MYTHICAL MOUNTAINS & THE BOHEMIAN SPIRITS / NAFA Orchestra / Review

 

MYTHICAL MOUNTAINS 

& THE BOHEMIAN SPIRITS 

NAFA Orchestra 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Saturday (12 April 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 April 2025 with the title "Conductor Lin Juan leads NAFA Orchestra in popular staples".

Much has been written in these pages about the inexorable rise of young orchestras and ensembles in Singapore’s educational institutions in recent years. The Yong Siew Toh Orchestral Institute (National University of Singapore) has been exceptional but not to be ignored are the strides made by the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Orchestra (University of the Arts Singapore) within a short space of time. 

Photo: Joe Nair

Led by second generation conductor Lin Juan, the NAFA Orchestra gave a concert of popular staples that would not have looked out of place in Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s Familiar Favourites concerts once led by his father Lim Yau. The results were nothing short of very satisfying. 

Opening the evening was Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No.1, from incidental music written for Henrik Ibsen’s play. The very familiar Morning Mood, an atmospheric visage not of fjords but of the Sahara Desert, had lovely flute and oboe solos, and could have been a little more subtle in feel. 

The muted all-string sonority in The Death of Ase was, however, the perfect portrayal of grief and regret. Anitra’s Dance waltzed seductively with perfectly-timed pizzicatos and a tingling triangle, while In the Hall of the Mountain King possessed the relentless drive that brought the suite to a romping close. 

While strings shone in Grieg, winds had a field day with Modeste Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s colourful orchestration. This well-known showpiece is a wild and unbridled depiction of a witches’ sabbath, which saw snarling brass snapping at the heels of slashing strings. 

Photo: Joe Nair

Here passion was unleashed without apology, but within the seeming chaos was an innate discipline with cues being strictly observed. That the work closed with a beatific quiet, where the purity of a solo clarinet and flute became protagonists, showed the ensemble was fully capable of switching codes when called for. 

All the faculties united for Antonin Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony in G major, which was a wiser choice than his over-exposed “New World” Ninth Symphony. Less tainted by familiarity, this performance had a freshness of a spring morn, with the orchestra coaxing a well-rounded and whole-hearted sonority that would even be the envy of professional orchestras. 

Conductor Lin’s direction was crucial for the music’s ebb and flow. When the ante was upped for the first movement’s development, the tension generated was hair-raising. A pastoral feel coloured the slow movement, yet the ensemble was quick to adapt to abrupt changes in nuances and mood. 

The third movement’s Slavonic dance had an earthy and rustic lilt that felt totally natural, while the festive finale could not have been more joyous. Trumpets heralded its procession which began at a measured pace, but soon gathered pace and level of tipsiness. An extended flute solo almost stole the show before being consumed within the grander scheme of things. This was simply an excellent performance for whom all on stage should be proud of.