SSO'S FORGOTTEN RECORDINGS: RICHARD STRAUSS AN ALPINE SYMPHONY (1993)

 

Despite not having authorised it,
Choo Hoey still signed my copy anyway. Mensch.

RICHARD STRAUSS An Alpine Symphony

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Choo Hoey (Conductor)

DW Labs DW-1003

Singapore Symphony Orchestra under music director Choo Hoey gave the Singapore premiere of Richard Strauss’ Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony) in late 1993. It was by most accounts a successful concert, which had Liszt’s First Piano Concerto (with Jean-Philippe Collard as soloist) as coupling. Then sometime in 1994, this CD recording appeared on the DW Labs label and sold in local record shops.

The countenance of this album is somewhat mysterious. DW Labs is ostensibly the label of prominent local audiophile-entrepreneur Donald Wong of Ultralinear International Pte Ltd, a distributor of high-end audio equipment located at Adelphi Shopping Centre. Apparently, he had recording equipment in Victoria Concert Hall where this recording was made.

By this time, SSO had discontinued its relationship with Hong Kong’s Marco Polo Records which had produced all of its early recordings. Its last commercial recording had been the Shostakovich Tenth Symphony, a once-off with the Philips label in 1989. Thus, this album of very ambitious orchestral repertoire (the orchestra had recently also premiered Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Mahler’s Ninth Symphony) was a welcome sign that SSO was making recordings again. Or so I thought.

Imagine the shock when I approached Choo Hoey to autograph his latest CD, to find out that he had never sanctioned or permitted its release! Even he wondered how this recording was made under the orchestra’s collective noses. Listening to it after all these years, I can understand his chagrin. This was a live recording with neither recourse for retakes nor editing of any sort, at least not under his supervision.

A publicity poster,
presumably by the record label,
since SSO's logo is not on it.

“A high definition phase-coherent digital recording” was a selling point, clearly aimed at the audiophile. This recording has a very wide dynamic range, requiring one to dial up the volume several notches in order to catch the orchestra’s evocation of night and sunrise, and when Helios is up and the mountaineers begin their climb, the sound is almost deafening. 

The orchestra’s limitations, in instrumental solos and ensemble work, are also exposed for all to hear. Although the players put in a good shift, especially the overworked brass, the overall outcome was not the most flattering. The transitions between quieter episodes leading to full-blown climaxes (and there are several) were particularly vulnerable, not helped by the relative lack of reverberation. Some of the fluffs are also hard to ignore. Best not to be heard through headphones.

Nevertheless, this was still an interesting record and benchmark of what standards the SSO had achieved within its short fourteen years. Ironically, this was to be Choo Hoey’s last recording with the SSO, with his impending retirement only two years in the future. His position would go the Lan Shui in 1997, with his BIS label contract that would later redefine SSO’s recorded legacy.