BEETHOVEN WITH JAMES EHNES AND LAWRENCE RENES / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

BEETHOVEN WITH JAMES EHNES 

AND LAWRENCE RENES 

Singapore Symphony Orchestra 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Saturday (9 November 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 11 November 2024 with the title "SSO's most exciting and memorable Beethoven concert yet".

The idea of a concert comprising wholly works by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is hardly new, yet a fully packed Victoria Concert Hall showed that the great German composer still has a special cachet among concert-goers. Even the tried and tested three-work overture-concerto-symphony format seemed to work a charm. 

First up was Coriolan Overture (Op.62), not based on William Shakespeare but the German dramatist Heinrich von Collin. Nonetheless, the struggle between belligerence and peace-making in this tragedy remained the same, with the opening punched-out chords delivered with extreme vehemence. The level of tension ratcheted up by the orchestra under Dutch-Maltese conductor Lawrence Renes was key to its high drama. 

It was undoubtedly Canadian violinist James Ehnes performing the Violin Concerto in D major (Op.61) that was the concert’s main draw. His performance came closest to the perfect conception of this 45 minute masterpiece, longest in the violin concerto repertoire. 

From his entry, commanding yet not in-your-face, listeners were riveted by his big tone, purity of intonation and clarity of intent. The contrapuntally rich first movement cadenza by Fritz Kreisler was delivered effortlessly, and the passage accompanied by pizzicato strings immediately following that sounded like pure magic. 

Premature applause erupted and for some, that seemed like a guilty pleasure. The Larghetto slow movement also passed like a dream, its seamless lyricism made one wished it would not end. The Rondo finale’s dance-like moves were replicated by Renes on the podium as both violinist and orchestra romped to a brilliant close. 

Ehnes was not allowed to leave without offering two generous encores, Eugene Ysaye’s thorny Sonata No.3 (or Ballade) and the slow movement from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonata No.3 (BWV.1005). Every moment in the company of Ehnes was time well spent. 

Moving in reverse Opus number order, Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony in B flat major (Op.60) closed the concert on a high. Although less glamourous than his Third and Fifth Symphonies, its many sublime passages can still move hearts and excite under the right hands. Conducting completely from memory, Renes had that Midas touch. 

Its Adagio slow opening, possessing the same set of notes as the famous Fifth Symphony, was arresting, then erupting into an Allegro that bristled and bounded with energy. Even the slow movement was illusory, gaining speed and volume, being built on waves of momentum to the timpani’s beat. 

The third movement’s country dance was very well judged, animated and charged without coming across as too ungainly. All and sundry would be swept away by the perpetual motion of the finale’s tarantella rhythm. Precision and accuracy were almost scarcely believable at such high speeds, and the symphony wound to a breathless close. 

In over 45 years of concert-going, this reviewer has yet to encounter a more exciting or memorable Beethoven concert than this.

The review of the same concert on Bachtrack.com here: 

James Ehnes and Lawrence Renes star in memorable all-Beethoven evening in Singapore | Bachtrack

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.