BEETHOVEN'S EROICA: A SYMPHONIC REVOLUTION / Orchestra of the Music Makers / Review

BEETHOVEN’S EROICA:

A SYMPHONIC REVOLUTION

Orchestra of the Music Makers

Sunday (30 January 2022)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 9 February 2022 with the title "Enthralling take on Beethoven's Eroica".

 

Alert concert-goers will have noticed that concert durations have more or less reverted to their original lengths. Although restrictions to ensemble and audience sizes remain, longer works are being heard. For example, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra presented Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony and Violin Concerto, both substantial offerings, just last week.

 

The Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) led by Chan Tze Law went one step further by performing Beethoven’s Third Symphony, also known as the “Eroica”. The longest symphony in the classical repertoire until Beethoven later conceived his monumental Ninth Symphony, it takes the best part of 45 minutes.

 

Although requiring feats of endurance and plentiful reserve from the players, this is small beer for OMM, whose young players have overcome even more massive works such as Mahler’s symphonies. The first two E flat major chords at its outset were vital, as these determined the tenor and direction which the symphony takes. Direct and incisively punched out, these heralded what was to be a taut and urgent reading.

 

However, hurried and hectic it was not. Instead one got the feeling that something momentous had occurred, and the entire first movement’s dynamic drive kept one guessing. This mystery was solved in the slow movement in C minor, as the titular hero had died and this was his funeral march. The somberness was palpable, and even magnified in its passionate play of counterpoint.

 

This tension was also upheld in the third movement’s Scherzo, where the contrasting Trio section provided some release in the form of a jocular trio of French horns, who nailed their parts with stunning aplomb. The finale’s variations on a theme from Beethoven’s ballet The Creatures Of Prometheus exhibited pure joy, as a universal dance of levity and humour. This performance had taken just 42 minutes, which was on the swifter side.  

 

Preceding the Beethoven was Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major (K.364), long considered to be his finest string concerto. Violinist Chikako Sasaki and violist Wang Dandan, both musicians from the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, were the soloists. For them this was ultimately a piece of chamber music, as they joined the ensemble to play the orchestral parts even before their actual solos began.

 

As soloists, they were evenly matched, each projecting clearly with singing tones and accurate intonation throughout. They also blended well, particularly in the technically tricky cadenzas. It was in the sublime slow movement where more of their individual voices were revealed, and one did not want these beautiful moments to end. The fast-paced finale was another show of joie de vivre, drawing loud and enthusiastic applause from the audience.

 

For an encore, Sasaki and Wang were joined by concertmaster violinist Zhao Tian to perform a trio arrangement of Mexican composer Manuel Ponce’s most popular song Estrellita (Little Star) by local composer Alexander Oon. Would Mozart or Beethoven have minded this syrupy-sweet diversion? Given their love of pretty melodies, probably not a single bit.   

     

All concert photos by Yong Junyi, by courtesy of OMM.

BORODIN QUARTET - ELEGY & EPILOGUE / Review

BORODIN QUARTET – ELEGY

BORODIN QUARTET – EPILOGUE

Victoria Concert Hall

Saturday & Sunday 

(13 & 14 October 2018)

This review was published in  The Straits Times on 16 October 2018 with the title "A full measure of what chamber music is about".

Longevity is the enduring quality of Russia’s Borodin Quartet, founded in 1945 and still going strong for over 70 years. Its players have come and gone, with the last founding member cellist Valentin Berlinsky retiring in 2007. Of the Borodin Quartet that last performed in Singapore in 1996, only violist Igor Naidin remains.

Its two concerts, part of the SSO Chamber and VCH Presents series, gave listeners the full measure of what chamber music was all about. Three of its members partnered with Singapore Symphony Orchestra players for two popular quintets on the first evening. Violist Naidin and cellist Vladimir Balshin were joined by violinists Chan Yoong Han and Chikako Sasaki and cellist Ng Pei-Sian for Schubert’s late String Quintet in C major.

Despite the “heavenly length” of nearly 55 minutes, it was a superbly paced performance that breathed freshness, revealing the intimacy of close cooperation all through its four movements. There was nothing to separate Russians and locals in the seamless music-making, from the opening movements’ lyrical musings to more vigorous exertions of the Scherzo and Rondo finale.

Oneness of ensemble also inhabited Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor, where violinist Sergei Lomovsky and violist Naidin played alongside pianist Lim Yan, violinist Margit Saur and cellist Wang Yan. In this music of emotional and dynamic extremes, the temptation to lapse into caricature was resisted. While playing the score straight, the result was a catharsis borne of extreme duress while keeping a straight face. This irony was clearly appreciated by the audience.     

The Borodin Quartet, led by first violinist Ruben Aharonian, was on its own in the second concert, which presented diametrically contrasting halves. Musical sunshine lit up Tchaikovsky’s First String Quartet, with its very familiar Andante Cantabile slow movement, where Aharonian’s melodic line soaring above quiet pizzicatos from Balshin’s cello could not have been more tender.

The rest of the work showcased immaculate ensemble, sensitive to myriads of nuances, and finely balanced by an understated virtuosity. The four players could easily have played this, their musical heritage, blind-folded. Hugo Wolf’s brief and jolly Italian Serenade, filled with Mediterranean warmth, was served like an enjoyable encore.

Dmitri Shostakovich with the
original members of the Borodin Quartet

A sugar-coated first half would scarcely have prepared one for the bile of Shostakovich’s String Quartet No.15, his final embittered work in this medium. The hall was plunged into near darkness, with the players barely visible through dim lights illuminating their scores. This seemed like the only way to experience the work’s six continuous slow movements, highlighted by painful pauses, pregnant silences and interjected dissonances. One could hear a pin drop amid this blanket of unnerving stillness and unease, so grippingly negotiated by the quartet.

There was nearly a minute of silence before house lights came on with the ensuing applause. Two short Tchaikovsky encores seemed trite and inconsequential, as all present knew all through the music’s unremitting bleakness, they had attended a requiem.     

SSO violinist Chan Yoong Han
and his daughter Chantal meet the Borodins.

SSO violinist Chikako Sasaki
is ecstatic she got to play with the legendary quartet.

The Borodin Quartet also performs at 
The Joy of Music Festival 2018 
Hong Kong

Wednesday (17 October 2018):
Tchaikovsky String Quartet No.1
Wolf Italian Serenade
Shostakovich String Quartet No.15

Friday (19 October 2018):
Haydn String Quartet Op.33 No.1
Shostakovich String Quartet No.9
Shostakovich Piano Quintet
(with Ilya Rashkovskiy, Piano)

8 pm, City Hall Concert Hall
Tickets available at URBTIX
https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/music/programs_620.html

MUSIC & MAKAN: HEART / BRAIN

MUSIC & MAKAN: HEART. BRAIN

A Living Room, off River Valley Road

Sunday (15 October 2017) 

Music & Makan is the brainchild of Beverly Hiong, cellist and musical entrepreneur, bringing together the two things which Singaporeans love best: good music and good food. (Good shopping has not been included but I won't count it out at some point the way the event is evolving.)

First held in Christmas 2012, this has become a regular affair at the home of the Hiongs. The formula is simple: get professional musicians to perform and talk about music, engage a Michelin-starred or top-notched chef to prepare tasty dishes, and bring an audience of hungry people who enjoy being entertained. This year, M&M became a ticketed event and one can actually buy tickets via Peatix to attend.

Last Sunday's M&M was attended by over 40 people, including newcomers to the arcane world of classical music. The performers were no strangers to Singapore's classical music scene, and they performed a varied selection of pieces, while gently dismissing the notion that classical music is boring, stuffy or sniffy. Music is a combination of heart and brain, and the pieces were selected to illustrate beauty and symmetry in music, while showcasing form and structure in the process.

Here is the string quartet formed by:
Chikako Sasaki & Christina Zhou, violins
Leslie Tan, cello & Christoven Tan, viola

Beverly provides a friendly intro and
the quartet plays the Notturno
from Borodin's Second String Quartet.

Violist Christoven plays a movement
from György Ligeti's Viola Sonata,
filled with microtones and overtones.
Leslie does an impression of Rodin's Thinker.

To illustrate the fugal form, the
Contrapunctus No.2 from J.S.Bach's
The Art of Fugue was performed.

The concert closed with the first two movements
from Shostakovich's String Quartet No.8.

A peak at the audience, which got to
sing Row, Row Your Boat
to appreciate the canon form.

Chef Kit Wong's awesome spread
of finger foods and canapes.

The event was not sponsored by M&Ms,
but you get the idea.

Musical celebrities like conductor Jason Lai
and Viva Viola man Jeremy Chiew
also made their presence.

We trust everyone who came
had a lovely time.

It is rumoured that the next Music & Makan will be held at an art gallery. To find out where and when, do check-out the dedicated website: www.musicandmakan.com  

VIVA VIOLA / Kris Foundation Concert / Review

VIVA VIOLA

Jeremy Chiew, Christoven Tan (Violas) et al

Kris Foundation Concert

Esplanade Recital Studio

Friday (11 August 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 August 2017 with the title "Viola's dark and dusky sonority".

Why have violas and violists always been given short shrift? Singaporean violist Jeremy Chiew, who organised this viola fest for the Kris Foundation, provided valid reasons in a short preamble. For example, the viola's size and volume militated against possessing the violin's sweetness or the cello's mellowness and projection.

He could, however, comfort himself with the viola's dark and dusky sonority, especially in the context of playing with other string instruments. The opening work was a delightful duo featuring Christoven Tan's viola and Leslie Tan's cello in the 1^st movement of Beethoven's “Eyeglass” Duet.

Composed for a cellist friend who needed corrective lenses for his short-sightedness, this was a match of equals with the viola (which Beethoven played) given the leading voice. That both performers were bespectacled was no surprise in myopia-prevalent Singapore, and there was no surprise either in tautness of ensemble, with each instrument alternating between providing melody and accompaniment.

The combo of viola and violin also worked well in the well-known Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia, with Jeremy Chiew and Chikako Sasaki respectively. Whatever agility the violin mustered was equally matched by the viola (which replaced the customary cello) in its masterful set of very short variations.

When two violas come together, as in Frank Bridge's elegiac Lament, the depth of sound was doubled. Seldom has a work sounded this soulful or long-breathed, with two similar voices mirroring and echoing each other, which Chiew and Tan brought to sonorous perfection.

Perhaps the most demanding solo fell to 16-year-old Calvin Dai who played two movements from Brahms' autumnal Viola Sonata No.2 (Op.120 No.2) with Benjamin Lim on piano. A member of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, he brought out a very decent burnished sound and was able to skilfully vary the dynamics for the expressive Allegro appassionato.

The evening's gem was undoubtedly the performance of Mendelssohn's late String Quintet No.2 in B flat major (Op.87), published only after his death. Modelled on Mozart's string quintets which use two violas, Chiew and Tan were joined by Sasaki and Andrew Ng (violins), and Leslie Tan (cello).    

The full impact of strings was immediately felt in the opening Allegro vivace, bursting with energy and vitality. The listener is reminded of the earlier and much more familiar String Octet, but this was just as absorbing, with all five players working in close tandem. Here, the violas played a vital supporting role for Sasaki's first violin and Tan's cello which had most of the big tunes.

For without violas, such a work would sound bereft of heft, and far less rich as a result. Theirs was not to hog the limelight but to enhance interest, as demonstrated in the feathery light Andante scherzando and the impassioned Adagio e lento slow movement. The finale was on the short-winded side, but that did little to diminish the overall stature of a memorable and utterly compelling reading.