PROGRESSION V / MacPherson Philharmonic Orchestra / Review

 

PROGRESSION V

MacPherson Philharmonic Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (4 October 2026)

At last count, there are two community symphony orchestras in Singapore. The first one was Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra (BHSO) which recently marked its 40th anniversary, and the other is MacPherson Philharmonic Orchestra (MPPO, to distinguish it from the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra), which was formed just nine years ago.

Led by young conductor Lester Kong, the orchestra has shown marked progress in the past years, thus this concert’s title Progression V was wholly fitting. It opened with Franz von Suppé’s Light Cavalry Overture, once a very popular concert showpiece but now relegated to the realm of lollipops. Rousing brass fanfares led to excellent strings in melodramatic Italianate passages before the familiar refrain by a pair of galloping trumpets. This made for a fun-filled starter.

Photo: MPPO

Next came the world premiere of Germaine Goh’s The Colour of Gravity, a 27-minute saxophone concerto in four movements. The soloist was Samuel Phua, displaying prowess with a different saxophone for each movement. Piano and tubular bells established fast ostinatos over which Phua’s soaring alto sax held sway in the opening movement titled Worlds Becoming, a cosmic event equating the Big Bang. 

Photo: MPPO

Portrait saw baritone sax playing the tradition buffoonish role usually reserved for bassoons, in a syncopated jazzy dance. Muted strings conjured an Ivesian haze, as Phua alternated between lyrical and jocular comedic moments before with a sweeping upward glissando to close. It was hard not to applaud this scherzo-like escapade, but the audience had been forewarned.

Pale Blue Dot was the slow movement which had soprano sax entwined in a love duet with solo oboe. This brought out the work’s most poignant moments, and the eponymous finale for tenor sax pulled out the stops for a fast, flashy and virtuosic close. Composer Germaine Goh sees the colour of gravity as the colour of love, and this is without doubt the most significant saxophone concerto ever composed by a Singaporean. Samuel Phua, our local solution to Jess Gilliam, is actually closer in spirit to the great John Harle. His ardent advocacy will spur more Singaporean composers to write more works for the saxophone.

The encore, After Love by Jonathan Shin, involved audience participation. Solo passages played by Samuel were to be recorded on handphones, and later replayed en mass as accompaniment or counterpoint to the work’s closing passages. It made for some surreal Ligeti-like moments that was enjoyed by all present.

The major work was Johannes Brahms’ First Symphony in C minor (Op.68), a very ambitious ask for such a young orchestra. Under Kong’s direction, the opening movement portrayed a grim face of gravitas, its pulse held together by an excellent and resolute timpanist. The surges and ebbs of tension was well marshalled and there was little doubt that the ensemble presented a united front throughout. The second and third movements saw more challenges, as the slow movement came across as ponderous, and the ensemble struggling to hold it together. However, it was concertmaster Lim Shue Churn’s violin solo that shone as the light at the end of the tunnel.

The third movement was more relaxed but there were some hesitations and ensemble issues, however those were rendered moot in the finale. The build-up was portentously hewn out of solid granite, and Kong knew exactly how to pace and bring out the big hymn-like tune that made early listeners describe this to be Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony. No matter, the finale was a combination of grim determination and no little joy achieved through gritted teeth for a blazing conclusion to one of the great Romantic symphonies ever conceived. 

There must have been a small handful in the audience who attended the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s first performance of the same symphony in the same venue way back in 1981. That performance brought out unadulterated feelings of elation, and this performance by MPPO can be viewed in the same light. For both orchestras, it was a sign of progression.