FINDING FINLANDIA / Yong Siew Toh Orchestral Institute / Review

 

FINDING FINLANDIA 

Yong Siew Toh Orchestral Institute 

Conservatory Concert Hall 

Saturday (25 January 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 27 January 2025 with the title "Orchestral institute's young musicians offer invigorating read of Sibelius".

It seems there is not a time in history when Russia is not oppressing a smaller nation. The turn of the 20th century saw Finland flexing its own nationalist muscles as it slowly but surely found its independence from the faltering Tsarist empire. 

This concert by the Yong Siew Toh Orchestral Institute focused wholly on two major works by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) which encapsulated that yearn for freedom. Led by guest conductor Ken Lam, director of orchestral studies at the Tianjin Juilliard School and resident conductor of the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra, the concert opened with the imposing but popular tone poem Finlandia (Op.26) of 1899. 

Photo: Ong Shu Chen

Choruses of stirring brass are pivotal for this masterpiece, and from the outset, the young musicians boldly proved themselves with a lack of timidity. Intonation was spot on for most part, paving the way for the familiar Finlandia Hymn, known to most churchgoers here as Be Still, My Soul. Woodwinds followed by strings laid on the self-belief with shovel-loads of fervour. 

Photo: Ong Shu Chen

Contrary to popular belief, this was not a melody derived from folk sources but a Sibelius original, which first appeared in his Press Celebrations Music entitled Tableau VI: Finland Awakes. 

With the patriotism dialled up to the nth level, what followed without intermission was Sibelius’ Second Symphony in D major (Op.43) of 1901-02. Virtually cut from the same fabric, its opening was however more subtle. Strings provided the feeling of warmth, amid a gripping narrative seemingly illustrative of Finland’s dense woods, wintry lakes and granitic landscapes. 

Again, no folk material was quoted, instead listeners were led through the dark recesses of oppressiveness with open ears. This was best felt in the slow second movement, where pizzicato strings opened and a pall later descended on the music. At its bleakest and most desolate moment, the luminous glow of a solo trumpet registered a ray of hope. 

Photo: Ong Shu Chen

All of this heady nationalism to come was implicit, concealed for obvious reasons, yet one could feel it in the bones. By the third movement’s thrall of agitation, where accurate string prestidigitation ruled, anticipation was already in the air. 

Photo: Ong Shu Chen

This clear-headed interpretation from Lam meant one could easily follow the orchestra through difficult journey from darkness to light. The moment when nebulous D minor turned into glorious D major, it was as if billowing clouds cleared to reveal the reality of sunshine. 

With warmth returning and turned on full blast, this was the rallying cry for emancipation which the Finns needed to hear, and more importantly, feel. The young musicians responded accordingly. Needing no further encouragement, they played as if their lives depended on it and were accorded the rightful audience acclamation. 

This listener remembered the first time the Singapore Symphony Orchestra performing it, during the early 1980s, and this youthful reading felt all the more invigorating. Can one call this progress?