SEVEN / PHOON YU, Organ / Review

SEVEN

PHOON YU, Organ

Klais Organ of Esplanade Concert Hall

Centaur Records 3926 / TT: 49’05”

 

Strange as it may seem, this is the first ever CD recording of organ music by Singaporean composers. That it comes from Singapore’s brightest young organist, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and Juilliard-trained Phoon Yu, who commissioned all the works in the recital, is also significant. Its title Seven comes from the programme’s two groups of seven: seven Singaporean composers with their own personal takes on J.S.Bach’s Chorale Preludes from Clavier-Ubung Book 3, and the seven angels from the Book of Revelation as envisioned in a cycle by an eighth Singaporean composer Chen Zhangyi.

 

Phoon is Anglican by faith, which partly informs this album’s overtly religious programme. It was, however, the aim of showcasing the organ’s full range of colours and dynamic capabilities that really distinguished each of the fourteen pieces. It is perhaps best to appreciate the music as two separate recitals of seven works, playing for about 25 minutes each.   

 

The seven composers’ responses to the Bach chorales either took the form of (1) paraphrases, (2) pieces based on choral melodies (cantus firmus) or (3) pieces inspired by the words (text evocations).  Opening the recital is Jonathan Shin’s Postlude to Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr (Glory be to God in the highest), a jazzy paraphrase that imagined if JSB had arrived in Brooklyn and heard bluegrass.

 

The choral melodies in Tan Yuting’s Vater unser in Himmelreich (Our Father in Heaven) and Emily Koh’s Fantasia on Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir (I cry out to you in deep distress) are well hidden, embedded within the organ’s textures. The latter’s crunching and long-held chords come closest to espousing the avant-garde. In Lee Jinjun’s Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam (Christ our Lord came to Jordan), the melodic line is more transparent and thus most readily discernible.

 

The text evocation preludes gave composers the widest freedoms of expression, hence how different each work sounds. Huang Dingchao’s Fantasia on Dies sind die heilgen zehn Gebot (These are the ten holy commandments) revels in liberal dissonances. Syafiqah ‘Adha Sallehin’s We all believe in one God reflects the radiance of ecumenism, of one uniting the three Abrahamic faiths. Wynne Fung’s Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns Gotteszorn wandte (Jesus Christ, our saviour, who turned away the wrath of God from us) closes the cycle with some questions instead of a comforting benediction.

 

Olivier Messiaen has previously been cited as an influence for some of Chen Zhangyi’s music. The subject of The Seven Angels certainly has Messiaenic overtones but Chen instead finds his own voice in the seven brief and concise (and therefore un-Messianesque) utterances. Birdsong and celestial chorales are absent, instead various manifestations of trumpets take over, heralding the apocalyptic events in Revelation. It is best appreciated while perusing the texts from Chapters 8, 9 and 11 of the New Testament book of Revelation (not reproduced in the sleeve-notes) while listening to the music. A mixed sense of fearful trepidation and reverential awe may be the desired outcome.

 

There is much to marvel in this music, all hailing from a rather troubled first two decades of the early twenty-first century. Guided by the keen vision, tremendous intellect and understated virtuosity of Phoon Yu, Esplanade Concert Hall’s scandalously under-utilised Klais Organ has hardly sounded this magnificent. This album is a prime candidate for the Singapore canon, established by composing legends like Leong Yoon Pin and Phoon Yew Tien.    

This recording may be sampled / downloaded at:

Seven de Phoon Yu, Syafiqah ‘adha Sallehin, Tan Yuting, Wynne Fung, Chen Zhangyi, Emily Koh, Huang Dingchao, Jonathan Shin & Lee Jinjun en Amazon Music Unlimited

A selection of works from this album may be heard in this Youtube video from the Episcopal Church of St Ignatius of Antioch in New York City (recorded on 22 April 2022):

'SEVEN: Organ Music of Singapore' Album Showcase (Archived Livestream) - YouTube

MUSIC UNMASKED / Orchestra of the Music Makers / Review

MUSIC UNMASKED

Orchestra of the Music Makers

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (1 October 2021)

 

It was a cold, wet and drippy evening, when one rather snuggles with a good book and warm mug of cocoa at home as the rain poured outside, than venturing out to the Esplanade. However, some events have to be attended. There have been no concerts with wind instruments for an eternity (or since Covid struck our shores), and the prospect of a new symphony being premiered.

Seow Yibin
Photo: Chan Chen

 

The strings of the Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) have had their say, and now it was the turn of the woodwinds, brass and percussion to have moments under the spotlight. The wait was worth it when Associate Conductor Seow Yibin stepped up to lead Richard Strauss’ Rosenkavalier Harmoniemusik as arranged by Nigel Shore. Harmoniemusik is a very Mittel-European concept, essentially wind transcriptions of popular operatic melodies, played and enjoyed by village bandsmen over schnapps and pretzels. Mozart’s operas were popularised by such arrangements, and the luscious melodies of Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier are no exception.

Photo: Yong Junyi

 

Despite having just sixteen players (11 woodwinds + 5 French horns) on stage, the ensemble generated a  big sound for its opening, with the horns lapping up those coital whoops which Strauss had so delighted in. Articulation of phrases was excellent and intonation secure, and one just wallowed in the big melodies. The problem with this suite was its length. With multiple parts and running over 40 minutes, it felt much longer. (The Rodzinski suite for full orchestra plays for a fraction of this time, and said everything that was needed to say.) One waited for sequences of waltzes to appear but that seemed in vain. And with the players at the end of their tether, a merciful close arrived.

 

The main event was a shorter work, the World Premiere of young composer Lee Jinjun’s Symphony for Brass and Percussion, also entitled “The Times Have Changed”, conducted by OMM Music Director Chan Tze Law. Cast in four movements, playing for some 27 minutes, this was a real and bona fide symphony in every respect.

Chan Tze Law
Photo: Yong Junyi

 

More significantly, this appears to be the first symphony by a Singaporean composer to be heard in a long time. None of Tan Chan Boon’s five symphonies have been performed here. Tsao Chieh’s Singapore Suite, a symphony in all but name, was premiered by the Singapore Symphony in 1986, and only performed again in 2000. There have been performances of symphonies by Robert Casteels and John Sharpley (both long-time residents here) but none from Singaporean voices. Just silence... but a gaping void was filled this evening.

 

Lee Jinjun played the trumpet
in the world premiere of his symphony.

Although the detailed booklet notes indicate a programme of the pandemic striking the city-state and heroes rising to meet the challenge, this symphony works well as absolute music. The first movement may be discerned as been written in sonata form. After a portentous introduction, two themes are introduced in the ensuing allegro, the first in syncopated rhythm contrasted by a second, which is flowing and lyrical. The trumpet gets a prominent solo, while the snare-drum provides the feel of an ominous threat looming overhead.

 

The second movement’s scherzo is percussion-driven, alternating between menace and playful mischief. One senses a Waltonian spirit of con malizia (with malice) in these pages, contrasted by a more reassuring central chorale which may be described as Bernsteinesque, while a John Williams’ Star Wars vibe is never far, far away.

Photo: Yong Junyi

 

In the slow third movement, also the symphony’s longest, one gets to the heart and soul of the work. A warm Beethovenian theme dominates, involving flugelhorn, Wagner tubas, piccolo trumpet or a combination of these, building to a crushing climax suggesting tragedy on an epic scale. The warm Hero’s theme is restated, and there is an attacca (without break) into the galloping chase-like finale.

 

One might have wished this to be longer and further developed, like a Brucknerian “hunting horn rondo”, but spare a thought for the 16 brass and 5 percussion players who would have been pretty exhausted by now. The close was an emphatic one, possessed with the vigour and vehemence that permeates action movie music scores.  

 

Make no mistake, what I witnessed is a magnificent symphony, performed with the requisite virtuosity one has come to expect from the young musicians of OMM. One hopes this symphony will be heard again with some frequency, especially from Singapore’s many wind bands, but first they must get their hands on those Wagner tubas. By the time I left the Esplanade, the rain had abated, and there was still time for that good book and mug of cocoa.    

 

OMM RESTARTS! / FRENCH IMPRESSIONS / Review

OMM RESTARTS!

FRENCH IMPRESSIONS

Esplanade Concert Hall

Recorded in January 2021

YouTube: https://youtu.be/1cPx8g16Mic 

 

Orchestral concerts are not back to what it was pre-Covid, and no thanks to the recent heightened measures taken in May-June, further concerts had to be cancelled. Online concerts have become a new normal, and no less than the Singapore Symphony Orchestra has relied on this platform to share its art. The Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) has done the same, employing the same recording specialists (msm-productions and Dancing Legs Productions) to do its bidding, and the results have been just as spectacular.

 

Viewing this latest concert video of mostly-French music (https://youtu.be/1cPx8g16Mic), and one will be challenged to decide which is the national orchestra and which is the independent youth orchestra formed by students, free-lancers, working non-musical professionals, and a handful of SSO players. Even the OMM’s programming has been one of sophistication, combining popular with less heralded works, as well as commissioning young local composers for orchestral transcriptions.

 

Conducted by Seow Yibin, the concert began with Debussy’s Reverie (originally a piano work) orchestrated by Lee Jinjun, who also played the trumpet in this concert (but not in this piece). This made for a calm and atmospheric prelude, with Vincent Goh’s solo clarinet providing the opening melody before the theme being passed around. Ethereal strings (with occasional use of harmonics) and the ever-evocative harp lent the performance an other-wordly feel it deserved.     

Lee Jinjun playing the trumpet in Ravel

 

The four orchestrated movements of Ravel’s piano suite La Tombeau de Couperin (excepting the Fugue and Toccata) followed, opening with a flowing Prélude which saw solo woodwinds negotiating multiple tricky turns with great aplomb. This was pretty much a woodwind masterclass, continuing into the bouncily syncopated Forlane, and the Menuet where solo oboist Tay Kai Tze  had the choicest of plum parts. His excellence also shone through in the slow central section of the rollicking Rigaudon, which closed the suite on a high.

 

Prokofiev’s only Flute Sonata, orchestrated by Jonathan Shin, has become Prokofiev’s Flute Concerto, now receiving its world premiere. This has the same music as the Russian’s Second Violin Sonata, which had been for reconfigured for David Oistrakh from its flute origins. One wonders why it did not become a third violin concerto as well. At any rate, Shin’s is a totally idiomatic and faithful transcription, one which gave soloist Cheryl Lim full rein to express her virtuosity.

 

Hers has never been one of outward flashiness, instead she is completely assured and totally musical. Her tone is gorgeous and limpid, well suited for the work’s broad vistas of sheer lyricism in the opening and Andante third movements. Even in the thorniest passages of the Scherzo, she remained unfazed, leaping over hurdles and through hoops with seeming comfort and ease. For the  jocular finale, the was overarching spirit was one of unremitting joy, bringing to a close a performance of utmost satisfaction. When can we get to hear the violin version of this concerto, from the likes of Alan Choo or Yang Shuxiang?     

 

Francis Poulenc’s four-movement Sinfonietta (1947) is too modestly titled. Running over 30 minutes, it is actually a fully fledged symphony, longer than all of Mozart’s symphonies and at least three Beethoven symphonies. It is scandalously neglected and I do not remember the SSO ever programming it, so kudos to OMM for possibly giving its Singapore premiere.

 

It contains all of the Frenchman’s grace, charm, sumptuous melodies and good humour, and the same uplifting spirit as his better-known ballet Les Biches (1924). Poulenc was no modernist, but one will detect influences of Stravinsky from his neo-classical phase, the infectiously chugging rhythms of the fast outer movements and svelte strings (think Apollon Musagetes) of the slow third movement.

 

While one might marvel at the typically comedic high jinks regularly offered up, it was the slower lingering passages, such as midway in the first movement and finale, which showed the ensemble at its subtle and sublime best. This was a very fine performance with much to be proud of, distinguished by very confident woodwind and brass playing and a general cohesiveness from conductor Seow’s firm yet flexible control from start to finish. It was so good I had to rewatch the whole Sinfonietta and pinch myself about the quality of the music and its playing. Perhaps OMM might also want to look at Prokofiev’s Sinfonietta as well.  

 

Highly pleasurable concerts such as this should be enjoyed by a full-house Esplanade Concert Hall, and one simply cannot wait for audiences to return. It is a big hope, but that is what will buoy us through these troubled times.

 

Watch it here:

https://youtu.be/1cPx8g16Mic

and its free of charge, 

thanks to the National Arts Council.

OMM RESTARTS! / LI-WEI PLAYS HAYDN / Review

OMM RESTARTS! 

LI-WEI PLAYS HAYDN

Orchestra of the Music Makers

Conducted by Chan Tze Law

Recorded at Esplanade Concert Hall

Released online on 7 February 2021

 

https://youtu.be/0-xJSqOJ14U 

(Please click on link above to view concert) 

 

As Singapore emerges from the Covid-19 circuit breaker, local arts groups have been busy producing concerts, both live and digital for online viewing. The Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) has been no exception, with concerts that even rival the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s for quality of content and delivery.

 

While one might suggest that youthful OMM is the amateur or junior counterpart of SSO, certain factors suggest that the pro-am divide is much narrower than most imagine. For starters, which orchestra is the first in Singapore to present a Wagner Ring Cycle opera? Alright, that’s somewhat unfair to the SSO. However when one compares like with like, as in the concerts featuring chamber-sized ensembles playing chamber-sized repertoire, there is often little to separate seasoned professionals with the enthusiasm of fresh-faced youth. This recently released concert, conducted by its Music Director, master orchestra-builder Chan Tze Law (once of the SSO), is a good case in point.

 

Judging by the crispness and incisive quality of the opening chords for Beethoven’s Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, this was going to be crackling reading, and one was not disappointed. The strings and woodwinds were also en point, rendering this briefest of Beethoven overtures an excellent curtain raiser. 

The orchestra also played sensitive accompanist to Australian-Chinese cellist Qin Li-Wei in Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major, a totally lyrical outing where issues of period performance or authenticity became irrelevant. Rich and wide vibratos from both soloist and orchestral strings are the way to go, and there should be no timidity in bringing out a sumptuous sonority for fear of offending academics or pedants.

 

This was a performance of vigour and virtuosity, not least in young Singaporean Jonathan Shin’s  romanticised but idiomatic cadenzas. No harm in stretching Qin’s technique to the limit, and he nailed these with stunning aplomb. The slow movement was one lovely aria, Mozartean in its song-like seamlessness, providing a calming respite before the finale’s romp of fireworks. Again the sheer musicality displayed by both soloist and orchestra were impressive, as one could just wallow in the music’s joie de vivre without worrying too much about technical details. The encore in Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No.5, arranged for cello and orchestra by another young local Lee Jin Jun, was a delicious and welcome tidbit.

 

Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.4 in A major, also known as the Italian, received a brisk and lively reading. Brimming with agreeable sunshine, the music was allowed to smile in its fast outer movements. The second movement’s Andante con moto was not dragged out, instead taken in a fair lick underpinned by a quiet and gently chugging rhythm that did not outstay its welcome. Similarly the third movement flowed unimpeded, with the all-important French horn duo acquitting themselves very well.

 

The finale’s Saltarello upped the ante several notches, and despite its rapid quickfire pace, the ensemble held its shape and form without sacrificing accuracy in the process. Kudos go to the woodwinds and hardworking strings, and the build up to the final climax was thrilling. One might expect that in a Tchaikovsky symphony, but for Mendelssohn, this was no mean feat. Passion is what matters, and there was plenty to go around. It was a fitting close to an hour of good music well spent in the company of OMM.      

 

SSO NATIONAL DAY CONCERT / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

SSO NATIONAL DAY CONCERT

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (10 August 2019)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 12 August 2019 with the title "Waving national flags with pride to national songs".

What is Singaporean music? Another facet of this conundrum was revealed in the second of National Day Concerts by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Conducted by SSO Associate Conductor Joshua Tan, our music had to do with myriad cultural influences and the creation of “national songs”.

The concert’s first half dealt with Western influences, opening with the world premiere of A.Dietz’s Raffles March, as orchestrated by Bertram Wee. Composed in 1915 and first performed by the Raffles Hotel orchestra in 1922, it was named after the establishment rather than the man who appropriated Singapore for the British crown.

Pompous and blustery, this version with lots of winds and brass is perfectly suited for a grenadier guards band rather than palm court orchestra. Its local counterpart was Tsao Chieh’s March (Colonial Days), the 2^nd movement from his Singapore Suite. The Elgarian intent to evoke once-glorious days of the British Raj was deliberate, but the themes Tsao used were wholly his own.

Kelly Tang’s Montage was a 2010 piano concerto dedicated to and premiered by Singapore’s “King of Swing”, jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro. Originally for Chinese instruments, this edition for symphony orchestra is Singapore’s answer to Gershwin’s Concerto In F. With plenty of spots to extemporise, Monteiro commanded the keyboard with exuberant sweeps and dizzying fingerwork. Better with every listen, the work also afforded dazzling improvisations for Christy Smith (bass) and Tamagoh (drum), and a plum solo for young saxophonist Samuel Phua.

The second half paid tribute to Singapore’s ethnic diversity and the forging of a national identity. Tony Makarome’s Jewel Of Srivijaya, a double concerto for mridangam (with VM Sai Akileshwar) and tabla (Nawaz Mirajkar), received its world premiere.

The legacy of Temasek, part of the ancient Srivijayan empire through its “discovery” by Sang Nila Utama, was celebrated with a convincing fusion of Indian music (both Carnatic and Hindustani traditions) and Western orchestration. Without missing a beat, complex drumming rhythms were taken in their stride by both soloists, and the orchestra ably kept up through conductor Tan’s animated and tireless direction. 

Master of Ceremonies Khairudin Saharom speaks
with Tony Makarome and his student Lee Jinjun.

Young composer Lee Jinjun was rewarded with two world premieres. The first was Kampong Overture, which cleverly incorporated three Malay songs – Geylang Sipaku Geylang, Lenggang Kangkung and Suriram – in a very effective concert piece written in the style of Dvorak’s symphonic movements and Slavonic Dances. Even a quote from the Largo of Dvorak’s New World Symphony made brief cameo.

His second coup was Our Singapore Dream, a mash-up of National Day Parade Songs – We Are Singapore, Count On Me Singapore, One People. One Nation. One Singapore. – featuring the Singapore Symphony Chorus (Eudenice Palaruan, Chorus Master) and crafted in the English choral tradition of Elgar and Vaughan Williams. Once suspects these two works will be heard rather often from now on.

Conductor Joshua Tan got his national pride from
his grandfather, now 102 years old, who once
volunteered to do National Service at the age of 60!

Nostalgia reigned in Lam Chao Phang’s The Awakening and Tan Kian Chin / Bok Sek Yieng’s Voices From The Heart, theme music both from very popular Chinese television series of the 1980s, and Phoon Yew Tien’s March On, which rehashed National Service songs. By the time the patriotic Believe In Me, Singapore (in Mandarin) was sung, national flags were emerging from the audience’s pockets and waved with unfettered fervour.

It was left to Dick Lee’s ubiquitous Home and Iskandar Ismail’s arrangement of Majulah Singapura, both with jazz singer Joanna Dong at the fore, to elicit an obligatory standing ovation and the communal shedding of tears.

Relive this memorable concert here:

Livestream: Singapore Symphony Orchestra National Day Concert 2019 - YouTube

SINGAPORE SOUNDS / Review

SINGAPORE SOUNDS GALA CONCERT

Singapore Sounds

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory

Sunday (20 September 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 22 September 2015 with the title "Fresh take on the Singaporean sound".

As Singapore celebrates its 50^th year of nationhood, one is constantly posed with the question, “What is the Singaporean identity?” Along the same lines, one also asks, “What is Singaporean music?” Singapore Sounds, a new orchestra founded by young conductor Adrian Chiang (left) dedicated to performing Singaporean music, gave its debut and provided some of the answers to that poser.

Examples in history from Russian, Czech, Hungarian, English and American music all point to the vernacular, folk music and popular sources as the basis of national music traditions. So Singaporean music must at one point derive from the grassroots; folksongs in native languages, popular music and nationalistic jingles (yes, those NDP songs) all form the rich fabric from which real Singaporean music evolves.

This landmark 150-minute-long Gala Concert conducted by Chiang provided many examples of these in various guises. Arrangements of songs were the most recognisable ones, with the composers doing their best to dress them up in discernible forms for concert performance.

Young composer Phoon Yu's version of  the familiar Tamil song Munneru Valiba was a colourful set of variations, the melody first heard on sitar accompanied by piano and harp. Dick Lee's evergreen Home was worked by Phoon into a concertante work for violin, with SSO Co-Leader Lynnette Seah negotiating through multiple cadenzas in the Romantic style, playing on a specially crafted SG50 bow by Paul Goh.   

Syafiqah 'Adha's Singapura Medley made use of popular Malay dance forms including the asli, inang, joget, canggung and zapin for its four songs, beginning with Di Tanjong Katong with the melody first heard on the accordion, played by the composer herself. This exuberant showing was only matched by Zaidi Sabtu-Ramli's arrangement of Shabir Tabare Alam's Singai Naadu (Lion Country), a rousing tune originally in Tamil, now almost totally transformed. 

Other than a rather forgettable Count On Me Singapore, Lee Jinjun's arrangements took on a life of their own. His Chan Mali Chan Variations with Kang Chun Meng on euphonium was a virtuoso showstopper with many original ideas, while Fantasia On Rasa Sayang became a neo-baroque invention, include a chaconne, fugue and brass chorale dressed in dissonant harmonies.

This concert also recognised the contributions of foreign-born composers now living in Singapore. Briton Eric Watson's Constellations received its World Premiere, a meditation on the five stars and crescent moon of the national flag, represented by six traditional instruments (erhu, ruan, sitar, tabla, gambus and rebana) performing solos as if in a concerto grosso. His highly accessible tonal style, while not quoting local tunes, was redolent of film music.

More modernistic was Belgium-born Robert Casteels's Travelogue, conducted by the composer and now adapted for a larger orchestra with traditional instruments. A satire on Singapore in the year 2065, the protagonist, acted and sung by the irrepressible tenor Leslie Tay, was a Singaporean exile returning from Mars to find a homeland he does not really recognise. The use of colloquialisms, localities present and past and Singlish made this work undeniably Singaporean.

The concert concluded with Phang Kok Jun's lively Xinyao Medley, with Liang Wern Fook's Mandarin ballads from the 1980s best typified by Xi Shui Chang Liu (Friendship Forever). The encore Cheng Li De Yue Guang (Moonlight In The City), by Chen Jia Ming, sent the audience home humming its tune. Chinese, Malay or Indian, classical, folk or popular, these are our songs which nobody can take away from us.