BALI CLASSICAL NIGHTS / Canggu Club / Thursday 29 December 2011

The second evening of Bali Classical Nights was held at the Canggu Club, a Balinese scaled-down version of the Tanglin Club, on Thursday 29 December 2011. There was a smaller audience in a more intimate venue, but the general vibe and spirit was more pervasive and infectious. With the new year looming ahead, everybody was determined to enjoy themselves, and have a jolly good time. The choice of music seemed to reflect that joie de vivre.

The wonderful strains of Beomjae Kim's unaccompanied flute kicked off the evening, with a Telemann Fantasia and Isang Yun's fiendishly difficult Etude No.5, which provided a dramatic tour de force of technical display.

Tou Liang thinks he can perform Rachmaninov, in this case the Vocalise (transcribed by Alan Richardson), especially because he has the same hairstylist as Sviatoslav Richter.

Next, Korean violinist Yoojin Jung and Montenegrin pianist Boris Kraljevic put the polish on Beethoven's Spring Sonata Op.24 (1st movement).

Bali resident Ruzanna Staroverova played Babajanian's Poem without her shoes! At any rate, it still sounded great.

Boris then performed Chopin's Berceuse beautifully, and went on to accompany soprano Nancy Yuen in two Puccini arias, O mio babbino caro (Gianni Schicchi) and Vissi d'arte (Tosca).

After the interval, it was piano 6 hands - Grainger's Zanzibar Boat Song, inspired by a poem by Rudyard Kipling. Normally, the teacher plays the more demanding secondo part, but here Neil Franks was more than up to the challenge.

Debussy's haunting Syrinx for solo flute, played by Frenchman Philippe Bernold, gave one of the evening's most sublime moments.

Yoojin and Boris were back for Vittorio Monti's rousing Csardas, which gave the audience much to cheer about.

Neil provided a degree of gravitas in Debussy's Sarabande from Pour le piano.

The evening's main programme closed on a high with Philippe and Boris in Francois Borne's Carmen Fantasy, which began with the Entracte from Act 3 of Bizet's opera.

There's always time for one delightful encore: Wilhelm Ganz's grand gallop de concert Qui Vive, played on 6 hands piano with two flutes and one violin for good measure. Was that a world premiere or what?

All eight performers enjoy the overwhelming applause, a grand close to Bali Classical Nights 2011. Now we can't wait for Bali Classical Nights 2012!

BALI CLASSICAL NIGHTS / Bali Tugu Hotel / Wednesday 28 December 2011

The first evening of Bali Classical Nights took place on Wednesday (28 December 2011) at the luxurious Bali Tugu Hotel on Canggu beach. The splendid setting was a Balinese stage complete with a Garuda and a Yamaha grand piano specially flown in from Jakarta. The roar of the surf, clicking of geckos and the occasional firework going off provided a typically Balinese counterpoint to the proceedings. The heady spirit of Bali during the 1930s, of luminaries like Walter Spies, Colin McPhee, Rudolf Bonnet, Margaret Mead, Miguel and Martha Covarrubias, was relived albeit for a couple of hours...

Opening the concert was Korean violinist Yoojin Jung and Montenegrin pianist Boris Kraljevic in Dvorak's Humoresque. Yoojin played a short improvised prelude to begin.

Tou Liang tried his best in the late Intermezzo in A major (Op.118 No.2) by Brahms, in between his emcee duties.

Korean flautist Beomjae Kim performed an unaccompanied Fantasy by Telemann and Caprice No.23 by Sigfried Karg-Elert, an impressive show of sensitivity and virtuosity.

Then it was Boris's turn to go solo, with Franz Liszt's Sposalizio from his Années de pélérinage, inspired by Raphael's painting "Marriage of the Virgin".

A segment of the enthusiastic audience, seated on three sides of the stage.

Bali-based Russian-Armenian pianist Ruzanna Staroverova produced a stunning display of digital dexterity in Arno Babajanian's Poem.

Accompanied by Boris, Hong Kong soprano Nancy Yuen sang two Chinese songs, I Live At The Source of the Yangtze River and The Green Pastures of July.

The sound of 6-hands piano opened the second half, when Boris, Neil Franks and Tou Liang played Rachmaninov's Romance, written for the three Skalon sisters. Neil had the honour of playing the introduction, which later appears in the slow movement of the Second Piano Concerto.

A glorious examplar of the hallowed French flute school, Philippe Bernold played Francis Poulenc's Flute Sonata, all three lovely movements, with Boris at the piano.

Neil Franks, the British gentleman who was the inspiration behind Bali Classical Nights, performed the Petrarch Sonnet No.123 by Liszt.

Nancy completed her programme with a Bellini arietta and Verdi's Ah forse lui... Sempre libera, Violetta's big coloratura aria from La Traviata.

To conclude the formal programme, Yoojin and Boris returned for the rousing Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens, with its diablerie enthralling the full-house audience.

An obviously chuffed Boris played a sublime encore, with Debussy's Bruyeres from Preludes Book Two.

All the performers take a final bow, after an enjoyable evening of music-making.

THE BEST OF 2011 (CLASSICAL CONCERTS) as reported on The Straits Times

MAHLER’S Symphony No.9
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
22 January 2011, Esplanade Concert Hall

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra has been living with Mahler’s Ninth Symphony for almost 20 years, and how it has matured with time. Under Shui Lan’s direction, the orchestra is no longer content in accurately churning out the notes but actually living the music and faithfully bringing out the composer’s intentions. Little wonder that SSO was the only Asian orchestra invited to perform Mahler’s symphonies at the 2011 Beijing Festival.

ELGAR Cello Concerto
QIN LI-WEI, Cello
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra / JASON LAI
8 April 2011, Esplanade Concert Hall

Forget about Yo-Yo Ma, because we have in our midst another great Chinese cellist Qin Li-Wei, whose breathtaking account of Elgar’s Cello Concerto is one for the ages. In the same concert, the Conservatory Orchestra directed by Jason Lai also scaled great heights with Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life).

BEST DÉBUTS: Tie between
MELVYN TAN, Piano
19 January 2011, Esplanade Concert Hall
ALAN CHOO, Violin
27 August 2011, Esplanade Recital Studio

One is a seasoned veteran while the other a fledgling artist, but both have music flowing in their veins. Melvyn Tan made a welcome return after 35 years in exile, enthralling a full house with Schumann, Debussy and Chopin. 21-year-old youngster Alan Choo showed his mettle in Mozart, Beethoven, Biber, Bloch and Saint-Saëns, his prowess later confirmed by winning 1st Prize in the National Violin Competition (Artist Category). Certainly a name for the future.


What we can do less of:

Unruly, noisy students attending concerts. Well-intentioned schools may think they are doing their students great service by packing them into bus loads to attend concerts. However more effort should be made to inculcate in them the finer points of concert etiquette. Courtesy, consideration and commonsense, is that too much to expect?

THE BEST OF 2011 (CLASSICAL MUSIC RECORDINGS) as reported on The Straits Times

LISZT Années de Pélérinage (Years of Pilgrimage)
LOUIS LORTIE, Piano
Chandos 10662(2)

This double-CD album by French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie sets a new benchmark besides arriving propitiously in Franz Liszt’s bicentenary year. Collected over 40 years of the composer’s creative output, the 26 varied pieces contain some of his most poetic and virtuosic utterances, besides casting a glance into the future.

MAHLER Symphony No.2 “Resurrection”
Orchestra of the Music Makers / CHAN TZE LAW

Few people would have guessed that a group of young musicians (average age 21-22 years old) in Singapore could band together to play a Mahler symphony. It happened on 10 July 2010, and this live recording is the glorious result of that miraculous concert. You can hear it on Singapore Airlines KrisWorld, but it’s better to have a CD of your own.

NOCTURNAL FANTASIES
ALBERT TIU, Piano
Centaur 3093

There have been great interpreters of the piano music of Chopin and Skryabin over the decades, but nobody had thought of combining the two until now. Locally based Filipino pianist Albert Tiu possesses the intellectual nous and prodigious technique to do both composers justice, and the recorded sound is simply gorgeous.

BALI CLASSICAL NIGHTS

If you happen to be in Bali, Indonesia just before the New Year, why not enjoy a couple of evenings of classical music with BALI CLASSICAL NIGHTS, a mini-festival featuring musical talents from all over the globe?

Featured artists are:

Soprano: NANCY YUEN (Hong Kong / Singaopore)

Violin: YOOJIN JUNG (South Korea)

Flute: BEOMJAE KIM (South Korea) & PHILIPPE BERNOLD (France)

Piano: BORIS KRALJEVIC (Montenegro / Singapore), NEIL FRANKS (UK / Singapore), CHANG TOU LIANG (Singapore), ARIANE JACOB (France) & RUZANNA STARAVEROVA (Armenia)

Dates:

Wednesday (28 December), Hotel Tugu Bali, 7 pm

Thursday (29 December), Canggu Club, 7 pm

Tickets at:

Rp 550,000 for Concert & Dinner

Rp 300,000 for Concert only.

Programmes include music by:

Dvorak, Brahms, Telemann, Karg-Elert, Liszt, Babajanian, Rachmaninov, Poulenc, Debussy, Bellini, Verdi, Francaix, Saint-Saëns, Puccini, Grainger, Monti, Ravel, Dutilleux, Duparc & Bizet.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, December 2011)

SCHUMANN Works for Violin & Orchestra
ULF WALLIN, Violin
Robert-Schumann-Philharmonic / Franz Beerman
BIS SACD-1775 / ****1/2

Did Robert Schumann really compose three violin concertos, as this album has us believe? The one most listeners know of is the D minor concerto (1853), his last orchestral work. Suppressed by his widow Clara, it was not heard until 1937. It is a somewhat rambling 32-minute work with pleasant if not totally memorable themes, closing with a slow but stately polonaise-like finale. The only violin concertante work he heard in his lifetime was the Fantasy in C major (Op.131) of 1853, adopting the slow-fast two part form that displays both lyricism and virtuosity to equal degree.

The best music is however reserved for Schumann’s own violin version of his 1850 Cello Concerto in A minor (Op.129), premiered as recently as 1987. It is a bona fide original violin concerto, not to be confused with Shostakovich’s orchestration of the same work. With its own share of thrills and spills, one hardly misses the original cello solo itself. Swedish violinist Ulf Wallin extracts every last ounce of its bittersweet melodies, contrasting the emotional peaks and troughs with great alacrity. Well supported by the Chemnitz orchestra renamed after the composer, this is a persuasive case for an often overlooked genius.

ECHOES
Seattle Symphony / GERARD SCHWARZ
Naxos 8.559679 / ****1/2

The progress of modern music has mostly been in incremental steps, founded upon tried and tested past models. This anthology of new American orchestral works revisits older examples, seen and heard through the prism of time and changing musical tastes. At its simplest, Bright Sheng’s Black Swan is a lush transcription of Brahms’s Intermezzo in A major for piano (Op.118 No.2), with no new harmonies offered. Aaron Jay Kernis’s Musica Celestis is an amplification of a pre-existing movement from his own First String Quartet, having the same moving effect as works by Vaughan Williams and Barber.

Venturing further afield, David Stock’s Horn Of Plenty plays with motifs from Jeremiah Clarke’s popular Trumpet Voluntary before finally quoting the famous march it its entirety. David Schiff’s Infernal turns the Danse Infernal from Stravinsky’s Firebird into a brassy score in the style of B-grade pulp movie music. John Harbison’s Rubies is a fantasia on Thelonious Monk’s standard Ruby, My Dear, and the final result is a luxuriant wallow. Conductor Schwarz himself takes on Handel’s three concerto grosso movements for a Concerto for brass quintet, a virtuoso vehicle that is guaranteed to be heard regularly. Performed with polish and much spirit, this is recommended listening.

LOST TO THE WORLD / The Sing Song Club / Review

LOST TO THE WORLD
The Sing Song Club
The Arts House
Tuesday (20 December 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 22 December 2011 with the title "Sing Song Club in fine voice".

From the organisers of the First Singapore Lieder Festival in August and September came one final recital of art songs by Gustav Mahler and Franz Liszt, whose anniversaries are being observed this year. The Sing Song Club is Singapore’s version of Britain’s renowned The Songmaker’s Almanac, with pianist Shane Thio being the local Graham Johnson, that indefatigable instigator of the most ambitious singing projects.

Although the following for art song is small here, its practitioners are a young and determined lot who will become our top singers of tomorrow. Baritone Daniel Fong (above), a student at London’s Royal Academy, exuded a warm and expressive tone for the five Mahler songs on texts by Friedrich Rückert. Rich, sonorous and unafraid to project himself, his views on subjects like love, solitude and abandonment sung in clearly enounced German were palpable, even believable.

Ich bin der Welt abhanden (I Am Lost To The World), which lent the title to this concert, was treated with a world-wearied gravity that belied its apparent wistfulness. In Um Mitternacht (At Midnight), the shift from minor to major mode came like a shaft of life-affirming sunlight that washed away all gloom.

Tenor Brendan-Keefe Au (above) was less confident, and had a false start in Rheinlegendchen (Rhine Legend), but possessed a youthfulness that suited his set of Knaben Wunderhorn (Youth’s Magic Horn) songs well. These whimsical and often ironic songs of German folklore and country life found a sympathetic soul. Amid the militaristic undertones of Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen (Where the Beautiful Trumpets Blow), melancholy gave way to the expectancy of love.

For sheer tonal beauty, it was hard to beat soprano Rebecca Li (above), whose petite frame also packed a poignant punch. Such purity and innocence were distilled in two rarely heard Mahler songs and a further three by Liszt. Often overshadowed by his florid piano works, Liszt’s Freudvoll und leidvoll (Joyful and Sorrowful), Es muss ein wunderbares sein (It Must Be A Wonderful Thing) and S’il est un charmant gazon (If There is a Lovely Grassy Plot) basked in a radiant glow that can only be described as sublime.

This recital shows our young vocalists to be far more than enthusiastic bathroom singers. Further events by The Sing Song Club in March and May of next year are to be watched out for with keen anticipation.

CHRISTMAS WITH THE KING'S SINGERS / Review

CHRISTMAS WITH THE KING’S SINGERS
Esplanade Concert Hall
Saturday (17 December 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 December 2011 with the title "King's Singers' a right royal show".

Even before a single note of music was sung, The King’s Singers was greeted with a storm of applause that would customarily take place after a concert, not before. Such was the reputation that preceded the six-man outfit, formed in 1968 as students at King’s College, Cambridge. The singers are, of course, a different group now but the immaculate ensemble and that infectious sense of humour and fun are steadfastly retained.

Much of its Christmas programme consisted of arrangements, transcribed for its unusual combo of two countertenors, one tenor, two baritones and one bass. Neatly packaged in groups of four or five songs, it began with ancient songs of Christmas Past. Veni, Veni Emmanuel opened with voices unison as in its original form of plainchant, and then it split into six parts.

The glory of polyphony pleases the ear with its myriad shifts and variations of harmonies, and with voices ringing as clearly as bells, the effect was magical. Whether it was in German (Est ist ein Ros’entsprungen), French (Noël nouvelet), Spanish (Oyd, Oyd, Una Cosa) or Catalan (El ni ño querido), the ensemble was magnificent in its intonation and unity, joyfully communicating the essence of the festive season.

Forget all those faux versions of the syncopated Dutch carol Gaudete, Brian Kay’s arrangement made it sound less corny that what most are accustomed to. And shame on whoever’s errant cell phone that competed with countertenor David Hurley’s wonderful solo in Francisco Guerrero’s Virgen Sancta at its quietest point, almost ruining the special moment.

Christmas Present showcased more contemporary fare, but rooted in the anthems of old. Some of the Singers themselves had composed their own original pieces, both baritones Philip Lawson’s Lullay My Liking and Christopher Gabbitas’s Mary’s Lullaby were given the most personal and loving of touches.

The jive in the African-American spiritual Rise Up, Shepherd, And Follow was expressed like true soul brothers, and Geoff Keating’s arrangement of God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen in the manner of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five rejoiced in its unmistakeable ostinatos.

If there was a song that summed up the evening’s enjoyable fare, it was Peter Knight’s transcription of Mel Torme’s classic Christmas Song. The wistful solos and chorus evoked true nostalgia, and probably not a few teary eyes.

Just as three more carols were sung – Stille Nacht (Silent Night in its original German), Jingle Bells and Deck The Halls – tenor Paul Phoenix pondered aloud as what to do next. A female voice from the Circle cried out, “Marry Me!”, to which he unhesitatingly replied, “OK, then.” Promises, promises…

SOUNDS OF JAPAN 2 / The Philharmonic Winds / Review

SOUNDS OF JAPAN 2
The Philharmonic Winds
Esplanade Concert Hall
Friday (16 December 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 December 2011 with the title "Rousing sounds of Japan".

When many local musical groups opt for the tried and tested, trust The Philharmonic Winds to do just the opposite. Its well-attended concerts have consistently programmed new music and works that are unlikely to be heard on disc or broadcasts, and have the quality of memorable once-offs.

Its latest project was Japanese wind band music, not exactly exciting on paper but rousing and raucous in reality. Led by the highly regarded British conductor Douglas Bostock (left), the concert opened with Kiyoshige Koyama’s Hana-Matsuri, a brief monothematic work that recounts a solemn procession of the Okagura festival. A strict percussion beat dictated the proceedings, a prelude for more to come.

Hiroshi Ohguri’s A Myth, programme music on the creation of light on earth, was made of sterner stuff. Its almost atonal beginning soon gave way to rhythmic exuberance of a dance that sent the gods into a frenzy and flights of fantasy.

Yasuhide’s Ito’s …Yet The Sun Rises was a reflective look at the aftermath of Japan’s earthquake-tsunami tragedy of March this year. Instead of wrath and gnashing of teeth, its elegy is channelled into something positive. Piano and percussion was judiciously employed, and the overall effect that recalled big Straussian gestures and film music radiated a karmic warmth. From despair comes hope, it declares.

The longest work was Isao Matsushita’s Hiten Trilogy, three linked movements on the “Flying God” of Japanese mythology. The hall was plunged into complete darkness, before the sounds of flutes and piccolos issued antiphonally from the aisles as the musicians paraded on stage to their seats. Last to appear was Bostock and the taiko drummer Makoto Tashiro (left), whose muscle-bound arms appeared to have the girth of thighs.

That sort of physique comes from a strict discipline of drumming, and he was made to sweat throughout the vigorous and enervating work. Beginning with impressionistic hues, the music then shifted irreversibly to its main inspiration – the insistent and violent beat of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

Through this unrelenting score for both musicians and listeners, the ears ached from Tashiro’s pugilism on a number of drums before closing with a tour de force on the wadaiko, the biggest drum of them all. When Stravinsky carefully chose his moments to shock and awe, Matsushita seemed to go apoplectic from the outset. It was an impressive showing for certain, but one that was exhausting as well.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, December 2011)

RACHMANINOV The Symphonies
Russian National Orchestra / MIKHAIL PLETNEV
Deutsche Grammophon 477 9505 (4 CDs)
****1/2

There was a time when recordings by Soviet-era Russian orchestras were praised for authenticity but vilified for poor sound. This changed when Russia’s first “hard currency” orchestra – the Russian National Orchestra – was formed by pianist Mikhail Pletnev with the encouragement of then-Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, and realised by recordings on the German “yellow label”. Rachmaninov’s three symphonies and choral symphony The Bells were recorded between 1993 and 2000, and remain close to definitive performances on disc.

Although Rachmaninov was not an overt nationalist, an over-arching Russianness pervades the symphonies, hung-over from Tchaikovsky and obsessed with the medieval chant Dies Irae (Day of Wrath). The melancholy and sense of doom are captured convincingly, also indelibly colouring the tone poems The Rock, The Isle Of The Dead and his final work, the three Symphonic Dances, almost a fifth symphony. This chief rival to this budget box-set is the Concertgebouw Orchestra led by Vladimir Ashkenazy (on Decca) but that does not include the cantata John Of Damascus by Rachmaninov’s teacher Sergei Taneyev, a masterpiece of Russian choral orthodoxy and counterpoint. A must have for lovers of Russian music.

SSO CHRISTMAS CONCERTS / Review

SSO CHRISTMAS CONCERT
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall
Tuesday (13 December 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 15 December 2011 with the fitle "Fun songs that deck the halls".

Honestly, how does one begin to review a Christmas concert? Does one appraise the performances of itsy-bitsy little pieces that invariably crop up, or give a blow by blow account of what transpired? This reviewer feels it is the warm feelings engendered by time, place and context of the festive season, fuelled by appropriately cheery music, that ultimately matters most.

On this account, the year’s yuletide offering by an otherwise secular outfit, succeeded beyond the sum of its parts. There were no big works, merely excerpts such as dances from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and the longest works were probably Philip Lane’s narrated The Night Before Christmas and the repetitive Twelve Days Of Christmas.

The much touted audience sing-alongs often have the effect of a damp squib, which is why conductor Lim Yau enlisted the irrepressible William Ledbetter to be his cheerleader. Looking like Ebenezer Scrooge’s more generous kid brother, he was a hoot. Dispensing with all formalities, he coaxed his listeners into a state of relaxation, and a mood to sing.

For Franz Xavier Gruber’s Silent Night, usually sung by candlelight, he got the audience to reach out for their cell-phones and voila, instant illumination! To complement this, conductor Lim was handed an electric candle to conduct. There was an onstage dialogue about King Wenceslas and his good deeds, an act which did not quite gel as the laconic conductor is neither an actor nor totally comfortable as a speaker.

The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah was lustily sung by the Singapore Symphony Chorus, which led some in the audience to re-enact that Georgian tradition of standing up for its entire duration. Some clueless usher’s efforts to force them to sit down were stoutly ignored, even rebuffed. Good on them.

Despite not playing Mahler, the orchestra had many moments to shine. Lustrous strings in Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, energised brass in a Dixieland styled arrangement of Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer, and David Smith’s neighing trumpet for Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride.

The Children’s Choir sang like angels, and John Rutter’s saccharine-infused carols stirred the spirits. The sea of red, green and gold donned by choir and orchestra members, many with accessories like Santa hats and reindeer antlers, added to the sense of occasion. All in all, great fun but where were the balloons?