HITS OF CHINESE MUSIC I: WOODWINDS
Friday (8 December 2017 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 11 December 2017 with the title "A night where wind instruments shone".
This
was an evening of oldies but goodies, familiar favourites which everybody wants
to hear again. This took the form of arrangements for solo Chinese wind
instruments, nine which featured twelve players of the Singapore Chinese
Orchestra: five on dizi, four suona, two sheng and one guanzi.
All
of the soloists were consummate virtuosos, bringing a wealth of experience and
technical prowess to each piece. Even the non-concertante works, such as Xu
Jing Qing's Flowers Blooming Everywhere, which opened the concert
conducted by Yeh Tsung, had important moments for dizis and suonas
to shine.
Such
a programme necessitated that the works performed be short, but there was no
shortage of quality. Tan Mizi's Beautiful Jiangnan, arranged by Sim Boon
Yew, featured Zeng Zhi, Tan Chye Tiong and Phang Thean Siong on three dizis
accompanied by a small ensemble. The flavour of Jiangnan shizhu,
traditional chamber music of Suzhou
The
orchestra's wind principals had plum roles, such as suona master Jin Shi Yi (above) in
the Minnan-influenced Community Celebration by Ge Li Dao and Yi Kai
Xian, and dizi exponent Yin Zhi Yang (below) in the very familiar Journey To Gusu
by Jiang Xian Wei in an arrangement by Simon Kong. Both were rhapsodic works
which alternated between fast and slow sections, thus displaying contrasting
facets of their technique and artistry.
Guanzi
principal Han Lei, sporting a gaudy Santa-red blazer (below), had paradoxically the
most unremittingly sorrowful work on show, drawing a cathartic veil over the
Northeast Chinese folksong Tears Of The River, also orchestrated by Sim.
Its story was of a woman who went in search for her dead husband, but in vain
as all she heard were sobs from a flowing river.
Far
more cheerful were solos by Liu Jiang (suona), Lim Sin Yeo (dizi),
Kevin Cheng and Guo Chang Shuo (sheng), who had just as demanding tasks
to fulfil. These included tricky articulations and stretches requiring
prolonged breaths, which were overcome with consummate ease.
Perhaps
the most entertaining aspect of solo wind playing was the mimicry of birds,
accomplished to a tee by Chang Le and Meng Jie on two suonas (above) in the famous Shandong
The
concert closed with the full orchestra in three movements from Jing Jian Shu's Amorous
Feelings For The Yellow River. Two solo dizis dominated the central
movement, Ever-Flowing Waters, and the finale By The Fire saw dizis
and suonas in full blast, dancing to the raucous beat of percussion.
Prolonged applause prompted an encore in the popular Hua Hao Yue Yuan,
which drew a rare standing ovation from an appreciative audience.
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| Photographs by the kind courtesy of Singapore Chinese Orchestra. |
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