GLORIA! / NAFA Orchestra & Chorus / Review

GLORIA!

NAFA Orchestra & Chorus

Victoria Concert Hall

Tuesday (19 April 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 April 2016 with the title "A moving evening of Poulenc".

An all-French programme was the culmination of an academic year's work for the School of Music at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. Conducted by British conductor Nicholas Cleobury, presently Head of Opera at Brisbane's Queensland Conservatorium, there was a striking synergy and symmetry that united all three works in the concert.

Beginning with Maurice Ravel's ballet Mother Goose, the young orchestra crafted a very strong narrative thread through its movements (each retelling a tale from Charles Perrault's collection) and intervening intermezzos. The playing was sensitive and evocative, with excellent solos from woodwinds, particularly oboe, flutes and piccolo which conjured an imaginatively fabled atmosphere.

Strings were well disciplined and homogeneous in texture. The opening of The Fairy's Garden was beautifully played, and concertmaster Guo Xingchen's violin solos confident and impressive. In the pentatonic paradise that was Laideronette, Empress of the Pagodas, harp, celesta and assorted percussion helped paint an indelible portrait of the Orient, filled with dizzying gamelan sonorities.

That was the vital link to the next work, Francis Poulenc's popular Concerto for Two Pianos, where he used keyboards to simulate the tintinnabuli and clangour of the gamelan orchestra. Soloists Lena Ching and Nicholas Ong, both of the piano faculty, navigated their tricky and intricate parts with razor-sharp reflexes and witty aplomb.

Its aromatic blend of orientalism, neoclassicism (the slow movement was pure Mozartean charm) and popular dancehall tunes wafted with the pungently intoxicating and hypnotic qualities of incense, a true riot for the senses. There was even a curious episode for two pianos and solo cello playing a melody in harmonics. Was this Poulenc's salute to the Javanese spiked fiddle?

After the frolicsome finale which closed with a brilliant show of pianistic hi-jinks, the second half comprised just Poulenc's Gloria for soprano, choir and orchestra. One of the most appealing and often-performed 20^th century choral works, it revealed diametrically opposite aspects of the composer – the sacred and profane, from saint and sinner.

The opening Gloria In Excelsis Deo, executed by excellent brass and percussion with righteous grandeur and pomp, also had an air of flippancy. The 86-strong chorus, meticulously drilled by Lim Yau, responded with corporate drollery, soon breaking out into an enthusiastic and sincerely felt Laudamus Te which made the proceedings all the more light and cheerful.

Cheerful would be an unusual adjective for a sacred work, but Poulenc did not hide behind feigned piety and supplication. Central to his exposition was Indonesian soprano Isyana Sarasvati, NAFA alumnus and now a media sensation of sorts, whose sweet yet unwavering delivery of Dominus Deus was an epitome of purity and poignancy.

The chorus' unison proclamation of Qui Sedes Ad Dexteram Patris was strong and fervent, setting into motion a truly moving finale. How often does one hear a Miserere Nobis (Have Mercy) sound this joyous? Sarasvati's sonorous Amen was a ringing declaration from high, an affirmation of answered prayers to which both chorus and orchestra concluded on a serene and sublime high.  

DEATH AND THE MAIDEN / NAFA Project Strings / Review

DEATH AND THE MAIDEN

NAFA Project Strings

Lee Foundation Theatre

Thursday (9 April 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 11 April 2015 with the title "Skilful shifting of gears".

NAFA Project Strings is the brainchild of Singaporean violinist Foo Say Ming, with the aim of promoting excellence in string playing among music students at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. Its various concerts since 2012 have covered the bread and butter of the string repertoire, with a keen emphasis on ensemble work rather than solo virtuosity. 

Its latest concert began with the Aria from Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras No.5 which employs eight cellists accompanying a singer. Young Indonesian soprano Isyana Sarasvati, one of NAFA's most promising voice students, has a bright ringing voice well-suited for coloratura arias. However more shades of subtlety could have been employed in this sensuous, even mysterious song, which is mostly wordless. 

The cellos first provided a background rumbling counterpoint, before emerging with the glorious melody on its own. They did so with an intensity that closely matched the singer's. It was a pity that the fast and trickier second movement, which would have revealed different aspects of both skills, had been omitted.

As a prelude to the main work, Franz Schubert's original lied Der Tod und Das Mädchen (Death and the Maiden) was performed by Saravasti with pianist Chin Kim Hung. The opening chords played on the piano rather than the sung melody served as the subject for the composer's famous string quartet of the same title. Chin was sturdy in his delivery and Saravasti impressed with her lower registers which evoked true pathos.

The houselights dimmed and came on to reveal Foo conducting the full string ensemble of 33 members in an augmented version of Schubert's String Quartet No.14 in D minor (D.810). Gustav Mahler had written his own version for string orchestra, which in turn was further adapted by Foo for this performance. Notably, double basses were given parts to add body and heft to the overall sound.

Barely ten days ago, the celebrated Juilliard String Quartet had given a stunningly riveting account of the original work at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in a lunchtime concert. The NAFA version was to be no less committed despite the youth and inexperience of the players involved. The opening movement was taken with an urgency and tautness that held its seams like glue. The exposition repeat was included without sounding weary and the subsequent development ratcheted the tension several notches.

The Andante second movement was a set of variations on the afore-mentioned lied, the spiritual heart of the work. The ensemble was sensitive to the change of dynamics with each variation and there was a sublime moment when the melody sung by the cellos was accompanied by delicate flitting violin figurations. A passionate climax had been reached, but there was more to do in the 3^rd movement's Scherzo and Trio, which was guided with alternating agitation and lilting grace.  

Gaining in confidence, the finale's tarantella rhythm was led at a furious pace, but witness how the frenzy dissolved immediately with the second subject's broad and generous entrance. It was this ability to shift gears so skilfully and musically in rapid succession that spelt the success of this endeavour. If the seemingly unwieldy 33 could come close to emulating a slick foursome, something has to been said about the level of guidance and instruction. More is to be expected from this worthwhile project. 

OPERA COMIQUE: AT THE AIRPORT / New Opera Singapore / Review

OPERA COMIQUE AT THE AIRPORT

New Opera Singapore

The Chamber @ The Arts House

Saturday (9 March 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 11 March 2013 with the title "The comedy of arias".

The Opera Comique series by New Opera Singapore is becoming a bit like those Carry On low budget comedies of the Sixties and Seventies, featuring a cast of familiar faces in variations on the theme of farcical plots, double entendres and more than a few good laughs.

Each of these opera capers features popular arias and duets strung together by some flimsy plotline. On this evening, the setting was the airport in Bali, where flirtations, misunderstandings and love matches take place between passengers, cabin crew, ground staff and Duty Free personnel. It was all very silly but the quality of singing was most encouraging.

The sopranos had a field day. Few might have expected the ease and level of projection afforded by Isyana Sarasvati (above) in Je veux vivre (Juliette’s Waltz Song) from Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette. She was scintillating and simply brilliant. Closely matching her were Bethea How, 3^rd Prize winner in the Llangollen Eisteddfod last year, in Arditi’s swirling Parla Walzer, which brought on the loudest cheers.

Rebecca Li’s Mein Herr Marquis (Laughing Song) from Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus was infectious, as were her tittering giggles, while Moira Loh (below) had the audience in stitches in Mozart’s Batti batti, o bel Masetto (Don Giovanni), as she went on to batter her love interest. After this, there may be a new meaning to “Could you batti batti me?”

Of the male singers, baritone Jeremy Koh impressed most in Mozart’s Donne le mie fatte (Cosi Fan Tutte) with his clear ringing tone. Tenor Yap Joo How’s Questa o quella (Verdi’s Rigoletto) was convincing in his libertine aspirations, while Shaun Lee and Lim Jingjie were more than earnest in their efforts. Pianist Albert Lin, attired as an ICA immigration official, was unobtrusive while providing premium accompanying support.

It would seem that most the young singers trained by Korean soprano Jeong Ae Ree, founder of New Opera Singapore, were bleeding heart tenors or coloratura sopranos. Where were the altos or basses among the eight singers featured?

Thus this programme was skewed heavily towards soprano and tenor arias, which besides being slightly unbalanced and also on the short side. By the end of the hour, the conflicts had ceased and all on stage was kissing and making up to Lehar’s Lippen Schweigen from The Merry Widow.   

This cavil aside, it was all in good fun. With time and as the cast of New Opera Singapore matures, we might have local singing versions of Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor someday.

NAFA ORCHESTRA / Review

NAFA Orchestra

Lee Foundation Theatre

Wednesday (31 October 2012)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 3 November 2012 with the title "NAFA Orchestra at its best yet".

This reviewer has had the pleasure of witnessing the transformation and progress of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) Orchestra under its Music Director of just ten months, Lim Yau. This evening’s concert proved its most demanding concert to date, not just because of the range of repertoire performed but its sheer familiarity.

Almost all regular concert-goers know Chopin’s First Piano Concerto. Its orchestral part is not particularly gratifying, subjugated mostly to support the scintillating piano solo. Despite this, the orchestra helped set the tone in the opening Allegro Maestoso (Fast and majestically) tutti, ushering in the confident Chinese pianist Wan Jing Jing to shine.

Although she was not note-perfect, Wan gained in composure as the work progressed, crafting a dreamy cantabile in the slow movement and springing to life in the final rollicking Rondo. Her steadiness in rhythm and digital dexterity was well-matched by the orchestra’s unity and taut direction.

Arguably more difficult to accompany was Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, where dense orchestral textures are likely to overwhelm the singer. Fortunately Indonesian soprano Isyana Sarasvati possesses a bright and youthful voice, flexible and capable of scaling the higher registers with relative ease. Her intonation was close to pristine and German pronunciation more than acceptable.

However one wondered how someone this young could identify with the autumnal nature of these late songs, their world-weariness and death-laden undertones. In this respect, her contemplations on the ravages of ageing was less convincing, but will have the benefit of growing and maturing with this music in time to come. The violin solo in the third movement Beim Schlafengehen (Going to Sleep) was lovingly handled by concertmaster Wang Hao.        

The concert closed with Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture. Here the orchestra came into its own. The introduction and Friar Lawrence segment was taken very deliberately, almost achingly so, but with no detail out of place. This was in order to contrast with the furious feuding of the Montagues and Capulets that followed.

The love theme came through well, thanks to the violas and cor anglais, and the tumultuous music that ensued upped than ante and raised the overall temperature. With arms and hair flying, conductor Lim drove his charges, which included students, faculty, alumni and guests players, to an exhilarating climax and dramatic close. More will be heard from this group next year, when NAFA marks its 75^th anniversary.