DARRELL AND & SCO / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

DARRELL ANG & SCO

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Friday (28 April 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 May 2023 with the title "Darrell Ang pulls out all stops for debut with Singapore Chinese Orchestra".

 

In his debut concert conducting the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Darrell Ang, presently Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Sichuan Philharmonic in Chengdu, pulled out all the stops. In an eclectic and highly engaging programme which included bits of his hometown and adopted city, every effort was made to ensure a visual and sonic spectacular.

 

The evening began with SCO Composer-in-Residence Wang Chenwei’s Thaipusam, originally a solo violin piece. Zhao Jianhua’s erhu and Li Baoshun’s gaohu introduced insinuating melodies with portamenti (slides) that simulated the inflexions of Tamil tunes. The orchestra coped well with the irregular meters of Carnatic rhythms, and a full-on procession soon ensued. Resembling modern minimalist music, one might say this was “John Adams goes to Serangoon Road”.

 

Darrell Ang salutes SCO Composer-in-Residence
Wang Chenwei for his new work.

Percussion at play.
Notice the angklungs on the sides.

Malaysian composer Chow Jun Yi’s Kampung was an idealised view of an idyllic village in the eyes of a Kuala Lumpur city-slicker. The slow-to-fast form portrayed the break of dawn, its awakening starring solo dizi and sheng, before heading into the hustle-bustle of busy country living. Rattling of wooden angklongs added to the gentle rustic charm, soon overtaken by percussion working overtime in this colourful and highly rhythmic score.

 

The evening’s tour de force were two original works by Ang himself, strategically placed on either sides of the intermission. The first was Kungfu Koncerto, a ballet for solo martial artist showcasing the pugilistic prowess of national wushu coach Su Zifang. Beginning with classical moves of taiji quan, this soon evolved into more fluid and vigourous motions, later culminating with swashbuckling swordplay.

 

Impressing with an age-defying suppleness and agility, no septuagenarian has the right to be this dynamic or youthful. As in Weber’s famous Invitation to the Dance, a brief lull in the music precipitated a storm of premature applause, but its true ending was rightly accorded even more plaudits.

 

The second of two enthralling acts was an imperious show of vocal abilities by Tibetan folk singer Tsering DarGi, star in Ang’s Aba, Aba! His was the natural high tenor of the highlands, unabashed in flexing all sorts of musculature to achieve a rich, unadulterated quality which incorporated a kind of yodelling quite different from the Alpine variety. His repeated long held notes, heady and intoxicating, would even be the envy of Pavarotti and his kind.

 

One only wished his words to have been translated into Chinese or English. According to the notes, he would most likely have expressed “the love of nature, the awe of gods and the yearning for a better life”.        

 

Ang’s musical idiom for both works falls under the category of cinematic music, such was the lavish orchestration and overarching sweep. The same is said of the two pieces that closed the concert. Five movements from Zhao Jiping’s Qiao’s Grand Courtyard were rich in melody and lush orchestral effects, united by a common leitmotif. Wang Danhong’s Ode To The Sun, an energetic and orgiastic dance hailing from Sichuan, provided a rousing conclusion to a true concert spectacle.