THE MOZARTEAN EXPERIENCE / ADDO Chamber Orchestra / Review

THE MOZARTEAN EXPERIENCE

ADDO Chamber Orchestra

The Chamber, The Arts House

Friday (9 February 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 12 February 2018 with the title "A romp down Mozart's path".

The ADDO Chamber Orchestra continued its popular Mozartean Experience concerts with another light-hearted romp, now at the historic Chamber of Old Parliament House. The venue was bathed in an eerie pale blue light, and at one corner sat a bewigged lady in period costume talking and singing to herself.

Members of the orchestra walked in, completely ignoring her presence, much to her consternation. Respect was what she deserved, revealing herself to be the ghost of Anna Maria Mozart (1720-1778), devoted mother of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Except she was not an apparition, but Italian dramatist-soprano Sabrina Zuber in her usual irrepressible self.

This was how ADDO Chamber Orchestra's Mozartean concerts usually begin, with an educational angle dressed up in finery and frippery. It was a relief that conductor Clarence Tan did not show up wearing a wig himself, as he had on previous occasions. But there was a cheeky nod to the nation's founding prime minister when he addressed a centrally-seated gentleman as Kuan Yew.

Then the music began with seven lady string players descending on Mozart's Divertimento in D major (K.136). Even if there was thinness to the string sound of this familiar music, there was no denying the vitality of its outer movements. In between was an elegant slow minuet, which came across with much grace.

Next was a rarity, the Double Bass Concerto in D major by the almost-forgotten Italian Antonio Capuzzi (1755-1818) who was active as conductor and violin virtuoso in Vienna during Mozart's time. It may be cruel to state that some works are justly neglected, but because this was written for the great bass virtuoso Domenico Dragonetti, it deserved an occasional dusting.

Bassist Damien Kee did the honours, turning the unwieldy instrument into a kind of super-sized violin by being unexpectedly nimble. The melodies were banal, which he kept mostly in pitch and there was an aria-like slow movement to save the day. The finale saw him egged on by a pair of oboes which seemed to say, “Catch us if you can!”

There was a comic moment when Kee had difficulty adjusting his music stand, attributing that to ill spirits, to which Frau Mozart retorted, “This is poor manpower, my dear child.”

The final work was a Symphony in B flat major by Mozart, but which Mozart? The work that was designated as Symphony No.2 (K.17) by Wolfgang Amadeus was actually written by Leopold, his father. This short 4-movement piece came from the infancy of the symphonic genre, and for all its pleasantries was as generic as one could get.

There were remnants of the baroque, influences of Haydn and the Italians, and simple tunes which the orchestra whipped off with relative ease and gusto. Anna Maria also tried her hand in conducting - with a fan - but that was mercifully short as the concert wound to a humorous close. 

Everybody wants to take a photo
with Mozart's mother!

BEETHOVEN AT AN EXHIBITION / ADDO Chamber Orchestra / Review

BEETHOVEN AT AN EXHIBITION

ADDO Chamber Orchestra

Esplanade Rehearsal Studio

Wednesday (31 May 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 2 June 2017 with the title "Classical music concert with smells of grass and sweat".

When one thinks of concerts, the idea is that of a seated audience listening and watching passively to whatever is being performed. This concert by the ADDO Chamber Orchestra conducted by Clarence Tan was conceived to challenge that convention. Even the venue, the secluded 6^th floor Rehearsal Studio in Esplanade, reached only by a long flight of stairs, seemed to further the notion.

Seating was strictly optional, and the atmosphere was social media friendly. The audience was heeded to take as many photographs or videos as one liked, and to post them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Everyone was also free to walk between the widely-spaced musicians and immerse themselves in a surround sound ambience.

That was exactly what happened when conductor Tan gave the downbeat for Beethoven's familiar Fifth Symphony. With hardly any practice time and the intimidatingly close proximity of total strangers, the orchestra did not perform at a level beyond rehearsal standards, but that was besides the point.

The experiment of being an interloper moving freely within the orchestra's ranks was an interesting one, if only to experience a player's point of view and to witness how a work can sound so different under the circumstances. There were however some safety tips: keep a safe distance from being stabbed by rapidly wielded bows, and do not stand directly in front of the trombones.

Singaporean composer Hoh Chung Shih's Hi-lo Fide-lio received its Asian Premiere this evening. The work is a deconstruction of the vocal quartet Mir Ist So Wunderbar from Beethoven's opera Fidelio. The orchestra played fragments in the form of a canon, while historical recordings by Furtwängler, Walter and Böhm were blared through three speakers.

The audience could also tune in via handphones after scanning QR codes provided in the programme sheet. This made for one cacophonous outing, with people wandering in and out of the ensemble while others sitting and fidgeting with digital gadgets as the music played. The takeaway was this: there was a uniquely different perspective depending on what one did.

The final work was Mikhail Tushmalov's orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition, originally a piano suite with a quasi-interactive inspiration. Its opening piece was titled Promenade, which imagined a visitor walking in a gallery between viewing art pieces, rather apt given this concert's context.

An added sensory element was the involvement of scent artists Christopher Yap and Johari Kazura who mingled with the audience bearing cannisters of various fragrances and odours, including freshly cut grass and fallen rain (pleasant) to smoke and sweat from a 3-day unwashed shirt (not so pleasant).

By now, sceptics might sense that the various scents distracted listeners from the sometimes ragged playing, but that might just be the whole point of it all. Our senses sometimes deceive us by the confusion of multiple inputs, which is why music is perhaps best experienced in complete and utter silence.

Scent artists Christopher Yap and Johari Kazura,
with composer Hoh Chung Shih in between,
taking their bow.

THE MOZARTEAN EXPERIENCE 2017 / ADDO Chamber Orchestra / Review

THE MOZARTIAN EXPERIENCE 2017

ADDO Chamber Orchestra

Esplanade Recital Studio

Friday (17 February 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 20 February 2017 with the title "Fun journey through Mozart's life and works".

The ADDO Chamber Orchestra's Mozartean Experience was a sequel to last year's successful concert which had the flavour of a “show and tell” class. A programme sheet given to the audience was designed like a tabloid daily, but the surprise came in lieu of traditional programme notes.

Seconds before conductor Clarence Tan gave his first down-beat, a bewigged blonde dressed in period costume gatecrashed the proceedings. It was Constanze Weber, widow of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who had travelled through time from 1791 to address a 21^st century Singaporean audience on the great Austrian composer's lives and times. Italian singer-actress Sabrina Zuber played such an irrepressible host with her comedic asides that she almost stole the show.

It was the music, however, which prevailed. First up was Antonio Salieri's short Sinfonia Veneziana, which the orchestra warmed up to with some degree of tentativeness. The ensemble comprising just 11 string players backed up by four wind players initially produced a raw and dry sound, but this soon improved in a hurry.

Constanze refuted the notion that Salieri was Mozart's rival and mortal enemy. Instead they were supportive colleagues with a common vision of making good music. As posterity had it, Mozart was gifted with more memorable tunes, like those in his Third and Fourth Horn Concertos, both in the key of E flat major.

Also introduced was Mozart's horn-playing friend Joseph Leutgeb, whose daytime job was that of a cheese-monger. Returning as soloist from the last Mozartean experience was young French hornist Alan Kartik Jairamin from the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, who followed up his helpful demonstration of basic horn techniques with confident showings of both works.

He brought out a warm, burnished sound that highlighted the music's lyricism, and then went all virtuoso mode for the cadenzas. His reading of the better-known Fourth Concerto with its hunting romp of a finale proved a big hit with the audience, which lapped up his every turn and phrase.

To complete the evening's E flat major fare was the Symphony No.84 by Joseph Haydn, one of Mozart's teachers and the mentor who predicted his future greatness. The orchestra which had accompanied the horn concertos very well continued their good work under conductor Tan, now sporting a powdered wig (a la the movie Amadeus).

Jokes aside, this was a very credible performance of a rarely heard work. Its solemn opening soon gave way to an Allegro which bubbled ever so animatedly, fully conveying the humour typical of the composer. The slow movement was taken a a goodly pace, followed by a somewhat ungainly Scherzo and Trio, tinged with an infectious rusticity. Although the finale started with a hint of unsteadiness, this was smoothened out with a mercurial run to an exciting close.

For its next concert on 31 May, ADDO Chamber Orchestra turns its sights on another composing great – Ludwig van Beethoven.

MASTERWORKS / ADDO Chamber Orchestra / Review

MASTERWORKS

ADDO Chamber Orchestra

Esplanade Recital Studio

Thursday (5 May 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 7 May 2016 with the title "An enjoyable outing on the Calm Sea".

For its second concert of the year, the ADDO Chamber Orchestra performed an interesting mix of rarely-heard and standard repertoire works. Mendelssohn's Calm Sea And Prosperous Voyage is not exactly one of the German composer's most popular concert overtures, but it provided the orchestra a good warm-up as a curtain-raiser.

Its slow and deliberate opening, a chorale-like theme, was well handled by the strings. A fine control was immediately established from conductor Clarence Tan's baton, which was steady and well-judged. A flute solo then heralded the fast section which sailed through swiftly, as if caught by the wind.

The cellos were in fine form, and even when the music took on a more discursive note, the tension was not allowed to flag. A fanfare from the trumpets near the end did not quite get its desired effect but an exciting close was guaranteed.

Next came the Singapore premiere of American-born composer Michael Baker's Contours, which had double bassist Li Xu and harpsichordist Gerald Kendrick Lim as soloists. This 13-minute work was a neoclassical concerto grosso, with Li's deep-set string voice and Lim's delicate tinkling providing an interesting contrast of timbres.

Even as unwieldy as a bass could be, Li's part called for no little nimbleness in bowing and plucking. There were some intonation issues in the faster first section but these were offset by genuine lyricism in the slower second section which ended on a quiet and gentle high.

As with the last ADDO concert, there was a short “show and tell” session, this time involving the bass. Li introduced the audience to a mini-bass, a 1/32th of his instrument, which could be played by a child of four. There was a demonstration with Scott Joplin's The Entertainer with Li supplying the melody on the “adult” bass while ADDO member Damien Kee provided accompaniment on the “baby”. A toddler from the audience was also invited to pluck on a string.

Without an intermission, the concert continued into Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, also known as the Pastoral Symphony. Such a work could be tainted with familiarity, but conductor Tan ensured the music coaxed from his charges remained fresh and unhackneyed. What a chamber orchestra cannot provided in volume and depth, it made up with sharpness and vitality.

The opening, with bagpipe-like drones, was taken at an appropriately brisk pace, which seemed just right for Beethoven's protagonist arriving in the countryside in high spirits. The tempo broadened for Scene By The Brook, but was not allowed to meander. The reward at the end was fine solos from flute, oboe and clarinet, mimicking the serene call of birdsong.

There was some ungainliness in Merry Dance of the Peasants, and first violins could have done better to get a grip on its boisterous rhythms. Beethoven's raucous evocation of The Storm was excellently realised, with the timpani's thumps and rolls simulating thunder. As the sun gradually ascended from behind dark clouds, the warmth radiating from the orchestra as a song of thanksgiving made sure this programmatic outing was an enjoyable one. 

THE MOZARTIAN EXPERIENCE / ADDO Chamber Orchestra / Review

THE MOZARTIAN EXPERIENCE

ADDO Chamber Orchestra

Esplanade Recital Studio

Thursday (25 February 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 27 February 2016 with the title "A light-hearted homage to Mozart".

If one wondered why this concert was not titled The Mozart Experience, that was because it included music that was known during Mozart's era rather than exclusively by the Austrian composer himself. It began with the Sinfonia to Italian Domenico Cimarosa's popular comic opera Il Matrimonio Secreto (The Secret Marriage).

The overture opened with a fanfare very similar to that in Mozart's The Magic Flute, and the busy string flourishes that follow took after the master's wit himself. Conductor Clarence Tan kept the  pacing water-tight, best exhibited by the strings and a pair of flutes. Even if some winds had wayward moments, the buffo aspects were never lost as the music raced to a breathless end.

Young Filipino soprano Angela Cortez then joined to sing Mozart's well-known motet Exsultate Jubilate, a virtuosic showpiece she did not seem totally comfortable with. She has a pleasing voice and good diction which worked well for the slower languorous bits, but had some difficulty with the runs. Nevertheless, she made a good impression of Handel's slow Lascia Chio Pianga from the opera Rinaldo that followed.

Would it be better for her to have started with the Handel aria, essentially a lament, before moving to the flashier Mozart? Chronologically it would have made more sense, and the fact that Handel's operatic music was well-known to Mozart and not the other way round. In both works, the orchestra displayed sensitivity with the most discreet of accompaniments.       

French horn soloist Alan Kartik Jairamin, from the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, is one performer who has no confidence issues. He brought out a big, warm burnished tone in two Mozart horn concertos, shining brightest in the slow movement of the Second Concerto in E flat major (K.417). Its hunting horn Rondo finale was simply a joy, having to nimbly jump through a series of musical hoops.

The First Concerto in D major (K.412) brought out more of the same, except this work was in just two movements including another animated Rondo. This was followed by a show-and-tell session that truly engaged the audience. Kartik's humour in demonstrating playing notes on a natural horn (without valves) and a garden hose fitted with funnel and mouthpiece was greeted with much mirth and hilarity. His performance of the Rondo in D for hosepipe and orchestra is destined for YouTube notoriety.

The concert closed with Mozart's Symphony No.35 in D major, also known as the Haffner Symphony. The earlier discipline wielded by Tan's baton was immediately apparent in the vigorous opening, which was tautly knitted and driven with a firm rhythmic thrust. The slow movement weathered rough spots from the horns and was saved by the finesse of the string playing.

The Minuet exuded courtly grace, and one will note the subtle phrasing at the beginning of the finale, which opened quietly under the voice and then went for the jugular. The febrile feeling of storm and stress, expressive devices popularised during the classical age, was well brought out as the work closed on a head of steam. ADDO Chamber Orchestra's take on Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony on 5 May should be worth catching.

All photographs by courtesy of the ADDO Chamber Orchestra.

PIANO CONCERTO FESTIVAL / ADDO Chamber Orchestra / Review

PIANO CONCERTO FESTIVAL

ADDO Chamber Orchestra

School of the Arts Concert Hall

Sunday (16 August 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 18 August 2015 with the title "Momentous, but not without hiccups".

The Piano Concerto Festival, a project of The Performing Arts Company, is now into its second year, supported by the newly-formed ADDO Chamber Orchestra conducted by Clarence Tan. This annual event provides a platform for young Singaporean pianists, a godsend as opportunities to perform with an orchestra are very rare. Its first concert showcased contrasting piano concertos by Mozart and Prokofiev.

But first, an unusual prelude took the form of Mozart's concert aria Ch'io Mi Scordi Di Te? (You Ask That I Forget You?) K.505, sung by coloratura soprano Wendy Woon. Her emotive account, filled with pathos, was well supported by the orchestra, then came the substantial obbligato piano part from Leslie Theseira.

It is said that Mozart's piano concertos were inextricably linked to his operas, and here was a curious hybrid as if to prove the point. Theseira's pretty contribution was both ornamental as well as a foil for the singer, and at certain passages he blended as one with the orchestra. It was an excellent palate-cleanser for the proper concertos to come.

Mozart's Piano Concerto No.24 in C minor (K.491) was performed by Choon Hong Xiang, an irregular reading because of rawness of ensemble coupled with the pianist's diffidence. The opening tutti was marred by poor intonation from the woodwinds but it got better. Choon seemed overawed by the occasion, and despite neat and accurate fingerwork, his playing seldom projected beyond the orchestra's domain.

He came into his own in the 1^st movement cadenza, which he had composed himself, a lost art revived with some ear-catching ideas. Only the second of two minor key piano concertos by Mozart, the work was to evoke high drama and tragedy. This almost came when Hong completely missed his entry cue in the finale, only joining in a few bars later. Fortunately, he and the ensemble kept their wits, and concluded the Theme and Variations movement together without further mishap.

Altogether more confident was Nicholas Ho who tackled Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto with fearless aplomb. Now studying in Indiana with American pianists Edward Auer and Andre Watts, he has matured far beyond the impetuous youth who was previously described in these pages as having an “obsession with speed and volume” and a “surfeit of feral instincts”.

All he did now was to play the notes Prokofiev had written, and the effect was electrifying. The free-wheeling 1^st movement breezed through fairly easily, but the 2^nd movement's Theme and Variations saw a brief desynchronisation between pianist and orchestra. A full second's rupture occurred in the rambunctious finale, but that was no fault of his. Shrugging off the blip, both parties grappled with the music's high octane content to finish on an intoxicating high. 

Always eventful and at times harrowing, the Piano Concerto Festival moves to Victoria Concert Hall on 3 September to survey the first two piano concertos of Tchaikovsky.

The Piano Concerto Festival was presented by The Performing Arts Company in celebration of Singapore's 50 years of independence.