BEETHOVEN’S
TRIPLE
& MAHLER’S FIFTH
Yong Siew
Toh Conservatory Orchestra
Esplanade
Concert Hall
Thursday (17 April 2014 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 April 2014 with the title "Young orchestra sets stage ablaze".
Two
popular works, a million-dollar-trio and low-priced tickets were what
completely sold out a concert by the Conservatory Orchestra on the eve of a
public holiday. The sense of occasion was also heightened when the music began
some forty minutes late, due to the stringent security checks leading to the
appearance by no less than the Prime Minister himself.
Beethoven
wrote no cello concerto, and so his Triple
Concerto in C major (Op.56), for violin, cello and piano (the
quintessential piano trio), is the closest thing to comes to one. So it was no accident
that cellist Qin Li-Wei was positioned right smack in the centre on the
forestage, with both the piano and conductor displaced right of centre.
The
first solo entry naturally fell to Qin, whose statement was clear in voice and
intent. He would be the leader, while violinist Qian Zhou his consort, offering
countermelodies and an intricate veil of harmony. Their chemistry, as
previously demonstrated in Brahms’s Double
Concerto, was immediate and palpable, with the duo casting frequent glances
at each other as the music rolled on.
The
orchestra led by Jason Lai and Albert Tiu’s piano provided more than textural
and rhythmic support in the engaging 35-minute-long work. True to form in this
taut and highly-strung performance, there were several heart-stopping moments
involving the pianist.
There
was a flub early in the first movement, quickly corrected, and deep into the Polonaise-influenced finale, one of
Tiu’s high G strings snapped on sudden impact. All this made for an eventful
outing, which also witnessed arch-lyricism in the all-too-short slow movement
and a going-for-broke with all guns blazing in the coda.
Mahler’s
Fifth Symphony provided an outright
demo for the young orchestra’s breadth and depth of ensemble playing and solo
prowess. Wang Jingyuan’s opening trumpet solo was more confident than pristine
but rightly set the mood for the first movement’s funeral march. The pacing was
well-judged by conductor Lai, stately but not too ponderous, which made the
second movement’s violent upheavals all the more acutely felt.
French
horn principal Tan Chai Suang literally stood out in the Scherzo, where her whooping solo entries were delivered with an
outsized bravura and imperious sweep. Alongside her, the entire horn section of
seven shone in this paradox of a movement which also incorporated a gentle Austrian
country-dance within its rollicking pages.
The
famous Adagietto, scored for only
strings and harp, was beautifully delivered. Played without sentimentality and
pathos seemed the right path to take, and one does not need to be reminded of
dead dignitaries or expiring in Venice . The music is too good for that kind of
narrowness of interpretation.
The
finale, based on a satirical Mahler song about a singing contest between a
cuckoo and nightingale, saw all stops being pulled. The solo entries to begin were
all excellent, and soon the competing counterpoint converged into a log jam of
overflowing ideas. Trust Lai and his charges to unravel these with a coherence
and clarity that was staggering.
At
high speed, the hectic but triumphant finale no longer seemed implausible but a
reality. The well-behaved (no misplaced clapping between movements) and
appreciative audience seemed to whole-heartedly agree.
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