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.  

MAGNIFICAT / NAFA Orchestra & Chorus / Review

MAGNIFICAT

NAFA Orchestra & Chorus

Ashley Solomon, Conductor

Victoria Concert Hall

Wednesday (15 April 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 April 2015 with the title "Baroque rocks the house".

Verily, verily, Victoria Concert Hall was designed for baroque music in mind. After attending almost a year of concerts in the newly reconstructed VCH, it is the chamber music and baroque concerts which have given this reviewer the greatest satisfaction. This all-Bach concert by the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts with period performance practice in mind may just be the catalyst for a renaissance of baroque music not just in this space, but in Singapore as well.

Ashley Solomon, founder of the renowned British baroque ensemble Florilegium, led the NAFA Orchestra playing with period bows on modern instruments like a guiding light. The concert opened with the Overture in D major by Johann Bernhard Bach, a second cousin of the ubiquitous Johann Sebastian. This rarely-heard work, which consists of a French overture and a suite of dances, only exists because the latter had hand-copied the parts for his own use.

The performance was a delightful one, with crisply articulated playing of minimal vibrato that brought out the vivacious essence of the baroque. The dances, which included fast passepieds, a graceful slow sarabande and lively caprice to close were very well characterised. This playing of ebullience continued in Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto in D minor for violin and oboe (BWV.1060R) with soloists Foo Say Ming and Joost Flach respectively.

This was a rarely-heard edition of the same concerto often heard and recorded in C minor. The ears adapted easily to this transposition, and both soloists shined in the intricate play of intertwined voices and counterpoint through its three movements. The central slow movement, with its singing line shared by the players, can only be described as a gem within an embarrassment of riches.

The main work was J.S.Bach's Magnificat in D major, with the orchestra joined by a 110-member choir comprising the entire corpus of music students in the academy. This was the major departure from the baroque age which operated with far smaller vocal forces, but sheer numbers provided both unity and strength here.

Chorus master Lim Yau, also Head of Music at NAFA, had drilled them well, with the opening proclamation of Magnificat (My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord) coming like joyous laughter as Virgin Mary exults on learning she will bear the son of God. Their entries in the choral fugues were also close to immaculate, with clarity and diction being strong suits. And has there ever been an choir assembled here with as many as 32 men?

All five soloists acquitted themselves well in arias besides being well matched in duets and ensemble. Countertenor Chia Wee Kiat was a standout in Esurientes implevit bonis (He Hath Filled The Hungry With Good Things), buoyantly lifting himself above the two flutes without sounding lightweight. Alto Jessica Chen and soprano Isyana Sarasvati provided contrasting timbres to the arias Et Exsultavit (And My Spirit Hath Rejoiced) and Quia Respexit (For He Hath Regarded) respectively, the latter poignantly accompanied by oboe and cello.

Tenor Jeremy Koh emoted well in the emphatic Deposuit (He Hath Put Down) while baritone William Lim only had the brief Quia Fecit (For He Is Mighty) to distinguish himself. The final Gloria, which reprised the first movement's revelry, provided grandstanding moments for the chorus and orchestra, which was greeted with deafening cheers from the audience. With NAFA's revitalised appetite and promise in baroque music, there is certainly great scope for more high quality performances of early music to look forward to here.