NEW YEAR’S EVE GALA CONCERT
The Philharmonic Orchestra
Victoria Concert Hall
Thursday (30 December 2021)
In a similar tradition to the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day Concert, The Philharmonic Orchestra (TPO) in Singapore has held its New Year’s Eve Countdown Concert as an annual affair since 2011. For obvious reasons, last year’s event had to be canned, but it returned with some fanfare this year with two evenings of concerts. However there was to be no festive countdown (the audience had dispersed by 8.45 pm), no balloon drop, no intermission champagne (but donors got to take home some booze), no zany top hat-sporting emcees, but the music remained good all the same.
The mantle of leading this spree was handed from TPO Music Director Lim Yau to his son Lin Juan who, for the first time, conducted the fin de année concert on his own. The TPO Resident Conductor and Associate Conductor of Singapore National Youth Orchestra cuts a cool and confident figure on the podium, and his directions appear clear and well-delineated, with players responding with the acuteness as they would from Lim Senior. Thus the concert opened with ebullience in the Overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
Covid social distancing rules mandated the orchestra remained under thirty members but the level of sound created was considerable and would get even better as the concert progressed. Woodwinds and brass were given a chance to shine in Frenchman Jean Francaix’s bubbly Sérénade of 1934. This is a petite suite of four short movements which had the nimbleness of Stravinsky and quirky wit of Poulenc but without the religiosity. There was even a sly reference to the opening of The Rite of Spring with the bassoon solo in the second movement. Why is this rare gem of a rarity not often heard? The players acquitted themselves well in the music’s humour and froth, and before long, the delightful romp was over.
More French music came in the form of another rarity, Entrée de Polymnie from Rameau’s opera Les Boréades. Music of such solemnity and beauty would have in previous concerts accompanied a video-montage of personalities whom the world lost in the past year. It was wise to have omitted that sad visual segment, and just allow listeners reflect on their own while the music played. Just as wisely, the ensemble did not attempt any period instrument-styled tricks, instead offering full string vibrato which was entirely appropriate besides sounding much better. With this, I cast my thoughts to the likes of Bernard Haitink, Nelson Freire, Fou Ts’ong, Nikolai Kapustin, Frederic Rzewski, Igor Oistrakh, Fanny Waterman and local conductor Adrian Tan, just to name some musical luminaries.
With the wind players sent home early, the 75-minute long concert closed with Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence, expanded for full string orchestra from its original string sextet version. A better choice than the overplayed Serenade for Strings, it received a stirring and invigorating performance. The sonority from 25 string players truly filled the well-occupied hall for all its four movements.
When tenderness and pathos was called for, as in the slow movement, they duly delivered. Credit goes to cello principal Ryan Sim and concertmaster Edward Tan’s violin solo which tugged in the heartstrings for this typically Tchaikovskian melody. Conductor Lin is a cellist himself, he got the strings to sing, radiating the Mediterranean warmth that enveloped the work from start to end. Even the prestidigitation of the finale, more Slavic in flavour than Italianate, did little to faze the players as the work was brought to an exciting conclusion.
It is quite likely that many who attended were not regular concert-goers, as there was uninhibited applause in between movements of the Tchaikovsky. Inappropriate as that may have been, it was still an eager sign of keen appreciation, which could have been further rewarded with an encore. Previous editions saw the Blue Danube and Radetzky March from both Johann Strausses, but unfortunately none was forthcoming. With neither winds nor percussion available, even the Pizzicato Polka would have been a nice touch. Perhaps something to think about for next year.
Despite all the Covid disruptions, 2021 was still a rewarding year for music. The Philharmonic Orchestra’s lovely year-end contribution provided hope for a better 2022 ahead.
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