SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL BAND FESTIVAL 2024 GALA CONCERT / SAF Central Band / Review

 

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL 

BAND FESTIVAL 2024 

GALA CONCERT 

Singapore Armed Forces Central Band 

Esplanade Concert Hall 

Sunday (28 July 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 30 July 2024 with the title "SAF Central Band celebrates wind instruments at gala concert".

It is not a well-known fact that the Singapore Armed Forces Central Band is Singapore’s third largest employer of professional musicians, after the Singapore Symphony and Singapore Chinese Orchestras. It may even be considered Singapore’s national wind orchestra, as it represents the state in international diplomatic events and regularly performs overseas concerts. 

Its latest concert was the marquee event of the 9th Singapore International Band Festival involving 66 wind ensembles from Singapore, Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Major repertoire works by four American composers were led by three conductors, Philip Tng, Tan Aik Kee and Ignatius Wang, all who hold the rank of Military Experts (ME) in the armed forces. 

SAF Central Band conductors (from L):
ME6 Philip Tng, ME5 Tan Aik Kee, ME Ignatius Wang

Repertoire for wind orchestras occupies a separate parallel universe from that of symphony orchestras, and with rare exceptions, none the twain shall meet. It would, however, be a grave mistake to underestimate wind works, typically involving woodwinds, brass and percussion (strings being conspicuously absent), which are no less demanding to perform and master. 

How often does one hear the National Anthem, Zubir Said’s Majulah Singapura, in concert? That set a rousing mood, followed by Flying Jewels by James David (born 1978) conducted by ME6 Tng. This scherzo-like symphonic poem reveled in mercurial pace and pulsatile beat, representing the soaring passage of birds and aircraft. At its heart was a French horn aria, which resounded with pride and nobility. 

Conductor ME5 Tan led in two works, the first being Chaconne (In Memoriam...) by Ron Nelson (1929-2023), a funereal procession with minimalist progressions. The chime of tubular bells opened accounts. Two percussionists on marimba provided insistent ostinatos, later replaced by woodwind entreaties and brass chorales. A gradual crescendo of sound soon enveloped the hall, reminiscent of Estonian composer Arvo Part’s well-known Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten. 

Traveler by David Maslanka (1943-2017) was far more exuberant. Its brassy beginning, jazzy vibe, and turbulent rhythms suggested one hurtling through space and time, but this forward movement proved illusory, with a series of solos intervening before winding down to a quiet end. Travelling also means knowing when to call it quits, when one finds peace. 

The concert’s longest work was the Third Symphony (The Tragic, Op.89) by James Barnes (born 1949), which spanned 40 minutes over four movements. Conductor ME5 Wang provided a helpful preamble which made the work’s themes more accessible to the full-house audience. Composed in response to the death of his daughter, its first movement in C minor was a heart-wrenching expression of grief, with a Beethovenian Fate motif heard obsessively on the timpani. 

Its brooding Mahlerian and quasi-Shostakovich dark mood would lighten with a brief John Williams-like Scherzo, full of vitriol and irony. The slow movement was a portrait of tenderness and intimacy, with a Brahmsian French horn solo and climax to ravish, clearly the symphony’s emotional core. The finale’s life-affirming march closed the work on a spirited high. Performed with conviction and passion, the band demonstrated the enormous range of wind orchestras and what they are fully capable of.

The SAF Central Band acknowledges
applause from the audience in the gallery seats.