HEROIC TALES OF RICHARD STRAUSS / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

HEROIC TALES OF RICHARD STRAUSS

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (5 October 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 7 October 2023 with the title "SSO's take on Strauss' Don Quixote warmly received".

 

After the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s magnificent reading of Richard Strauss’s tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) in July, it seemed appropriate to follow up with an entire evening dedicated to more of the German late Romantic composer’s music. Just 16 years separated the three works on show, but it was fair representation of Strauss’ enormous compositional range.

 

Led by music director Hans Graf, the concert opened with the Serenade in E flat major (Op.7, 1881) for thirteen wind instruments. Two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, four French horns and one contrabassoon accounted for this brief and mellow Andante. If the orchestra is famed for its strings, the winds also deserve plaudits in this lyrical showing which displayed both innate virtuosity and immaculate deportment.

 

Hans Graf spoke to the audience
about Richard Strauss' many heroes
and their deaths as portrayed in music.

Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks (1895) was a tone poem about the eternal jokester of German folklore, who goes to town on a serial trail of mischief. Its “once upon a time” opening and introduction of the ribald French horn, helmed with confidence by principal Austin Larson, immediately set the tone. Dressed in indelible orchestral colour, its vivid characterisation all the way to Till’s execution, with ominous drumrolls and brilliant clarinet solo, made it a performance to remember.

 

The big piece on show was Don Quixote (1897), almost three times as long as Till. Prone to rambling, Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes’ far more complex anti-hero had a more diffuse characterisation. Not strictly a cello concerto, it nonetheless revelled in a major cello obbligato part helmed with much sympathy by SSO principal Ng Pei-Sian. Introduced with him was principal violist Zhang Manchin who performed within the rank and file besides playing the squire Sancho Panza.

 

As with Till, Graf and the orchestra’s attention to detail was exemplary, this despite the profusion of ideas and events, and appropriately for the subject, frequent flights of fancy. After a lengthy introduction, Ng’s entry was nuanced rather than outrightly heroic, the cantankerous subject having to traverse ten “fantastic variations on a theme of knightly character”.

 

His tone was warm and commanding, well complemented by Zhang’s viola, which was sufficiently garrulous. The duo’s chemistry in closely intertwined adventures made the work’s longeurs all the more worthwhile. Adding a further layer, the vision of Dulcinee (the Don’s delusion of the idealised woman) found fruition in concertmaster Markus Tomasi’s violin.

Photo: Chris P. Lim

 

The battle with the sheep (Variation II) exploited woodwind and brass dissonances to startling effect, while the imagined flight in the air (Variation VII) employing a wind machine while firmly pegged on a pedal point in D was pure fantasy. Best of all was the Epilogue, with the cello’s pure voice unencumbered by further distractions, as the Don breathed his last, expiring with a glissando to the nether reaches.

 

There have not been many Don Quixotes performed in Singapore over the years, but this one garnered the most cheers.                                          

The review of the same concert on Bachtrack.com:

Singapore Symphony principals helm a memorable Strauss Don Quixote | Bachtrack

SSO CONCERT: STRAUSS FESTIVAL: SYMPHONIA DOMESTICA / Review

STRAUSS FESTIVAL:

SYMPHONIA DOMESTICA

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (10 January 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 13 January 2014 with the title "Blissful tunes from the past".

Three landmarks or milestones were celebrated in this evening’s concert. The obvious one was the 150^th birth anniversary of German composer Richard Strauss (1864-1949) around which a mini festival was built. Another was the coming 80th birthday of Fou Ts’ong, the first Chinese and Asian pianist to make a mark in the West, by winning 3^rd Prize in the Chopin International Piano Competition in 1955.

Sporting a full head of jet black hair, he did not look like an octogenarian. His gait was slower than before but maintained a dignity which always distinguished this patrician among pianists. His playing in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23 in A major (K.488) seemed to roll back the years.

He did not project a big sound, but that was not necessary for Mozart in any case. His pearly tone and limpid runs in the faster outer movements, free of arthritic afflictions, were proof that all his faculties were gloriously intact. The Adagio slow movement brought out the most beautiful legato playing, the tragic lilting air being the work’s emotional high point, before fluently letting rip in the exciting finale.

The audience yearned for an encore, but sadly there was none. However they could console themselves for having heard the finest of the three Esplanade appearances by Fou playing Mozart concertos. He seemed to find a second wind in the Indian summer of an illustrious career.

The last landmark was also the first piece in the concert, a revised version of Singaporean Cultural Medallion recipient Kelly Tang’s Sinfonia Concertante. Its six minutes represented the only Singaporean music to be performed in the SSO’s 35^th anniversary season. Precious as that was, Tang jam-packed many ideas into a short duration. Dissonant and eclectic, the piece had the kinesis of a Stravinsky ballet and opulent lyricism of Alban Berg’s orchestral pieces, with the orchestra making the best possible case for it.

And finally to Strauss, the Singapore premiere of his Symphonia Domestica. Its relative neglect next to the Alpine Symphony, A Hero’s Life and Don Quixote, programmatic tone poems all, is understandable. Its subject of Strauss’s family life was considered self-indulgently hubristic, and its length – 45 minutes – could sound interminable.

Completely opposite of the Tang work, its few themes were developed and stretched to the maximum of its possibilities. Thankfully, conductor Lan Shui’s single-minded vision of its narrative held its four sections tightly together. Even if one were to ignore its sequence of domestic bliss and squabbles over a 24-hour period, the work still made musical sense.

Vital to this was the orchestra’s never less than involved playing, especially by the woodwinds, and notably in the baby’s serene dream sequence. Pan Yun’s oboe d’amore was singularly a charmer, matched only by guest concertmaster Andrew Haveron’s tender violin representing Frau Strauss. Despite the work’s bombastic end, its reception revealed not a few admirers, and that cannot be such a bad thing. 

Concert photograph by the kind permission of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

RICHARD STRAUSS'S SALOME COMES TO SINGAPORE! / A Few Words with Ng Siew Eng, Singapore Lyric Opera General Manager

SINGAPORE LYRIC OPERA Presents
RICHARD STRAUSS’S SALOME
Esplanade Theatre, 8 pm
19,20, 22, & 23 August 2011
Tickets available at SISTIC

NG SIEW ENG, General Manager of Singapore Lyric Opera was interviewed for this piece about the Singapore Lyric Opera's landmark production of Richard Strauss's Salome.

At long, long last. The Singapore Lyric Opera has finally decided to move in a new direction by producing an opera outside of the familiar Mozart-Verdi-Puccini axis. But why Richard Strauss’s controversial opera Salome?

Why not? The Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO) is a professional opera company and we have produced the most popular repertoire operas, as you have rightly pointed out. Richard Strauss’s Salome is already a staple of the world’s major opera companies. We are no exception. We also believe in extending the breath and depth of opera appreciation in Singapore by expanding our repertoire beyond the Mozart-Verdi-Puccini axis. It is also a very interesting opera and its lure is something we find hard to resist!

Briefly, could you tell our readers what is the big fuss about Salome?

It is challenging in many ways to stage this opera – both musically and financially - that people often wonder why do we want to do it at all. Given our limited resources, this would be the second most costly production the SLO has staged to date, after Puccini’s Turandot in 2009. However it is our belief that SLO must be able to undertake great works, beyond the lollipops of the repertoire that our audiences so love.

People have been talking about it from the minute the news came out that SLO was staging Salome. Musicians were sceptical and many people were aghast! SLO was so brave to even think about it! We are all very excited that the cast and orchestra are now involved in one of the most challenging opera scores ever written. We are proud to have Andrew Sinclair (left) from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden to direct and Janice Watson to sing the titular role.

You are also casting some heavyweights for the leading roles. Who are they?

Yes indeed. Besides Janice Watson (left), we have been very blessed to have some best vocal talents from the United Kingdom and Australia to be on this production. Hubert Francis is King Herod and Dawid Kimberg is Jokanaan; both are from the Royal Opera House London Covent Garden. We also have Bernadette Cullen from Australia. Its such an exciting cast helmed by conductor Peter Selwyn and assistant conductor Timothy Carey. For the orchestra, we have assembled the best orchestral players outside the Singapore Symphony Orchestra to be the SLO Orchestra.

Could you share with us some of the insights adopted by Director Andrew Sinclair?

Andrew Sinclair says: I really don't see Salome as a homicidal killer. If you look at the text and at the Oscar Wilde play she is definitely not portrayed that way. Neither Wilde nor Richard Strauss wanted her to be seen in that light. What happens is the result of her upbringing in a decadent atmosphere with a dysfunctional mother and stepfather. You could consider her a victim. She certainly deserves our pity.

Salome was definitely a shocking opera, by 1905 standards. Does it still have the shock factor in 2011?

Andrew Sinclair says: No, I don't think it is so shocking any longer. Society mostly has become very liberal. People could see something comparable to the final scene of Salome in the cinema or on television. I think some people tend to react with horror these days because it is an opera and the opinion is that opera is something "escapist". But opera is often about tragedy and Salome is a tragic figure. I know some people just don't like the subject matter and that is their choice. It's not a pretty piece but it is certainly an exciting one.

Finally, the question on everybody’s mind about Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils. Will she, or will she not… strip?

Why does she have to strip? Yeah, we’ve seen lots of versions that have Salome strip after the last veil comes off. Director Andrew Sinclair does not believe in shock value as it detracts from the music and the story. And we cannot think for a moment that stripping is going to draw the audience but what goes on stage with Salome and her obsession that will draw people to watch Salome.