RESONANCE: SUONA & GUAN SOCIETY (SINGAPORE) INAUGURAL CONCERT / WANG DANHONG MUSIC SHOWCASE / Review

RESONANCE

Suona and Guan Society Inaugural Concert

Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre

Sunday (21 November 2021)

 

WANG DANHONG’S MUSIC SHOWCASE

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday (27 November 2021)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 December 2021 with the title "Resonant first outing for Chinese reed instruments". 

As recently as three months ago, concerts featuring more than a pair of wind instruments were not possible because of the possible risks of Covid transmission from the deliberate expulsion of air during rehearsals and performances. Restrictions have fortunately been relaxed such that the inaugural concert of the Suona and Guan Society (Singapore), featuring well over thirty reed players, could take place.

 

The suona is the traditional Chinese reed instrument with a metallic bell which produces a plangent sonority, often associated with ceremonial music, such as that encountered in funerals. When heard en masse, a terrific racket results, evident in traditional piece Gold Harvest, played in unison by twelve suonas and two guans supported by four percussionists. Jin Shiyi, President of the Society, called this celebratory opening piece symbolic of victory by “blowing away the virus”.

 

Eight further works filled this invigorating 80-minute-long concert, involving various combinations of suonas and guans performed by professionals, amateurs and students ranging from 11 to 57 years of age. Of significance was the newly commissioned Resonance by Dayn Ng for 13 players, a concertante work with outstanding solos by Ng Chu Ying, Zhang Shuo and Meng Jie, the last impressing with implausibly long-held notes.

 

The most poignant moments came in Farewell At Yangguan, for xinguan (or Sing-guan, as the instrument was created in Singapore) solo by Jin. His lush and mellow tone, resembling that of a saxophone, resounded with an unspeakable melancholy, suggesting that sometimes in the quietest parts, an instrument’s poetic capabilities are best revealed.    

 

Not so quiet was the hour-long concert by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra led by Yeh Tsung dedicated to music by brilliant young Chinese composer Wang Danhong, known for her colourful scores which skilfully combine traditional techniques with modern sensibilities. There is little in her music that does not sound exotic, such as Heavenly Grassland which opened the concert.

 

Over a background of percussion murmurs emerged Yin Zhiyang’s evocative dizi, heralding the outbreak of dawn and yet another exuberant day of frolicking on the steppes. Wang’s views of China’s Far West, where raucous strains of Central Asian revelry are sine qua non, were none better illustrated in the single-movement erhu concerto Amanissha, inspired by the 16^th century Uyghur queen and poet. SCO associate principal Zhou Ruoyu commanded the stage with a solo performance as glittering as her outfit, savouring every bit of its mysterious and ethereal entry before romping home in the most vigourous of dances.

 

Just as extrovert was Charms Of Jiangnan, a triple concerto for dizi, erhu and pipa with Zeng Zhi, Qin Zijing and Zhang Yin respectively as soloists. Their respective timbres blended harmoniously, reliving sumptuous melodies typical of traditional Jiangnan sizhu (silk and bamboo chamber music), except this was backed by a big ensemble. The final work Ode To The Sun was also premised on a tried and tested formula, beginning quietly, later enlivened with folk dances and finally finishing with exhilarating aplomb, this time with percussion working overtime.  

    

 

VIRTUOSO SERIES III: WINDS / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

VIRTUOSO SERIES III: WINDS

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday (25 September 2021)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 29 September 2021 with the title "Wind instruments take centre stage".

 

The third concert of Singapore’s Chinese Orchestra’s Virtuoso Series of chamber concerts was devoted to plangent sounds of Chinese wind instruments, focusing on the dizi, sheng and suona. Responsible for unique and distinct timbres in orchestral concerts, these took on a life of their own as solo instruments when played by the orchestra’s principals.

 

Guo Changsuo brought out a full range of colours from the sheng in Yan Haideng’s Alluring Span Of The Peacock, which included the tricky technique of tremolo-tonguing. Even with an instrument that plays multiple tones simultaneously, this lent an otherwordly feel to a rhapsodic work that began slowly but gave way to an exuberant dance. This same liveliness also possessed the Henan folktune Grand Prelude, arranged Li Guanglu, which was brief but unremittingly flashy.

 

Yin Zhiyang commanded two flutes, opening with the vertically-played xiao in the ancient tune Autumn Yearning At The Dressing Table arranged by Du Ciwen and accompanied by Xu Hui on guzheng. Lower registers were plumbed in this slow piece which expressed the melancholy of solitude like no other.

 

For the Hunan folktune Partridges Flying arranged by Zhao Songting, techniques of the transversely-played dizi were fully exploited. These encompassed fluttering trills simulating the flitting of wings, followed by circular breathing in the work’s dynamic final third. Here, the audience may be excused for feeling somewhat breathless.        

 

Suona principal Jin Shiyi opened accounts with Mao Kuangping and Hu Zhihou’s arrangement of  Eighteen Songs On Nomad Flute, which despite its title, was performed on the xinguan. This is a new reed instrument developed by Jin and his SCO colleague Liu Jiang which looks like a sawn-off clarinet, as well as sounds like one. In this meditative number accompanied by harpist Fontane Liang, a wealth of expressive feeling relived the trials and tribulations of Han dynasty heroine Lady Cai Wenji.  

 

Jin’s own arrangement of the Henan folktune Tribute To Homeland, accompanied by sheng and bangzi (wood blocks), was the perfect vehicle for his suona, played with the stentorian stridency of a ceremonial trumpet. Also filled with playful humour, there were slurs and slides aplenty which added to the sense of occasion.

 

Finally, an ensemble of nine assembled to perform Yu Huiyong and Hu Dengtiao Theme Of Pioneers rearranged by Yeo Puay Hian. There were now two each of dizis, shengs and suonas supported by three percussionists.

 

This Socialist Realist potboiler was a rowdy and raucous affair, celebrating the glorious years of “vigorous technological innovation” (as quoted in the programme notes) during the late 1950s. Was this referring to the Great Leap Forward? One surmises the “indomitable, courageous spirit of fearlessness” of the millions who perished should never be forgotten.

 

The hour-long concert was followed by an equally lively question-and-answer session where the spontaneity and candour displayed by the three principals revealed another side to their virtuosity.