LEONG YOON PIN
Symphonic Works of Singapore
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Lim Yau & Choo Hoey (Conductors)
Designated a “documentation project of the National Arts Council (NAC)”, this 1993 album might just be the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s most important recording of music by a Singaporean composer. Why do so few Singaporean works get recorded by the SSO is not a mystery, as the orchestra and the powers that be never really put their faith in local composers then. Very few local works appeared in concert programmes, and one began to wonder if Singaporean composers even existed. This recording made by Naxos Singapore was only distributed locally, and why it never made into the label’s mainstream recordings for worldwide circulation was also a real pity.
Leong Yoon Pin (1931-2011) was the doyen of Singapore’s composers. As a music lecturer at the Teachers Training College, he received a scholarship by the French government to study composition with Nadia Boulanger in 1966-67. His works combines modern idioms, contrapuntal vigour with Asian aesthetics, writing Nanyang music even before the term was conceived.
The classic example was the overture Dayong Sampan (1980), a symphonic fantasy on the popular Malay song, known as Tian Mi Mi in Chinese. This performance led by Choo Hoey shaves a few seconds off the 1989 recording made on the Philips label. The other works on this album were conducted by SSO Associate Conductor Lim Yau. Another work occasionally heard in concert is Giocoso – Largamente, from Symphony No.2 (1979), possibly Leong’s most often programmed symphonic movement. There is a festive and celebratory air in this music, making it one of his most accessible works. Till this day, neither the symphony nor its predecessor have been recorded by the SSO in their entirety.
The final four works are rarely ever (or never) heard in concert, so rare that they could not even accessed on YouTube. All possess an austerity associated with Leong’s serious work, even if the subject is local in nature. Largo – Vivace for strings (1982) is the sort of work which the Basel Chamber Orchestra (or re:Sound for that matter) would revel in.
Episodes In Journey To The West (1983) is not meant to be programmatic but reflects on the exploits of Sun Wukong, the monkey god, and relations with his pilgrim companions as they seek the holy scriptures from India. The music is structured on a tone row, and there are three connected sections marked Andante moderato, Allegro and Adagio, closing in reverential calm and solemnity as nirvana is finally realised.
The tone poem Temasekian (1990), at 18 minutes, is the longest work on the disc. The music dwells on Singapore’s forefather and includes elements of Chinese, Indian and Malay music, all the tropes of classic Nanyang music. Far from being populist, the themes are terse and abstract, although dances, ceremonies and festivals may be discerned through the drumming and percussive rhythms. Closing the album is Metamorphosis (1993), composed for the Singapore Youth Orchestra’s concert tour to Japan. Following the Lisztian model, thematic transformation of simple presenting motifs take place, but so discreet that one without a score in hand barely notices. The music alternates between spareness and opulence in textures, stasis and kinesis, which is characteristic in Leong’s output.
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| Choo Hoey gets first billing although he conducted only one work, while Lim Yau conducted five! |
Aside from the first two which are more accessible, much of Leong’s orchestral output is more respected that actually loved. Nonetheless, this album is an important document in the history of orchestral music in Singapore. The SSO under Lim Yau (mostly) performs the works with exemplary discipline and precision, which the exacting music demands. What we need now are recordings of his two symphonies and orchestral choral works to complete the picture.
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