MUSICAL VOYAGE II / WHERE WORLDS CONVERGE: A NIGHT AT THE CROSSROADS / Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra / National University of Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

MUSICAL VOYAGE II 

Singapore National Youth 

Chinese Orchestra 

Singapore Conference Hall 

Saturday (22 March 2025)

WHERE WORLDS CONVERGE: 

A NIGHT AT THE CROSSROADS 

National University of Singapore 

Symphony Orchestra 

Conservatory Concert Hall 

Sunday (23 March 2025) 

This review was published in The Straits Times on 25 March 2025 with the review "Young orchestras SNYCO and NUSSO prove mettle in weekend concerts".

Just a fortnight after the Singapore National Youth Orchestra’s sterling performance under Singapore Symphony music director Hans Graf comes another weekend with two youth orchestras making their mark on the music scene. 

The Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra (SNYCO) led by Lien Boon Hua mastered a demanding programme which included works by three young Singaporean composers. First was the world premiere of Chok Kerong’s Bird’s-Eye View. Better known as a jazz pianist and arranger, Chok’s single-movement symphonic poem displayed range by resourceful use of tonal colours and unusual harmonies. Depicting the buoyancy of flight, the music soared with unfettered wings. 

Quite different yet engaging was Sulwyn Lok’s With a Little Bit of Love and Imagination, with excerpts that possessed the easy accessibility of pop-inspired movie music. In Phang Kok Jun’s Storytellers on Ann Siang Road, a musical duel ensued between erhus played by brothers Zeng Canran and Zeng Haoran, accompanied by just six players. By reflecting and merging disparate cultures of Chinese and Malay music, this was Nanyang music at its most intimate. 

This was contrasted by the well-established Nanyang classic that is Law Wai Lun’s Prince Sang Nila Utama and Singa. This saga on the founding of early Singapore was a musical voyage skillfully using gamelan scales to be found in Indonesian music. 

Photo: Singapore Chinese Orchestra

There were two works inspired by the culture and scenery of Tibet. Wen Zhanli’s The Encounter and the Forgotten Valley, a single-movement tone poem, relived the pomp of Tibet’s religious processions and relished in exuberant dances, closing with an impressive suona solo and implausibly long-held final note. 

Kuan Nai-chung’s four-movement symphony A Trip to Lhasa was the perfect picture-postcard travelogue, distinguished by playing of sensitivity and relentless vigour. There can be no more vivid music than its final two movements, depicting the blood-curdling ritual of a Celestial Burial and a raucous dance for Vanquishing Demons. 

Part of the National University of Singapore Arts Festival, the NUS Symphony Orchestra (NUSSO) led by Thai conductor Pamornpan Komolpamorn, resident conductor of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, showcased its prowess and potential in two contrasted works. 

Photo: Asher Tan

The first was the world premiere of Singapore Symphony Orchestra principal flautist Jin Ta’s Life of a Rice. This pleasing 15-minute tone poem for solo flute and orchestra with projected animations depicted the journey of a rice grain from padi field to dinner table through a series of variations. The pentatonic melodies reflected its Chinese inspiration while extended cadenzas stamped Jin’s virtuoso credentials. 

Which young orchestra does not aspire to playing a symphony by Gustav Mahler? NUSSO’s first ever performance of the Austrian composer’s First Symphony was a dream come true, a reading that lacked nothing in guts and determination. 

Although it had a shaky opening in the depiction of dawn with brass yet to fully warm up, the orchestra soon gained confidence and composure, and never looked back. There was much vigour in the second movement’s Landler dance, the main impetus being its striding pace. 

The third movement’s funeral march was a droll canon on the Frere Jacques theme, led by solo double bass but with Klezmer elements coming on full flow, rusticity was turned on its head. Most impressive, however, was the finale’s primal scream, literally the “cry of a wounded heart” which showed that the musicians knew exactly what this music was about. 

The symphony’s titanic journey from death to life, with the entire French horn section up on its feet for a grandstanding end, raised the goosebumps and provided moments to remember and cherish.

A reunion of the Kent Ridge
Fine Music and Steak Appreciation Club
(No vegetarians accepted).

JOHN WILLIAMS - ESSAY & FLUTE CONCERTO / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

JOHN WILLIAMS - 

ESSAY AND FLUTE CONCERTO 

Singapore Symphony Orchestra 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Friday (29 March 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 April 2024 with the title "SSO explores film composer John Williams' serious side".

People who attended this Singapore Symphony concert of John Williams’ music might have gotten a shock to find out that the composer of such iconic Hollywood scores as Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Harry Potter movies has a totally serious and academic side at odds with what they have been accustomed to.

The John Williams
most people are familiar with.

Williams’ Essay for Strings (1965) and Flute Concerto (1969), composed while he was busy scoring for forgettable B and C-grade movies, received belated Asian premieres, directed by young German conductor Gabriel Venzago. 

A much younger John Williams.

Essay, on first hearing, came across as the more approachable work, its dark hues and chromaticism stirring a sense of foreboding not unlike Bernard Herrmann’s famous music for Psycho (1960). There were many unison passages, brought out very evenly by the orchestra, adding to the starkness being conveyed. And when harmonies arose, these were highly dissonant, indication that Williams had learnt much from the aesthetics of the Second Viennese School and Bela Bartok. 

Heavy pizzicatos rained, and then came fast slithering figures, which the ensemble more than coped, bringing its eventful 11 minutes to an abrupt close. While not as memorable as Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, the disquieting music has the same ability to get under one’s skin. 

Photo: Aloysius Lim

The Flute Concerto was more forbidding in its idiom. Pointillist shards of sound shot around before SSO principal flautist Jin Ta opened accounts in his highly virtuosic part. His flute stood out above the strings, which punctuated with percussive pizzicatos, and there were many moments resembling the Japanese shakuhachi’s poignant voice. The concerto’s second half was accompanied by pitched percussion - marimba, vibraphone, piano – and any hint of lyricism was at a premium before tutti forces announced the concerto’s violent and troubled conclusion. 

As if to atone for the earlier discordance, Jin’s accompanied encore was his very tuneful and Chinese-influenced Wind Chimes, receiving its world premiere. Its cinematic quality suggests that Jin himself could be a very fine film composer. 

The concert’s second half was devoted to Beethoven Second Symphony in D major (Op.36), which received a taut and cogently thought-out account under Venzago’s baton. The emphatic opening unison note was delivered with devastating unity, which informed the rest of the work. The slow introduction, with tension building up for the Allegro proper, was handled so well that the eventual outcome was a joyous release. 

One could not blame the audience’s premature applause between movements given the orchestra’s conviction extending through all four movements. The slow movement was taken at a broad and leisurely pace which could have done with some tenderness, but the Scherzo and its contrasting Trio section was as lively as it could possibly be. 

With the exciting finale, Beethoven would soon shed his mentor Joseph Haydn’s mould with his next symphony, the mighty Eroica Symphony, to come. However, this performance which closed on an elated high, revealed a quality both composers shared: an unflappable sense of humour.

CHLOE CHUA PLAYS MOZART 4 / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

CHLOE CHUA PLAYS MOZART 4

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Thursday (12 January 2023)

This review was first published in Bachtrack on 13 January 2023 with the title "More splendid Mozart from Chloe Chua and Hans Graf in Singapore".

 

This was the first symphony concert of the year led by music director Hans Graf in Singapore, and it had the makings of a landmark. 15-year-old violinist Chloe Chua, the orchestra’s Artist-in-Residence of 2022-23, was the obvious main draw. There was, however, still much to recommend about the rest of the concert, which opened with Debussy’s Prelude to The Afternoon of the Fawn.

Photo: Jack Yam

 

Principal flautist Jin Ta’s opening solo had a sinuous and languid quality that set the tone, as the day enlivened from sultry slumber. Rachel Walker’s excellent oboe continued this awakening amid shimmering textures which listeners today refer to as “impressionist”. Imagine the reaction of its first Parisian audience (1894), to the music’s indeterminate tonality and seeming decadence. No fears on this evening, as conductor Graf led with firm yet flexible enough guiding hands. Also graced by concertmaster Markus Tomasi’s short violin solo and the gentle of tinkle of zimbeln (miniature cymbals), brief but indelible moments of aural magic were the result.

Photo: Jack Yam

 

The full-house had waited on Chloe Chua’s appearance and were not to be disappointed by her convincing account of Mozart’s Fourth Violin Concerto in D major. The prize-winning sixteen-year-old has to be every music teacher’s dream student, as she carried utter musicality and confident stage deportment to the nth degree. Whether it was her sensitively-honed tone, natural phrasing or unimpeachable intonation, there were lots to admire.

Photo: Jack Yam

 

When more outward show was called for, as in cadenzas near the end of each movement, she delivered with directness and neither idiosyncracy nor artifice. The cantabile of the slow movement was matched by her view of the Rondo’s courtliness and gentle dance rhythms. She had performed Mozart’s Turkish-flavoured Fifth Concerto just six months ago, and this was no clone of that outing but a separate entity that breathed new life of its own. Close your eyes, and one does not imagine a child at play but someone twice or three times as mature. Despite the long and loud applause, Chloe dragged out conductor Graf to share the limelight, which meant there was not to be a solo encore. A pity, the only one of the evening.

 

After having partnered Chloe so sensitively and assiduously in the concerto, the orchestra had its own show in Georges Bizet’s early Symphony in C major. Composed at only seventeen in 1855, the symphony was discovered and premiered as late as the 1930s. Sir Thomas Beecham was an early champion, however it has fallen to relative neglect in “serious” concert programmes these days.  

Photo: Jack Yam

 

Its opening movement, taken at a quick clip by Graf and his charges, had liveliness and ebullience. Brimming with Haydnesque wit, it was simply enjoyable. Carmen will not be heard until 1875, but strong hints are found in the lovely Adagio, with Pan Yun’s ravishing oboe solo lighting up with a warm Mediterranean glow. The busy little string fugue near its close also provided clues for later action to come. The high spirits of the rustic Scherzo, with its bucolic drones (echoing those heard earlier in the Mozart concerto), made for nice contrasts. The perpetual motion for strings of the Mendelssohnian finale, splendidly delivered, was further icing on the cake. Delicious was to be the last word.    

  

Star Rating: *****

The review as it appears in Bachtrack:

Splendid Mozart from Chloe Chua and Hans Graf in Singapore | Bachtrack

Victoria Concert Hall / Theatre
and clock tower as illuminated in
the Light To Night Festival.

The National Gallery
(formerly Supreme Court building).

The Arts House @
The Old Parliament

MOZART FLUTE & HARP CONCERTO / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

MOZART FLUTE & HARP CONCERTO

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday 25 November 2022

This review was published in Bachtrack on 28 November 2022 with the title "Singapore Symphony principals and Ludovic Morlot delight in Mozart".

 

Presented as part of the Voilah! France Singapore Festival, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by French conductor Ludovic Morlot, current Music Director of the Barcelona Symphony and Conductor Emeritus of the Seattle Symphony, had to include something French in this concert. Thus Darius Milhaud’s single-act ballet Le Boeuf sur le Toit (The Ox on the Roof) opened the evening.

 

Its Dadaist title was typical of 1920s Parisian chic, where meaningless or seemingly ridiculous titles belied art of a more serious kind. The music reflected a cosmopolitanism that was all a rage, a Provencale composer dabbling in exuberant Brazilian rhythms. Infectiously danceable and outrageously hip, it was jarring polytonality that caught the ear. Woodwinds played in different keys from the strings for stretches, yet these meshed together well. As repetitious as some parts were, there was always mischief afoot and the players were alive to it all. Was this jazz, vaudeville or dance hall music? Perhaps a bit of all those, but these days we simply use the term “crossover”.

Percussionist Mark Suter plays the guiro,
or scraper, commonly heard in South American music.

 

The riot then gave way to the courtly formalities of Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major (K.299), featuring two of Singapore Symphony’s long-serving principals, flautist Jin Ta and harpist Gulnara Mashurova. Truth be told, this was more a vehicle for the flautist, who carried most of the melodies and added flourishes of his own, while the harpist provided delicate accompaniment. As a duo, they worked perfectly fine, aided by a pared down orchestra of strings, two oboes and two horns, which played as discreetly as possible.

 

Virtuoso cadenzas provided by Carl Reinecke at the end of each movement gave scope for display, while the harp was afforded the luxury of opening the Rondeau finale with a show of individual prowess. Musical poetry was the order of the day, not least in the aria-like central Andantino and later in the duo’s encore, an original work by Jin Ta, Phoenix Song, filled with piquant impressionist harmonies and colours.

 

Robert Schumann’s First Symphony in B flat major, or the “Spring” Symphony formed the concert’s second half. Poor Schumann has been accused of being a weak orchestrator, and his symphonic reputation suffered for being neither Beethoven nor Brahms. However, conductor Morlot’s tautly-knit vision of the work, played without extraneous additions by other composers who sought to “improve” it, will change minds.

 

The opening trumpet fanfare signalled intent in its introduction, before launching into the Allegro molto vivace which possessed an inner tension and urgency. Further excitement was provided by a single triangle (appearing only in the opening movement) whose celebratory tintinnabulation might have given Liszt ideas for his First Piano Concerto. What about the Beethovenian slow movement, the second subject of which later became the main theme of Brahms’ Third Symphony? Despite everything, Schumann was definitely influential and was not just writing orchestrated piano music.

 

The Scherzo third movement in G minor was delivered with true sturm und drang, its rapid shifts in pace and tempi skilfully negotiated. Despite the finale’s grand opening flourish, this music was more about lightness and humour. Pianophiles will recognise one of its themes to be the eighth and  final fantasy from Schumann’s Kreisleriana, with its E.T.A.Hoffmann associations. It was with this levity that the symphony closed, and judging by the applause, clearly appreciated by the audience.

 

Photo: Alvin Ho / Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Star Rating: ****

FLURRY OF THE FLUTE / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

FLURRY OF THE FLUTE

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (10 April 2021)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 14 April 2021 with the title "Lyrical flute paints picture of lyrical bliss".

 

Judging by the concert’s title, one might have expected the flute concerto programmed to be its main draw. In that respect, one would have been right as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s principal flautist Jin Ta gave a stunning performance of French composer Jacques Ibert’s Flute Concerto. The three-movement showpiece, although peppered with piquant dissonances, was mostly a lyrical work that suited Jin to the tee.

 

In its dreamy central slow movement, his pure and limpid tone painted a landscape of idyllic bliss, one that radiated the warm glow of summer. This was contrasted with virtuosic flourishes in the bustling opening movement, tossed off with an almost casual nonchalance, and the finale’s syncopations and riffs. A series of outlandish cadenzas, also cooly dispatched, completed its busy twenty minutes.

 

Led by chief conductor Hans Graf, the orchestra provided discreet and sensitive support but also  had the flexibility to let it rip when called upon. Jin’s encore, a jazzman’s take on the popular Love Song of Kangding accompanied by bassist Wang Xu, was simply delightful.

 

Social-distancing rules that limited ensembles to a maximum of 30 onstage performers led to rather creative programming choices. Two rarely heard symphonies, both in the dramatic and quasi-tragic key of C minor, were given deserved exposure on either side of the Ibert concerto.

 

Haydn’s Symphony No.95, receiving its Singapore premiere, does not have the dubious blessing of a nickname. While it lacked surprises, drumrolls and imitations of ticking clocks or clucking hens, it more than made up with the Austrian composer’s penchant with storms and stresses. The emphatic opening was given bold lashes, precisely hewn by the strings, its nervous tension balanced by a more sedate second subject.

 

This sense of push and pull provided the interest that was sustained all the way to the second movement’s theme and variations. Here and in the more lively Minuet and Trio yielded some beautiful solo playing by cellist Yu Jing. The finale had the lightness and ebullience of Mozart, finishing gratifyingly in the key of C major.

 

Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.1, last played by the SSO in 1980, had its cobwebs dusted off with vehement zeal. The utterings of a precocious 15-year-old in the thrall of the late Mozart were passionately driven in the stormy first movement. This was contrasted by a hymn-like countenance in the Beethovenian slow movement distinguished by fine wind playing.

 

An urgency occupied the third movement Minuet, which went full tilt in the finale where the pathos of Mozart’s penultimate symphony was fervently relived. Mendelssohn was not copying Mozart, but paying homage, including a fugal episode and a triumphal apotheosis as C minor morphed into glorious C major.

 

The pleasing symmetry afforded by both symphonies and ardent performances made this 100-minute concert without intermission (the longest post circuit-breaker) an unmitigated pleasure.