pianomania: NG PEI-SIAN PLAYS DVORAK. RACH 2 / Orchestra of the Music Makers / Review

NG PEI-SIAN PLAYS

DVORAK. RACH 2

Orchestra of the Music Makers

School of the Arts Concert Hall

Saturday (28 May 2022)

The Covid pandemic is over, or at least Singapore considers the deadly virus as endemic within the island state. That certainly explains why public events like concerts are no longer socially distanced, and full-houses have greeted the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and now the Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM). Orchestras are now allowed to operate at full-strength, which gave OMM the opportunity to bring back some “old friends” of the concert repertoire.

Conducted by Joshua Tan, Music Director of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, OMM revived works performed during its early years, now layered with new slicks of paint and lots more varnish. Dvorak’s mighty Cello Concerto in B minor (Op.104) was performed at OMM’s inaugural concert in January 2009. On that occasion, the orchestra accompanied a conservatory student, but this evening it partnered no less than the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s principal cellist Ng Pei-Sian. That he gave a hearty, honest-to-goodness reading, full of Romantic fervour, was no surprise. His tone was always full-throated and gorgeous, coupled with the orchestra’s readiness to mix it all in, ensuring this to be a treat from start to end.

The long orchestral introduction revealed some rawness initially but the orchestra soon got a grip and never let go, thus setting the tone for the rest of the concert. The slow movement, with its quote of Dvorak’s own song Lasst mich allein (Leave Me Alone) was tender and heartfelt, and the “wow” moments came in the march-like Rondo finale. That passage when concertmaster Alan Choo’s violin (he gets to play everywhere, doesn’t he?) was accompanied by Ng’s cello was truly sublime, almost a page out of Brahms’ celebrated Double Concerto.

Photo: PianoManiac

The concerto’s conclusion was greeted with the heartiest of applause and cheers. The obligatory encore was also by Dvorak, London-based Singaporean composer Darren Sng’s arrangement of Songs My Mother Taught Me, lovingly voiced and with the clever cheek of incorporating the aria from the Cello Concerto. A classic case of deja vu, and one well-deserved too.

Photo: PianoManiac

When OMM first performed Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony in E minor (Op.27) in 2009, just after as the orchestra was conferred the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation Youth Excellence Award, it was said to have outdone itself. Some thirteen years down the line, and with a totally new cohort of musicians, yet more miracles were witnessed. That the orchestra had matured was without question, such that superlative performances are almost expected. Playing of such heft and depth, as heard in the slow introduction of the first movement, can sometimes be taken for granted. It did not drag, and when time came for the ensuing Allegro section, it was all systems go. With the exposition repeat omitted, and the music simply flew from there.

The development section was thrilling as was the second movement’s Scherzo, which bristled with energy and counterpoint. The nostalgic slow movement benefited from an excellent clarinet soloist in principal Miao Kaiwen (above), while the vigourous tarantella-rhythm of the finale rode on ever-surging waves of momentum. At this point, one cannot help but feel transported to a different world, or a different dimension of existence. The last time this listener felt this “lump in the throat” or “chill in the spine” was when the Singapore Symphony debuted at the BBC Proms in 2014 with this very symphony. That says quite something about how this magnificent young orchestra has progressed.