TRANSCRIPTION + CELLISSIMO / The Philharmonic Chamber Choir + Cellos of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory / Review

 

TRANSCRIPTION

The Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Esplanade Recital Studio

Thursday (15 October 2026)

CELLISSIMO

Cellos of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory

Conservatory Concert Hall

Friday (16 October 2026),

This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 October 2026 with the title "Transcriptions centre voices and cellos in two enjoyable concerts".

The Philharmonic Chamber Choir led by Lim Yau performed an excellent programme of choral transcriptions. These are reworkings for choir of music that was originally conceived for other instruments. The evening opened with Elgin Neils’ transcription of Sergei Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, originally for high voice and piano. Over choral accompaniment, its familiar wordless solo line was first sung by sopranos and later passed on to the other singers.

Just as effective and haunting was Samuel Barber’s Agnus Dei, a vocal setting of his ubiquitous Adagio for Strings. The music, usually associated with mourning, took on new dimensions as a plea for mercy in sung Latin, rising to a passionate climax rarely matched by the original for string quartet.

The true rarity was Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending transcribed by Paul Drayton. This version retained the ethereal solo violin part, performed with refinement and perfect intonation by Zhu Zunzun. The wordless choral accompaniment which began the work later gave way to words by George Meredith, who lent the work’s avian inspiration.

Zechariah Goh’s Abandoned Qin not a transcription per se, but beautifully captured the spirit of Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi’s lament (“I can play but who will listen?”) about younger generations forsaking the old for the new and trendy. A song of regret in Chinese, it also incorporated onomatopoeic sounds of the ancient plucked instrument.

Late German composer Clytus Gottwald was responsible for four transcriptions, Olivier Messiaen’s Louange a l’eternite de Jesus (Praise to the Eternity of Jesus) from Quartet for the End of Time being the most striking. Its lofty spirituality was gloriously expressed by the 39 singers, who completed the evening with further music by Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler and Hugo Wolf.

There were transcriptions aplenty too at the concert by Yong Siew Toh Conservatory’s cello studio in a programme conceived by visiting professor Swiss-Taiwanese cellist Wen-Sinn Yang of Munich Conservatory. Opening with J.S.Bach’s solo Cello Suite No.1 in G major, Yang exhibited a lovely tone unafraid of vibrato all through its six dance movements.

He was the soloist for Dmitri Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto in E flat major in Yang’s own arrangement for cello quartet. One simply did not miss the full orchestra here, or the solo French horn, as his three partners (students and alumnus of the Conservatory) all contributed to a score that matched the searing intensity of the Russian’s 15 string quartets.

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

Yang simply emoted in the slow movement of hand-wringing pathos, later upping the ante for the cadenza before launching into the Klezmer-like rave of its finale. The laser-sharp focus shared by all four players clearly gripped the audience, which had unknowingly but enthusiastically greeted the unofficial world premiere of this special transcription.

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

The concert got lighter while the stage became more crowded in the second half with Joseph Haydn’s Divertimento in D major (originally for cello trio) arranged by Werner Thomas-Mifune for cello orchestra. Its four movements were those found in serenades, its melodies delivered with a fullness and richness of tone on 19 cellos.

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

Thomas-Mifune also arranged for five cellos a Carmen Fantasy on beloved themes from Georges Bizet’s opera. This brilliant showpiece, which included the Habanera, Toreador’s Song and Bohemian Dance was contrasted by Antonin Dvorak’s slower and nostalgic Slavonic Dance (Op.72 No.2) as arranged by Lothar Niefind.

A full ensemble of 22, including the Conservatory’s head of cello Qin Li-Wei, went full pelt in three German Schlager songs (hit pop songs) of the 1930s arranged by Carl Clemente. An uproarious encore, Wilhelm Kaiser-Lindemann’s Mambo, threw tapping on wood and shouts into the enjoyable musical melee.

Photo: Toh Yan Ee

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).

The review in The Straits Times 

may be found here:

National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra returns to Singapore | The Straits Times

THE HAZE DESCENDS ON SINGAPORE

A haze has descended on Singapore and decided to stay. Not good. Now the government is becoming genuinely concerned. Blame those hunter gatherers across the sea for slashing and burning, and no one seems to be held accountable. What is the Indonesian government doing? Don't expect those in the volcano-stricken fellows in Java to be able to take care of what happens in Sumatra or Kalimantan. 

What are the lawmakers
going to do about that?

Here are some photos taken around Victoria Concert Hall, Esplanade and Raffles City on Wednesday and Thursday (14 & 15 October 2026), it looks terrible. To quote Tze of TO Ensemble, "Land with No Sun". Indeed. I want to return to Cambodia!

There's so much CO2 the
Tan Kah Tee memorial eucalyptus can take.

With this post, Pianomania has hit 8 million reads, achieved sometime before 4 pm on 17 October 2026.

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.

Read Shawn Hoo's report on SSO's reception in Shanghai in The Straits Times:

SSO, violinist Chloe Chua kick off China tour in sold-out Shanghai concert | The Straits Times

The stars finally get to meet.
Photo: Yanhuipiaoliang's IG

SUKA MAKAN VEGETARIAN EDITION: GREENDOT @ THE STAR VISTA

OK, we do have vegetarian meals. But not that often, although that should be a norm, at least once a week. Reality has proven otherwise. The place Janet (the more vegetarian half of us) goes to is Greendot at The Star Vista. We've been there more times than any other vegetarian restaurant, although those were the days before Suka Makan.

What did I say about cutesy?
Everything here says they don't
care for eating animal parts.

So, here's a chance to correct one wrong. Greendot had moved one level up, away from the street-level bustle to somewhere accessible by escalator. Going to the second floor, you can't miss it. Vegetarian restaurants have polite decor, a reflection of the people who prepare this food and the people who customise them. Everything is cutesy, and says, "Be kind to animals!" We fully buy into the credo, that is until the next steak.

DIY Bento box

Angelica herbal noodles soup dish

Very delicious classic Laksa

Angelica herbal noodles with cordyceps

At Greendot, we love its soup noodle dishes and Janet likes its bento set-meals. The portions are fairly generous and the soup base generally delicious. I like the fake meat-balls and the lion head mushrooms. These taste like meat and that's to the credit to the manufacturers and preparers. The best thing about this place, is that I leave without thinking, "Needs more meat!"

This place does a roaring business,
and that's a good sign.

GREENDOT

The Star Vista

1 Vista Exchange Green #02-04

Singapore 138617 

Greendot Vegetarian - Sharing Goodness

Dine-in Food Menu - Greendot Vegetarian

Strange but true: 

After leaving a vegetarian meal,

you feel like a better person.

(However, I won't abandon steak!)