SYMPHONY OF NATION. HARMONY OF YOUTH / Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra / Review

 

SYMPHONY OF NATION / 

HARMONY OF YOUTH

Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Wednesday (20 August 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 23 August 2025 with the title "Singapore Youth Philharmonic off to raw but promising start".

The Singapore Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (SYPO) made its debut as recently as last year, and in a very ambitious SG60 celebratory concert, attempted to fly before it had barely started walking. Joined by 31 members of the China Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, a very big orchestra assembled and conducted by Luo Wei had a fair share of stumbles but ultimately stood up tall to be counted.

Photo: Andy Tan

Amilcare Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda, recently performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in its Disney Fantasia concert, opened the evening. The young musicians took a little time to warm up but soon had a good feel of its dance rhythms, provided a rousingly animated start.

There were two world premieres of works by Singaporean composers. Solace (Op.10) by 20-year-old national serviceman Chia Ren Cher dwelled on ruminations of troubled youth, with a neo-Romantic feel reminiscent of Russian composers like Alexander Glazunov and Anatol Liadov. Brimming with ideas, the work featured difficult passages for woodwinds and brass with many pushed to the limits of abilities. Despite the rawness of playing, there is much to suggest Chia is a compositional talent mature beyond his tender years.

Young Artist Award recipient Chen Zhangyi’s Istana Woodneuk opened with ceremonial drumming on Malay hand-held frame drums, a work celebrating the derelict 90-year-old palace off Tyersall Road once owned by the Sultan of Johore. Major solos by cellist Fong Tze Meng and violinist Kaleb Toh representing Sultan Ibrahim and his Scottish bride Helen played like a movement from a double concerto, remembering a romance that did not last.

Closing the first half was Liu Tieshan and Mao Yuan’s Dance of the Yao People, based on ethnic music by indigenous tribes in China’s Guangxi province. It received a suitably boisterous reading. More significantly, this was originally performed at the Singapore Symphony’s inaugural concert in January 1979 led by its late founding conductor Choo Hoey. One legacy of Singapore’s musical pioneers is why this nation has so many good young orchestras today, including the SYPO.

Playing for some 50 minutes, one wondered whether the young musicians could weather the storms of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No.3 in E flat major (Op.55), also known as the Eroica Symphony. Under Luo’s taut direction, the performance was a very encouraging if not a totally polished one.

Photo: Andy Tan

From the manner of its punched-out opening chords, one knew this was going to be a serious account, as the tension and urgency that came after so proved. The second movement’s funeral march carried the weight of the entire symphony, and while it dragged a little, the most lucid moments were provided by excellent solo oboist Hu Qiuzi.

The Scherzo bristled with energy, with the trio of French horns in the Trio beginning promisingly but losing steam midway through. The finale’s variations on the dance from Beethoven’s own ballet The Creatures of Prometheus were well held together with busy counterpoint taken in its stride. SYPO will no doubt have many fine concerts ahead, and they have only just begun.