pianomania: CHLOE CHUA PLAYS MOZART 4 / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

CHLOE CHUA PLAYS MOZART 4

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Thursday (12 January 2023)

This review was first published in Bachtrack on 13 January 2023 with the title "More splendid Mozart from Chloe Chua and Hans Graf in Singapore".

This was the first symphony concert of the year led by music director Hans Graf in Singapore, and it had the makings of a landmark. 15-year-old violinist Chloe Chua, the orchestra’s Artist-in-Residence of 2022-23, was the obvious main draw. There was, however, still much to recommend about the rest of the concert, which opened with Debussy’s Prelude to The Afternoon of the Fawn.

Photo: Jack Yam

Principal flautist Jin Ta’s opening solo had a sinuous and languid quality that set the tone, as the day enlivened from sultry slumber. Rachel Walker’s excellent oboe continued this awakening amid shimmering textures which listeners today refer to as “impressionist”. Imagine the reaction of its first Parisian audience (1894), to the music’s indeterminate tonality and seeming decadence. No fears on this evening, as conductor Graf led with firm yet flexible enough guiding hands. Also graced by concertmaster Markus Tomasi’s short violin solo and the gentle of tinkle of zimbeln (miniature cymbals), brief but indelible moments of aural magic were the result.

Photo: Jack Yam

The full-house had waited on Chloe Chua’s appearance and were not to be disappointed by her convincing account of Mozart’s Fourth Violin Concerto in D major. The prize-winning sixteen-year-old has to be every music teacher’s dream student, as she carried utter musicality and confident stage deportment to the nth degree. Whether it was her sensitively-honed tone, natural phrasing or unimpeachable intonation, there were lots to admire.

Photo: Jack Yam

When more outward show was called for, as in cadenzas near the end of each movement, she delivered with directness and neither idiosyncracy nor artifice. The cantabile of the slow movement was matched by her view of the Rondo’s courtliness and gentle dance rhythms. She had performed Mozart’s Turkish-flavoured Fifth Concerto just six months ago, and this was no clone of that outing but a separate entity that breathed new life of its own. Close your eyes, and one does not imagine a child at play but someone twice or three times as mature. Despite the long and loud applause, Chloe dragged out conductor Graf to share the limelight, which meant there was not to be a solo encore. A pity, the only one of the evening.

After having partnered Chloe so sensitively and assiduously in the concerto, the orchestra had its own show in Georges Bizet’s early Symphony in C major. Composed at only seventeen in 1855, the symphony was discovered and premiered as late as the 1930s. Sir Thomas Beecham was an early champion, however it has fallen to relative neglect in “serious” concert programmes these days.

Photo: Jack Yam

Its opening movement, taken at a quick clip by Graf and his charges, had liveliness and ebullience. Brimming with Haydnesque wit, it was simply enjoyable. Carmen will not be heard until 1875, but strong hints are found in the lovely Adagio, with Pan Yun’s ravishing oboe solo lighting up with a warm Mediterranean glow. The busy little string fugue near its close also provided clues for later action to come. The high spirits of the rustic Scherzo, with its bucolic drones (echoing those heard earlier in the Mozart concerto), made for nice contrasts. The perpetual motion for strings of the Mendelssohnian finale, splendidly delivered, was further icing on the cake. Delicious was to be the last word.