VIVA
I'ITALIA!
Victoria
Concert Hall
Friday
(6 March 2015)
This review was published in The Straits Times on 9 March 2015 with the title "Sterling concert by school talent".
The Singapore National Youth Orchestra
(SNYO) manages 186 talented young musicians from 47 schools in the nation,
giving them a platform to perform symphonic music at a highest possible level.
Its concerts are a showcase of the vast potential this nation possesses as well
as the diversity of thematic programming. Its latest concert was a celebration
of Italian music, from the Renaissance to the late 19th century.
The orchestra's Principal Conductor
Leonard Tan also served as the concert's highly animated presenter, humourously
explaining each work while lauding his charges for their sterling efforts. This
kind of encouragement worked wonders as the players were in fine form for the
eight works performed in this demanding programme.
The first half was devoted to music for
smaller ensembles. Eight brass players separated by the length of the stage
performed the Venetian Giovanni Gabrieli's Sacra
Sinfonia Sonata Pian 'e Forte, which simulated the antiphonal effect of
ceremonial music within a cathedral.
There was some shaky intonation at the start but the double quartet soon
warmed up and produced a rich and resonant sonority.
The orchestral winds revelled in Julie
Giroux's Italian Rhapsody, a fun
piece which rehashed popular melodies like Puccini's Musetta's Waltz (from La
Boheme), Luigi Denza's Funiculi
Funicula and Verdi's Anvil Chorus
(Il Trovatore). Samuel Chan's
excellent clarinet solos led the way into this cheerful romp of a piece.
Somewhat more serious was Vivaldi's Double Cello Concerto in G minor
(RV.531), where soloists Megan Lim and Lau Yun Xi clearly and confidently
articulated their parts while exhibiting very good chemistry together. The
chamber accompaniment was discreet yet supportive. A larger group of strings
with two oboes and two French horns then polished up Mozart's early Symphony No.10 in G major. Its three
short movements, from the 14-year-old prodigy, were lit up with playing of a
rare blazing intensity by players scarcely little older.
The concert's second half comprised
wholly of orchestral highlights from the great operas. An arresting drumroll
and martial strains opened Rossini's Overture
to The Thieving Magpie, from which an exciting allegro ensued. Clearly the
orchestra understood how a patented Rossinian crescendo worked, and this dramatic device was milked to quite
thrilling effect.
Orchestral strings were given the chance
to shine in the famous Intermezzo from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, a poignant few minutes made even more so with
conductor Tan's cogent synopsis of the opera's fatalism. The full orchestra
then dug in for Ponchielli's popular Dance
of the Hours (from La Gioconda),
which had lightness, whimsicality and the full tilt for a final flourish.
To close was Rossini's William Tell Overture, which saw more
fine solos from Megan Lim's cello, Leow Rui Qing's cor anglais and Rachel Ho's
flute. Perhaps a couple more rehearsals would have better sealed the final
package but there was no denying the adrenaline rush elicited by that furious
gallop that has now become forever associated with the Lone Ranger. As an
encore, the Lone Ranger rode again but at a more frenetic tempo and with the orchestra
on its feet. That was enough to bring out the bravos and a standing ovation.
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