The Straits Times usually posts a column of the Best and Worst of concerts at the end each year, but not this one. At any rate, of the hundred or so concerts I attended this year, there was hardly one which could be classified as bad, let alone worst. There were some somewhat disappointing ones, like the great Leonidas Kavakos playing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.
But the concerts were mostly good, some very good, even excellent, comparable with those witnessed at international musical capitals. Singapore should be proud that we have had many wonderful concerts in 2023, especially some exceptional ones by local groups, which I consider ground-breaking in certain ways.
So here's a recap of the best (my favourite) concerts of 2023:
WAGNER'S DAS RHEINGOLD
Orchestra of the Music Makers
Esplanade Concert Hall
8 July 2023
Was there any doubt that the second instalment of Wagner's Ring Cycle in Singapore would even make this list? Conducted by Joshua Tan, this was a semi-staged production (Director Tang Xinxin) that had everything. From excellent soloists, including two Singaporean Rhinemaidens and a Goldfinger-style Rhinegold, to the opulent and lush orchestral score wonderfully realised by the Orchestra of the Music Makers, there was a wow-factor that kept every minute of this concert vital and alive.
THE COMPLETE
BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS
Red Dot Baroque
Victoria Concert Hall
3 September 2023
Singapore's first-ever J.S. Bach Brandenburg Concerto cycle performed on period instruments was accomplished by Red Dot Baroque led by its founder violinist Alan Choo. All six concertos in a single concert was a lot to take, but what sheer pleasure it delivered. Not everything was perfect, but the music's beating heart was all there, and that was what that truly mattered.
MORE THAN MUSIC
10TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT
Esplanade Recital Studio
19 March 2023
Chamber music making at its finest and most passionate was what More Than Music - the duo of violinist Loh Jun Hong and pianist Abigail Sin - delivered. On its tenth anniversary, they were joined by their friends, and their lovely programme of Brahms, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky (Souvenir de Florence) truly rocked. Friendship and musical cameraderie is what chamber music is all about.
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| Photo: Yong Junyi |
PAUL LEWIS PIANO RECITAL
Victoria Concert Hall
18 February 2023
There were many fantastic recitals in 2023, including those by Aimard, Lortie, Tsujii, Buchbinder, Hamilton, Zilberstein, Tengku Irfan, Fukuma, Geniusas (by their last names alone, you know who they are) et al, but the pick of the crop belonged to British pianist Paul Lewis. Is there a living pianist today who plays Schubert as convincingly as him?
BEST DEBUT:
WANG HUANG HAO JIA
in Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.3
Victoria Concert Hall
23 September 2023
It was a toss-up between this and the miraculous show by 11-year-old Mikkel Meyer Lee playing both Chopin piano concertos in a single concert. However, young Hao Jia (a NAFA School of Young Talents and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory alumnus) marked his concerto debut with no less than Rach 3 at the Singapore Symphony's President's Young Performers Concert conducted by Rodolfo Barraez. Despite snapping a string early in the first movement, he kept his cool and swallowed this concerto whole.
Wishing one and all a great musical 2024 ahead!
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