CD Reviews (The Straits Times, November 2015)

CHARMS OF NANYANG II

Singapore Chinese Orchestra 

TSUNG YEH

SCO / ****1/2

By organising the Singapore International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Competition, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra has become a global prime mover and arbiter on Chinese instrumental and orchestral composition. The competition was inaugurated in 2006 and this disc presents the best works from the second competition, held in 2011.

An international jury picked as 1^st Prize Xie Xiang Ming's A Stroll In The Lion City, a populist choice that opens with the rhythm to be found in the Dance Of The Adolescents from Stravinsky's The Rite Of Spring and progresses by way of minimalism and milking a big tune. More subtle are the 2^nd and 3^rd prizes awarded to Stephen Yip's Nine Actors and Zhu Yi Qing's The Silence Of Borubodur respectively. The former makes use of Fujian and Hakka folktunes in a theatrical manner while the latter is an atmospheric two-movement concerto for bamboo flute and pipa that depicts the rise and decline of the great Javanese Buddhist empire.

All the works melded various Asian compositional genres and techniques, some based on religious ideologies, creating a pan-Asian flavour that is immediately palpable. Completing the album are Raymond Mok's Cycles Of Destiny (Winner of the Nanyang Award), Wang Dong Xu's The Capriccio Of The Mountain Folk Song and young Singaporean Lee Ji Heng's Dark Light. The last, composed at 18, is an earthy procession that marries Chinese woodwinds and Javanese gamelan to stunning effect. 

BOOK IT:

3^RD SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL 
COMPETITION FOR CHINESE 
ORCHESTRAL COMPOSITION 2015

Prize Presentation Ceremony & Concert

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday 21 November 2015, 7.30 pm

Tickets at $15 & 25, available at SISTIC