NEW
YEAR'S EVE
COUNTDOWN
GALA CONCERT 2016
The
Philharmonic Orchestra
School
of the Arts Concert Hall
Thursday
(31 December 2015 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 2 January 2016 with the title "Rousing start to the new year".
If there is a local musical tradition
worth preserving, that might be The Philharmonic Orchestra's annual New Year's
Eve Concert, now in its fifth edition. Although that may seem a short span of
time compared with the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Day Concert, it has
nevertheless started a trend of sorts.
TPO Music Director Lim Yau has been the mainstay
of this series, but this year he shared the conducting responsibilities with
young composer-conductor Terrence Wong Fei Yang. Lim led the opener, Otto
Nicolai's Overture to The Merry Wives Of Windsor, which began
with refined string sound in its introduction before erupting to ebullient life
in its allegro section of Mendelssohnian lightness.
Wong then took over the baton for Johann
Strauss Junior's popular Pizzicato Polka,
which was accompanied by a short film of orchestra members recounting their
favourite moments of the year 2015. His steady guiding hand also brought charm
to the familiar Waltz from
Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, which
was followed by two movements from Grieg's Peer
Gynt.
Flautist Paul Huang's solo was fluid and
mellifluous in the atmospheric Morning
Mood, while the orchestra churned out an exciting crescendo for Hall Of The Mountain King, which had
bassoonist Goh Mok Cheong in suitably belligerent mood.
With less music performed this year,
master-of-ceremonies William Ledbetter was compelled to stir up the
proceedings, pad up the time with anecdotes and poetry reading, besides priming
the usually sedate Singaporean audience
to bellow out a robust “Happy New Year!” at the stroke of midnight . Unfortunately when the
time came, he had all but forgotten that cue.
The orchestra performed a couple of
rarities, including The Jolly Village
Smiths with its striking anvils by Julius Fucik, the Czech composer better
known for his Entry Of The Gladiators.
The other was David Lovrien's Minor
Alterations, a witty medley with Christmas songs like Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Good
King Wenceslas and Rudolf The
Red-Nosed Reindeer performed in minor keys. It closed with a hilarious
mash-up of Tchaikovsky's Trepak from Nutcracker with Deck The Halls.
As with last year's concert, there were
several minutes of sobriety and reflection in memory of personalities who made
their departure in 2015, including Kurt Masur, David Willcocks, BB King, Jonah
Lomu and Lee Kuan Yew. The aptly moving accompanying music was Estonian
composer Arvo Pรคrt's Cantus In Memoriam
Of Benjamin Britten, which consisted of a series of descending scales built
on a cantus firmus in A minor.
The countdown to 2016 was ushered in by
Respighi's Pines Of The Appian Way,
representing the unrelenting march of time and Roman legions, conducted by Lim
Yau. Having missed the chance for a communal wishing of new year greetings, the
audience nevertheless had a cheerful clap-along to Johann Strauss Senior's Radetzky March. An eventful year of
great music beckons.
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