BEETHOVEN'S EROICA: A SYMPHONIC REVOLUTION / Orchestra of the Music Makers / Review

BEETHOVEN’S EROICA:

A SYMPHONIC REVOLUTION

Orchestra of the Music Makers

Sunday (30 January 2022)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 9 February 2022 with the title "Enthralling take on Beethoven's Eroica".

 

Alert concert-goers will have noticed that concert durations have more or less reverted to their original lengths. Although restrictions to ensemble and audience sizes remain, longer works are being heard. For example, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra presented Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony and Violin Concerto, both substantial offerings, just last week.

 

The Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) led by Chan Tze Law went one step further by performing Beethoven’s Third Symphony, also known as the “Eroica”. The longest symphony in the classical repertoire until Beethoven later conceived his monumental Ninth Symphony, it takes the best part of 45 minutes.

 

Although requiring feats of endurance and plentiful reserve from the players, this is small beer for OMM, whose young players have overcome even more massive works such as Mahler’s symphonies. The first two E flat major chords at its outset were vital, as these determined the tenor and direction which the symphony takes. Direct and incisively punched out, these heralded what was to be a taut and urgent reading.

 

However, hurried and hectic it was not. Instead one got the feeling that something momentous had occurred, and the entire first movement’s dynamic drive kept one guessing. This mystery was solved in the slow movement in C minor, as the titular hero had died and this was his funeral march. The somberness was palpable, and even magnified in its passionate play of counterpoint.

 

This tension was also upheld in the third movement’s Scherzo, where the contrasting Trio section provided some release in the form of a jocular trio of French horns, who nailed their parts with stunning aplomb. The finale’s variations on a theme from Beethoven’s ballet The Creatures Of Prometheus exhibited pure joy, as a universal dance of levity and humour. This performance had taken just 42 minutes, which was on the swifter side.  

 

Preceding the Beethoven was Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major (K.364), long considered to be his finest string concerto. Violinist Chikako Sasaki and violist Wang Dandan, both musicians from the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, were the soloists. For them this was ultimately a piece of chamber music, as they joined the ensemble to play the orchestral parts even before their actual solos began.

 

As soloists, they were evenly matched, each projecting clearly with singing tones and accurate intonation throughout. They also blended well, particularly in the technically tricky cadenzas. It was in the sublime slow movement where more of their individual voices were revealed, and one did not want these beautiful moments to end. The fast-paced finale was another show of joie de vivre, drawing loud and enthusiastic applause from the audience.

 

For an encore, Sasaki and Wang were joined by concertmaster violinist Zhao Tian to perform a trio arrangement of Mexican composer Manuel Ponce’s most popular song Estrellita (Little Star) by local composer Alexander Oon. Would Mozart or Beethoven have minded this syrupy-sweet diversion? Given their love of pretty melodies, probably not a single bit.   

     

All concert photos by Yong Junyi, by courtesy of OMM.