MUSIC UNMASKED / Orchestra of the Music Makers / Review

MUSIC UNMASKED

Orchestra of the Music Makers

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (1 October 2021)

 

It was a cold, wet and drippy evening, when one rather snuggles with a good book and warm mug of cocoa at home as the rain poured outside, than venturing out to the Esplanade. However, some events have to be attended. There have been no concerts with wind instruments for an eternity (or since Covid struck our shores), and the prospect of a new symphony being premiered.

Seow Yibin
Photo: Chan Chen

 

The strings of the Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) have had their say, and now it was the turn of the woodwinds, brass and percussion to have moments under the spotlight. The wait was worth it when Associate Conductor Seow Yibin stepped up to lead Richard Strauss’ Rosenkavalier Harmoniemusik as arranged by Nigel Shore. Harmoniemusik is a very Mittel-European concept, essentially wind transcriptions of popular operatic melodies, played and enjoyed by village bandsmen over schnapps and pretzels. Mozart’s operas were popularised by such arrangements, and the luscious melodies of Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier are no exception.

Photo: Yong Junyi

 

Despite having just sixteen players (11 woodwinds + 5 French horns) on stage, the ensemble generated a  big sound for its opening, with the horns lapping up those coital whoops which Strauss had so delighted in. Articulation of phrases was excellent and intonation secure, and one just wallowed in the big melodies. The problem with this suite was its length. With multiple parts and running over 40 minutes, it felt much longer. (The Rodzinski suite for full orchestra plays for a fraction of this time, and said everything that was needed to say.) One waited for sequences of waltzes to appear but that seemed in vain. And with the players at the end of their tether, a merciful close arrived.

 

The main event was a shorter work, the World Premiere of young composer Lee Jinjun’s Symphony for Brass and Percussion, also entitled “The Times Have Changed”, conducted by OMM Music Director Chan Tze Law. Cast in four movements, playing for some 27 minutes, this was a real and bona fide symphony in every respect.

Chan Tze Law
Photo: Yong Junyi

 

More significantly, this appears to be the first symphony by a Singaporean composer to be heard in a long time. None of Tan Chan Boon’s five symphonies have been performed here. Tsao Chieh’s Singapore Suite, a symphony in all but name, was premiered by the Singapore Symphony in 1986, and only performed again in 2000. There have been performances of symphonies by Robert Casteels and John Sharpley (both long-time residents here) but none from Singaporean voices. Just silence... but a gaping void was filled this evening.

 

Lee Jinjun played the trumpet
in the world premiere of his symphony.

Although the detailed booklet notes indicate a programme of the pandemic striking the city-state and heroes rising to meet the challenge, this symphony works well as absolute music. The first movement may be discerned as been written in sonata form. After a portentous introduction, two themes are introduced in the ensuing allegro, the first in syncopated rhythm contrasted by a second, which is flowing and lyrical. The trumpet gets a prominent solo, while the snare-drum provides the feel of an ominous threat looming overhead.

 

The second movement’s scherzo is percussion-driven, alternating between menace and playful mischief. One senses a Waltonian spirit of con malizia (with malice) in these pages, contrasted by a more reassuring central chorale which may be described as Bernsteinesque, while a John Williams’ Star Wars vibe is never far, far away.

Photo: Yong Junyi

 

In the slow third movement, also the symphony’s longest, one gets to the heart and soul of the work. A warm Beethovenian theme dominates, involving flugelhorn, Wagner tubas, piccolo trumpet or a combination of these, building to a crushing climax suggesting tragedy on an epic scale. The warm Hero’s theme is restated, and there is an attacca (without break) into the galloping chase-like finale.

 

One might have wished this to be longer and further developed, like a Brucknerian “hunting horn rondo”, but spare a thought for the 16 brass and 5 percussion players who would have been pretty exhausted by now. The close was an emphatic one, possessed with the vigour and vehemence that permeates action movie music scores.  

 

Make no mistake, what I witnessed is a magnificent symphony, performed with the requisite virtuosity one has come to expect from the young musicians of OMM. One hopes this symphony will be heard again with some frequency, especially from Singapore’s many wind bands, but first they must get their hands on those Wagner tubas. By the time I left the Esplanade, the rain had abated, and there was still time for that good book and mug of cocoa.