MONTEVERDI'S L'INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA / New Opera Singapore / Review

MONTEVERDI'S

L'INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA

New Opera Singapore

Victoria Theatre

Saturday (29 July 2017)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 31 July 2017 with the title "A morality tale cloaked with symbolism".

Thank goodness for New Opera Singapore. More specifically, thank goodness for the wife-and- husband team of Jeong Ae Ree and Chan Wei Shing, who have energised the production of opera in Singapore by reminding local audiences there is much more life beyond the spectacles of Verdi, Puccini and the odd Merry Widow or Fledermaus.

Claudio Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea) was first performed in Venice in 1643, not long after the birth of the opera artform. New Opera Singapore's production directed by Jeong was updated to a mythical present, with three acts condensed into two. Although  running over two-and-a-half hours, it was nonetheless an absorbing show.

The story was based on events in ancient Rome during the nefarious reign of Emperor Nero. In a morality tale of sorts, Nerone's concubine Poppea installs herself as empress through intrigue and guile by ruthlessly removing all opponents and obstacles. Also in an ironic twist, Love triumphs over Virtue and Fortune, while the bad guys win in the end.

Casting was a major strength, with soprano Victoria Li (Poppea) making a stunning debut in a major role, with a strong and clear voice to match her oozing sexuality. Opposite her, tenor Leslie Tay (Nerone) was outstanding for his formidable presence, in a role that surprisingly displayed mercy as well.

Korean countertenor Yohan Cho as Poppea's cast-aside lover Ottone impressed with his hangdog look, and there were excellent portrayals by Akiko Otao (the self-sacrificing Drusilla), Yun Seung Woo (the compromised Seneca), Eun-Jeong Koo (the conniving Arnalta) and Grace Kuo (the jealous Ottavia).

The entire cast of 15 was strikingly attired in white with faces whitened as well, a shade which cleverly masked ambivalent personal values. An illuminated white marble floor was angled at an incline to reflect morals and ethics not always being upstanding or upright.

Symbolism was strong, down to the blood red in Poppea's wig and the lighting design when the condemned Seneca opened his veins. The characters Love (Christina The), Fortune (Rachel Ong) and Virtue (Wang Tong), who jostle for the moral high ground in the Prologue, are portrayed as mental asylum inmates. There were also homoerotic undertones in the duets of Damigella (Evangeline Ng) with Valletto (The), and Nerone with Lucano (Martins Smaukstelis), coming across as both comic and unabashedly overt.

The small orchestra was well-helmed by conductor Chan Wei Shing who doubled on the cello in passages of basso continuo accompaniment. Also key to the enterprise were harpsichordist Shane Thio and organist Song Ziliang, who were rock steady throughout.

From the comedic Prologue to the final duet of Poppea and Nerone, Pur ti miro (I Gaze At You), this production was one sensitive to detail and nuance. At the final note of the twin villains' union, when Nerone turns his eye at the voluptuous Damigella for a split second, the audience immediately knows, “Here we go again!”   

All photos courtesy of New Opera Singapore.

MENDELSSOHN PIANO CONCERTO 1. BRAHMS SYMPHONIES / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

MENDELSSOHN PIANO CONCERTO 1

BRAHMS SYMPHONIES

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (28 July 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 31 July 2017 with the title "Roaring brass gives way to whisper".

German Romantic music was on the cards at last Friday's Singapore Symphony Orchestra concert conducted by music director Shui Lan. The evening opened with Richard Strauss' tone poem Tod und Verklarung (Death and Transfiguration). Beginning quietly, one could hear and feel the slow heaving pulse and heavy breath of a dying man portrayed in the music.

From the depths of despair came his last ditch struggle, that final and desperate grabbing of straws of an ebbing life. Music that could so indelibly depict such a scene was a speciality of Strauss, and how the orchestra responded – from the thread started by solo oboe, passed to solo flute before arriving at Concertmaster Igor Yuzefovich's violin. The build-up to a climax of throbbing health was thrilling, even if ultimately illusory.

The brass roared and strings quivered, but it all soon passed as crescendo gave way to a terminal diminuendo. The realisation that death was merely a portal to an uknown beyond was keenly grasped in Shui's taut but not unyielding direction. That similar narrative would also transpire in Brahms' Third Symphony, but early Romantic Felix Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto in G minor provided the interlude that came in between.

Thrust into the solo spotlight was Singapore's eternally young pianist Melvyn Tan. Not content to be the light comic relief, his arch-virtuoso role threw in chords, octaves and flying notes galore. His long arms flayed and flapped as the seemingly beleaguered piano held the mighty orchestra at bay for much of the outer movements.

It was in the slow central movement where sheer poetry reigned, and the piano's song floated above soft strings as opposing forces were kept in reserve albeit for few precious minutes. Heralded by an awakened brass fanfare, the finale's wild hunt was on, and Tan's energetic leaping through hoops of fire made for a sonorous spectacle.

Beaming ever so widely, his encore was the only non-Teutonic music on offer. Debussy's Jardins sous la pluie (Gardens in the Rain) from Estampes was a piquant Gallic palate-cleanser after so much sauerkraut.

Johannes Brahms' Third Symphony in F major is often considered the Cinderella of his four symphonies. However a best case was made possible with its Schumannesque opening, imposingly stated but not overblown. This and much that ensued were sympathetically voiced, with excellent brass in the first movement climax and an every-steady woodwind chorale for the beginning of the second movement. 

The performance came into its own in the sublime third movement, when the cellos sang in its quasi-tragic plaint, and capped by Han Chang Chou's fine French horn solo near its end. The finale scaled the heights of passion and much like the Strauss work that began the concert, worked its way to a quiet close. When a symphony ends in a whisper, certain victory appears to have been lost, but the applause which came after a decent period of silence proved that the effort was clearly appreciated.

CD Review (The Straits Times, July 2017)

BROTONS Complete Flute Music Vol.1

ROBERTO ALVAREZ, Flute et al

Centaur 3554 / *****

Salvador Brotons is a well-regarded Catalonian composer who began his musical career as a flautist, playing in various Barcelona orchestras before turning to full-time conducting (he is the Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra) and composition. 

His complete output for the flute will occupy three discs, and the first volume plays like a dream. His two Flute Sonatas (dating from 1979 and 1996), are works for a consummate virtuoso. Although employing dissonance and atonality to a certain extent, these are also very lyrical pieces. The second sonata is also scored as a concerto.

Also equally accessible is Coloured Skies (with harp), Fantasia Concertante (with marimba-vibraphone) and Three Divertimenti (with guitar). The earliest piece El Port De La Selva, written in 1975 as a 16-year-old, is a Catalan dance with a naive charm. 

The Spanish flautist Roberto Alvarez, principal piccolo player of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra is the ideal interpreter, fully attuned to the idiom as well as taking the myriad technical challenges and intricacies in his stride. 

This colourful Spanish production also has vital Singaporean links, with Beatrice Lin (piano), Katryna Tan (harp), Eugene Toh (percussion) and Kevin Loh (guitar) as Alvarez's partners. The recorded sound from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory studio is also excellent.   

EXUBERANCE OF YOUTH / Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra / Review

EXUBERANCE OF YOUTH

Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

Saturday (22 July 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 24 July 2017 with the title "An exuberant display of youth indeed".

Fresh from its successful concert tour of China, the Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra (SNYCO) gave a 2-hour long concert that exhibited prowess and versatility, both as a large ensemble as well as in smaller groups of players.

The evening began with Feng Xiao Quan's The Soaring Chinese Music, a mini concerto for orchestra which displayed the full potential of the ensemble's various sections while being a primer of the myriad colours and timbres of Chinese orchestral music. Led by Chinese guest conductor Sun Peng, it made for an impressive rousing overture.

The next two works were performed without conductor. Young Malaysian Chow Jun Yi's Momentum featured just ten players in a John Adams-styled minimalist piece based on a motif from Purple Bamboo Tune. Repetitious but never boring, the work gained in velocity and volume (like its title suggested) while precise pacing and timing - not an easy feat - were being maintained.

Young Singaporean Phang Kok Jun's Storytellers on Ann Siang Road utilised six players and two erhu soloists. This apparent duel between Chinese and Malay melodies pitted Li Siyu (backed by pipa and sanxian) against Low Likie (supported by ruan and yangqin) was an ingenious showpiece of musical repartee, resolved when both erhu rivals arrived at a happy confluence of thoughts and deeds.

The sections of bowed and plucked strings also had a field day, conducted by SNYCO Music Director Quek Ling Kiong. Li Bo Chan's Eagle Totem opened with an expansive melody not unlike those of John Barry film scores before launching into a fast and percussive Mongolian dance, like a soaring flight over the steppes. In Wang Dan Hong's Dynamic Plucked Strings, Latin and Caribbean rhythms accompanied by maracas ruled, with solo dizi sustaining melodic interest.

There was a return to full orchestral pieces, with Zhao Ji Ping's Impressions Of Macao being a mix of Western and Eastern influences. Rapidly bowed strings helmed its bookends, with Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla Overture and Shostakovich's Festive Overture being inspirations, while a Chinese melody and gentle Portuguese-styled dance served as its soft centre.

Veteran Singapore Chinese Orchestra player Sim Boon Yew's excellent variations on the Malay folksong Suriram is already a favourite, its raucous and rowdy strains lent an especially authentic air by infectious kompang drum rhythms and striking coconut shells.

It was left for solo suona and a heady chorus of suonas to herald Wang Dan Hong's The Spirit Of Jin from Impressions Of Shanxi, the noisiest work and closing piece of the evening. This highlighted a most enthusiastic yet disciplined showing from the 8-person percussion, which unleashed thunder and cannon roars into the atmosphere.

The title “Exuberance Of Youth” could not have been more apt, as the youngsters polished off an encore on their own and issued birthday greetings to a pleasantly surprised conductor Quek. The ensuing taking of selfies and congratulatory pats-on-the-back were hugely deserved. 

All photographs courtesy of Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

CD Review (The Straits Times, July 2017)

CHOPIN Works for Piano & Orchestra

JAN LISIECKI, Piano

NDR Elbphilharmonie / Krzysztof Urbanski

Deutsche Grammophon 479 6824 / *****1/2

The two piano concertos of Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), while very popular, have been over-recorded. It is thus a welcome change to hear the other four of the Polish pianist-composer's works for piano and orchestra. Composed during his teenaged years and early-20s, these were conceived as showpieces for a rising virtuoso. 

The best-known is the Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise Brillante (Op.22), often heard as a solo work. Tacking together two completely different pieces, a nocturne-like cantabile and extroverted digital display are keenly contrasted.

Variations On La Ci Darem From Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Op.2) is heard on occasion. A work so inventive and scintillating, Robert Schumann hailed, “Hats off, a genius!” after hearing it for the first time. The true rarities are the Krakowiak (Op.14), a fast Polish folk-dance and Fantasy on Polish Airs (Op.13), with Chopin's nationalism proudly worn like a badge during his touring years. 

These receive marvellous performances filled with insight and vitality by young Polish-Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki, who had previously recorded Chopin's 24 Études to great success. The German orchestral accompaniment led by fellow Pole Krzsztof Urbanski is by no means perfunctory, adding to a pleasurable hour of easy listening.    

BOUNDARIES / YAO XIAO YUN Piano Recital / Review

BOUNDARIES

YAO XIAO YUN Piano Recital

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (16 July 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 18 July 2017 with the title "Sonorous expressions ruined by unruly audience".

“No Boundaries” or “Beyond Boundaries” was probably what Shanghai-born Singaporean pianist Yao Xiao Yun had in mind for the title of her piano recital, which covered the classical, Romantic and 20^th century eras of musical history as well as Chinese music.

Smart or fancy titles are just means for marketing, but what matters most is the playing. The 2005 1st prize-winner of the National Piano & Violin Competition (Artist Piano Category) still has what it takes, and if anything else, has also matured during the intervening years.

An iron-clad technique was called for in Scriabin's Sonata-Fantasie No.2 which opened the concert. Perhaps she began a tad too deliberately, which made the first couple of minutes drag a little. However that was to contrast with a more passionate later section, in which she brought out a wealth of sonority. Amid the fine filigree, the melodic interest was never lost. In the tempestuous 2^nd movement, she went for the jugular and the result was close to spectacular.

Similarly in Beethoven's “Les Adieux” Sonata (Op.81a), she made it a point to emphasise the first three sets of notes, which was a heartfelt farewell to his patron Archduke Rudolf who had fled Vienna from Napoleon's invading army. By omitting the repeats, the opportunity to hold steadfast to this statement had been lost. 

This was made up by a slow movement, representing the patron's absence, which could not have sounded more pained or forlorn. A joyous finale, expressing the ecstasy of a long-awaited return, capped another fine performance.

Yao's 13-year-old student Lin Chuanyin was offered a few minutes under the spotlight, and she acquitted herself well with a scintillating reading of Wang Jianzhong's famous transcription of Liu Yang River, which simulates the guzheng in the sound of cascading falls and rippling water. Yao returned with Wang's equally famous Bai Niao Chao Feng (Hundred Birds Paying Respect To The Pheonix), a brilliant mimicry of myriad birdsongs.

This evening was marred by the most unruly audience ever to step into a concert hall here. Excessive coughing, dropping of objects, children fidgeting, inappropriate applause, eating, drinking and a brazen videotaping via cellphone were among the repertoire of indignities witnessed. In short, this is the kind of audience regularly encountered in mainland China.

Undeterred, Yao made the best of her Chopin selection, bringing true cantabile to the D flat major Nocturne (Op.27 No.2) and the Andante Spianato before letting rip in the ensuing Grande Polonaise Brilliante (Op.22) and E flat major Waltz (Op.42). To close was Debussy's L'Isle Joyeuse (The Joyous Island), a collaboration with the pianist's father artist-calligrapher Yao Hai Cheng whose 11-metre long scroll painting on the same subject (displayed in the foyer) being the visual component.

A detail and several vignettes from
Yao Hai Cheng's 11-metre long scroll painting,
with a visual and literary dimension added
to Debussy's L'Isle Joyeuse.
That's what they mean by "Beyond Boundaries".

Yao's performance of the Debussy showpiece was both attentive to detail and colourful. The obligatory encore was shared with Lin, as both pianists polished off Brahms' Fifth Hungarian Dance with no little panache.

TCHAIKOVSKY & ARENSKY PIANO TRIOS / Incursion Trio / Review

TCHAIKOVSKY & ARENSKY PIANO TRIOS

Incursion Trio

Esplanade Recital Studio

Tuesday (11 July 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 13 July 2017 with the title "Thrills from a trio".

Some chamber groups have been established as local leaders of the chamber music genres which they perform. Already well-known are T'ang Quartet (string quartet) and Take Five (piano quintet), and more recently EDQ (wind quintet) has made its name.

Now meet Incursion Trio, comprising the husband-and-wife pair of Siew Yi Li (violin) and Beatrice Lin (piano), and its newest member Lin Juan (cello). On this concert's strength, one will expect it to become a force to reckon with, that is if the threesome gets to performs regularly enough.

The coupling of piano trios by Romantic Russian composers Piotr Tchaikovsky and Anton Arensky is not uncommon on CD recordings. In concert, however, this is a mountain to overcome for the musicians. The pianist never stops for a moment to rest. On this count, Beatrice Lin was a pillar of strength. Besides being spot-on technically, she had both power and projection, fueled by seemingly limitless reserves.

Here the piano becomes de facto leader, and it was easy for the Steinway grand to have totally dominated her string partners. Thankfully this was not the case, as both Siew and Lin Juan were just as resolute, possessed big tones and threw in their lot without reserve.

The opening to Arensky's First Piano Trio in D minor was delivered with such vividness and clarity that it was hard to mistake its nostalgia and melancholy. The skittish Scherzo proved more of a struggle; its tricky rhythms dogged the players and not all the jokes came off as slickly as planned.  

This was forgotten in the elegiac slow movement, achingly beautiful as it unabashedly bared its brooding Russian soul. The finale was a show of passion, its surge of adrenaline only stemmed by a return of the 1^st movement's haunting theme. This sense of deja vu literally stops one's thoughts in its tracks, a highly effective plot device that was to be repeated in the Tchaikovsky.

Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio in A minor, which plays for over 45 minutes, is one of the monuments of the trio repertoire. Composed in memory of piano virtuoso friend Nikolai Rubinstein, who had previously rejected his First Piano Concerto, Tchaikovsky was to ironically craft a work longer and even more taxing for the pianist.

The trio more than coped with its longeurs, especially the repetitious 1^st movement which was delivered with seriousness, tinged with typically Tchaikovskyan sentimentality. Lin's opening cello plaint could not have been better rendered.

The 2^nd movement's inventive Theme & Variations, another long movement, was so imaginatively coloured that time just flew past. There were variations in a style of a music box, a waltz, an elegy within an elegy, a mazurka, and culminating in an ever-busy fugue. The breathless last variation served as a long finale, and the 1^st movement's theme returned, now as a plodding funeral march.

Surely performances of Rachmaninov's two piano trios cannot be far off from this excellent trio.

Two violinists: Siew Yi Li with his former teacher
Alexander Souptel, former Concertmaster
of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Author's note: Interestingly, the first time I heard a live performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio was in 1992 at the Scriabin House-Museum in Moscow. The violinist on that occasion was none other than Alexander Souptel, before he joined the SSO in 1993. What goes around comes around.

CD Review (The Straits Times, July 2017)

KAPUSTIN Works for Cello

CHRISTINE RAUH, Cello et al

SWR Music 19002 / *****

The jazz-influenced music of Ukrainian composer Nikolai Kapustin (born 1937) is no longer a stranger in concert halls, especially his highly virtuosic piano works.  His small output of cello works has finally received their due in the very capable hands of young German cellist Christine Rauh. 

The two major works in this collection are his Second Cello Concerto (Op.103) and Second Cello Sonata (Op.84). The Concerto, premiered by Rauh in 2014, leans more to film music rather than strict jazz, with an achingly beautiful slow movement that sounds like a tribute to classic Hollywood romances. She is accompanied by the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrucken Kaiserslautern conducted by Nicholas Collon.

The Sonata, as well as shorter pieces like Elegy (Op.96), Burlesque (Op.97) and Nearly Waltz (Op.98), are partnered by Benyamin Nuss on piano. These musings sound like jazz improvisations even if the parts were meticulously scored by the composer. The cello turns accompanist in Duett for alto sax and cello (Op.99) where an irrepressible saxophonist Peter Lehel holds court. 

Two of Kapustin's Piano Etudes (Op.40) have been transcribed for cello and vibraphone, with percussionist Ni Fan in support. As an encore, Rauh and Nuss' Hommage A Kapustin is a brief and touching tribute. Here are nearly 80 minutes of highly enjoyable listening.

PREMIERE / Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra / Review

PREMIERE

Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Saturday (8 July 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 10 July 2017 with the title "Rousing blend of music".

The Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra was inaugurated in 2016 to perform Asian symphonic works, with the mission of “celebrating them with equal regard as their Western counterparts”. Its third concert got off to an excellent start with young Singaporean composer Wang Chenwei's Confluence.

Implied in its title, the work cleverly fused themes based on Indian and Indonesian scales with Western compositional techniques. The flavour was unmistakeable Asian, down to raucous rhythms and slurring of melodies, before thematic material developed into a Bachian fugue. Originally composed for Chinese instruments, the World Premiere of its Western orchestration made for a rousing opener. 

Another World Premiere was Taiwanese composer Wang Yi-Lu's The Blue Planet: Earth, an erhu concerto featuring soloist Wong Qin Kai. Alternating between violence and serenity, the work pondered about the planet's origins and future, with the virtuosic erhu being its muse. Melodic interest included a theme reminiscent of Edelweiss (The Sound Of Music) while the often lively orchestral parts reminded this listener of works by Revueltas and Bernstein.

Xin Huguang's Gada Meiren (Ga Da Mei Lin) of 1956 is an established Chinese repertoire classic. The symphonic poem used a well-known Mongolian melody inspired by the eponymous warrior and national hero, first heard on solo oboe and developed into a full-blown rhapsody. Conducted by Dedric Wong, the music ambled from a pastoral opening into battle mode, the sort now often regarded as epic film music, before settling to an elegiac denouement. 

The young orchestra members coped well in the two-hour long concert, playing with much effervescent energy and in many occasions, no little refinement. Their Asian adventure continued with late Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar's 40-minute-long Symphony (realised by David Murphy), conducted by Adrian Chiang.

Composed in 2010 while in his nineties, the work was closer in spirit to the 1960-70s when he found worldwide fame in his association with the Beatles and Yehudi Menuhin. Each of its four movements is based on a raga, with the orchestra introducing the themes before brothers Krsna Tan (sitar) and Govin Tan (tabla) entering the fray.

Actual raga performances can last the best part of a morning or evening, but confined by the symphonic form, their scope for improvisation was limited to the score's dictates. Such is the “conflict” between Asian music and Western concert genres, stereotypes we often label as symphonies, concertos, suites and the like.

Nonetheless, this did little to curb the enjoyment of both soloists, with the finale (Banjara) culminating in Govin's extended tabla improvisation, Krsna's sitar spiel, an apparent duel and with the orchestra, an ecstatic romp to the finish.

Jeffrey Tan's exuberant Train To Euston, featuring the 6-man fusion band Flame Of The Forest (violin, sitar, tabla, percussion, keyboard, electric guitar and electric bass) served as an enjoyable encore. With cheers aplenty, the evening which started like a serious gig closed like a rock concert.    

GIL SHAHAM. BRAHMS SYMPHONIES / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

GIL SHAHAM. BRAHMS SYMPHONIES

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (7 July 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 10 July 2017 with the title "A night of lovely fantasies".

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra's new season opened with the music of a Singaporean composer. Soir, Reves, Fantaisie (Evening, Dreams, Fantasy) is the slow central movement of Tan Chan Boon's Second Symphony. Beginning with a French horn solo from Marc-Antoine Robillard and accompanied by gentle pizzicato strings, it conjured vistas of a bucolic Alpine scene. This and a second theme from the strings formed the meat of the movement, which unfolded with a quiet majesty and aural lusciousness before closing in total tranquillity.

Composer Tan Chan Boon
with SSO Music Director Shui Lan.

Tan is a 21^st century composer with a 19^th century soul. Mining a rich vein ploughed by the Wagner-Bruckner-Richard Strauss axis, he has already completed five symphonies. On the form of this sensitive reading, surely the SSO and Music Director Lan Shui has it in them to explore more of Tan's rewarding music.

American violinist Gil Shaham, a regular visitor to these parts, was the commanding soloist in Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto. The enfant terrible of Russian music, Prokofiev was to painfully pique ears with his brand of lashing dissonance, one which Shaham delivered in shovels. Crafting a vitriolic tone that was wholly appropriate for the work's grotesqueries, this performance came into its own in the lacerating Scherzo.

Shaham's use of sul ponticello (bowing near the violin's bridge) to create a wiry metallic timbre made the hair stand, soothed only by the finale's fairy-tale soundscape which was beautifully rendered with a balance close to perfect. Like Tan's work before, there was a pleasing symmetry to its fantasy-filled dream-like ending.

As an encore with orchestra, the brief and barbed Scherzo was reprised to no less stunning effect. On his own, Shaham offered the Gavotte from J.S.Bach's Partita No.3, which elicited even more cheers from the audience.

The concert closed with the First Symphony of Johannes Brahms. Like Beethoven before him, there can simply be no exhaustion from listening to Brahms' symphonies. Conducting completely from memory, conductor Shui took a more measured approach compared with his more mercurial stance on Beethoven's symphonies.

The sombre opening, full of foreboding and portending tragedy, was taken at a broad tempo. But this was not one of indolence or lack of volition, but one that gradually built up to a crushing climactic high. Like a skilled storyteller, the clarity and final aim of narration was never in doubt. The atmosphere was more relaxed in the slow movement, where Concertmaster Igor Yuzefovich's lovely violin solo capped a fine showing near its close.

Woodwinds had their turn to shine in the light and spirited 3^rd movement, paving the way for the dark clouds ushered in by the finale. How sternness and brooding in a minor key is transformed into major key sunshine, culminating in the finale's Beethovenian hymn-like melody was the miracle of this masterpiece. The opportunity offered to the orchestra was joyfully reciprocated as Shui led his charges to a glorious end, which was greeted by the applause it richly deserved. 

Conductor Shui Lan and violinist Gil Shaham
at the post-concert Symphony Chat.