A
DANGEROUS LIAISON
Victoria
Concert Hall
Friday (16 January 2015 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 January 2015 with the title "A musical celebration of the present".
It is a rare occasion when the Singapore
Symphony Orchestra performs a concert of works by living composers, even more
so when three of the works come from the 21st century. Even though
it was not titled as such, the concert that marks SSO's 36th anniversary (usually one of the first concerts of the new year, and one featuring soloists
from within the orchestra) conducted by Music Director Shui Lan was a
celebration of the present. And the “present” of classical music is not as
gloomy or as atonal as one might have imagined.
The earliest music dates from 1995, three
Dances from Powder Her Face by Thomas Ades, once hailed as the
whiz kid of British music and successor to Benjamin Britten's legacy. Strongly
influenced by jazz, the Overture, Dance and Finale,
conceived as a suite in 2007, harked back to the smokey dance halls and dives
of the 1930s when the opera's scandal-rife heroine the Duchess of Argyle held
court. Sexy clarinet duets and muted
brass, supported by jazz band vibes dominated the action, which swaggered from
a saucy tango, slow waltz to a final somewhat tipsy stagger.
Altogether more serious was American
composer Michael Hersch's A Sheltered Corner, a horn concerto written
for his younger brother Jamie Hersch, Associate Principal hornist in the SSO.
Playing for over half an hour and in nine connected sections, the work
alternated between violent upheavals and moments of quiet contemplation.
Particularly interesting was the aural relationship explored by the French horn
and grouped cellos, seemingly diverse instruments but sharing warm and
burnished sonorities.
Amid the busyness of orchestral
maneuvers, Hersch's horn emerged as a voice of calming reassurance while not
engaging in dizzying flights of fantasy. His long held notes sustained a wealth
of emotion, its inner secrets not privy to mere casual listening. Far longer
than the usual horn concerto (most run under 20 minutes), this was more than a
taxing physical and mental workout for Hersch, who performed seated throughout.
The generous applause was commensurate with his efforts.
The temperature cooled for young
Singaporean composer Chen Zhangyi's Rain Tree, a work that has gained
tremendous mileage having already been performed in Tokyo Baltimore
Textures in its three movements were
light, gentle and pleasing to the ear. Snatches of solo violin, flute and cello
wafted up like aromatic fragrances in Breeze, while pointillist pings
from harp, marimba and vibraphone
suggested the droplets of Rain, which coalesced into a brief monsoonal
drizzle. The quasi-minimalist rustle of Leaves and the sun shining
through the clouds provided a satisfying conclusion to a work that repays
repeated listening.
Sibling revelry, not rivalry, defined the
Concerto for Two Cellos by leading Finnish composer Kalevi Aho. SSO
Principal Cellist Ng Pei-Sian was joined by his identical twin brother Pei-Jee,
who is based in London, in dual virtuoso role as soloists. Their parts mirrored
and echoed each other, so intertwined as to be inextricable, and breathing as
one through its 20 minutes. Their chemistry was unspoken, but always keenly
felt, not least in the work's quieter sections, when the duo was lightly
accompanied.
Through the storms and stresses, the
voices were undimmed, culminating in a dazzling cadenza before dashing off in a
final burst of primal energy. The Ngs' encore was just as extrovert, Courting
The Dragon from Phoenix Story by Uzbek-Australian composer Elena
Kats-Chernin written for them in 2007. Loud cheers and a standing ovation was
ample proof that new music, performed with passion and conviction, holds the
power to entertain, enthuse and enthrall.
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