ASIAN YOUTH ORCHESTRA CONCERT TOUR 2024 / Review

 

ASIAN YOUTH ORCHESTRA 

CONCERT TOUR 2024 

Esplanade Concert Hall 

Wednesday (14 August 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 August 2024 with the title "Display of prowess by young Asian musicians".

For its tenth visit to Singapore, the Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO) led by French-Swiss conductor Joseph Bastian performed a substantial all-French programme. Its 103 players, representing 13 East Asian nations and territories, gave an excellent account of its prowess and potential. French music is notoriously difficult to master on account of multiple nuances and meticulous instructions demanded by its composers but AYO more than prevailed. 

Opening with Maurice Ravel’s Suite No.2 from ballet Daphnis et Chloe, the young musicians immediately got into their stride by generating a luscious sonority evocative of the breaking of dawn. Murmuring flutes conjured a dream-like state, while mellow violas and cellos provided a warmth and calm that was totally atmospheric. 

Notable were the short woodwind solos that graced this sumptuous score. Piccolo, flute, oboe and clarinet all shined, every member being a virtuoso in his or her own right. These would eventually be subsumed in the breathtakingly orgiastic Danse Generale which literally swept the board. 

The other major work was Claude Debussy La Mer, another score with so much fine details packed into its three movements as to risk being fussy. No worries, as this study of colour and movement flowed as naturally as breathing itself. The opening From Dawn to Midday on the Sea became the perfect tone painting, with every brushstroke, drip and splash in place, contrasted by the scherzo-like dynamism in Play of the Waves. 

The closing Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea saw the churning of ominous waves, and forces of nature unleashed to devastating effect. Close one’s eyes and listen, imagine a storm taking place with Bastian leading his charges to another wonderfully characterised performance. 

In between these works, AYO provided splendid support to renowned German cellist Alban Gerhardt in Edouard Lalo’s Cello Concerto in D minor. The martial mood set in the orchestral introduction was reciprocated by Gerhardt’s big and blustery tone, but this would soon relax into playing of a more lyrical mien. 

These contrasts were well brought out, as was the central movement’s elegiac song later followed by a playfulness and nimbleness which was pure delight. The finale began seriously but virtuoso fireworks soon took over for a rousing close. Gerhardt’s encore provided yet another facet of artistry, J.S.Bach’s soulful Prelude from Cello Suite No.2 in D minor. 

Ravel described his Bolero as “a piece without music”, but this live performance provided a thrill and elan that went beyond its gradual crescendo and seemingly endless repetitions. Credit went to the snare-drum solo steadfastly helmed by Singaporean percussionist Jeremy Ng, and the many soloists that repeated its droll and hypnotic melody over his beat. 

That spectacular ending and overwhelming response was rewarded with two encores, Georges Bizet’s festive Carmen Overture contrasted with the stringed wonder that is the Intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. For the record, four Singaporeans proudly flew the flag in AYO, also including Samuel Phua (saxophone), Lee Yan Liang (French horn) and Abner Wong (trumpet).