HALLOWEEN AT VICTORIA CONCERT HALL

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

LORAINE MUTHIAH, Organ

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (30 October 2022)

 

It was a sold-out concert on Sunday afternoon, and there was a crush to get into Victoria Concert Hall. The long queue that snaked outside all through The Arts House porch was mostly to see Shen the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton (to be auctioned by Christie’s), and it seemed appropriate given this was the day before Halloween. I was fortunate to get a seat through jazz pianist Tze Toh, who has a new composition premiered by his NUS Piano Ensemble alumnus-colleague and organist Loraine Muthiah at this Halloween-themed organ recital.

Shen, the T.rex skeleton
will be sold to the highest bidder,
and probably end up in Dubai!

 

All such recitals on The Old Vic's Klais Organ must begin with J.S.Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. There is really nothing scary about this work, except for its frequent associations with ghoulish organist-characters playing in supposedly haunted houses. Do all haunted houses have pipe organs? It’s all a movie cliche, which Victoria Concert Hall Presents series perpetrates with its visually appealing and credible son et lumiere show this afternoon. Loraine is certainly a fine performer, one who has the chops for this music, which continued into Henri Mulet’s Chapelle de morts and Louis Vierne’s Gargoyles and Chimerae.

 

There isn’t anything particularly haunting about the Mulet other than a plodding beat leading into the catacombs, while the frequent change of registers and dynamics in the Vierne had a kind of dissonance which was intermittently disconcerting to say the least. Christopher Brown’s Nocturne is an effective night piece but nowhere as skin-crawling as Bartok’s patented night music. An organ transcription of his Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta would really work in this context.

 

Rumour has it that Victoria Concert Hall is still occupied by spectral beings, even after its major renovation. One must not forget that it was once used as a hospital during World War II, and several Japanese officers and administrators were sentenced to death in the tribunals, and the late Lee Kuan Yew’s inauguration of his People’s Action Party took place at this very venue. I have not personally witnessed any paranormal aberrations other than zombie automatons trying to prevent human beings from taking photographs in concerts. 

 

Perhaps the most interesting diversion was provided by Tze’s Enemy Mine, which had nifty effects of an alien’s heavy breathing and possible spaceship sounds. His alien creature is supposedly hideous-looking but as the work progressed on its syncopated, rhythmic and tango-inspired path, it began to metamorphose and normalise in appearance. At the end, it looks like one of us.

 

Closing the concert was a staple of pipe organists, all four movements of Leon Boellmann’s Suite Gothique. Its imposing opening movement made a hugh roar, contrasted by the quieter central movements. Stealing the show was its Toccata finale, and has anybody noticed that its main melody is the same as the Malay song Di Tanjung Katong but in a minor key? Needless to say, it provided a sangat baik close to an interesting and involving recital.

Loraine Muthiah, Tze Toh
and some Halloween guests.

 

Some people really dressed the part.

On a more sombre note, we offer heartfelt condolences to the families who lost loved ones at the Halloween weekend disaster in Itaewon, Seoul the night before. Nothing can replace their loss, and we can only hope that time heals wounds, and such tragedies should never happen again.

IN PRAISE OF KHOR AI MING

信 XIN

KHOR AI MING & FRIENDS

Esplanade Recital Studio

Saturday (29 October 2022)

 

I have known Khor Ai Ming since 1992, when she was a fresh-faced 21-year-old girl-next-door singing student and soprano in the Singapore Symphony Chorus. She was soft-spoken, unassuming and totally down to earth, fresh from the Malaysian boondocks of Kota Baru, Kelantan. Who knew that thirty years later she would become one of Singapore’s leading chorusmasters (Vocal Associates and Joy Chorale among others) and stage diva par excellence?

 

Her annual song recitals are sold-out events, presenting an eclectic mix of art songs, arias, folk songs, new works and showstoppers. Her versatility in different genres and diverse languages is awe-inspiring, and few might know she gave one of the first performances of Arnold Schoenberg’s atonal sprechgesang classic Pierrot Lunaire in Singapore.

 

Her latest recital was entitled 信(xin), which is the Chinese word for “letter or message”, besides being the root for Chinese words meaning “faith, trust and confidence”. This wide-ranging concert was a love letter to her late father, who had passed two months ago, and encompassed songs that were lullabies, romances and other affirmations of love.

 

These included songs in Spanish (Manuel Ponce’s Estrellita and three of Manuel de Falla’s Popular Spanish Songs), Hebrew, Japanese, Uyghur, English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Besides exhibiting a wide range of emotions, she is equally adept in varying idioms, moods and languages. She is most comfortable in the Chinese dialects, performing with the right idiom and immediacy in the manner born.

 

Her partners in this concert included her husband percussionist Tamagoh (above), pianists Bertrand Lee and Mei Sheum, guitarist Roberto Zayas (Paraguayan, resident in Taiwan), flautist Rit Xu, bassist Tony Makarome, children from Vocal Associates, and special guests Tamil vocalist Nishanth Thiagarajan and dancer Janaki H. Nair.

 

Pride of place, however, has to go to Ai Ming’s own mother, a retired school teacher, who joined her in two Mandarin songs. Those were the most special moments of this concert, which will not be forgotten anytime soon.

 

Khor Ai Ming has an infectious personality, that is both informal and welcoming. Nothing is off-limits for her. I was particularly entranced by her singing of Malay songs several years ago, clad in the slenderest of kebayas. Those beguiling performances would surely get her in trouble with the Syariah courts and morality police up north, besides giving frustrated imams apoplexies and myocardials.

Children's voices from
Vocal Associates.

 

She is also capable of mustering large groups of singers with little or no experience of choral singing to participate in classics like Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Choral Symphony and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra led by the late Adrian Tan. That level of connection and involvement with the community is something truly special. It is certain that we have not heard the last of Khor Ai Ming.

RHAPSODIC STORIES / Samuel Phua (Saxophone) & Friends / Review

RHAPSODIC STORIES

Samuel Phua & Friends

Esplanade Recital Studio

Saturday (22 October 2022)

 

When it comes to the classical saxophone in Singapore, one name stands out: Samuel Phua. The young saxophonist made history in 2014 by being the first non-pianist and non-string instrumentalist to be invited to perform at the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s President’s Young Performers Concert Series. He has also been the go-to guy for the saxophone solos in Kelly Tang’s jazz piano concerto Montage, playing alongside local jazz legend Jeremy Monteiro.

 

Rhapsodic Stories was the fruition of a Covid pandemic project bringing together newly composed or arranged saxophone works by no less than nine Singaporean composers. Its gripping two hours could not have passed more easily or interestingly, simply because of the sheer variety of music presented and virtuosity on display. And one never knew the existence of so many excellent local saxophone works.

 

The evening opened with Terrence Wong’s Out-Do You Do?, a duet and duel with fellow saxophonist Michellina Chan, who shared much of the programme with Samuel. Its thematic motifs were relatively simple but nimble, like those of Paganini’s Caprices, but soon one was occupied by the tricky interplay of both instrumental parts. Melodic interest and accompaniment regularly  exchanged places, with each player reacting to the other’s moves and antics, culminating with a single long-held note from Samuel at the end.    

 

Jonathan Shin and Christopher Clarke’s Aria from Music About The Downtown Line was a short, slow and reflective number oozing with nice harmonies, accompanied by Abigail Sin on piano. Derek Oh was a constant companion to Samuel when they both studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Oh’s The Grey Birch was a reflection of a desolate Finnish winter coloured with Chinese sensibilities. The stasis and starkness consuming the music ensured that one could feel the chill. After a loud and declamatory cadenza, the work just dissipated and evaporated into the cold mist.

 

Tan Yuting’s But I Am The Lallang was inspired by a poem by Lim Thean Soo (1924-1991) exulting the resilience of the local weed, known for its hardiness and ubiquity.  The unaccompanied solo incorporated various noteless sound effects, including passages of wind blown through the tubes and pauses of silence. The lallang is portrayed as unchanging, a silent witness to history and timeless voice of eternity.  

 

Zechariah Goh Toh Chai is the veteran among the group of Singaporean composers, besides being a saxophone exponent himself. His Suite was also the oldest local work on the programme, comprising two vastly contrasting movements. Alone and Distant had slow, long-breathed lines with an Oriental feel evoking emptiness and homesickness. Flowing was fast, syncopated and jazzy, utilising extended piano techniques with Abigail stroking the strings and Samuel blowing into the piano’s insides. Further beats were provided by very audible tapping on the saxophone’s keys. Sandra Lim’s Morning Memories, originally for violin and piano, was arguably the lightest work on show, with a pop melody that could have come from the pens of Michel Legrand or Dick Lee.

 

Gershwin’s immortal Rhapsody in Blue as arranged by Jun Nagao has both saxophone and piano parts as equal protagonists. This called for the outsized virtuosity of Clarence Lee in the piano role, which perfectly complemented Samuel performing on three saxophones. Part of the nervy act was to witness him adroitly swapping instruments without missing a cue (or dropping any of them on the floor). Much of the full score was retained, with the orchestral parts (alternated between sax and piano) sounding more demanding than possibly imagined. This was an entertaining show that delighted and thrilled.

 

Joseph Lim’s Epic Poem of Malaya was inspired by local artist Chua Mia Tee’s famous 1955 painting of the same title now on display at the National Gallery. Epic indeed was the sheer size and sonority of the baritone saxophone played by Michellina, its deep stentorian voice mimicking the painting’s orator with his rhetoric and gestures. Using Chinese idioms and Malay dance rhythms, this is not just a soliloquy but a reflection of local history and its vicissitudes. Convincingly conveyed by Michellina, it was a minor miracle that she managed to maintain her balance without keeling over.   

 

Closing the recital was London-based composition student Elliott Teo's Dirge and Dance for two saxophones and piano, which has the makings of an epic tragedy. Big piano chords (back with Abigail Sin) accompanied the dirge which exuded a Slavic lugubriousness but coloured by Klezmer vibes. Making for very effective film music, this segued into the lively and animated dance, where the combo between high and low register voices really shone. The result was a very impressive end to the concert.

 

As an encore, Kousuke Yamashita’s Eternal Story saw all four musicians in a sentimental number that demonstrated that with saxophones, one could be both entertaining and also taken seriously. Long may Samuel Phua, the one-man sax maniac, continue to champion the saxophone, inspiring new works and further enriching Singapore’s burgeoning musical scene.  

ROMANTIC AIRS: HANS GRAF AND JAMES EHNES / JAMES EHNES IN RECITAL / Review

ROMANTIC AIRS –

HANS GRAF AND JAMES EHNES

JAMES EHNES IN RECITAL

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday & Sunday (21 & 23 October 2022)

This review was published in The Straits Times with the title "Violinist James Ehnes' high wire act earns cheers".

 

Conducted by music director Hans Graf, this was a Singapore Symphony Orchestra concert which had a bit of everything. Its odds and ends made for initial confusion but good sense eventually prevailed. Opening with two works sung by the Singapore Symphony Chorus and Youth Choir, both Brahms’ Nänie and Beethoven’s Elegischer Gesang (Elegiac Song) centred on the pity of death.

 

The heroism associated with both German composers was far away, replaced by comforting solemnity. The Brahms was a fugal setting of words by Schiller (of Ode To Joy fame), an extension of his great German Requiem, while the briefer Beethoven was as retiring as it was short-winded. Both glowed in the warmth of the chorus’ good discipline and well-enunciated German. One wondered why these were not more often heard.

 

Closing the concert was Schumann’s Second Symphony in C major, his longest and arguably best symphony. Beethoven’s influence was apparent, with a slow and deliberate introduction leading to an energetic Allegro that flexed collective muscles and busted guts. Just as impressive were slick string-playing in the scherzo and the finale’s all-encompassing sweep.

 

Its bleeding heart was the long-breathed nobility in the slow movement, which must have given ideas to the young Brahms for his symphonies to come. Within 12 years, Schumann would be dead after sliding into insanity and pathetic decline. See how the three works were innately synergistic, united by spiritual and thematic connections.

 

The concert’s centrepiece was renowned Canadian violinist James Ehnes performing Samuel Barber’s lyrical Violin Concerto of 1939. The famous story goes that the American composer had written two slow and relatively non-virtuosic movements but over-compensated with a short finale that was technically too difficult for the intended soloist.

 

Ehnes handled all this in his stride, exuding a majesterial calm and simply beautiful tone in the first two movements. An underlying tension was maintained through its musings, only letting rip with the arduous runs of triplets in the finale’s breathtaking high-wire act. Responding to loud cheers, he offered two solo encores by Paganini and J.S.Bach, an enticement for his solo recital on Sunday afternoon.  

Photo: Pianomaniac

Photo: Pianomaniac

  

 

Built around J.S.Bach’s Sonata No.2 in A minor (BWV.1003), Ehnes’ unaccompanied recital drew a rare full-house for a chamber concert. This comes as no surprise, as his live performances are every bit as pristine as his many CD recordings. A full-bodied singing tone, ease of articulation and faultless intonation made every work pleasures to behold.

 

Each of Bach’s four movements defined every facet of his glorious technique. From perfect phrasing in the opening Grave, polyphonic mastery of the Fugue to the final Allegro's free-wheeling, this came as close as possible to the ideal reading. Particularly moving was the Andante's song-like countenance, gently accompanied by a constant throbbing pulse, the musical representation of the human heartbeat.

 

Almost every important composer of unaccompanied solos was represented, beginning with Georg Philipp Telemann’s Fantasia in B flat major. Its four short parts, alternating slow and fast, exhibited a fine sense of proportion later mirrored and writ large in the Bach. Ehnes emerged with a viola for Paul Hindemith’s Sonata (Op.25 No.1), which was the recital’s big surprise. Anyone who could make the viola sound this coherent and gorgeous, even in a movement marked Rasendes Zeitmass. Wild (Raging tempos. Wild) deserves recognition.

 

Returning to the violin in the well-known Eugene Ysaÿe “Ballade” Sonata (Op.27 No.3), it was not just mastering the notes that mattered, but getting all the nuances right for the searing showpiece. His recent Gramophone Award (Instrumental category) for the recording of six Ysaÿe  Sonatas was thus richly deserved.

 

A selection of popular Paganini Caprices, exploring a panoply of jaw-dropping technical tricks, completed the afternoon’s sumptuous fare. For the record, these included No.1 “Arpeggio”, No.9 “The Chase”, No.16 in G minor and the evergreen No.24 in A minor “Theme and Variations”. It would not have mattered what he had chosen, as everything Ehnes touched turned into violin gold.

Guess who came to watch?
Chloe Chua and Hans Graf!
Photo: Pianomaniac

A young violinist-fan gets 
some tips from James Ehnes.
Photo: Pianomaniac

The autograph session was
limited to just one hour.
Photo: Pianomaniac

Photographs by Nathaniel Lim / Aloysious Lim 

unless otherwise stated. 

Encores:

 

21 October:

Paganini Caprice No.16 in G minor

Bach Andante from Sonata No.2

 

23 October:

Bach: Largo from Sonata No.3