BEETHOVEN'S ODE TO JOY / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

BEETHOVEN’S ODE TO JOY 

Singapore Symphony Orchestra 

Esplanade Concert Hall 

Thursday (25 July 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 27 July 2024 with the title "Standing ovation for SSO's take on Brahms and Beethoven".

Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s first gala concert for the 2024/25 season, led by music director Hans Graf, was headlined by two major repertoire works. The opening act was Johannes Brahms’ Double Concerto in A minor (Op.102) with violinist Chloe Chua and SSO principal cellist Ng Pei-Sian as soloists. 

Despite their age gap (Chua is 17 and Ng in his late 30s), the duo worked well together, reliving the parts played by original virtuosos Joseph Joachim and Robert Hausmann at its 1887 premiere. After an orchestral outburst, Ng’s demanding solo cadenza was rapt and ear-catching with Chua later joining in as an equal partner. Nowhere was she overawed and they were hand-and-glove throughout, with the orchestra’s discreet partnership allowing their voices to shine. 

The central slow movement had them in a silky smooth unison, with an evenness providing some of the work’s most sublime moments. The Hungarian-flavoured finale was a jocular jaunt, playful in exchanges yet cohesive to the closing chords. The vociferous response was rewarded with a substantial encore: the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia, another classic of sharing intimate moments together. 

Watch the Brahms Double Concerto (1st movement) here:

The other blockbuster was Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in D minor (Op.125), his beloved Choral Symphony. There has been no better time amid tumultuous world affairs to relive this unifying work, the supreme espousal of Friedrich Schiller’s gospel of the universal brotherhood of man. 

Running for 67 minutes, Graf’s vision was a generally swift one. Following the opening drone, orchestral entries were brisk and crisp, yet with no hint of being hectic or strait-jacketed. The music was allowed to breathe naturally with a well-judged broadening of tempos when it mattered. 

Even when the Molto vivace second movement upped the ante, pulses quickened but never raced beyond safety limits, much having to do with Christian Schioler’s steady but emphatic timpani beats dictating the proceedings. The lovely Adagio slow movement provided much respite but was not allowed to languish or wallow. 

Then came the much-awaited finale. Its earth-shattering introduction relived moments from earlier movements, a summation of all that had come before. The first vocal was from baritone Liam James Karai, his commanding voice answered emphatically by 110 singers from the Singapore Symphony Choruses and Singapore Bible College Community Choir (Eudenice Palaruan, Choral Director & Wong Lai Foon, Choirmaster). 

There have been bigger choirs to grace the Ninth, notably Esplanade’s opening concert in 2002. However this group lacked nothing in pluck and confidence, delivering the famed Ode To Joy (Freude, Schoner Gotterfunken) chorus and tricky fugues with suitable eclat and ecstasy. 

The quartet of well-matched soloists was completed by soprano Johanna Falkinger, mezzo-soprano Anita Montserrat and tenor Seungwoo Yang, the last of whom conquered the Turkish march segment (accompanied by triangle, cymbals and bass drum) with much swagger. 

The symphony’s frenzied conclusion received a deserved standing ovation. Its message of world peace, delivered in harmonious Singapore, might however be a case of preaching to the choir.

Watch part of the finale

of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony here:

CHLOE CHUA PLAYS PAGANINI / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

CHLOE CHUA PLAYS PAGANINI

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (2 September 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 4 September 2023 with the title "Chloe Chua plays Paganini with stunning aplomb".

 

This concert was marketed with Chloe Chua Plays Paganini as its unique selling point but was in reality far more than that. In many ways, it felt like two separate concerts with vastly contrasted repertoire welded together at the hip, with a festive feel reminiscent of London’s BBC Proms.

 

The first half was early Romantic with a strong bel canto flavour about it. Rossini’s Overture to Il Viaggio A Reims (The Journey To Reims), his last opera in Italian, opened with a serious tone but soon lapsed into comedy. Lovely solos from cor anglais and flute, with excellent woodwind ensemble and an exciting series of patented Rossini crescendos ensured its success under visiting Swiss conductor Mario Venzago’s direction.

 

Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.1 with SSO artist in residence Chloe Chua was the ostensible reason why the hall was packed to the brim. She did not disappoint, comfortably mastering the fiendishly difficult solo part with seeming effortlessness and impeccable intonation. Even the inordinately long cadenza by Emil Sauret, lasting almost a quarter of the first movement, was overcome with stunning aplomb.

 

The reduced orchestration with all percussion (timpani, drum, cymbals and triangle) excluded certainly rendered the accompaniment more transparent. The slow movement basked in the lyricism of bel canto, an all too brief respite from earlier acrobatics that would also consume the finale’s Rondo.

Photo: Chris P. Lim

 

Paganini as innovator of technical devices such as the infamous double-stopped harmonics came to the fore, but that did little to faze Chua’s command and control as the work romped to an imperious high to close. With no encore from her forthcoming, the appreciative audience had to make do with her winning winsome smile instead.

Watch this video of Chloe Chua in Paganini:

 

The second half shifted to the late 19^th and early 20^th century with a moving performance of Debussy’s Three Nocturnes. More like vivid visions of musical imagery than actual night pieces, the opening Nuages (Clouds) could have done with a little more mystery but the cor anglais solo stood out with its plaintiveness. The far more lively Fêtes (Festivals) was delivered with a lean incisiveness, with a pair of muted trumpets driving its quite thrilling processional march.

 

Breathtaking in a different way was the seductive beauty evoked by the wordless women’s voices from the Singapore Symphony Chorus and Youth Choir (Chorus master: Eudenice Palaruan) in the closing Sirenes (Sirens). Homogeneous and haunting, this made for the work’s quiet and peaceable end.

 

English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Toward The Unknown Region, with words by the American Walt Whitman, received its Singapore premiere. Euphemistically described as “a song for chorus and orchestra”, this 12-minute mini-masterpiece was a paean to the spirit of discovery and adventure. Now joined by men voices, the chorus of 67 members generated a bigger sound than thought possible, and with the help of Joanna Paul’s pipe organ, built up to a massive climax and valedictory conclusion. 

Chorusmaster Eudenice Palaruan
gets the plaudits with Mario Venzago
and everyone who performed.

A review of the same concert published in Bachtrack:

Spirit of the Proms gloriously alive in Singapore | Bachtrack

Watch this video of 

Vaughan Williams' Toward the Unknown Region:

Some post-concert shots, taken on a short walk from Esplanade along Elizabeth Walk to Victoria Concert Hall:

CHLOE CHUA & HE ZIYU / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

CHLOE CHUA & HE ZIYU

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (27 July 2023) 

   

This review was published in Bachtrack on 30 July 2023 with the title "Sterling showcase of Mozart and Richard Strauss by the Singapore Symphony".

 

It is no secret that Hans Graf, Music Director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, has been honing talents for the future of classical music. The appointment of 16-year-old violinist Chloe Chua as the orchestra’s Artist-in-Residence for 2023/2004 was a case in point, as was his championship of 24-year-old Chinese violinist Ziyu He, now a regular in Singapore. Both were first prizewinners at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists (2018 and 2016 respectively) and have also recorded Mozart with the orchestra.

 

The evening’s soloistic showpiece was Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major (K.364), without doubt his greatest concerto for violin. An intimate sense of chamber music was established from the outset, with the orchestra kept on a firm leash such that the opening E flat major chords in the Allegro maestoso sounded politely voiced rather than hammered out. This paved the way for the soloists’ silky smooth unison entry. Chua’s violin and He’s viola are a well-matched pair, and despite their distant placements on either side of conductor Graf, they blended well together.

 

Sweetness of tone compensated for a deliberate repudiation of forceful projection, most evident in the first movement cadenza and the sublime Andante that followed. After luxuriating in the aria-like cantabile of the slow movement, stops were pulled for the Presto finale but decorum was maintained all through to the closing bars. Restraint and maturity would prevail over youthful impetuosity. As an encore, J.S.Bach’s Two Part Invention No.8 in F major, in an arrangement for two violins with a repeat performed in double quick time, was totally delectable.

 

Watch this video of the finale from Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante:

The concerto proper was preceded by Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute, which also opened with E flat major chords. Far more portentous this time around, it was later relieved by a delightful play of counterpoint, underlining the opera’s overt comedy and covert Masonic messages.  

 

The concert’s true highlight was Richard Strauss’ tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), composed in 1898 and his most self-indulgent work. The German was just 34 and had a half-century more to live, yet this six-part monolith resounded with a definitive finality as to be hubristic. 

Opening in a plethora of sound with pedal-points pegged firmly in E flat major (that key again), the Hero’s grandiose visions were well characterised. Leaving little to the imagination, Strauss had cast himself as the striding autobiographical Hero. His Adversaries were, by contrast, snivelling and rodent-like, represented by squeaks and squeals from woodwinds and brassy grunts. 

His Companion was lovingly personified in guest concertmaster David Coucheron’s excellent violin solo, almost a concerto movement of its own. This was his portrait of Frau Strauss, formidable soprano Pauline de Ahna, who was both tender yet complex, but ultimately inscrutable.  

The Hero, his Companion
and their son.

 

A trio of offstage trumpets signalled the call to Battle, an almighty struggle led by the snaredrum’s martial beat. Here, as in the work’s opening, the volume generated at its shattering climax all but raised the roof. In The Hero’s Works of Peace, quotes from earlier tone poems appear fleetingly, notably Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel, Straussian heroes and anti-heroes both. 

For this hagiography to wind down, what better than a mellow cor anglais and solo violin to seek a peaceable resolution? Finally returning to the warm embrace of E flat major, this outing worked because of Graf’s close to perfectly paced direction, without letting the fine details get in the way of the flowing narrative. For this, he and his orchestra were roundly applauded.    

 

Star Rating: ****

Watch this video of SSO's performance of Ein Heldenleben:

BRUCH VIOLIN CONCERTO AND MAHLER SYMPHONY 5 / GIVE AND TAKE (BACK AND FORTH) / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / T'ang Quartet / Review

BRUCH VIOLIN CONCERTO

AND MAHLER 5

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (2 March 2023)

 

GIVE AND TAKE (BACK AND FORTH)

T’ang Quartet

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Friday (3 March 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 6 March 2023 with the title "Chloe Chua emotes like an old soul, T'ang Quartet's partnerships bear fruit".

 

It is hard to believe that violinist Chloe Chua is still only sixteen. She seems to have been around a long time, chalking up impressive concerto performances since winning first prize at the Yehudi Menuhin Competition for Young Violinists in 2018. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra has also  promoted her, inviting her to be Artist-in-Residence for 2022/23 and embarking on a series of recorded albums.

 

Her performances so far have involved concertos from the baroque and classical periods, so Max Bruch’s First Violin Concerto in G minor, an acme of German Romanticism, was a first. From her opening entry, very exposed and the work’s barometer, she came across as an old soul. Purity and richness of tone, immaculate intonation and utter confidence stood her out as someone no longer to be labelled a child prodigy.

 

Artists blossom and mature, bringing new and personal ideas, not just those taught in the studio. Technique has never been an issue, and it was her ability to emote openly and without fear which brought a new dimension to this performance. The lyrical slow movement rose to passionate heights of ecstasy.

 

This was achieved with neither histrionics nor superficial effects, but sheer innate musicality. Her fiery passion in the finale merely confirmed earlier thoughts, with loud audience acclamation and adulation being just desserts.

     

Watch Chloe Chua's performance of the Bruch concerto with SSO here:

The last time SSO performed a Mahler symphony was during pre-pandemic 2019, almost an age ago, so Covid-era cobwebs had to be dusted off for the Austrian’s Fifth Symphony. Led by Dutch-Maltese guest conductor Lawrence Renes, the orchestra honed an exciting reading, full of fervour despite a few rough edges. Guest French horn principal Esa Tapani was excellent in the central Scherzo, which delighted in lilting waltz rhythms. The famous Adagietto, scored for just strings and harp, was crafted with rare beauty. Completing the romp was the finale’s playful counterpoint, capped by the brass in its full glory.  

 

Another Singapore musical icon, T’ang Quartet, has had a turbulent 30^th anniversary season. It underwent yet another change in personnel, with SSO musicians violist Wang Dandan and cellist Jamshid Saydikarimov replacing Han Oh and Wang Zihao for its latest concert. While this configuration is unlikely permanent, founding violinists Ng Yu Ying and Ang Chek Meng can still be relied upon to make a good fist of whatever the quartet performs.  

Composer Chen Zhangyi takes a bow.

 

Two works by Young Artist Award recipient Chen Zhangyi were on show including the world premiere of Give And Take (Back And Forth), which comprised six short varied vignettes. Chen’s music blends aural lushness with gentle dissonances in a memorable way, apparent in the opening Towers and Fountains, a depiction of Singapore cityscapes, and Drunken Poets, where plucked pizzicatos and bowed strings merged seamlessly within a colourful canvas. Ear-catching also were  more rhythmic movements, such as the minimalist swagger of Gears And Cycles – Interlocked or  Night Grooves, where jazz, pop and rock rhythms provided an dynamic close.  

 

The quartet’s sensitive and perceptive insights made music come alive, replicated in Chen’s Twin Cinema for string nonet (two string quartets and double bass), which saw a fruitful partnership with younger musicians. Here both quartets had separate narrative threads, representing different cultures (Venice and Singapore) with their respective interactions and reactions being the work’s essence.

 

The concert closed with that favourite staple of the quartet repertoire, Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F major. In a performance that luxuriated in lyricism and thematic cohesion, it was the pizzicato paradise of its Scherzo that piqued the ears, and the finale’s irrepressible perpetual motion which brought on the loudest cheers.