CONCERTI I
SOLISTI II
SOTA Music
Students with
Orchestra
of the Music Makers
School of
the Arts Concert Hall
Friday (2 August 2013 )
It is a rare evening that I am not with the
Singapore Symphony Orchestra, instead attending a concert by another orchestra.
On this evening, it is the young Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) performing
a concerto evening at the School of the Arts’ Music Festival. It was a case of
putting aside “what has been” for “what will be”, as any concert at SOTA with
young people is a crystal ball of what the local music scene will be in the
years to come. Indeed the future does look bright, especially with the quality
of young musicians that is coming through.
What is less bright is that the audience is
lagging way behind. I could swear that there seemed to be more people on stage
than sitting in the stalls. Where has everybody gone? Could they all have been
at Esplanade? If both parents of those on stage attended this concert, there
would still be a sizeable audience to greet the surfeit of young talent. Alas
this was not to be. Are there so many concerts in Singapore
The concert opened with Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
conducted by young conductor Lien Boon Hua. Early jitters from the young
orchestra were apparent, and the slow introduction sounded like a trial of
nerves. Intonation from winds and brass were suspect, but it all improved with
the onset of the fast music, depicting the feuding Montagues and Capulets. The
love music, the part everybody loves, came through very well, and buoyed by
this rapturous escapade, the world closed on an encouraging note.
The rest of the concert was conducted by OMM
Music Director Chan Tze Law. A smaller band was left on stage to accompany SOTA
student Samuel Phua in Jacques Ibert’s Concertino
da Camera for saxophone and chamber orchestra. For times, there was a risk
that even the pared down forces would overwhelm the soloist, but the young man
was a portrait of confidence itself. He projected a big sound throughout, trading
the orchestra blow for blow, and never coming out in second place. The second
movement was a dreamy nocturne-like interlude leading into an unbuttoned
finale, and it was clear he was fully enjoying himself in its jazzy insouciant
swagger.
After the interval came Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto in F major, a deceptively
tricky work even though it was written as his teenaged son Maxim’s (later the
conductor) graduation piece. Extreme rhythmic steadiness was the key to success,
and pianist Ng Jia Ning seemed somewhat rattled from the beginning. She coped
well most of the time, bringing out the first movement’s cadenza with much
clarity and precision. The slow second movement was lovely, with muted strings
providing the sumptuous romantic accompaniment, while the finale’s spoof on
Hanon and Czerny studies came unstuck for a brief but agonising moment.
Fortunately she regained her composure and the combined forces ended in one
accord.
The main highlight was to be the first movement
of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto
with soloist Rui Xin Wei, with gelled up hair made to look like some kind of
mohawk. Strange looks aside, he gave a totally assured account of the warhorse
distinguished with some individual nuances of his own. His was not just some
accurate but bland account but one in which he had something to say.
Barnstormed he did, with crashing chords, sweeping arpeggios and flying
octaves, but it was in the more restrained moments in which he found poetry and
a rare dignity which does not always comes with youngsters. The big cadenza was
comfortably dealt with, and straining on his leash, the coda saw him racing off
and leaving the orchestra one step behind. With further education, thought and
reflection, a fine fully-formed artist will emerge someday. Back in 1997,
similar thoughts of mine were cast upon a 15-year-old boy who had just played the
Tchaikovsky with the SSO. His name was Lang Lang. 
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