CELEBRATING BEETHOVEN: THE CELLO SONATAS / Qin Li-Wei & Albert Tiu / Review

CELEBRATING BEETHOVEN:

THE CELLO SONATAS

QIN LI-WEI, Cello

ALBERT TIU, Piano

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (24 April 2021)

This review was published by The Straits Times on 28 April 2021 with the title "Soulful, nuanced take on Beethoven sonatas". 

Last year marked the 250^th anniversary of the birth of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, but planned celebratory concerts in Singapore had to be cancelled or deferred because of the Covid pandemic. It is, however, never too late to indulge in his genius, as this sold-out concert of three sonatas for cello and piano performed by Qin Li-Wei and Albert Tiu amply demonstrated.

 

Beethoven was the creator of the cello sonata genre, his five sonatas spanning the three periods of his creative output. The duo chose to perform the last three sonatas, encompassing Beethoven’s “middle” and “late” periods. Sonata No.3 in A major (Op.69) is perhaps his best known and most performed, characterised by the wealth of typically memorable melodies.

 

It was Qin who opened unaccompanied, with a first bowed breath – wistful yet confident – that was to set the tone for the evening. Tiu came in at the sixth bar, and one immediately knew this was to be a partnership of firsts among equals. Their intuitive sense of give-and-take was apparent at the outset, becoming more acute in the Scherzo’s syncopated entries, where split-second timing and razor-sharp reflexes became even more critical.

 

Surging passion was key to the outer movements, with both musicians tapping into vast resources of technique and experience to deliver. Never content of merely vanquishing many notes, there were soul and nuance aplenty, and never a dull moment through the sonata’s half-hour duration. One looks way back to 1992 to remember a reading of similar breadth and authority, by the late great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich no less, with pianist Lambert Orkis at Victoria Concert Hall.

 

The pair of late sonatas, both shorter works, provided more contrasts and surprises. While Beethoven was a visionary who looked towards the future, there were also nods to past traditions. Sonata No.4 in C major (Op.102 No.1) revealed daring harmonies, trenchantly brought out, that sounded modern for 1815,  while Sonata No.5 in D major (Op.102 No.2) contained the only slow movement to be found in all five sonatas.

 

Time stood still for its longeurs, all of nine minutes marked Adagio con molto sentimento d’affetto (slowly with much feeling of affection), before closing with a hair-raisingly tricky fugal finale. By now, the duo had performed some 70 minutes without intermission, and seemed raring for more.      

 

Two delightfully lyrical encores were the result, first with the 18^th Variation from Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody. A clever choice since its melody was an inversion of the opening theme from Beethoven’s final cello sonata, besides being played in the same key. Tom Poster’s expansive arrangement of Harold Arlen’s Over The Rainbow, popularised by Yo-Yo Ma in his latest album, brought on ever more cheers. 

Qin Li-Wei and Albert Tiu will perform this programme again at Esplanade Concert Hall on next Monday 3 May 2021. 

This concert was presented by Altenburg Arts.

GOH SOON TIOE @ 110 / AWARD WINNERS IN CONCERT / Review

GOH SOON TIOE @ 110

AWARD WINNERS IN CONCERT

Esplanade Recital Studio

Sunday (18 April 2021)

 

Goh Soon Tioe is 110 years old this year! For those not old enough to remember the name, Goh Soon Tioe (1911-1982) was Singapore’s Western classical music pioneer, one who combined illustrious careers in violin performance, conducting, musical education and impresario work like nobody else had and nobody ever will. In our age of specialisation, his kind will never come again. His legacy lives on in his students, who have included the likes of Choo Hoey, Seow Yit Kin, Lynnette Seah, Lim Soon Lee, Kam Kee Yong and his three daughters (Vivien, Sylvia and Patricia), and the annual Centenary Award bestowed to deserving young string players that bears his name.

 

Since 2012, nine deserving young musicians have been awarded monetary grants (administered by the Community Foundation of Singapore) to further their musical studies and careers. Their names read like a young Who’s Who of music in Singapore today. This concert brought together six award winners in an enjoyable chamber concert,  reassuring one and all that the future of classical music in Singapore is in good hands.  

 

Kevin Loh (2018 winner) is the brightest guitarist to emerge from Singapore in many decades. Presently a Cambridge undergraduate, he helpfully reminded the audience that Goh Soon Tioe himself began his musical career as a guitarist. His studies had been sponsored by no less than Andres Segovia, who also served as mentor and guiding light. Kevin’s varied programme of transcriptions opened with J.S.Bach’s Prelude from Cello Suite No.6, characterised by rhythmic vigour and clarity of articulation. The Latino pieces were also well-contrasted, the vivacity of Albeniz’s popular Sevilla (originally a piano piece) alongside Astor Piazzolla’s slow tango Oblivion, a heart-felt portrayal of melancholy and untold tragedy.

 

Next came Italian opera composer Rossini’s Duet in D major for double bass and cello, composed for the great Domenico Dragonetti, who was hailed as “Paganini of the bass”. Bassist Julian Li (2013), who has served as principal in China’s Hangzhou Philharmonic and Guiyang Symphony, and Theophilus Tan (2015), cellist of the newly-formed Concordia Quartet, did the honours.

 

As with works by bass virtuosos, the orchestra’s largest instrument is no longer content with just providing mere accompaniment but having significant melodic lines of its own. Li showed himself to be very nimble in running passages, crowned by a melodic gift with bel canto qualities. The cello  also had melodic moments in the slow Andante molto movement, accompanied by bass pizzicatos, and the duet was completed with an enjoyable romp of the finale.

 

A much more familiar work was the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia, usually heard as a showpiece for violin and cello. In this instance, violinist Joey Lau (2017) and violist Joelle Hsu (2019) worked very well together, exhibiting good communication and the requisite “give and take” of chamber music performance while relishing in their virtuosic roles.  

 

Receiving a rare performance was Rachmaninov’s Trio Elegiaque No.1 in G minor, a teenaged work heavily influenced by Tchaikovsky, with violinist Helena Dawn Yah (2012, the inaugural awardee), cellist Theophilus Tan and guest pianist Jonathan Shin. In a short preamble, Shin explained that the trio’s main theme was in fact an inversion of the opening motif from Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. The work’s typically Slavic melancholy and dolour was very well brought out, oozing pathos from every pore.

 

The final work was by Austrian bassist and composer Johannes Matthias Sperger (1750-1812), whose highly congenial Quartet in D major in three movements had one guessing its various influences. Did it sound like Haydn, Mozart, or even the young Schubert? Sperger’s milestone dates indicate that he would have been familiar with the first two composers, while the instrumentation (with the violin replacing the original flute) suggests this was an example of hausmusik (household music) to be played by a group of musical-loving friends over schnapps.

 

As expected, bassist Julian Li had a lion’s share of melodic interest besides also having the most difficult part of all. He was excellent throughout, and well-supported by violinist Joey Lau, violist Joelle Hsu and a most busy cellist Theophilus Tan. Why don’t we ever get to hear this music with any regularity (instead of countless performances of the Trout Quintet)? At least one can trust and hope that the Goh Soon Tioe laureates, who are now a family of a kind, to revive the hausmusik movement sometime. Such an initiative led by these extremely talented young professionals will be most appreciated.   

Vivien Goh, daughter of Goh Soon Tioe

addresses the audience and

thanks the award winners.

BOMSORI KIM IN RECITAL / Review

BOMSORI KIM IN RECITAL

with LIM YAN, Piano

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (18 April 2021)

This review was first published on Bachtrack on 19 April 2021 with the title "A fine Sunday afternoon’s fare from Korean violinist Bomsori Kim and pianist Lim Yan".

 

It has been over one year since a foreign soloist last performed in Singapore. Travel restrictions imposed by the Covid pandemic have wreaked havoc on concert schedules involving visiting artists, but this impasse has finally been relaxed with Korean violinist Bomsori Kim appearing with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and giving a solo recital. For the record, the last visiting soloist to perform in Singapore was violinist Philippe Quint way back in 5 March of 2020.

 

In an hour-long programme, Kim showed what the fuss was all about, having signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and being in great demand as a soloist. J.S.Bach’s Chaconne in D minor was an ideal opener, with her exercising a healthily robust tone, unafraid of exhibiting a broad vibrato all through the unaccompanied work. More importantly, she fully understood the overall architecture of its series of short variations, building arch-like to an impressive climax and completing the edifice. There was a momentary lapse in concentration towards the end, but there was no denying her artistry and instinctual grasp of the masterpiece.

 

Kim was joined by Singaporean pianist Lim Yan for Beethoven’s popular Spring Sonata. Lim is presently the Artistic Director of the Singapore International Piano Festival, and was the first local pianist to perform all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos in a cycle here in 2012. Both violinist and pianist elicited very good chemistry in a genre that specified the keyboard as the main protagonist.

 

In reality, they were equal partners in the sonata’s four movements, radiating genuine warmth and congeniality in the opening Allegro, while also benefiting from a driving impetus in its development.  The slow movement’s lyrical charms were not glossed over but lovingly voiced, before the brief Scherzo’s quickfire repartee had pulses racing again. For the finale, it was a return to the opening’s pastoral qualities, this time with an added urgency that made for a exciting finish.

 

The obligatory virtuoso showstopper was Franz Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy. The Germany-born Jewish composer was best known as an Oscar-winning film composer, having scored for movies like Sunset Boulevard, Humoresque and Bride of Frankenstein. Although his Carmen Fantasy is less well-known as Sarasate’s despite having essentially the same popular Bizet tunes, it is a darker work that dwelled more on tragedy than surface glitz. The violin part is arguably technically more difficult but Kim took these in her stride and the duo romped to a brilliant close.

 

The clearly-enthused audience was rewarded with two popular encores. The sentimentality of Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs was milked for all its worth, while the gemütlich charms of Kreisler’s Schön Rosmarin raised more the smiles for a Sunday afternoon well spent.   

 Star Rating: ****

BOMSORI KIM PLAYS MOZART / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

BOMSORI KIM PLAYS MOZART

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (17 April 2021)

This review was first published on Bachtrack on 19 April 2021 with the title "Singapore Symphony aces World Premiere of Paul von Klenau’s Eighth Symphony".

 

The worldwide Covid-19 pandemic and safe distancing measures mandated on performing groups have had a major impact on musical life in Singapore. Limiting ensembles to a maximum of thirty onstage performers has however led to creative programming choices. This concert by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by chief conductor Hans Graf was an excellent example.

 

Danish composer Paul von Klenau (1883-1946) is unlikely to be known outside of his native country. He studied and worked in Germany and Austria where Max Bruch, Ludwig Thuille and Max von Schillings among his teachers. A contemporary of Alban Berg and Anton Webern, he was also influenced by Arnold Schoenberg and Second Viennese School atonalism. His works included six operas (with the artist Rembrandt and Queen Elizabeth I of England among his subjects) and nine symphonies.

 

While his Ninth Symphony (1945) was a 90-minute choral symphony in eight movements, the Eighth Symphony (1943), subtitled “In olden style” (im alten stil), runs its course of four movements within fifteen minutes. Cast in the key of D major, it is first cousin to Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, a pastiche of the symphony form by Haydn and Mozart. Its musical idiom is however more Romantic, closer to the likes of Schubert, although one might also cite similarities to Max Reger (without the turgidity) or Richard Strauss (without the opulence).

 

Its attractiveness lay in brevity and directness of ideas, including a sunny but brief sonata-styled first movement followed by a slow movement opened by woodwinds accompanied by cello pizzicatos. There were solo passages for flute and oboe, lovingly voiced by principals Jin Ta and Rachel Walker. A mere hint of sobriety in the third movement’s Menuet was soon dispelled by the Rondo finale’s mercurial streak lit up by Jon Dante’s trumpet, where the convergence of Mozart and Prokofiev (without the irony) became most apparent. While this was neither a work of striking originality or genius, it was nevertheless well crafted and received the World Premiere - a performance of immediacy and sincerity - it deserved.   

 

Korean violinist Bomsori Kim became the first overseas soloist to perform with the SSO in over a year, and the high expectations engendered were not to be disappointed. Mozart’s underrated First Violin Concerto, the 1774 work of a 17-year-old piano and violin prodigy, proved to be an ideal vehicle for Kim’s musicality and sensitivity.

 

A sweet tone was coaxed from her 1774 J.B.Guadagnini, never over-bright in intensity but well-proportioned to the chamber-sized forces supporting her. Only in the first and third movement cadenzas did she take the liberty to let rip, and this was also tastefully done. As with all of Mozart’s slow movements, lyrical beauty in aria-like passages dominated, as the orchestra provided discreet and restrained accompaniment throughout. The virtuoso show in the sprightly finale was nicely balanced by Kim’s choice of encore: the Sarabande from J.S.Bach’s Partita No.2 (BWV.1004), where her unaccompanied violin’s voice was given full rein.          

 

The concert closed with Schubert’s youthful Fifth Symphony, where from its outset, the freshness of spring bubbled up like uncorked spirits. Under Graf’s direction, the first movement benefited from a clarity of thought and well-defined lines, allied by refined and cultivated playing. A good balance between strings and woodwinds was achieved in the slow movement, where no hair fell out of place. 

The spirit of Mozart hovered in the third movement’s bucolic Menuet (in G minor, thus bringing to mind Wolfgang Amadeus’ Symphony No.40) and the ebullient and fleet-footed finale. While the music’s merry-making delighted, it was the ensemble’s sense of nuances and subtleties which made the performance a memorable one.

Star Rating: ****

 

 

FLURRY OF THE FLUTE / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

FLURRY OF THE FLUTE

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (10 April 2021)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 14 April 2021 with the title "Lyrical flute paints picture of lyrical bliss".

 

Judging by the concert’s title, one might have expected the flute concerto programmed to be its main draw. In that respect, one would have been right as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s principal flautist Jin Ta gave a stunning performance of French composer Jacques Ibert’s Flute Concerto. The three-movement showpiece, although peppered with piquant dissonances, was mostly a lyrical work that suited Jin to the tee.

 

In its dreamy central slow movement, his pure and limpid tone painted a landscape of idyllic bliss, one that radiated the warm glow of summer. This was contrasted with virtuosic flourishes in the bustling opening movement, tossed off with an almost casual nonchalance, and the finale’s syncopations and riffs. A series of outlandish cadenzas, also cooly dispatched, completed its busy twenty minutes.

 

Led by chief conductor Hans Graf, the orchestra provided discreet and sensitive support but also  had the flexibility to let it rip when called upon. Jin’s encore, a jazzman’s take on the popular Love Song of Kangding accompanied by bassist Wang Xu, was simply delightful.

 

Social-distancing rules that limited ensembles to a maximum of 30 onstage performers led to rather creative programming choices. Two rarely heard symphonies, both in the dramatic and quasi-tragic key of C minor, were given deserved exposure on either side of the Ibert concerto.

 

Haydn’s Symphony No.95, receiving its Singapore premiere, does not have the dubious blessing of a nickname. While it lacked surprises, drumrolls and imitations of ticking clocks or clucking hens, it more than made up with the Austrian composer’s penchant with storms and stresses. The emphatic opening was given bold lashes, precisely hewn by the strings, its nervous tension balanced by a more sedate second subject.

 

This sense of push and pull provided the interest that was sustained all the way to the second movement’s theme and variations. Here and in the more lively Minuet and Trio yielded some beautiful solo playing by cellist Yu Jing. The finale had the lightness and ebullience of Mozart, finishing gratifyingly in the key of C major.

 

Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.1, last played by the SSO in 1980, had its cobwebs dusted off with vehement zeal. The utterings of a precocious 15-year-old in the thrall of the late Mozart were passionately driven in the stormy first movement. This was contrasted by a hymn-like countenance in the Beethovenian slow movement distinguished by fine wind playing.

 

An urgency occupied the third movement Minuet, which went full tilt in the finale where the pathos of Mozart’s penultimate symphony was fervently relived. Mendelssohn was not copying Mozart, but paying homage, including a fugal episode and a triumphal apotheosis as C minor morphed into glorious C major.

 

The pleasing symmetry afforded by both symphonies and ardent performances made this 100-minute concert without intermission (the longest post circuit-breaker) an unmitigated pleasure.  

     

BEETHOVEN TRILOGY 1: FANTASIA / See Siang Wong / Review

BEETHOVEN TRILOGY 1: FANTASIA

SEE SIANG WONG, Piano

with Wiener Singverein

ORF Vienna Radio Symphony / Leo Hussain

RCA Red Seal 19439800512 / TT: 61’02”

 

To commemorate the 250^th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Swiss-Chinese pianist See Siang Wong has released the first of three tributes focusing on the German composer’s lesser known piano music. Beethoven’s piano music can hardly be considered obscure these days, but Wong’s juxtaposition of the four works on this disc makes total sense. It is a celebration of the “fantasy form” or simply a free form unfettered by compositional constraints of the sonata form.  

 

This hour-long album opens ironically with the two Op.27 sonatas. Both carry the description Sonata quasi una fantasia, or “in the manner of a fantasy”. The better known is the so-called Moonlight Sonata (Op.27 No.2, in C sharp minor). Following the direction of senza sordino (without dampers), Wong steps on the sustaining pedal throughout the opening movement, creating the hazy, spectral and dream-like effect which publisher and poet Rellstab likened to “moonlight over Lake Lucerne”. The ferocity of its finale, performed with extreme vehemence by Wong, might have persuaded others to call it Sonata Romantique or Sonata Appassionata (thus predating Op.57).

 

The E flat major sonata (Op.27 No.1) has less fantastical elements but is unusual with its linked movements and marked mood transitions. A singular distinctive feature is the brief recollection of the slow movement’s theme near the end of the finale, a kind of reminiscence which Beethoven did not attempt in his earlier sonatas. He would do this again in the Op.110 sonata, and most famously included quotations of earlier movements in the Ode To Joy of the Ninth Symphony. Wong’s performance rightly brings out an aching sense of nostalgia.

 

Beethoven’s Fantasy Op.77 is without doubt his strangest piano piece, bringing the meaning of fantasy to nether reaches. Its apparent formlessness, elusive tonality and almost schizophrenic shifts (flights of fantasy being a most apt description) are never more apparent. The glissando-like descending scale at its outset, which punctuates the work, is unusual and unprecedented, later spoofed by Shostakovich in his First Piano Concerto. The banal melody which receives an equally banal short set of variations is also Rossinian in its sheer kookiness. Was this supposed to be a serious work or ein musikalische spass (a musical joke)? Wong milks it for what it is worth, with tongue lodged firmly in cheek.   

 

That ushers in the Choral Fantasy Op.80, another curious experiment but one that has become hugely popular. The piano plays unaccompanied for a long stretch, like an improvisation or a cadenza to some piano concerto, before orchestral strings surreptitiously joining in more than three minutes later. The chorus sings only in the work’s final four minutes. The main theme is a close first cousin to the Ode To Joy, often regarded as preparatory work for the Ninth Symphony’s finale. Now that would become Beethoven’s ultimate fantasy. Wong and the Austrian orchestral and choral forces give a masterly performance that lacks nothing in passion and fervour, comparable to some of the best on record (one thinks of Barenboim, Brendel, Kissin and Pollini).

 

Aided by an excellent interview article, Wong’s advocacy works wonders and this programme is a whole-heartedly recommended enterprise.

 

DRAGON LADIES DON'T WEEP / QUINTESSENTIALLY ENGLISH / Review

 

DRAGON LADIES DON’T WEEP

Margaret Leng Tan

Esplanade Theatre Studio

Thursday (1 April 2021)

QUINTESSENTIALLY ENGLISH

re:Sound with Chloe Chua

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (2 April 2021)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 7 April 2021 with the title "The Dragon Lady and the Teenage Virtuoso".  

If a history of classical music in Singapore were written, the names of two women would stand out. Although avant-garde pianist and Cultural Medallion recipient Margaret Leng Tan and prodigious violinist Chloe Chua stand at polar ends of the age divide, both had much to say in concerts coincidentally held on consecutive evenings.

 

Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep was Tan’s maiden foray into theatre, a 75-minute summation of her artistic achievements directed by Tamara Saulwick with dramaturgy by Kok Heng Leun. Although one might already cite her takes on avant-garde American composers John Cage, George Crumb and their like as musical drama of some kind, this piece gave further voice to her visions, writings and musings. Augmented by simple yet clever stage design and vivid visual projections, it seemed a most natural extension.

 

Performing on prepared piano (a concert grand stuffed with various objects between strings), toy piano, melodica (a mouth organ with a keyboard) and an assortment of children’s toys, the eclectic and often minimalist music by Australian composer Erik Griswold was merely a vehicle for her life’s narrative. Memories from childhood (with the Cantonese song The Moon Is Bright), reminiscences of her late mother and an obsession with counting numbers were part of the multi-faceted story.

 

Also looming large were her interactions with the maverick Cage, whose music Tan made her passion and portal to universal renown and notoriety. Candid anecdotes on her sheer persistence to gain the composer’s attention were just tickling. “Seventy-five years and still counting” was the message, promising that audiences have not seen the last of this unique and compelling artist.

 

Chloe Chua, only fourteen this year, has become a most sought after soloist. Her second appearance with chamber outfit re:Sound yielded yet another stunner. In Vaughan Williams’ A Lark Ascending, with its ethereal solo violin part so thoroughly exposed as to be treacherous, she delivered with lyrical beauty, perfect intonation and total composure throughout.

 

Her singing tone filled the hall, rising easily above the discreet orchestral acompaniment. When the throng fell silent for long stretches, it was all ears on her alone, and what unmitigated pleasure it was. So natural and mesmerising was the display that she would be the envy of artists double or triple her age.   

 

Elgar’s Serenade For Strings opened the concert, led by violinist Chan Yoong Han serving as concertmaster. Here was another sumptuous performance, with just 15 string players creating a homogeneous sonority of warmth and fullness all through its three movements. Particularly beautiful was the slow movement which simply tugged at the heartstrings.

 

Selections from German-born but naturalised Briton George Frideric Handel’s popular Water Music Suites completed the evening’s fare. Here re:Sound strived for  authenticity with the use of a pair of natural horns to achieve a festive and celebratory effect. Despite spots of wayward intonation, the movements cohered well and final result was nothing less than a lively romp.

Dragon Ladies Don't Weep photographs by courtesy of Esplanade Theatres On The Bay.

HALCYON DAYS / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

HALCYON DAYS

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Wednesday (31 March 2021)

This review was published on Bachtrack on 5 April 2021 with the title "An enjoyable evening of Mozart and Grieg in Singapore".

Concert life has picked up significantly in Singapore, and it is now possible to attend consecutive evenings of concerts as the circuit breaker is being lifted. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra played an important part in this rehabilitation, bringing relief and joy to music-lovers starved of live music over the past year. This short hour-long programme of works for chamber-sized orchestra provided just the right panacea.

 

Early Mozart is always refreshing even if the output does not match the greatness of his later masterpieces. His Overture to the opera Lucio Silla, the work of a mere sixteen-year-old, was also unusual in its three-movement form. Its fast-slow-fast schema was common to sinfonias of the time, pioneered by the Italians, before morphing to become the more familiar four-movement symphonies of Haydn and Mozart.

 

A pair of trumpets and timpani lent the music a martial feel in the opening movement, befitting its subject the Roman general and dictator Sulla, as well as an air of festivity for the brief finale. In between was a gentle Andante which brought out refined playing from the strings. Led by SSO Associate Conductor Joshua Tan, who conducted the entire concert from memory, it made for an invigorating start.

 

Equally lively was Grieg’s Holberg Suite for string ensemble. Originally a piano suite titled Aus Holbergs Zeit (From Holberg’s Times), its five movements conformed to a baroque suite (a prelude followed by a series of dances) that typified the times of Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754), Norway’s great writer and all-round polymath during Europe’s Age of Enlightenment. The string version, beloved of chamber groups, is now far more often performed than the piano version.

 

The opening Praeludium was taken at a blistering pace, unerringly handled and highlighting a body of rich sonorous strings which became better defined in the slower Sarabande and perky Gavotte that followed. The heart of the work was the Air, its seamless cantabile beautifully brought out especially by the cellos towards its end. In the final Rigaudon, a simulation of country fiddling from concertmaster Kong Zhao Hui accompanied by pizzicato strings proved sheer delight as the suite drew to a rollicking close.  

 

It is hard to believe that Mozart’s Symphony No.29 in A major, the best-known of his earlier symphonies, came from the quill of a teenager. He was just eighteen, yet the first movement’s unassuming calm belying undercurrents of tension already revealed a masterly hand. The performance was well-disciplined, with clear lines and no hair out of place. The Andante slow movement was given the space to breathe, allowing the first violins to shine. The third movement’s nimble Menuetto and Trio were well-contrasted, and it was the finale’s brilliant romp that sealed the deal. Swift as it was, there was no sense that the movement was being rushed. The pair of French horns, as if caught up in a hunt, added an extra edge of excitement. The runs of ascending scales for violins, always a tricky prospect, provided the final polish to a highly satisfying reading.        

 

Star Rating: ****