SSO Concert: Two Great Concertos / Review

TWO GREAT CONCERTOS / Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall / Saturday (9 April 2011)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 11 April 2011 with the title "Orchestral rising stars excite and thrill".

Whoever named this concert probably forgot to take into account the short 5-minute work that opened the evening’s fare. Through Bifocals by young Singaporean woman composer Yuan Peiying (below) is a ravishing morsel of atmospheric orchestral writing.

Almost impressionist by half, Evgueni Brokmiller’s flute and Lynnette Seah’s violin emerged from a gentle murmur of lush textures, and just when pace began to gather, it ended abruptly. It was as if someone had decreed, “Your time is up!” Sounding like a prelude to a larger canvas, possibly a symphony, one looks forward to more music from this talented source.

The first of the titular two great concertos was Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, given a highly personal account by the young Venezuelan Sergio Tiempo. Alarm bells usually go off when upstarts attempt to “interpret” familiar favourites. However the liberties taken by him, either by placing accents in unsuspecting spots or racing away at breakneck tempi, were judiciously chosen. While still respecting the score’s integrity, these had the effect of enhancing the visceral thrill of the music. These were most apparent in the slow movement’s skittish waltz episode, the headlong rush into the Alla Breve finale and the intoxicating lead-up to its climax. Accuracy and clarity were never a question for these prodigious fingers, spitting fire at giddying speeds.

Ladies and gentlemen, this may be the closest one gets to actually having the volcanic force of Martha Argerich descend on the Esplanade. Chalk this as one of the most exciting and satisfying performances of our times.

While Rachmaninov revelled in risky hi-jinks and dynamic extremes, Bartok’s Concerto For Orchestra provided a safe refuge of sorts. A sign of maturity by SSO Young Associate Conductor Darrell Ang was his refusal to let instincts run roughshod over what the mind directs. He marshalled the forces for a sober and taut reading, one which allowed the instrumentalists to display their prowess, individually and as an ensemble.

All the soloists shone, for example the various woodwind pairs in the Game Of Couples, Roberto Alvarez’s humble piccolo in the Elegia, Brokmiller’s flute arabesques and well-timed trombone flatulences in the Interrupted Intermezzo. The finale benefited from this virtuosity harnessed with discipline, the valedictory fugue blazing the way to a breathless conclusion. Although this was not a gala concert, it felt like one.

WHICH YOUNG PIANIST DO YOU REGARD AS THE FUTURE OF THE CLASSICAL PIANO? Results of Pianomania Poll

The results of the most recent Pianomania Poll are out, drawn from 97 entries over the past four months. The names of young pianists were drawn from lists of recent competition winners and concert listings, representing talents from different parts of the globe. The piano has become a universally popular instrument and the greatest pianists of the future can come from any part of the world today. 

No.1 

YUJA WANG (China) 

42 votes, 43%

Was there any doubt that this Chinese female phenom of the piano would top this list? Her two recordings on the Deutsche Grammophon label were simply superb, and her Singapore recital proved beyond any doubt that all the hype about her were for real.

No.2 

SERGIO TIEMPO (Venezuela) 

24 votes, 25% 

 A very visible presence thanks to his recordings on EMI Classics and frequent appearances at Martha Argerich's Lugano Festival. Is Venezuela and El Sistema the way to the future of music? Better believe it!

NO.3 

RACHEL CHEUNG (Hongkong) 

21 votes, 21% 

The 19-year-old is going places, having won 5th prize at the 2009 Leeds International Piano Competition, and more recently a semi-final appearance at the Chopin Competition. Further prizes in major competitions are expected.

NO.4: LISE DE LA SALLE (France), 

BENJAMIN GROSVENOR (UK), 

ZHANG HAOZHEN (China) (11 votes, 11%)

De la Salle is already established as a concert and recording artist, a very special talent. Young Grosvenor impressed greatly with his recital at the Singapore International Piano Festival, while Zhang's win at thr 2009 Van Cliburn has won him many concert opportunities. The latter's Singapore recital in 2011 will be keenly awaited.

NO.5: NOBUYUKI TSUJII (Japan), 

EDUARD KUNZ (Russia) 9 votes, 9 % 

No.6: JOHN CHEN (New Zealand) 8 votes, 8%

Tsujii was a big winner at the 2009 Cliburn, a triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Kunz and Chen, past winners of piano competitions, are gradually establishing their concert careers.

Thanks for the votes, and look out for the next Pianomania Poll: WHICH IS THE GREATEST PIANO CONCERTO OF THEM ALL?

SSO Concert: Music for Valentine's Day / Review

MUSIC FOR VALENTINE’S DAY
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
OKKO KAMU, Conductor
Saturday (14 February 2009)
Esplanade Concert Hall

This review was published in The Straits Times on 16 February 2009

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s much-loved Valentine’s Day concerts have traditionally highlighted forbidden love. Romeo and Juliet, Pelleas and Melisande, and the Butterfly Lovers all had their ill-fated romances fleshed out in music. This year’s offerings provided a wider spectrum of that thing called “love”.

“Lust” began the evening with Venusberg Music from Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser. Taking a detour from the Overture, bacchanalian delights ruled with whooping French horns and fluttering trumpets, and pulses set racing with each turn from Principal Guest Conductor Okko Kamu’s (left) baton. While the fast music thrilled, even greater satisfaction was to be found in its detumescence. Clarinettist Jerry Chae’s long-breathed solos supplied that fine glistening sheen that suggested Tannhauser’s carnal revelries were genuine, not faked.

“Narcissism” came next with Venezuelan wunderkind Sergio Tiempo’s (left) no-holds-barred view of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto. His prodigious fingers were equipped with the fastest and loudest octaves, befitting one of the wildest stallions from Martha Argerich’s stable of young virtuosi, but many of his artistic decisions – mostly self-indulgent - may be called into question. Seldom has the nocturne-like solo in the slow movement lurched with such motion sickness-inducing rubato, dotted with misplaced accents and agogic pauses, for example. At least he wasn’t boring.

The Prelude and Liebestod (Love and Death) from Wagner’s Tristan And Isolde, the best 17 minutes of the 4-hour long opera, was arguably the least successful outing. The transition between pieces could have been subtler and more seamless, while the rapturous climax, with a feverish Tristan ebbing within Isolde’s arms, sounding more polite than overwhelming.

More earthy pleasures in Ravel’s Suite No.2 from the mythic ballet Daphnis And Chloe were however captured spot on, from the erotic tittering of birdsong in Daybreak to the orgiastic dances that followed. Principal Flautist Jin Ta’s wonderfully fluent passages set the tone for a show of solo and ensemble excellence.

Perhaps the greatest love of all is the largesse and generosity of one who sets a loved one free; that of the aging Marschallin and her young lover Octavian in Richard Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier. Its 25-minute long Symphonic Suite provided the icing on this year’s confections, as the orchestra journeyed from intoxicating champagne and perfumed harmonies, passionate declarations with concertmaster Alexander Souptel’s wistful solos, to the grand apotheosis of the Viennese waltz. And the house erupted with a roar of cheers.