FIRE, FANTASIA AND PULCINELLA / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

FIRE, FANTASIA AND PULCINELLA 

Singapore Symphony Orchestra 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Saturday (12 October 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 October 2024 with the title "An enjoyable 'chamber' evening".

The music of Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) had been so underrated and under-represented that two works, a piano concerto and a symphony, were being performed for the very first time in Singapore. His only failing was being too prolific and not dying young enough, like Mozart, Schubert or Beethoven. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by Swiss conductor Stefan Blunier made up for much lost time in this intriguing but interesting concert. 

Haydn’s Piano Concerto No.4 in G major (even its title is Beethovenian) should have been heard more often, simply because of its sheer congeniality. An air of buoyancy and daintily plucked chords from the piano by German pianist Moritz Ernst established its place as likeable chamber music from its outset. 

There was no barnstorming, only music making of an intimate kind. Even the cadenzas at the end of each movement were more like episodes of solo discourse rather than opportunities for showy display. Awkward intonation from the winds coloured the beginning of the slow movement, which was mostly lyrical but without the same elegance of Mozart’s concertos from the same period. 

Moritz Ernst looks like
he's seven-feet tall.

The Hungarian gypsy-flavoured Rondo finale was a delightful romp which Ernst made the most of. His solo encore of George Frideric Handel’s Chaconne in G major nailed his virtuoso credentials firmly to the mast. 

Symphony No.59 in A major, also nicknamed the “Fire Symphony”, was unusual that Haydn turned the stereotyping of major and minor keys upon its head. Seldom has the supposedly jolly A major sounded this intense, especially so after conductor’s Blunier’s eruptive downbeat, which set its tone of Sturm und Drang (storm and stress). 

The slow movement was surprisingly untroubled for the moody key of A minor, except for a sudden interjection from two French horns, sounding like some wake-up call. The last two movements reverted to form, with the upbeat “hunting horn” finale providing the fireworks and fire of its title. 

Flanking the Haydn premieres were two 20th-century works considered neoclassical for their inspiration by older musical traditions. German composer neo-Baroque Hans Werner Henze’s Fantasia for Strings (1966), another premiere, opened the concert under a pall of grieving. 

Now does this music begin
to sound and look more familiar?

This austere but starkly moving music was adapted from an earlier movie score, with slow movements carrying the same weight of mourning as Samuel Barber’s Adagio, except being far less hackneyed. Movie buffs might recognise the violent slashings of its central Allegro as music heard in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973). More importantly, this performance underlined the sheer intensity and excellence of SSO’s strings. 

The concert closed with Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, eight movements from his ballet recycling themes from Baroque Italian composers like Giovanni Pergolesi, Domenico Gallo and others. Its Punch and Judy elements of commedia dell’arte are hard to dislike, with the humour acutely captured by many solo instruments, including oboe, trombone and trumpet. It made for a satisfying and enjoyable end to a “big” chamber concert.