SSO'S FORGOTTEN RECORDINGS: VERDI SINFONIAS & PRELUDES on HONG KONG RECORDS / MARCO POLO

Honestly, this is a terrible likeness
of what the young Verdi looked like.
(See the photograph below)

VERDI

Sinfonias and Preludes
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Choo Hoey (Conductor)
Hong Kong Records
Marco Polo 6.220184

Recorded in August 1983, this album of overtures and preludes from early operas by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) was SSO’s second recording of Western classical repertoire after its take on Respighi’s Concerto Gregoriano. There is nothing remotely familiar here for most listeners – no La Traviata, I Vespri Siciliani, Nabucco or La Forza del Destino. Thus this is mostly an album of discovery as were those SSO concerts conducted by Choo Hoey in 1983 which opened with overtures to Joan of Arc and The Battle of Legnano.

Make no mistake, this is still very good music by a future great composer. The Overture to Il Finto Stanislao (The False Stanislaus, 1840), also known as Un Giorno di Regno (A Day for the King) opens the collection, in a comedic tone befitting the opera buffo. The resemblance to Rossini’s overtures is striking here. By contrast, the Overture to Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc, 1845) is serious and dramatic, while showcasing some fine woodwind solo-playing. The Prelude to I Masnadieri (The Robbers, 1847) is dominated by a cello solo, by then-principal Chiu Chun Chiu.

The stories of these obscure operas are more often than not convoluted and forgettable, but the music is much more easily enjoyed. The Overture to Alzira (1845) with its drum roll and French horn solo, the trumpet solo in the Overture to Aroldo (1857) displayed the of prowess of SSO’s principal musicians even in those early years. 

Perhaps most memorable of these is the Overture to Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio (Count of Saint Boniface, 1839), Verdi’s first opera, where the influence of bel canto was strong. Also enjoy the brass ensemble in the opening of the Overture to La Battaglia di Legnano (The Battle of Legnano, 1849), which true to its title, is filled with much martial music. The SSO performs these works well, and given the rarity of such repertoire, this album is worth listening to.

This album exists only on vinyl LP, and to my knowledge, has never been released on CD. Now a collector’s item, I have to thank Ng Siew Eng to gifting this album to me after a spot of spring-cleaning.

SSO'S FORGOTTEN RECORDINGS: WHEN WILL YOU RETURN? & SELLING LAND FOR THE BRIDE-PRICE / THE BEST OF CHINESE EVERGREENS

 

WHEN WILL YOU RETURN

Chinese and other Asian Evergreens

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Choo Hoey (Conductor)

   Marco Polo 8.225815

The Chinese and English titles
do not match!

SELLING LAND FOR THE BRIDE-PRICE

More Chinese Evergreens

THE BEST CHINESE EVERGREENS

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Choo Hoey (Conductor)

   Hong Kong Records 8.240216

   Marco Polo 8.223917

When the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under music director Choo Hoey started its recording relationship with the Hong Kong Records label (founded by Klaus Heymann) during the early 1980s, one of the objectives was to record performances of popular Chinese and Asian tunes in lush “high class” orchestrations. There was a market for such arrangements in those days, and the SSO was ripe for the task as a young newly-founded professional orchestra to fulfil that niche.

The first album, When Will You Return, was recorded in 1984 and issued as a LP, which sold ten thousand copies in its first run. A sequel, Selling Land For The Bride-Price, came one year later. Listening to these recordings, long available on CD on Heymann’s Marco Polo label, was an exercise in nostalgia. These were songs our parents and grandparents knew and loved, and there is no reason why later generations cannot enjoy them too. Simple melodies that linger in the mind, much like those heavily-marketed British or American light music favourites, are the reason for their appeal.

When Will You Return is the more comprehensive album. Besides Chinese standards like Ye Lai Xiang (Midnight Fragrance) and Without You, it also includes popular songs from Indonesia (Bengawan Solo), Philippines (Dahil Sayo), Taiwan (Maidens of Alishan, Ti Or Or, which makes its English translation Dark Clouds in the Sky sound clumsy). The orchestrations of 15 tracks, by Japanese arrangers including T.Suzuki, T.Suzuki, K.Ogokubo and A.Yasuraoka, were very well done, highlighting SSO strings to the full. This possibly the closest one can get to reliving the Mantovani effect.

Its sequel is much less effective. Besides having one fewer track, and playing for just 44 minutes, the orchestrations (uncredited) are mostly anodyne. There are duplications of two songs, Midnight Fragrance and When Will You Return, which are shorter and in poorer orchestrations. To add insult to injury, 8.223917 (presumably for Western distribution), has neither Chinese translations of titles nor programme notes. So why bother having a Part Two without repeating the high standards of the former? The choice is clear, get the earlier album and that would be good enough.