LISTENING TO TAIWAN / National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

LISTENING TO TAIWAN

National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Wednesday (14 October 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 16 October 2026 with the title "National Taiwan Symphony returns with pleasing programme including S'pore composers and musicians". 

The National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra (NTSO), oldest professional orchestra of the Republic of China, conducted by Tung-Chieh Chuang returned to perform here after a hiatus of ten years. As in its previous concert, the music of Taiwanese composers was proudly showcased.

The evening opened with Ching-Shan Chang’s Echoes of Eight Decades, a sumptuously scored work that quoted Taiwanese folk melodies. Beginning slowly but gaining in pace to a joyous conclusion, its Impressionist colours were redolent of Frenchman Claude Debussy’s palate and Englishman Frederick Delius’ pastoral style.

Photo: NTSO 

Just as sensitive to ears which abhor dissonances of any kind was Tyzen Hsiao’s The Angel from Formosa, playing on the G major triad with cor anglais getting the plum solo. It's very easy 4-minute listen may be summed up in the composer’s notes to, “clear away the filthy souls in today’s society, which is filled with a lot of music that makes our mind confused and decadent”.

Photo: NTSO

Upholding a similar credo was Zechariah Goh’s Singaporean Folk Medley, lining up four songs, Ondeh Ondeh, Suriram, Kopi Susu and Jinkly Nona, sung in Malay and Kristang (the Eurasian creole) by 130 singers from the Singapore Symphony Chorus and Youth Choir (Eudenice Palaruan and Wong Lai Foon, choral directors).

Photo: NTSO

The choirs remained in the gallery for Ludwig van Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy (Op.80). This unusual work opened with an extended and improvisatory piano solo, impeccably helmed by Albert Tiu before reveling in a set of variations with orchestral backing. The subject was an earlier song Gegen Liebe (Requited Love) which would, years later, be transformed into the Ode To Joy.

Photo: NTSO

The sung segment extolling the power of art, music and the human spirit opened with six soloists - sopranos Joyce Lee Tung and Teng Xiang Ting, mezzosoprano Maggie Lu Pei Yun (Taiwanese resident in Singapore), tenors Jonathan Charles Tay and Leslie Tay, and baritone William Lim, before the main chorus’ exultant entry to close. Piano, voices and orchestra in perfect harmony was its rallying cry.

Photo: NTSO

The main work was Sergei Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances (Op.45), which ironically presented the concert’s most dissonant music. This was his final masterpiece, a symphony in all but name, one where strife and struggle gave way to mellowness. It received a taut and cogent reading, one which also knew when to relax and luxuriate.

Photo: NTSO

Conductor Chuang expertly marshalled his forces well, the first movement’s tension ratcheted up before the alto saxophone solo altered its complexion. Even his failed First Symphony’s defiant theme was dredged up, now sounding retiring and resigned. The second movement’s waltz, with cor anglais solo, was taken very deliberately and the build up to a final scramble was perfectly judged.

Photo: NTSO

The finale, playing on the Dies Irae chant and Alliluya from his Vespers, provided a thrilling close with the applause ringing in before the tam tam’s final note had dissipated. More cheers erupted after the orchestra’s encore, Che-yi Lee’s luscious arrangement of Teng Yu-hsien’s Ban Chun Hong (Pining for the Spring Breeze).

SSO PRE-TOUR CONCERTS / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

PRE-TOUR CONCERTS

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

University Cultural Centre

Thursday & Friday 

(8 & 9 October 2026)

This review was published by The Straits Times on 11 October 2026 with the title "SSO delivers impressive sampler of programme for upcoming China tour".

Come 13 to 25 October, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by newly-appointed Finnish music director Hannu Lintu will embark on a seven-city tour of China, its first since 2011. Displaced from its usual performing homes at Esplanade and Victoria Concert Halls because of the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix, the orchestra’s two pre-tour concerts were held at the National University of Singapore’s Cultural Centre.

Despite a 1700 capacity and being perfect for university convocations, it is unfortunately not an ideal venue for symphony concerts. The orchestra nonetheless persevered, opening the first concert with Wang Chenwei’s The Sisters’ Islands (2006), the most performed 21st century work by a Singaporean composer.

It has weathered 20 years well, originally a work for Chinese instruments when it won top billing at the inaugural Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Compositions. A programmatic symphonic poem, Malayan scales and dances were used to narrate the legend about two sisters Linah and Minah who get transformed into a pair of islands in the Singapore Straits.

Highly accessible in idiom, it also scored a conch shell and ocarina to salute maritime origins, and is considered a prime example of Nanyang music, literally music from the south seas.

Photo: Aloysius Lim

Next came Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, with soloist Chloe Chua, now 19-years-old and pursuing undergraduate musical studies in Berlin. Since winning the Yehudi Menuhin competition in 2018, she has continued to mature musically. Her tone is warm and generous, exhibiting excellent intonation, and coupled with a winsome stage demeanour completely free of artifice.

Singing bel canto lines were brought to the fore in the opening and central movements. When the stops were pulled for the mercurial finale, Chua delivered without reservation, drawing loud cheers and prolonged applause from the audience.

Photo: Chris P.Lim

On Friday’s concert, she was joined by Chinese string virtuoso He Ziyu in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major (K.364) for violin and viola. Both soloists played with the orchestra in the tuttis, and worked like hand-and-glove for the solo passages. The slow movement’s love-in was a clear case how both young musicians had grown with the work since recording it with Hans Graf in 2023.

Following the rip-roaring Rondo finale, the audience was rewarded with an encore, an exquisitely beautiful arrangement of Mongolian folksong Mu Ge (Pastoral Song) for both instruments by SSO violist Guan Qi.

Photo: Aloysius Lim

Both evenings closed with Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony in D major, also know as the Titan. The venue’s dry acoustics were unflattering, especially for unaccompanied winds and brass. Thus the first movement’s evocation of dawn lacked mystery and atmosphere, despite the players best efforts. However, once the strings sang out the Ging heut morgen übers Feld (I Went The Morning Over The Field) theme from the Wayfarer Songs, the ensemble began to settle.

The vigourous Ländler that followed was taken at a good whip, with the boisterous pastoral setting now firmly established. The droll canon with Frère Jacques in the minor key for the funeral procession was just as trenchant, but one wished the Klezmer episodes that followed had a little more swing. Perhaps that sense of reservation might scale down in subsequent performances.

When Mahler proclaimed the “symphony must have everything”, he also meant earthiness and vulgarity being among the attributes. It was no holds barred, however, for the finale’s “cry from the wounded heart” opening the tumultuous movement, and culminating with the eight French horns rising on their feet at the end being a particularly stirring moment.

Besides enjoying a more nuanced and settled performance, the audience on the second evening were treated to a further encore, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’ luxuriant Andante Festivo for strings and timpani, performed with conviction and emotion. China, be prepared to be impressed.

SSO PRE-TOUR CONCERT: CHLOE CHUA & HANNU LINTU: JEWEL AND TITAN / Review

CHLOE CHUA & HANNU LINTU:

JEWEL AND TITAN

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

University Cultural Centra Auditorium

Thursday (8 October 2026)

An edited version of this review was first published on Bachtrack.com on 9 October 2026 with the title "Impressive Wang, Mendelssoh and Mahler from the Singapore Symphony".

Although the Singapore Symphony Orchestra is multicultural in its composition of players, it remains the only predominantly ethnic Chinese Western professional symphony orchestra outside of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Just like the nation and its population, Singapore presents an interesting curiosity to people from the mainland. Its seven-city concert tour to the People’s Republic of China from 13 to 25 October led by music director Hannu Lintu is the first since 2011.

The first of two pre-tour concerts opened with the most performed 21st century work by a Singapore composer, Wang Chenwei’s The Sisters’ Islands (2006). This programmatic symphonic poem is based on a legend from the Indo-Malayan Riau archipelago (which Singapore is part of), and uses the pelog scale for its thematic material. Malayan musical idioms and dances present an idyllic soundscape, before the intrusion of dissonance, a pirate attack when the eponymous sisters Linah and Minah are assaulted and shanghaied. 

The merciful gods turn them into a pair of islands, the call of a conch shell and ocarina signaling a return to harmony in the high seas. This work, originally written for Chinese instruments and transcribed for Western orchestra, is now considered representative of Nanyang music, literally music from the south seas (Southeast Asia).

Photo: Aloysius Lim

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor (Op.64) was the showcase for Singapore’s best-selling violinist Chloe Chua, who is presently pursuing undergraduate musical studies in Berlin. Her presence alone would account for sold-out houses here and in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Finding celebrity at the age of eleven after sharing first prize at the Yehudi Menuhin competition in 2018, she has continued to mature musically, and this performance was a sign of this progress. 

Her tone is warm and generous, exhibiting excellent intonation, and coupled with a winsome stage demeanour completely free of artifice. Early Romantic music prides itself on singing bel canto lines, which were brought to the fore in the opening and central movements. When the stops were pulled for the mercurial finale, Chua delivered without reservation, drawing loud cheers and prolonged applause from the audience. The result should be no different in China, one predicts.

Photo: Aloysius Lim

The orchestra’s touring warhorse was Mahler’s First Symphony in D major, also known as the Titan. Because of the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix, neither Esplanade nor Victoria Concert Hall were available, necessitating a shift westwards to National University of Singapore’s Cultural Centre and its cavernous 1700-seat auditorium. Not designed as a dedicated concert hall, its dry acoustics were not ideal, especially for unaccompanied winds and brass. Thus the first movement’s evocation of dawn lacked mystery and atmosphere, despite the players best efforts, but once the strings sang out Ging heut Morgen übers Feld theme from Lieder eines Fahrenden gesellen (Songs of the Wayfarer), the ensemble began to settle.

The vigourous Ländler that followed was taken at a good whip, with the boisterous pastoral setting already well established. The droll canon with Frère Jacques in the minor key for the funeral procession was just as trenchant, but one only wished that the Klezmer episodes that followed had more swing. Perhaps that sense of reservation might scale down in subsequent performances. 

When Mahler proclaimed the “symphony must have everything”, he also meant vulgarity being among the attributes. It was no holds barred, however, for the finale’s “cry from the wounded heart” opening the tumultuous movement, and culminating with the eight French horns rising on their feet towards the end being a particularly stirring moment. China, be prepared to be impressed!

Star Rating: ****

The original Bachtrack.com review can be read here:

Impressive Wang, Mendelssohn and Mahler from the Singapore Symphony | Bachtrack

MIRRORS: CHUREN LI FORTEPIANO RECITAL / Review

 

MIRRORS

CHUREN LI Fortepiano Recital

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall

Wednesday (7 October 2026)

Churen Li, alumna of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, gave a solo recital on a fortepiano, the forerunner of the modern pianoforte. It was a rare outing for the Paul McNulty instrument donated to the Conservatory by its founding chairman Goh Yew Lin. It has a gentler and more delicate sonority, and there are no foot pedals, yet Churen was able to find a myriad range of colours opening her recital with Mozart’s Fantasy in D minor (K.397).

Its broad improvisatory opening was taken with a freedom that was unusual for classical era works, but it worked well, varied by the faster sections with cadenza-like flourishes. This piece was left incomplete by Mozart, and Churen played the traditional ending provided by August Muller. Next came Haydn’s popular Sonata in C major (Hob.XVI:50), its good humour finding fertile soil in Churen’s interpretation. Ornaments were sparing and subtly used as to be unobtrusive, and the finale, famous for its “wrong” notes was milked to full effect. This was a performance that smiled from ear to ear.

In complete contrast was Haydn’s Variations in F minor (Hob.XVII:6), one of his more serious creations, which received the finest performance of the evening. It is often difficult to sustain interest in its longuers but Churen did exactly that by varying its range of colours as the work progressed in degrees of complexity. The final reward was a inexorable sense of release in the major key, providing a very satisfying denouement. Is this Haydn’s greatest solo keyboard work? Perhaps, as Churen made it sound so.

Now a Steinway concert grand
was hauled into the concert.

The recital’s second half opened with Beethoven’s ubiquitous Sonata in C sharp minor (Op.27 No.2) or the Moonlight Sonata. Concertgoers might remember Andras Schiff stepping on the sustaining pedal of the Steinway grand and never letting go. The shimmering effect of the moon reflected on Lake Lucerne was achieved without pedal in Churen’s case, which sounded totally magical. Sustaining the notes on the keyboard alone did the trick. The second movement was a crisply minted country dance, but the Presto Agitato finale was where the fortepiano was beginning to show its limitations (Beethoven needed a bigger instrument!) but its storm-tossed pages still resounded with sound and fury.

The final segment of the concert saw Churen joined by fellow alumni violinist David Loke and cellist Christopher Mui (from the Singapore Symphony) in three of her originals works arranged for piano trio. Moonrise after Beethoven opened on fortepiano with the familiar triplets of the eponymous Sonata, but with altered harmonies. The flight of fancy in its improvisations entered Ravelian territory, including piano figurations of the slow movement of his G major concerto, now on the concert grand. Straddling between two keyboards did the trick. Naughty but nice.

Prelude after Bach was a short but touching take on the opening movement of the Cello Suite in C minor. Literally a sigh of a piece, the melody was given to David’s violin, who showed he could be as eloquent as the cello. Fantasy after Mozart was based on the siciliano slow movement from the Piano Concerto No.23 in A major (K.488), which also included an aside into Chopin’s Prelude in E minor (Op.28 No.4).

The encore Fantasy after Schumann, was inspired by yet another wonderful melody, from the slow movement of Schumann’s Piano Quartet (Op.44). Wallowing in beautiful tunes was the game, and Churen, now established as one of Singapore’s most versatile pianists, knows exactly what was needed. Long may this continue.

A PIANO RECITAL NOT TO MISS: MINSOO SOHN PLAYS BACH'S WELL-TEMPERED CLAVIER BOOK 1 ON 14 OCTOBER 2026

Here is a piano recital not to miss. Well-known South Korean pianist Minsoo Sohn makes his Singapore debut performing J.S.Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1 - 24 preludes and fugues in all.  Sohn has been praised for his musicality and virtuosity over the years. Himself a prize-winner in multiple international piano competitions, he is best known for being the teacher of Yunchan Lim, victor of the Van Cliburn in 2022.

Wednesday, 14 October 2026

Victoria Concert Hall

7.30 pm

Tickets from $48-108 available here:

Minsoo Sohn Piano Recital

Minsoo Sohn with Yunchan Lim.

Watch this video

Minsoo Sohn is presented by 

Credia Music & Artists.

PROGRESSION V / MacPherson Philharmonic Orchestra / Review

 

PROGRESSION V

MacPherson Philharmonic Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (4 October 2026)

At last count, there are two community symphony orchestras in Singapore. The first one was Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra (BHSO) which recently marked its 40th anniversary, and the other is MacPherson Philharmonic Orchestra (MPPO, to distinguish it from the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra), which was formed just nine years ago.

Led by young conductor Lester Kong, the orchestra has shown marked progress in the past years, thus this concert’s title Progression V was wholly fitting. It opened with Franz von Suppé’s Light Cavalry Overture, once a very popular concert showpiece but now relegated to the realm of lollipops. Rousing brass fanfares led to excellent strings in melodramatic Italianate passages before the familiar refrain by a pair of galloping trumpets. This made for a fun-filled starter.

Photo: MPPO

Next came the world premiere of Germaine Goh’s The Colour of Gravity, a 27-minute saxophone concerto in four movements. The soloist was Samuel Phua, displaying prowess with a different saxophone for each movement. Piano and tubular bells established fast ostinatos over which Phua’s soaring alto sax held sway in the opening movement titled Worlds Becoming, a cosmic event equating the Big Bang. 

Photo: MPPO

Portrait saw baritone sax playing the tradition buffoonish role usually reserved for bassoons, in a syncopated jazzy dance. Muted strings conjured an Ivesian haze, as Phua alternated between lyrical and jocular comedic moments before with a sweeping upward glissando to close. It was hard not to applaud this scherzo-like escapade, but the audience had been forewarned.

Pale Blue Dot was the slow movement which had soprano sax entwined in a love duet with solo oboe. This brought out the work’s most poignant moments, and the eponymous finale for tenor sax pulled out the stops for a fast, flashy and virtuosic close. Composer Germaine Goh sees the colour of gravity as the colour of love, and this is without doubt the most significant saxophone concerto ever composed by a Singaporean. Samuel Phua, our local solution to Jess Gilliam, is actually closer in spirit to the great John Harle. His ardent advocacy will spur more Singaporean composers to write more works for the saxophone.

The encore, After Love by Jonathan Shin, involved audience participation. Solo passages played by Samuel were to be recorded on handphones, and later replayed en mass as accompaniment or counterpoint to the work’s closing passages. It made for some surreal Ligeti-like moments that was enjoyed by all present.

The major work was Johannes Brahms’ First Symphony in C minor (Op.68), a very ambitious ask for such a young orchestra. Under Kong’s direction, the opening movement portrayed a grim face of gravitas, its pulse held together by an excellent and resolute timpanist. The surges and ebbs of tension was well marshalled and there was little doubt that the ensemble presented a united front throughout. The second and third movements saw more challenges, as the slow movement came across as ponderous, and the ensemble struggling to hold it together. However, it was concertmaster Lim Shue Churn’s violin solo that shone as the light at the end of the tunnel.

The third movement was more relaxed but there were some hesitations and ensemble issues, however those were rendered moot in the finale. The build-up was portentously hewn out of solid granite, and Kong knew exactly how to pace and bring out the big hymn-like tune that made early listeners describe this to be Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony. No matter, the finale was a combination of grim determination and no little joy achieved through gritted teeth for a blazing conclusion to one of the greatest Romantic symphonies ever conceived. 

There must have been a small handful in the audience who attended the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s first performance of the same symphony in the same venue way back in 1981. That performance brought out unadulterated feelings of elation for both players and listeners, and this outing by MPPO may be viewed in the same light. For both orchestras, it represented a sure sign of progress.