pianomania: GLORIA! / Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Children and Youth Choirs / Review

GLORIA

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Singapore Symphony

Children & Youth Choirs

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (29 November 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 2 December 2024 with the title "Festive vibes with Vivaldi at SSO's choral concert".

Eminent British choral conductor Stephen Layton returned to lead the Singapore Symphony Children’s and Youth Choirs, which have been well-trained by chorusmaster Wong Lai Foon. The 50 children sang completely from memory, first in the processional Hodie In Natus Est from Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols (1942), smartly arriving on stage where accompanying harpist Gulnara Mashurova was waiting.

Photo: Yoricko Liu

Thus began a most impressive performance where unison passages had a silky evenness and the tricky counterpoint of Wolcum Yole! were mastered with aplomb. Creating a magical feel were the echoing effects in This Little Babe and Deo Gracias while sopranos Ng Yi Poh, Isabelle Ho and Emily Tan, selected from the choir, shone in the movements with solos.

The Recession saw all the singers, harpist and conductor troop off, leaving the strange sight of an audience enthusiastically applauding an empty stage.

Just as enjoyable was the Singapore premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Lapsimessu (A Children’s Mass, 1973), where its a cappella Kyrie, Gloria and Agnus Dei movements were followed by chromatic string interludes. The soprano voice of Melina Leong lit up the busy Gloria while the starkly beautiful final Alleluja united both choir and strings for the first time.

Between these accessible 20th century choral works was Tomaso Albinoni’s popular Adagio in G minor for organ and strings, now known to be a 1950s creation by Remo Giazotto using retrieved old manuscripts. Eudenice Palaruan on Victoria Concert Hall’s Klais organ and concertmaster Kevin Lin’s violin solos provided the fancy trimmings.

While the 36-strong Singapore Symphony Youth Choir did not sing from memory, its appearance in the concert’s second half was no less vital. There cannot be movements more sublime than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Laudate Dominum from Vesperae Solennes de Confessore (K.339), where soprano Carine Tan’s lovely aria was backed by lilting strings, and the choir entering with Gloria Patri. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring, his most famous cantata movement, was taken rather briskly, somewhat diminishing its fabled appeal.

The main draw was Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria in D major (RV.589), celebratory for its exultant joy, amply displayed by all on stage. Balanced by a sense of mystery, notably in the B minor key movements such as the fugal In Terra Pax, this work revealed the true meaning of the season.

The opening Gloria In Excelsis Deo and later Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus were radiant, and sopranos Giselle Lim and Janelle Tan displayed much clarity in the lively Laudamus Te. In Domine Deus, Rex Coelestis, soprano Jasmine Towndrow and Rachel Walker’s oboe made for some memorable moments.

It was counter-tenor Zachary Lim who stole the show, a portrait of confidence in Domine Deus, Agnus Dei and Qui Sedes. While this very impressive choral showcase was not marketed as a Christmas concert, it certainly felt like one.