RHAPSODIES
OF SPRING 2016
The
Star Theatre
Saturday
(30 January 2016 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 February 2016
Rhapsodies
Of Spring
is the Singapore Chinese Orchestra's way of celebrating the Lunar New Year in
concert, and for the first time it performed in the massive arena that is The
Star Theatre. As with previous editions, the concert took on the form of a
variety show, and who better to host it than well-known local television
personality Marcus Chin (Chen Jian Bin), emcee of the popular Golden Age
Talentime?
He and conductor Yeh Tsung displayed good
chemistry in their playful banter in Mandarin, peppered with a few English
phrases, which most centred around how busy they were and how young each other
looked. There were no skits from radio personalities this year but more music,
which began with Li Huan Zhi's Spring
Festival Overture.
This familiar work was accompanied by
visuals of the orchestra projected on a giant screen behind the stage, which
focused on groups of soloists. This was soon overtaken by the entrance of the
9-member ZingO Festival Drum Group which raised a racket that was wholly
appropriate for the occasion. Its synchronised drumming in Soar and Xu Chang Jun's Dragon
Dance was an impressive show of precision and togetherness.
The first half was otherwise the Marcus
Chin show, who had no less than four costume changes and enthralled the aunties
with his crooning in the Nostalgic Song
Medley (arranged by Tan Kah Yong) and Mix Match Song Medley (Phang Kok
Jun). He does not have an operatic voice for songs like Man Chang Fei, Azaleas Bloom,
Yue Qin and The Traveller With A Bamboo Pole, but his tenor comfortably scaled
the heights with oodles of personality and some epileptic dancing.
The Chinese
Folksong Medley curiously included a Russian song, Under The Shimmering Moonlight (but sung in Mandarin) and concluded
with Radiant With Joy, rendered in an
authentic Sichuan
TV Golden
Medley
(arranged by Law Wai Lun) revived melodies like Striving (from the early local serial The Awakening), Good Morning,
Sir! and Kopi O. Suona Principal
Jin Shi Yi had a field day with his assorted reeds in the Taiwanese song Tian Hei Hei, alternating between jazzy
riffs and Donald Duck imitations. Not to be outdone was Han Lei on guanzi in Beijing
The 2-hour concert concluded with bidding farewell to the Year of the Goat and ushering the Year of the Monkey. Wang Li Ping's Shepherd Song gave way to Xu Jing Qing's Gan Wen Lu Zai He Fang from Journey To The West, which saw Chin imitating the moves of Sun Wu Kong (Monkey God). Joined by four ladies in gaudy red, a motley Chinese version of Solid Gold Dancers, the glittery ensemble got the audience singing and clapping along to Sim Boon Yew's Spring Suite VI.
Has there been that many Chinese New Year
songs in circulation? The Singapore Chinese Orchestra under Yeh Tsung has
played them all.
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