NAFA
ORCHESTRA
WITH WILLIAM BENNETT
NAFA
Orchestra
Lee
Foundation Theatre
Thursday
(1 September 2016 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 3 September 2016 with the title "Soloists shine in concert by NAFA orchestra".
The new academic semester has started for
Singapore
The first music to be heard was Mozart's Overture to The Marriage Of Figaro. What was unusual here was the placing of
the woodwinds in the front of the orchestra, as a semi-circle facing the
conductor. These players formed the chorus that piped the celebratory music in
the short and witty work, and they did their job well, refusing to be overawed
by the bigger number of strings.
Putting the winds in the fore prepared
for more of the same, which came in Mozart's popular Concerto for Flute & Harp in C major (K.299) with celebrated
veteran British flautist William Bennett and young Singaporean harpist Sarah
Wong as soloists. The sheer ebullience and total agreeability of the music had
an ideal advocate in Bennett, who is still amazingly nimble despite turning 80
this year.
His warm and sweet tone was a joy, as was
his crystal-clear articulation in the florid and running solo passages. He
found a good match in Wong's scintillating harp part, which served as
additional accompaniment in addition to the orchestra's. The two also blended
well in cadenzas by Carl Reinecke in the three movements, which gave both
soloists further opportunities to shine while the orchestra remained tacit.
The slow movement was lush in its
lingering lyricism while the finale romped home with the most joyous of kicks
in the steps. Clearly the Mozart was the draw of the concert, as swathes of
seats laid vacant for the second half's offering of Cesar Franck's Symphony in D minor.
Conductor Lim first thanked those in the
audience who stayed on, and then good-naturedly lectured them on how to properly support the
orchestral players with prolonged applause as they emerged. As if stung to
attention by the mild castigation, the orchestra rose in tandem to justify its
presence with playing of a passionate kind.
The 1st movement's pivotal
3-note motif was voiced with clarity by lower strings and the Wagnerian
movement grew organically, building to a feverish high with the strings
sounding particular rich. This accomplished even greater plethoric climaxes
when the full complement of brass joined in.
The slow movement came like a relief from
the earlier congestion with Tan Li Shan's harp and Joost Flach's cor anglais
plaint conjuring a balm for the ears, accompanied by pizzicato strings.
Elsewhere, the excellent and well-honed strings also generated a sense of
tension with its tricky sinuous contrapuntal figures.
The finale was a given a life-affirming
lick with Lim's firm but not over-rigid direction. The ecstatic main theme was
vitality itself, and as with Franck's cyclic form of symphonic writing, themes
from the earlier movements returned like the reassuring hugs of long-lost
friends. All this made for a busy denouement and the inevitable blazing
conclusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment