NHK SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Special Concert / Review

 

NHK SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Esplanade Concert Hall

Wednesday (29 April 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 May 2026 with the title "NHK Symphony Orchestra pulls out all the stops in exuberant showcase".

Commemorating 60 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Singapore, NHK (Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai) Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of Japan Broadcasting Corporation, gave a special concert at Esplanade Concert Hall led by its Permanent Conductor Tatsuya Shimono. The ensemble, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, is widely considered one of Asia’s top orchestras. And it did not disappoint.

Opening the show was the orchestra’s former Permanent Conductor Yuzo Toyama’s Divertimento (1961), three short movements based on Japanese folk tunes and dances. An air of exuberance characterised the opening dance, contrasted with the slow central air’s oboe and flute solos which conjured a dream-like atmosphere. The fast syncopated beats of the finale brought the work to a rousing close.

Kyohei Sorita, joint runner-up at the 2021 International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, was the soloist in Sergei Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto in C major (Op.26). The enfant terrible of Russian music was in exile in America when he conceived this work that fused prickly dissonances and percussive gestures with a barely-disguised lyricism.

Sorita was very much up to the game, bringing hard-hitting incisiveness and athleticism in the opening movement. Often battling the orchestra to be heard, he was still sensitive to the inherent irony and nuances in the music, most notably the quixotic shifting dynamics in the central movement’s theme and variations.

The martial strains of the finale soon gave way to an aching lyricism which both orchestra and soloist milked to the full, before a final clash of the titans brought the work to a loud and tumultuous conclusion. To sooth the nerves, Sorita’s encore of the Schumann-Liszt Widmung (Dedication) provided welcome relief.

In lieu of a full-length symphony, the orchestra performed two popular showpieces of the orchestral repertoire. Richard Strauss’ early tone poem Don Juan got the full swashbuckling treatment its legendary anti-hero deserved. Fearless and extrovert was Shimono’s approach and the ensemble was on cue from start to finish. Particularly memorable was the pivotal moment when the French horns rang out, possibly classical music’s most memorable rallying call to action.

Very different were the Four Sea Interludes from Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes, which painted atmospheric soundscapes depicting the rugged and windswept Suffolk coast. Orchestral detail played a big part in Dawn, mimicking the call of seagulls and billowing waves. Excellent brass and woodwinds, punctuated by tubular bells, contributed to the pealing tintinnabulation of Sunday Morning, while Moonlight became the scene of uneasy calm, evocatively voiced.

It was left for the Storm to sweep one and all asunder, its unrelenting violence brilliantly capturing one man’s ultimately futile struggle against the elements and society. The orchestra brought out the dark colours and hues of this masterpiece with a biting trenchancy.

The vociferous applause accorded to Shimono and his charges did not go unrewarded, as the encore was another gift from the land of the rising sun - the vigorous percussion-driven Yagi Bushi dance from Toyama’s Rhapsody for Orchestra (1960), which was totally raucous and riveting.

Photo: Esplanade Theatres by the Bay

SUKA MAKAN: SHAHI MAHARANI @ RAFFLES CITY

This has been the season of birthday and anniversaries, which explains the many celebratory meals we have had. Father's 91st, Mother's 85th and parents' 62nd wedding anniversary (not to mention our 27th) so there are more than several reasons to makan. Mum's decision was to have north Indian cuisine, so we are at the classy Shahi Maharani at Raffles City.

We settle on the fancy buffet spread which has a wide variety of dishes for both the vegetarian and omnivorous palates. From starters and appetisers to main courses and desserts, there is a lot to choose from. The service is excellent, and we had our celebratory cake to tuck into, and a nice photograph to bring home for memories.

The starter station

Savoury starters to begin 

Among the many main courses

The desserts and sweets

A souvenir to take home

SHAHI MAHARANI

252 North Bridge Road #03-21A

Raffles City Shopping Centre

Shahi Maharani – Among Singapore’s Top Indian Restaurants

ERIC LU & KAHCHUN WONG / CHOPIN PIANO CONCERTO NO.1 / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

ERIC LU & KAHCHUN WONG

CHOPIN PIANO CONCERTO NO.1

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (1 May 2026)

This review was first published in Bachtrack.com on 5 May 2026 with the title "Eric Lu brings scintillating Chopin to Singapore".

In two short weeks with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Kahchun Wong conducted more works by Asian composers than entire seasons in the past. Last week, his own orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition scored with traditional Asian and Chinese instruments and Cambodian composer Chinary Ung’s Water Rings: Overture were given local premieres. This concert saw the world premiere of young Singaporean composer Wang Chenwei’s Rwa Bhineda.

The title comes from Balinese philosophy where opposing forces – good and evil, joy and sorrow – exist to maintain balance in the cosmos. Within ten intense minutes, a soft-loud-sound / slow-fast-slow arch-like edifice was constructed to relive the perfect symmetry of a candi bentar gate found in Balinese architecture. String harmonics and low bass notes are heard in tandem, and both slendro and peleg scales of gamelan music were employed, anterograde and retrograde. All this led to central kinetic episode recalling the busyness of Colin McPhee’s Tabuh Tabuhan before gently receding into ultimate solace.

The sold-out concert’s main draw was American pianist Eric Lu, winner of the 2025 International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, performing Chopin’s First Piano Concerto in E minor (Op.11). The opening Allegro maestoso was expansive, established by the orchestral ritornello and his entry stolid and imposing. Playing with the safety net of a tablet, any fears were dispelled as he fluently negotiated awkward turns and the scintillating development section. 

Mastery of cantabile was never in doubt, and full fruition came in the Romance with the luminous seamless beauty of his phrasing and touch. The Rondo finale’s Krakowiak was breathlessly exciting, bringing the concerto to a triumphant close. This is one work where applause begins even before the last orchestral chord is sounded. Lu’s encores were contrasting, Schumann’s Träumerei from Kinderszenen and because the audience would not let him leave, Chopin’s vertiginous Waltz in A flat major (Op.42).

After a first half that lasted well over an hour, the audience had thinned out somewhat, a pity that some had missed a rare outing for Bartók’ Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta. Personally considered his best work, strings were symmetrically split into exact halves, placed on either side of Wong, each playing different parts and creating an antiphonal effect. Leading without a baton, he got as much as he could from players challenged by this kind of “chamber music”. Bare violas opened with a spare fugal subject, with Bartok’s patented night music atmosphere conjured in the opening and third movements later becoming synonymous with horror movie music.

All thanks to Stanley Kubrick’s canny use in his 1980 movie The Shining, this pop culture reference to the Adagio is unlikely to fade anytime soon. Jonathan Fox’s repeated xylophone ticks and glissandi on Christian Schiøler’s timpanis have that skin-crawling quality, and further slides on the strings, Beatrice Lin’s piano, Aya Sakou’s celesta and Gulnara Mashurova’s harp created a nightmare dreamscape now indelibly associated with deserted carpeted hallways, icy garden mazes and blood gushing from lifts. 

The fast movements could have done with an extra helping of abandonment, particularly in the second movement’s treacherous runs of string pizzicatos with rapidly shifting metres, which was taken more gingerly than with swashbuckling verve. Nevertheless, the overall outcome was a still a positive one. Virtuoso orchestras and their audiences could always do with shocks to the system once in a while.

Star Rating: ****

The original review on Bachtrack.com can be read here:

Eric Lu brings scintillating Chopin to Singapore | Bachtrack

TINTINNABULI! / The Philharmonic Chamber Choir / Review

 

TINTINNABULI!

The Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Chamber @ The Arts House

Sunday (26 April 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 29 April 2026 with the title "A touching showcase of Arvo Pärt's religious songs".

The concert’s title comes from the onomatopoeic Latin term referring to the tinkling and pealing of bells, a showcase of choral music by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt who celebrated his 90th birthday last year. He is the best-known and most-performed of the so-called “mystic minimalist” composers, the others being John Tavener (England) and Henryk Gorecki (Poland).

Conductor Lim Yau has been Singapore’s most ardent advocate, having directed local premieres of Pärt’s Te Deum, Third Symphony and Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten. Leading the 29-member Philharmonic Chamber Choir he founded in the mid-1990s, the hour-long showcase of Pärt’s a cappella music spanned some 30 years and displayed the widest range of vocal sonorities.

Opening with Da Pacem Domine (Give Peace, Lord, composed 2004), each voiced syllable of the Latin words resounded like a series of rung bells. Spreading through the sections, the illusion of alternating pulsations furthered the haunting quality of tintinnabuli. Conceived after the wake of the Madrid train bombings, the music provided a calming effect and ultimate consolation.

Magnificat (My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord, 1989) or the Canticle of Mary, also in Latin, contained more dissonances in high registers, including whole tones and semitones. These resolved as the music soared in a crescendo, the power of which to humble the mighty and reward the meek and hungry.

Dopo La Vittoria (After The Victory, 1996) was an unusual departure as it was an Italian description of St Ambrose’s Te Deum (Song of Praise) and its history rather than actual liturgical texts. The mood was more upbeat and jocular, with staccato phrasing at its beginning and closing. In between were expressions of exultation which provided the work’s spine-tingling climaxes.

Nunc Dimittis (Now Lettest Thou Thy Servant Depart, 2001) or Song of Simeon, had more of the trademarked tintinnabulation. From the opening drones, its spare textures interspersed with moments of harmonic beauty built up to a stirring high with the utterance of the word Lumen (Light).

Singing in English, The Woman with the Alabaster Box (1997) related an incident in the Gospels where a sinful woman did not spare her precious ointment on Jesus despite the disdain of onlookers. The austere and subdued tones, delivered with ultimate reverence, told a story of humility, repentance and forgiveness.

Virgencita (Virgin Mary, 2012), inspired by the Virgin Mary of Guadelupe and sung in Spanish, was a prayer of supplication which provided the concert’s most transcendent outburst of faith. Closing the concert was Ja ma kuulsin hääle... (And I Heard A Voice..., 2017), sung in Estonian, where “Blessed are the dead” becomes not a statement of grief or mourning, but one of respite and relief.

Despite the venue’s dryish acoustics and high ceiling, the choir coped well to deliver performances that touched the heart and soul. The sedate atmosphere of a church service was maintained from start to end. The audience instinctively knew not to applaud between works despite not being prompted, instead reserving their long and deserved accolades at the very end.

IN HARMONY 43 / SAF Central Band with Boston Brass / Review

 

IN HARMONY 43

SAF Central Band

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (25 April 2026)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 28 April 2026 with the title "Well-drilled SAF Central Band shows versatility in concert".

Some of the best things in Singapore are free, and one of these are concerts by the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band. Directed by Military Expert 5 (ME5) Ignatius Wang, its latest concert opened as it always does with Majulah Singapura, the national anthem by Zubir Said. It is a rare occasion when an audience is heard singing with pride, leading the way for a programme of music mostly from the Americas.

Ron Nelson’s Aspen Jubilee was a celebratory work composed for the 40th anniversary of Aspen Music Festival, with winds and brass blazing a high decibel-laden path. Its rousing opening and close were contrasted with a slower central section where soprano Joyce Lee Tung’s wordless vocalise beautifully wafted over the instrumental throng.

Following that ice-breaker, Henry L. Dorn’s Never Forgetting was a study of melancholy, with muted brass and bowed percussion prefacing poignant solos from oboe, saxophone and finally flute. Its elegiac tone reflected intense contemplation and eventual peaceful resolution.

Closing the first half on a spirited high was James M. David’s Pulsing Onward subtitled “A California Pastorale”, three continuous movements with neoclassical references in their titles but inhabited with Latin beats and vibes. Pacific Coast Canons was fast and exuberant, contrasted with the brass chorales of Sierra Sarabande before Golden Gate Toccata exulting in the bright lights of San Francisco.

Cy Twombly's Petals of Fire.
Honestly, the music sounds better
than the art looks.

American-Chinese composer Zhou Tian’s short but brilliant Petals of Fire was inspired by American painter Cy Twombly’s abstract painting of the same title. The most modernistic work on the programme, it relived the violent dissonance and chinoiserie of Bela Bartok’s ballet Miraculous Mandarin and climaxed with the transcendent radiance of Olivier Messiaen. All four works were Singapore premieres which showcased the impressive versatility of this young and well-drilled ensemble.

Then it was time for the band’s guests, the five-member Boston Brass formed by founding member Jeff Conner and Jose Sibaja (trumpets), trombonist Domingo Pagliuca (trombone), Chris Castellanos (French horn) and William Russell (tuba), to join the fray. 

Formed in 1986 and renowned for its mix of virtuosity and humour, the quintet opened with the riotous Galop from Dmitri Shostakovich’s satirical operetta Moscow Cheryomushki, setting the tone of lightness and mirth for the rest of the show. Argentine tango composer Astor Piazzolla’s Verano Porteno (Summer) from the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, arranged by Sibaja, delighted with its comedic timing, whoops and slides.

With the bigger band in support, Rick DeJonge’s Sounds of Cinema was an enjoyable summation of all the tropes and cliches of movie music scoring that makes the silver screen great without actually quoting any familiar tunes. Other than a hilarious cadenza for tuba, it sounded very like John Williams except it was not. That was its play on the imagination, and ultimate musical magic.

Closing the highly enjoyable evening was Cuban composer Ernesto’s Lecuona’s Malaguena, lushly arranged by Bill Holman, and a brilliant encore by the Boston Brass of Duke Ellington’s Caravan. Watch out for SAF Central Band’s next free concert at Esplanade Concert Hall on 30 May.