QIN LI-WEI & YANG YANG:
BARBER & RACHMANINOFF
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall
Thursday (13 April 2017 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 15 April 2017 with the title "Romantic fare greeted with wild applause".
There
was a time during the middle of the last century when it was unfashionable,
even retrogressive, to be a composer with Romantic inclinations. Tonality and
the ability to write a good tune are now back in vogue, which explains why
Samuel Barber and Sergei Rachmaninoff are among the most regularly performed of
20th century composers today.
Late
Romanticism ruled the Conservatory Orchestra's latest concert, conducted by
young prize-winning Chinese conductor Yang Yang. Barber's Cello Concerto
was given a rare performance by Chinese-Australian cellist Qin Li-Wei, who
swallowed its host of technical and musical challenges whole.
The
orchestra did its part by delivering its introduction well. Filled with tricky
woodwind solos, essentially the opening movement's motifs and themes, this
heralded Qin's imposing entry. His cello tone was incisive and searing, yet
filled with tenderness for lyrical passages to shine through. Also thorny and
rhythmically exacting, the seemingly opposing qualities were reeled off with
stunning aplomb, culminating in a virtuosic cadenza.
It
was a mistake to have allowed latecomers entry during the short pause between
the first two movements. The tardily nonchalant and noisy manner in finding
their seats despoiled the slow movement's idyll between cello and solo oboe.
Inappropriate applause after the movement also jarred, far more than the
occasional flat brass entries that came before.
It
took the finale's heroics, with Qin leading the charge, that the concerto's
conclusion was greeted with rowdy applause. He obliged with two exquisite solo
encores in Giovanni Sollima's Alone and Peteris Vasks' Pianissimo
from Book (Gramata), the latter requiring several rapt moments of
wordless vocalising in harmony with the cello.
The
second half belonged to Rachmaninov's Second Symphony, the second time
the Conservatory Orchestra has programmed it. The previous occasion was in
2009, conducted by American pianist-conductor Leon Fleisher in Kent Ridge
The
expansive tempo adopted was in no way at risk of falling apart. When the main Allegro
section arrived, there was a sense of joyous release. The development was
exciting enough, but if it were laced with more impetuosity and wildness, the
impact would have been greater. The Scherzo was well-marshalled despite
the high speeds involved, and the Tchaikovskyan outburst at its centre could
not have been better done.
By
the Adagio, one was grasping for superlatives. Pride of place went to
clarinettist Jang Zion for his characterful solo, borne of a ripe, creamy tone
that will remain long in the memory. The trance-like sequence of solos
incanting the movement's main theme, performed with consummate skill,
underlined the music's Russianness. The rapturous finale, whipped into an
ecstatic ride with surging runs, was
also a joy. That visceral thrill elicited the most rabid of ovations, which was
the least this evening's unabashedly Romantic fare deserved.
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