SSO Concert: Midori Gala / Review

GOH KENG SWEE MEMORIAL CONCERT / GALA: MIDORI
Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Esplanade Concert Hall / Saturday (23 April 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 25 April 2011 with the title "Goh Keng Swee: In memoriam".

The gala concert of all Russian fare began with Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, dedicated to the memory of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s founding patron, the late Dr Goh Keng Swee, whose passage from our realm took place eleven months ago.

The apparent tardiness of this memorial was never explained, but the gesture, carried out without fuss or ceremony, and attended by his family, would have been one he approved. He would have also been excited by the high standards – the term world-class becomes unavoidable here – attained his brainchild.

The big bluster from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Festival Overture was one that turned an observance of faith from the ceremonial to the rowdily celebratory. Solo passages from violin, cello, flute and clarinet were spot on and the ensemble, especially trombones and trumpets towards the end, blazed with a magisterial authority.

The Japanese former prodigy Midori’s first appearance with the SSO was something truly special. Those sated with Tchaikovsky’s ever-popular Violin Concerto would have to reassess their stand after this most magnificent of performances. Her opening entry - a world apart from Lara St.John’s flaccid attempt from two nights before – was so breathtaking as to defy words.

Her shaping of every phrase and passage was thoughtful and perfectly weighted. Armed with flawless intonation and immaculate fingering, hers was playing to dream about. It was as if Tchaikovsky himself had bared his soul through her ex-Hubermann Guarneri del Gesu, revealing a world of grief and inner torment.

The inherent flashiness was never made to sound gratituous, and seldom has the central Canzonetta been sung with such desolation. The final fireworks seemed almost an obligatory afterthought, but handled with such convincing panache that a standing ovation seemed mandatory, one spontaneously accorded by no less than the President of Singapore himself.

The Third Symphony by Rachmaninov which concluded the concert was no anti-climax. Conducted by Music Director Shui Lan from memory, it also underpinned the orchestra’s sympathy for Russian music. The rendition brought out an aching nostalgia, one amply illustrated by the wonderful cellos in the first movement’s main theme.

The second movement, almost slow movement and scherzo rolled into one, was paced with utmost immediacy, with never a superfluous moment. Only in the finale did its short-windedness and abrupt ending seemed a come down. Blame the composer, not the orchestra, which otherwise had a superlative outing.

THE MAGIC OF BRAHMS / VCH Chamber Series / Review

THE MAGIC OF BRAHMS
Musicians from SSO
Victoria Concert Hall
Sunday (16 May 2010)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 18 May 2010.

What exactly is the magic of Brahms? Subtler than Beethoven, more sophisticated than Bruckner, less hysterical than Mahler, Johannes Brahms’s (1833-1897) music reaps further rewards on repeated listening than any other. Thematically coherent and structurally sturdy, his melodies are memorable and less subject to imitation and parody.

The two-hour long chamber concert, the last in a series before Victoria Concert Hall’s imminent overhaul, juxtaposed Brahms’s works of youth and late maturity. The autumnal Clarinet Quintet in B minor (Op.115) breathed a mellowness that was introspective and calming. Over a string exposition, Li Xin’s clarinet floated commandingly, with a lustrous glow that radiated warmth on the outset.

In a show of quiet authority, it was encouraging to note this young graduate from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory’s first intake holding his own amongst the Singapore Symphony’s more experienced players. It was not a solo effort that counted, but the near-perfect balance achieved as a group of five musicians.

Long-breathed passages were a joy, keenly matched by the more mobile moments in the Scherzo and finale’s theme and variations. That the 35-minute work closed on a quiet and reposeful note was not a surprise; the older Brahms was not prone to severe dynamic upheavals.

Quite different was the early First Piano Quartet in G minor (Op.25), symphonic in scope and coloured with all sorts of possibilities. Darkness alternated with shafts of light, tension contrasted with release, and passion skirting on the impetuous. Lim Yan’s flashy piano part was virtuosic and soloistic, yet well integrated into the ensemble as a whole.

Despite coming close to 40 minutes, the music moved with urgency, supported by violinist Chan Yoong Han, cellist Yu Jing (both of whom featured in the two works) and violist Zhang Manchin. The ante was upped for the gypsy-flavoured Rondo, a rambunctious romp that nearly brought the house down.

There was a thoughtful encore, the Andante from the Third Piano Quartet (Op.60), dedicated in memory of Dr Goh Keng Swee (left), the orchestra’s forefather and patron of 31 years, who died earlier in the week. Beauty and poignancy could not have found a better medium in Brahms.