A MUSIC VOYAGE AROUND THE ISLAND
Victoria Concert Hall
Saturday (14 January 2017 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 16 January 2017 with the title "Playful take on Singapore-inspired music".
Nanyang
music featured prominently in this Singapore Chinese Orchestra concert held for
the first time in Victoria Concert Hall since its post-renovation opening,
reason being that SCO's Singapore Conference Hall home is undergoing its own
refurbishment. The sound of Chinese instruments resonated strongly in this
reverberant space, opening with Zhang Xiao Feng's Singapura Overture
conducted by SCO Assistant Conductor Moses Gay.
Its
opening was Western before becoming distinctly Malay with its play of drumming.
Then various motifs of a deconstructed familiar local tune appeared in whiffs
and wafts. It took more than a few seconds to identify Di Tanjong Katong,
which was never heard in its full glory with the music galloping like The
Magnificent Seven theme to a raucous close.
More
original in conception was Simon Kong's Izpirazione II, its three varied
movements inspired by local fruits – Durian, Rambutan and Tarap
– and taking the form of a prelude, scherzo and finale. Winds and percussion
coloured the music's pungent aroma, joined by the musicians' synchronised
clapping and stamping of feet as the suite drew to a colourful end.
There
were two concertante works that offered very different aspects of solo string
prowess. The first was Wang Dan Hong's Amannisha, named after the 15th
century Uyghur singer-dancer who defined the muqam musical tradition of Central Asia .
Conducted by SCO Resident Conductor Quek Ling Kiong, Chinese erhu soloist Lu
Yiwen's spectacular showing began with gentle musings in the upper registers
before getting earthy in a vigourous and rhapsodic dance that rocked the hall
to its rafters.
Lu's
immaculate deportment contrasted with the free-and-easy improvisations of
former Singapore Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Alexander Souptel in Phoon
Yew Tien's Gypsy Rhapsody. This medley included Monti's Csardas,
Enesco's First Romanian Rhapsody and variations on the Russian song Ochi
Chornye (Dark Eyes) in a riotous mash-up. Souptel was his usual
irrepressible self, cavorting on stage with the connivance of conductor Yeh
Tsung, including a cheeky send-up to Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto for
good measure.
Not
to be outdone, the three conductors did their own solos in the world premiere
of Journey Around Singapore by SCO Composer-in-Residence Eric Watson.
Hoping to catch Yeh on piano, Quek tackling percussion and Gay playing the erhu,
while taking turns to conduct? Here was the piece, destined to be a National
Day Parade hit.
A
musical travelogue in all but name, the work employed popular tunes
representing four compass points: Sentosa Isle (South), Di Tanjong
Katong (East), Voices From The Heart (West), the Chinese classic Horse-Racing
and Rossini's William Tell Overture (North, specifically the Turf Club
at Kranji) before closing with the calypso rhythm of Singapore Town.
That the concert was not to be taken too seriously was
also underlined by the works that ended each half. Jiang Ying's Hot Melody from
Southeast Asia was an Asian pastiche of all those Leroy Anderson “jazz”
pieces, while Zhao Ji Ping's Celebration Overture was a spin-off from
Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture with Chinese tunes. If you can't
beat them, join them.
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