ASIAN A CAPPELLA: ECHOES OF ANCIENT AIRS / The Philharmonic Chamber Choir / Review

 

ASIAN A CAPPELLA:

ECHOES OF ANCIENT AIRS

The Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Esplanade Recital Studio

Friday (5 September 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 8 September 2025 with the title "Rebooted Philharmonic Chamber Choir is peerless".

The Philharmonic Chamber Choir (TPCC) was formed during the mid-1990s as an offshoot of the Singapore Symphony Chorus, with a vision to specialise in Asian a cappella choral music. Its members have come and gone over the decades, but one constant remains – the leadership of founder chorusmaster Lim Yau, still a lively presence in his 70s.

Photo: Ellissa Sayampanathan

His thirst for musical exploration and choral discipline knows no bounds, and reviving TPCC after a seven-year performing hiatus was no mean feat. Its latest programme dwelled mostly on contemporary Japanese music, opening with two quite different song cycles sung in the native language.

Each of the five songs in Yuka Yamashita’s Haru Ga Kitanara (When Spring Comes, 2023) was prefaced by a reading of the short-lived Michizo Tachihara’s poetry by alto Tomoko Ichimaru, also the choir’s Japanese language coach. The musical idiom, although contemporary, was highly tonal and accessible.

Photo: Ellissa Sayampanathan

The 28 singers brought out a warm sonority, beginning with the very engaging If Spring Should Come. Clear enunciation and pronunciation helped, and even if one did not understand Japanese, one could feel a prevailing spirit of optimism and happiness. This was most apparent in the final song How Many Happy Days, which was serenity and contentment portrayed in as many words.

Photo: Ellissa Sayampanathan

Takatomi Nobunaga’s Rubaiyat (2011), based on a Japanese interpretation of an English translation of Omar Khayyam’s verses, was more invigorating. Some songs delighted in chant-like unison passages, while The Bird In Time had detached phrases and high melodic registers, recalling a nightingale’s song. The tricky counterpoint in the final two songs - Rolling Time and Spring Should Vanish - was comfortably surmounted, while luxuriating in lovely harmonies.

Photo: Ellissa Sayampanathan

It was a pity that the trigger-happy audience applauded after almost every short number, which disrupted the flow of both suites. At least they were listening intently and responding positively. Even the children in attendance were well-behaved.

More Japanese music featured in the 90-minute concert’s second half. Toru Takemitsu, Japan’s most well-known classical composer, was represented by three pieces of a decidedly light nature. The ballad-like and strophic Chii Sora (Small Sky, 1962/1981) was so free of his trademarked dissonance as to be positively inviting. Similarly, Maru To Sankaku No Uta (A Song of Circles and Triangles, 1961/1984) and Tsubasa (Wings, 1982/83) also revealed his more sentimental side.

Singapore was represented by the local premiere of Zechariah Goh’s Fei Qin (Abandoned Qin, 2023), commissioned by a Taiwanese choir and premiered in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Sung in Mandarin, Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyu’s lament on the erosion and neglect of classics was referenced in the onomatopoeic tones which simulated tones of the plucked guqin.

The final song was Francisco Feliciano’s Si Yahweh Ang Aking Pastol (The Lord Is My Shepherd, 1981), a canonic Tagalog setting of the famous first line from Psalm No.23 which built to a moving and sonorous climax. There are many choirs in Singapore today, but as a chorus of mature voices tackling serious repertoire, the rebooted TPCC remains peerless.

Photo: Allissa Sayampanathan