DVD Review (The Straits Times, October 2017)

MOSTLY GERSHWIN

Singapore Chinese Orchestra / YEH TSUNG

SCO DVD 2017 / ***1/2 

This is a live recording of a July 2013 concert held at Esplanade Concert Hall, part of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and its Music Director Yeh Tsung's vision of crossing over to reach a wider audience by performing non-Chinese music on traditional Chinese instruments. The choice of George Gershwin, early American jazz and Afro-American spirituals was a interesting one that worked surprisingly well, contributing to a highly enjoyable event.

The casting of African-American soloists was also inspired. Veteran pianist Leon Bates gave a brash, no-holds-barred account of Rhapsody in Blue and Fascinatin' Rhythm (solo, as an encore) including his own showy extemporisations. He also shined in I Got Rhythm Variations, complete with its curious Chinoiserie variation. 

Stealing the show was soprano Kimberly Eileen Jones in a medley of American spirituals, and she was joined by tenor Lawrence Mitchell-Matthews and choir in a suite of vocal highlights from Porgy and Bess which rocked the house.

It was thus unfortunate that the visual recording was not up to high definition standards, exacerbated by the constant flitting from one viewpoint to another without much thought or conception. Here the video producers have much to learn from top European and American houses. What could have been a concert spectacular was lost, and this should have been released as a purely audio CD recording instead. 

CELLISSO / 10 Cellists of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

CELLISSO

10 Cellists of the 

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (22 October 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 24 October 2017 with the title "Cellists make wonderful music together".

Listeners would be familiar with the 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker or London Cellos, which brings together cellists from the London orchestras. Now say hello to CelliSSO, Singapore Symphony Orchestra's answer to those wonderful groups. Led by Principal Ng Pei-Sian, its debut concert showcased only 20^th century works but was greeted by a full-house at Victoria Concert Hall.

Not all works featured all ten members of the cello section playing together. The concert began with Trevor Wilson's Five Perambulations played by a quartet formed by Ng Pei-Sian, Yu Jing, Guo Hao and Peter Wilson. Its movements centred on casual strolls in five different places, each imbued with the distinctive character of each locale.

London relived the pre-war world of Eric Coates. New Orleans had a jazzy vibe, Venice delighted in a gondolier's barcarolle, while the flamenco beat lit up Andalusia. Cellist Wilson luxuriated in the solos in his father's work, which closed with Slavonic flavours of Prague, including a short quote from Dvorak's Cello Concerto.   

Perambulation turned into tintinnabulation in the Estonian Arvö Part's Fratres, where Yu, Guo and Wilson were joined by Wang Yan and SSO Associate Conductor Jason Lai (making a cameo), who provided the deep G bass note in this meditative work of mystical triads. Bell-like sonorities, punctuated by percussive knocks on the cello's wood, opened with ethereal stillness, then widening into a plangent crescendo before receding to nothingness.

The first half closed with Australian Carl Vine's Inner World, with just Ng accompanied by a taped recording. This solo tour de force stretched every facet of his cello technique, with psychedelic taped effects that ranged from celestial glissandi to grinding punk rock beats. Bathed under an otherworldly blue and green light, Ng's free-wheeling show garnered loud applause and cheers.

Sicilian Giovanni Sollima's Violoncelles, Vibrez! for two cellos was last heard when Ng partnered Yo-Yo Ma in last year's Silk Road Ensemble concert with SSO. In this evening's version accompanied by six cellos, the soloists were also the ensemble's youngest, Wang Zihao and Wu Dai Dai. Far from being overawed, the duo shined in the music's languid opening before racing into breakneck speeds for a photo finish.

The programme was completed with movements from two Bachianas Brasileiras by the Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos, who was a cellist himself. Bachiana No.1 saw all ten cellists appear for the first time, with Chan Wei Shing, Song Woon Teng and Zhao Yu Er joining the throng for a gorgeous, cushioned sound in its first two movements.

Soprano Jeong Ae Ree, with her
lucky husband Chan Wei Shing playing behind her.

Far more famous is Bachiana No.5 with its haunting mostly-wordless Aria sung by Korean soprano Jeong Ae Ree, who is also cellist Chan's wife. Garbed in a low-cut jade-coloured gown, she oozed sensuality and later letting loose in the quickfire Dança to close. The ten cellists signed off with an encore, Danny Elfman's The Simpsons Theme, with a promise of more exciting fare in concerts to come.      

BACH CELLO SUITES / KHACHATUR KHACHATRYAN, Cello / Review

BACH CELLO SUITES

KHACHATUR KHACHATRYAN, Cello

The Chamber, The Arts House

Friday (20 October 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 23 October 2017 with the title "Delving into details of Bach's Cello Suites".

This has been a bumper year in Singapore for the unaccompanied string music of J.S.Bach. So soon after Kam Ning and Loh Jun Hong's shared performance of all six Violin Sonatas and Partitas at The Arts House, the same venue hosted young Armenian cellist Khachatur Khachatryan in the six Cello Suites.

Composed between 1717 and 1723 and conceived as didactic exercises, these were virtually “lost” until Pablo Casals revitalised their performance in concert. Hearing all six – 36 movements in all – at one sitting was a daunting prospect, but in Khachatryan's hands and resourceful mind, the 160-minute-long concert proved an unqualified triumph.  

Playing on a 1914 Pedrazzini cello that once belonged to his grandfather, Khachatryan crafted a well-rounded and voluminous tone that spelled pure pleasure. Opening with the familiar Prelude of Suite No.1 in G major, his handling of its sequence of arpeggios showed he was no slave to the metronomic beat. That the music was allowed to breathe naturally like a good singer suggested a freedom from tempo strait-jacketing that was refreshing.

The printed score merely acts as a blueprint, and beyond the notes Bach did not leave directions or dynamic markings. Thus it was up to the performer to determine how the music should unfold and flow. Khachatryan had an excellent feel of its epic scope, yet was able to delve into finer details, such as including or omitting repeats, adding accents, grace notes and trills as he saw fit.

Every decision of his made sense, also translating into the sequence in which the suites were performed. Instead of progressing by catalogue number, he followed the relatively short and congenial Suite No.1 with the technically demanding Suite No.4 in E flat major with its awkward octave leaps in the opening Prelude. The contrasts were immediately felt, later escalating to the big crunching chords in Suite No.5 in C minor, where the deep sonority of tragedy loomed.    

Most of the movements were dances, and Khachatryan had the innate feel of pulse and movement deeply etched in his musical psyche. From slower Allemandes to pacier Courantes, the beat shifted accordingly, and in the paired dances of the fifth movements (Minuets, Bourees and Gavottes), there was sometimes a feel of jazzy improvisation that seemed improbable but sounded totally idiomatic.

The slow Sarabandes were the spiritual heart of the suites, and he luxuriated in spacious vistas without showing too much reverence. The concluding Gigues were rollicking  affairs, and what could possibly follow that of the valedictory Suite No.6 in D major? Khachatryan  received the vociferous applause, and offered as an encore Sicilian cellist-composer Giovanni Sollima's Lamentation, almost a summation of all the hi-jinks that had come before.      

Not enough of Bach? Next month, violinist Tang Tee Khoon and British cellist Colin Carr will relive the sonatas, partitas and suites - all 12 works - in two concerts at the Esplanade Recital Studio.  

SSO GALA: JANINE JANSEN / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

SSO GALA. JANINE JANSEN

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (19 October 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 October 2017 with the title "Summer solstice and Arctic winters".

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra gala concert that showcased Dutch violinist Janine Jansen carried in its publicity the adjectives “Golden, Delicate, Ethereal”, as if this would add to the allure of her Singapore debut. It also applied to the evening's first soloist, SSO's Associate Principal cor anglais player Elaine Yeo, the heart and soul of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius' short tone poem The Swan Of Tuonela.

Hers was the most mournful of solos, first answered by Ng Pei-Sian's cello counter-melody, and then gliding over a calm lake of muted strings and soft drum-rolls. Starkly beautiful, the timelessness of a mythical landscape was evoked. Dark and brooding, yet strangely comforting, this has to be the best advertisement ever devised for a land of the dead. 

Large part of its success is owed to the subtle yet decisive direction of young Swedish conductor Daniel Blendulf, who reprised the same in Sibelius' evergreen Violin Concerto in D minor which starred his wife Jansen. Their partnership was not a contest of strong wills, but a dramatic masterclass on how an orchestra supports a soloist to the ultimate triumph of music.

For her part, Jansen has to be the most commanding and charismatic of violin soloists since those cherished 1999 gala concerts which featured a certain Anne-Sophie Mutter. From the concerto's quiet flickering opening, Jansen ran the gauntlet of dynamic extremes with a frightening intensity. She maintained a strong, incisive tone with perfect intonation throughout, so acute as to melt icebergs and boil lava, a volatile meeting of volcanic fire and glacial ice.  

Try as one may, there was no alternative to sitting on the edge of one's seat with this kind of playing. Her pianissimos in the outer reaches of the 1st movement cadenzas and slow movement were crystal clear, and within seconds would expand inexorably into shuddering climaxes.

The audience held its breath through the relentless drive in the finale's “polonaise for polar bears”, and there was no letting up until the last cadential outburst. Prolonged applause and bravos were greeted with an encore of perfect temperance, the sublime Sarabande from J.S.Bach's Partita No.2.

If the Sibelius relived Arctic midwinters, conductor Blendulf summoned Merlin-like a Bohemian summer solstice for Dvorak's convivial Eighth Symphony in G major. The sheer warmth it radiated from the opening bars, aided by Jin Ta's smiling flute solo, would have made both orchestra and listeners relax, but wait, there was to be several stings in the tail.

Respite without vigour and vehemence as contrasts is pointless, and this performance brought the two opposites cheek by jowl as to make both viewpoints feel equally vital. The slow movement's rusticity and ensuing waltz of the 3^rd movement sounded all the more special on this count. As trumpets rang out the fanfare heralding the finale, the scene was set for one last celebratory hurrah, which closed with more vocal outbursts of acclaim. Gala concerts are supposed to end this way.

CD Review (The Straits Times, October 2017)

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.1

TCHAIKOVSKY-PLETNEV Nutcracker Suite

ALEXANDRA DARIESCU, Piano

Royal Philharmonic / DARRELL ANG

Signum Classics 441 / ****1/2

Singaporean conductor Darrell Ang has been busy in the recording studio, and here he conducts London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's evergreen First Piano Concerto. There are hundreds of recordings of this concerto, but he does a fine job in marshalling the forces to support young Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu, who is no slouch herself. 

This is a very idiomatic reading of a well-worn warhorse which does not seek to shock and awe by presenting so-called new insights or vastly divergent viewpoints. Instead musicality reigns, and its visceral thrills and spills are splendidly judged and presented to marvellous. It is thus well worth many listens.

Its coupling is a suite of seven dances and scenes from Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutracker transcribed by the Russian pianist-conductor Mikhail Pletnev. These are highly virtuosic takes on very familiar music, and Dariescu gets her hands full in the March and Trepak (Russian Dance), which are far more treacherous than one imagines on paper. 

Her playing does not eclipse Pletnev's own stupendous recording (on Melodiya) but she gets to the heart of the music with suitable panache. Listen to the closing Andante Maestoso (the famous Pas de deux) for one of Tchaikovsky's most heart-rending and rapturous melodies. This will make a nice addition to the Christmas stocking.   

SOME PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA'S BEETHOVEN NINTH

The fourth concert of The Philharmonic Orchestra's Beethoven symphony cycle took place of Sunday (15 October 2017) and the Victoria Concert Hall. The concert conducted by Lim Yau featured Beethoven first and final symphonies. Beethoven's Choral Symphony was the main draw, and the concert hall was filled to the rafters. 

The performances were excellent and full of spirit, something we have come to expect from this orchestra, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. The choirs that participated were The Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Chamber Choir. Here are some photos from the concert.

   

The ever-steady baritone William Lim was
the first soloist, with his delivery of
"O Freude, nicht diese Töne".

Taiwanese tenor Lin Chien-Chi
sang in the "Turkish march" segment.

The group of soloists was completed by
Taiwanese soprano Lin Ching-Ju and
Filipina mezzo-soprano Angela Cortez.

Proof that conductor Lim Yau
sings while he conducts.

Taking their bows.
Lim, Lin, Lin, Cortez and Lim. 

What are the chances of a Beethoven Ninth performance that features the conductor and three of four soloists with the same surname? (Lin is the Taiwanese version of the common Singaporean Chinese surname Lim.) Imagine a Bayreuth performance with four Furtwänglers conducting and singing.

MUSIC & MAKAN: HEART / BRAIN

MUSIC & MAKAN: HEART. BRAIN

A Living Room, off River Valley Road

Sunday (15 October 2017) 

Music & Makan is the brainchild of Beverly Hiong, cellist and musical entrepreneur, bringing together the two things which Singaporeans love best: good music and good food. (Good shopping has not been included but I won't count it out at some point the way the event is evolving.)

First held in Christmas 2012, this has become a regular affair at the home of the Hiongs. The formula is simple: get professional musicians to perform and talk about music, engage a Michelin-starred or top-notched chef to prepare tasty dishes, and bring an audience of hungry people who enjoy being entertained. This year, M&M became a ticketed event and one can actually buy tickets via Peatix to attend.

Last Sunday's M&M was attended by over 40 people, including newcomers to the arcane world of classical music. The performers were no strangers to Singapore's classical music scene, and they performed a varied selection of pieces, while gently dismissing the notion that classical music is boring, stuffy or sniffy. Music is a combination of heart and brain, and the pieces were selected to illustrate beauty and symmetry in music, while showcasing form and structure in the process.

Here is the string quartet formed by:
Chikako Sasaki & Christina Zhou, violins
Leslie Tan, cello & Christoven Tan, viola

Beverly provides a friendly intro and
the quartet plays the Notturno
from Borodin's Second String Quartet.

Violist Christoven plays a movement
from György Ligeti's Viola Sonata,
filled with microtones and overtones.
Leslie does an impression of Rodin's Thinker.

To illustrate the fugal form, the
Contrapunctus No.2 from J.S.Bach's
The Art of Fugue was performed.

The concert closed with the first two movements
from Shostakovich's String Quartet No.8.

A peak at the audience, which got to
sing Row, Row Your Boat
to appreciate the canon form.

Chef Kit Wong's awesome spread
of finger foods and canapes.

The event was not sponsored by M&Ms,
but you get the idea.

Musical celebrities like conductor Jason Lai
and Viva Viola man Jeremy Chiew
also made their presence.

We trust everyone who came
had a lovely time.

It is rumoured that the next Music & Makan will be held at an art gallery. To find out where and when, do check-out the dedicated website: www.musicandmakan.com