DRUMATIC FUSION / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

DRUMATIC FUSION

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Friday (12 July 2019)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 15 July 2019 with the title "Drumming up high-octane excitement."

This was going to be a percussion extravaganza like no other, and only one work out of six involved absolutely no percussion, Wang Danhong’s The Green Field from Crimson Sorghum. 

In this lovely adagio for strings, erhus followed by gaohus created an elegiac mood through the arc of a rising crescendo. For many parts, it sounded like film music, one evoking vast and open fields with plucked strings adding bits of frisson.

Orchestral percussion had a field day opening the concert with Tang Jianping’s Dragon Leaps To The East. Its eight members worked overtime to create the perfect overture, one of high-octane, high-volume and razor-sharp synchronisation, with conductor Yeh Tsung’s dance-like moves on the podium furthering the excitement.

The twin-brother act of Chinese percussionists Gao Chao and Gao Yue stole the show in the concert’s first half. Wang Danhong’s four-movement concerto Heavenly Ford has a more poetic title in Chinese: Jin Jin You Wei. While being a play on the name Jinmen, cultural district of the city Tianjin, it also literally translates to “full of flavour”.

This is a portrayal of raucous sounds and aromatic scents afforded by the ancient district. A veritable musical picture postcard, its scenes traversed vigorous ceremonial drumbeats of antiquity, the pulse of nature (rainsticks and birdcalls), rhythmic street songs of itinerant sellers (concertmaster Li Bao Shun’s jinghu as protagonist) to the modern metropolis of today.

The final movement, 18^th Street, was a heady confluence of old and new, with a modern drum set thrown into the mix. The sheer exuberance of the duelling sibs brought to mind the Mambo episode from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, but one with a distinct Han accent.

Dame Evelyn Glennie, this planet’s pre-eminent percussionist, appeared for the whole second half. Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic’s Born To Beat Wild, originally scored for solo trumpet and bass drum, saw Glennie facing off with SCO suona player Chang Le. Described as a “musical dialogue” and “permanent crescendo”, it was more an improvisational shouting contest with both parties emerging primus inter pares.

Glennie took centrestage in Japanese marimba virtuoso Keiko Abe’s Prism Rhapsody, a true dialogue between orchestra and marimba. Melodic interest was strong, and Glennie’s marimba ranged from loud booms from low keys to ethereal heights of the treble registers. With many extended solo passages, this was a rare work combining quiet introspection and outright virtuosity. As many as six mallets were used in certain passages, and her uncanny ability to swiftly shift between diametric opposite dynamics and moods remain a marvel.

The final work, Kuan Nai-chung’s The Sun from The New Millennium Of The Dragon Year united  Glennie with the Gaos, manning pitched percussion (marimba and timpanis) and unpitched percussion (drums, cymbals and the rest) respectively. Placed on opposite sides of the stage with the orchestra in between, this was not a pitched battle but a glorious meeting of minds, concluding this invigorating concert on a voluminous high.      

The concert was graced by
President Halimah Yacob and the First Gentleman.

Post concert, Dame Evelyn Glennie
took time to meet children with hearing impairment.

There is nothing like a dame.

STRUMMING HEARTSTRINGS / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

STRUMMING HEARTSTRINGS

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday (5 September 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 7 September 2015 with the title "From joy of horror to awakening".

On an evening that saw Matthias Goerne singing Schubert's Winterreise and Stephen Hough playing Beethoven piano concertos, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra had a full-house in a blockbuster concert of its own. It shared the stage with three soloists, including pre-eminent Scottish percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.

The concert conducted by SCO Music Director Yeh Tsung began with three works by Chinese composer Liu Chang Yuan. In the opening Carnival Dance (2013), Liu celebrated the universality of folk music through diverse sources of inspiration. The dizi and sheng melodies, in their pentatonic glory, shared something common with dances from the British Isles. The huqins then conjured a tune of Central Asian influence, while the slower central section flirted with the tango. The orchestra performed with its usual infectious enthusiasm. 

Receiving its World Premiere was Bright Moon Over The Ocean (2015), a concerto for guanzi commissioned by the SCO. An essay in nostalgia, the rhapsodic work portrayed the emotions of Chinese emigrants leaving their homeland for new pastures in Nanyang. Soloist Han Lei performed brilliantly with three instruments, traversing lament-like themes to animated dances of a more exotic kind. Somewhere he took a diversion into jazz rhythms, as if stumbling into Harlem, before returning to the more chromatic hustle-bustle of Shenton Way.

Arguably the best work of three was Dream Interpretation (2011), an erhu concerto with excellent soloist Yu Hong Mei. In ten linked sections, the erhu emoted with a panoply of moods and expressive devices. The dream began mysteriously, working its way through joy, happiness and  longing to the dissonance of fear and horror, before closing with a sublime awakening. More Straussian than Freudian, the creative metamorphosis of themes makes this work one that will bear multiple hearings.

The concert's second half was devoted to Canadian-Chinese composer Vincent Ho's The Shaman (2011), the percussion concerto that starred Glennie. Sporting waist-long silver locks, she looked the part of its eponymous title as she gracefully glided through her battery of percussion. Its three connected movements was a veritable playground for the barefoot virtuosa, with unpitched percussion (drums, cymbals, bowls and slung metallic strips) beating out complex rhythms, while vying for attention with the more intimate pitched instruments.

It was the quiet and contemplative 2^nd movement Fantasia-Nostalgia which saw the marimba and vibraphone come to the fore with much melodic interest. Rapport with the orchestra was closely-knit, and she formed a tight yet sensitive alliance with orchestral timpanist Duan Fei and  pianist Clarence Lee. Exuding sheer exuberance, she easily won over an audience supposedly shy of contemporary music. Their vociferous support earned a well-deserved encore, Ho's Nostalgia, adapted from the concerto's slow movement. Bravissima!

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, July 2010)

MAHLER Symphony No.1 “Titan”
Orchestra of the Music Makers

CHAN TZE LAW, Conductor
OMM Live!

****1/2

This is a “live” recording from a concert by the Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) in January 2010. For a youth orchestra (average age of players between 19 and 20) that is only a year and a half into its existence, the results are astounding. In Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony, a typically virtuosic orchestral calling card, the performance is strong in all departments. From its quiet rapt opening with the awakening of spring, through country dances and a funeral march, to the blazingly triumphant finale, there is a palpable sense of occasion and commitment in the playing throughout.

Guided by Chan Tze Law’s ultra-keen vision, homogeneous unity in string passages, lovingly crafted woodwind solos and a brass section any orchestra should be proud of were distinct hallmarks. While one does not expect absolute perfection, and there is rawness in the recorded sound, but that is besides the point. What Singaporean youngsters can achieve when they put their minds to it is the essence that makes this enterprise a totally rewarding experience.

This CD is available at OMM’s concerts, with all proceeds going to ChildAid.

STEVEN STUCKY Orchestral Works
Singapore Symphony Orchestra

SHUI LAN, Conductor
BIS CD-1622

****1/2

The American Steven Stucky (born 1949) is the longstanding Consulting Composer for New Music of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. His Second Concerto for Orchestra (2003) was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in music, a brilliantly conceived work which eschews outright atonalism, but emphasises structure, tonal colour and dynamic drive. Exotic and piquantly flavoured textures and propulsive pace recall the Third Symphony and Concerto For Orchestra by the Polish master Witold Lutoslawski, on whom Stucky is an authority.

Spirit Voices (2002-3) showcases percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie in a 7-part concertante piece depicting star deities and spectral spirits from different world cultures. Injecting her own inimitable brand of exuberance, the vividly recorded performance complements the five colour-filled movements of Pinturas de Tamayo (Paintings of Tamayo, 1995), described as Stucky’s own Pictures At An Exhibition. These eventful 75 minutes amply illustrate the encouraging direction modern music is taking today.

THE ART OF AUTOGRAPHS (Part 1)

This article was first published in the 

July 2008 issue of BraviSSimO!,

the newsletter of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Autograph sessions with visiting soloists and artists are now a norm at SSO concerts. Why do concertgoers take the trouble of waiting in line? What exactly are the musicians’ scribbles on paper worth? Which artists give the best autographs?

Mischa Maisky's autograph 

is as big as his cello sound.

“Touched” by greatness

Ever yearned for an autograph from David Beckham, Robert de Niro, Tiger Woods or Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew? Yes, the thought can be quite a tantalising one, especially when the subject concerned is a celebrity. Owning a “part” of someone famous – even something infinitesimally insignificant – can be seen as one way we ordinary mortals aspire to “rub shoulders” with greatness.

Now that sounds preposterous, but that’s how the world works. Why else did we get Lisztomania, Beatlemania or Wrestlemania? 19th century ladies swooning before divine artistry, screaming groupies falling for the Fab Four, and rabid fans baying for Vince McMahon’s blood represent one end on the spectrum of idol worship. Autograph collecting is merely a more dignified way of expressing admiration and sometimes adulation.

Leila does everything in one stroke

SSO’s collaborations with international artists bring many of classical music’s luminaries to Singapore, within reach of fans. Prior to these well-organised queues, minded by Esplanade’s people-in-black and sometimes the police, autograph collecting meant waiting outside musty stage doors, dressing chambers and green rooms. The assembly-line efficiency of today has also replaced the more friendly banter that takes place between artist and audience member. “Thank you for the music” or “we loved your Beethoven” is always music to the ears of performers, and the autograph - an imprint of an icon – is a just reward for the appreciation shown.

Evelyn Glennie has visited 

Singapore many times,

hence many opportunities 

for autographs.

Of sentimental value

How much is an autograph worth? Some years ago, I noticed at the New York Philharmonic’s gift shop a CD autographed by Kurt Masur selling at USD 20. The un-autographed copy went for USD 16. So is the great German maestro’s signing worth only four dollars? In actual fact, such autographs are probably worth much less than that. However, the memories that come with getting the autograph are priceless; the setting, the circumstances and the short words exchanged – all these have some personal sentimental value, even if it means nothing to everybody else. This is why one should always try to get an autograph personally, rather than by proxy.

In 1994, the great Russian pianist Shura Cherkassky (above) autographed for me a book about pianists, on the page which bore a photograph of himself and fellow students with their teacher Josef Hofmann. He took a pause while scrutinising that pic and then sighed, “They’re all dead now. I’m the only one left.” One year later, he was to be united with the class. The Hungarian György Sandor – with his larger-than-life autograph that got smaller as the years went by – shared with me how as a young pianist, he was approached to give the world premiere of Bartok’s Third Piano Concerto. Another Hungarian, Bela Siki – who prints his name very simply and modestly – recounted how electric fans installed on the stage of a 1960s Victoria Memorial Hall kept flying insects from interfering with his performance of Liszt’s Sonata in B minor!

Carlo's Curls

Mutter knows best

Barry Tuckwell's lovely cursive