mahler symphonies in the past year, the Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) could be forgiven for playing something lighter, such as movie music. But make no mistake, the intrepid group of youngsters still assembled over 120 players for this tribute to Hollywood blockbusters.

With the establishment of atonality and serialism in 20th century music, the Romantic composers had emigrated to Beverly Hills, California, where they founded a new genre that was to become the most heard music on the planet. Venerable names such as Wolfgang Erich Korngold and Miklos Rozsa featured prominently in this concert conducted with total dedication and command by Chan Tze Law.

Korngold’s Violin Concerto, popularised by Jascha Heifetz, contained music from four movies including the Oscar-winning Anthony Adverse. To this lyrical work, Singaporean violinist Edward Tan (left), OMM’s concertmaster, was a paradigm of polish and finesse. Every melody was clothed with loving caresses, topped with flawless intonation. And he did not shy away from attacking the more tricky bits like a skilled swordsman.

Rozsa’s Ben Hur Suite, with its naval battle, chariot race and biblical miracles, benefited from the inclusion of the 44-voice Victoria Chorale (Nelson Kwei, Chorus-master), whose wordless singing and chants of Alleluia provided that extra dimension to the Technicolor spectacular on stage.

Among living film composers, John Williams loomed large. A certain generation of filmgoers will be familiar with his Star Wars, Harry Potter and Superman music and lesser-known scores like Amistad and Hook. The added impact was in how well these were played, especially by sumptuous strings and emboldened brass. Pride of place however goes to the woodwinds, whose handling of Nimbus 2000, Harry Potter’s trusty broomstick, was perfection itself.

There was also a nod to mainstream classical composers, Aaron Copland and Gustav Mahler, for Fanfare for the Common Man (Saving Private Ryan) and Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony (Death in Venice) respectively. Hans Zimmer and Elton John’s Lion King highlights kept the even younger set past their bedtimes. Here a choir of double the size would have been welcome for Hakuna Matata and Can You Feel The Love Tonight?

No doubt about it, this was the best concert of film music ever to grace Singapore stages.

SSO Concert: A Night With Tchaikovsky / Review

A NIGHT WITH TCHAIKOVSKY
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Conductor

Esplanade Concert Hall
Friday (7 January 2010)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 10 January

with the title "Conjuring up old Russia".

With Tchaikovsky, some things are almost certain: heart-wrenching melodies, overwrought climaxes and a surfeit of emotional excesses. For almost two and a half hours, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra was transformed into an emsemble that sounded like the great Russian orchestras of vintage. The catalyst was Russian conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky, who turns 80 this year, in his third outing with the SSO.

The elevated status of the podium was shunned, as he conducted with feet firmly planted on the stage floor, level with his charges (left). Wielding economical directions and gestures bordering on the miserly, he drew great swathes of sound that almost defied belief.

The sheer magnetism was palpable, as low strings heaved a forlorn sigh in the opening of the hour-long Manfred Symphony, as if bearing the weight of the world on their collective shoulders. This and more characterised the programme music based on Lord Byron’s Romantic anti-hero whose crushing guilt eventually gets the better of him.

The scherzo flew on feathered wings like some fairy tale scene while the slow movement’s lyric sunshine was clouded by undercurrents of deep-seated angst. All built up to an epic finale, where fateful forces of tragedy came to bear. Unlike the bleaker Pathetique Symphony, mighty chords from Evelyn Lim’s pipe organ offered glimmers of hope. Forget about Manfred’s redemption, the pathologically-depressed Tchaikovsky was scripting his own.

The first half was witness to the rarely-performed Second Piano Concerto in G major (Op.44) with Rozhdestvensky’s wife Viktoria Postnikova at the keyboard. But wait, was it not Stephen Hough who performed it just 18 months ago? The two readings were poles apart. While the Briton personified litheness and athleticism, the Russian radiated opulence and monumentality.

Besides dealing out heavy chords and octave salvos, she also proved extremely nimble in the fussy filigreed bits that demanded elfin-like lightness, culminating with a giant of a cadenza that was the last word in barnstorming.

The Rozhdestvenskys acknowledging the applause.

The best music came in the slow movement, a triple concerto in all but name. Here, concertmaster Alexander Souptel’s exquisite violin solo blended beautifully with Ng Pei Sian’s silky cello, and the ménage a trois was complete with Postnikova’s singing tone on the piano. Scintillating pianism wrapped up the rip-roaring finale, and her encore of Barcarolle (June from The Seasons) provided the icing on the cake. Simply irresistible.

Before emigrating to Singapore, SSO Concertmaster

Alexander Souptel was Gennady Rozhdestvensky's

concertmaster in the USSR Ministry of Culture

& USSR Radio Symphony Orchestras for over 10 years.