SAYAKA SHOJI & MASAAKI SUZUKI / MOZART AND KALLIWODA / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

SAYAKA SHOJI & MASAAKI SUZUKI

MOZART AND KALLIWODA

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (17 April 2026)

Kalliwoda. Where have we heard the name before? Maybe not. In the Singapore context, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra performed Kalliwoda’s First Symphony at Esplanade on 29 April 2022 as the second half to Stephen Hough’s Mozart Piano Concerto No.21. The conductor on that evening was Fabio Biondi. Now we have two Kalliwoda symphonies in the same SSO concert, led by Masaaki Suzuki no less. Is this a Kalliwoda renaissance of some sort?

Jan Vaclav Kalivoda (1801-1866), or Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda in his Germanised name, was a Prague-born Bohemian composer, violinist and conductor who was a contemporary of Franz Schubert and Hector Berlioz. He plied his trade mostly in Donaueschingen in Germany’s Black Forest, at the headwaters of the Danube and long before the town became the world's centre of music’s avantgarde*. Kalliwoda can hardly be called avantgarde, as I noted his First Symphony, played for the first time in Asia, had similarities with Mendelssohn’s First Symphony, both composed in 1824.

This evening, the Fifth and Seventh Symphonies (dating from 1840 and 1841 respectively) were performed as Asian premieres, both in four movements and a solid half-hour each. Having spent a full hour with this Bohemian, I can conclude that the craftsmanship is top-notch, even the ideas were hardly the most original. The passion and commitment invested in both works by SSO and Suzuki made it worthwhile, as I can scarcely imagine another professional orchestra outside of Germany or Czechia playing better than this.

The First Symphony in B minor opened with brass fanfares, not unlike how Schumann’s First Symphony announces itself, with the introduction working itself into a Sturm und Drang allegro main section. The urgency displayed in the exposition and development was quite arresting. The music is very pleasant, much like what we enjoy in the symphonies of Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann, perhaps without the memorability. However repeated listening could change that. 

The Scherzo and “slow” movement (relatively speaking, marked Allegretto grazioso) are shorter, contrasting B minor and G major respectively. The final returned to the stormy and tempestuous, with a memorable Mendelssohnian second subject with possibilities and a more populist composer would have milked it for all its worth. Nevertheless, the symphony closed on a loud and exciting high, which was appreciated by all present.

The symphonies were separated by Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto in A major (K.219) with Japanese former prodigy Sayaka Shoji as soloist. For the ritornello, she played with the orchestra, as Mozart would have done himself, then emerging as a sweet and clear solo voice. Her free-spirited approach, regarding her role as a virtuoso, was established at the outset. Her intonation was not always perfect but never strayed to waywardness. The cadenza chosen was heavy duty, almost Romantic in intent, but before she could proceed further, one of her strings snapped. Exchanging violins with guest concertmaster Frank Stadler, she continued to blaze a path.

Oddly enough, the intonation issues soon evaporated for the aria-like slow movement, beautifully voiced, which included another tricky cadenza (no mishap this time). The Rondo finale, with its stomping Turkish janissary interlude, was gracefully hewn, with no resort to vulgarity or cheap tricks. The audience applauded her pluck, and she obliged with J.S.Bach’s Sarabande from Partita No.2 (BWV.1004) as a lovely encore.

Now to Kalliwoda’s Seventh Symphony in G minor. If anything, it makes for a more interesting and varied experience. The opening was dark and mysterious, with a low rumble provided by Christian Schioler’s timpani roll. It was like being in Carl Maria von Weber’s wolf glen territory, with a sense of expectation (perhaps dread) built up for the ensuing allegro, which constituted the longest movement of all. Its G minor theme was ripe for fugal treatment but that was not taken up. 

The Scherzo shot off tensely like in Beethoven’s Ninth, but that was not sustained. Its abrupt closing proved an anticlimax or sorts. The Marcia that followed with booming brass and timpani was Schumannesque, its vigour contasted by Ma Yue’s clarinet solo, and finally a fugue (!) from the strings, but that too did not last for much. The finale followed attacca, and there was much string prestidigitation to be appreciated as the symphony wound to a thrilling close.

Kalliwoda was enjoyable rather than illuminating, and the SSO made the best case for him under Suzuki’s direction. This was clearly a Hans Sorensen (former director of artistic planning) gambit, which could possibly result with a recorded cycle of the seven symphonies on BIS. On the evidence of three symphonies performed, SSO’s efforts will likely become the benchmark recording should that ever transpire.

* It must be noted that the Donaueschingen Festival was founded in 1921 by the wealthy Furstenberg family, whose ancestors had been the original employers of Kalliwoda.

There is just this one recording of 
Kalliwoda's Fifth and Seventh in the catalogue...

... and SSO is very likely to better it.

BRAHMS WITH HANS GRAF AND SAYAKA SHOJI / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

BRAHMS WITH HANS GRAF 

AND SAYAKA SHOJI 

Singapore Symphony Orchestra 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Thursday (1 August 2024)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 3 August 2024 with the title "Violinist Sayaka Shoji's tone matches SSO in Brahms programme".

The music of Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) is central to the classical repertoire, but he remains an acquired taste for some. An all-Brahms concert is less likely to fill a house than an all-Beethoven, all-Tchaikovsky or all-Rachmaninov concert here. However, this Singapore Symphony concert led by music director Hans Graf juxtaposing familiar and rare Brahms, early and late Brahms, serious and lighter Brahms, was ample proof of the German Romantic’s all-encompassing mastery. 

The evening began with Tragic Overture (Op.81), crafted as a counterbalance to his ebullient Academic Festival Overture (Op.80). Nobody died for this masterpiece to be written, its title being instead more synonymous with pathos and drama. Two stentorian chords opened the work, before unleashing a passionate outpouring of emotion. 

Its plethoric textures came off as over-reverberant in the confines of Victoria Concert Hall, and are likely better appreciated in the more capacious Esplanade. Nonetheless, most of the orchestral details came out well in this full-blooded reading. 

There were no such worries for the pared-down forces in Serenade No.2 in A major (Op.16), an early work far predating Brahms’ long-gestated First Symphony (Op.68). The absence of violins meant that winds (pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and French horns) ruled the roost, supported by low strings (violas, cellos and basses). These were excellent in generating a congenial and pastoral feel all through its five movements. 

A central slow movement cast some dark clouds for contrast, but the outer movements were mostly light-hearted, dance-like and jocular in feel. This was capped by a joyous Rondo finale, where the diminutive piccolo joined the fray for a festive finish. This lively and energised performance can only win friends for this delightfully unpretentious piece. 

The concert’s main draw was the Violin Concerto in D major (Op.77) with youthful Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji as soloist. The full orchestra returned, and judging by the first movement’s orchestral tutti, it was determined not to take prisoners. One need not have worried as the petite-framed Shoji was fully up to the challenge. 

Her outsized violin tone was capable of cutting through thick orchestral textures, without recourse to a coarsening of sound. Her intonation was also mostly flawless, making it a pleasure to behold, especially in lightly accompanied passages and the virtuosic Joseph Joachim (the work’s dedicatee) first movement cadenza. 

The best melody went to Rachel Walker’s solo oboe in the slow movement, where Shoji’s part was to elaborate on its felicities. It was back to virtuoso mode in the boisterous Hungarian folk-influenced Rondo finale, which was rollicking good fun. 

Graf, in his preamble, had pointed to Shoji playing from a facsimile of Joachim’s personal manuscript which saw a reworking of two short bars in the finale. It was a small but audible detail. Blink and you will miss it. 

Vigourous applause saw Shoji return with a thickly polyphonic encore of Max Reger’s Prelude in G minor (Op.117 No.2). That was mightily impressive as well.

Photographs by Jack Yam / Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

My review of the same concert on www.bachtrack.com:

Brahms gets a welcome airing in Singapore | Bachtrack

SAYAKA SHOJI. SPIRIT OF THE VIOLIN / SYMPHONIC FANTASIES. KATE LIU PLAYS MOZART / Review

SAYAKA SHOJI.

SPIRIT OF THE VIOLIN

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (14 October 2021)

 

SYMPHONIC FANTASIES.

KATE LIU PLAYS MOZART

Orchestra of the Music Makers

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (16 October 2021)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 20 October 2021 with the title "Superb solos from Sayaka Shoji, Kate Liu".

The gradual relaxing of live concert activity over the past weeks has allowed guest performers travelling from selected overseas countries to give concerts here without having to go through the arduous quarantine process. Audiences decrying the dearth of foreign talents also got a boost last weekend when two excellent young soloists took the spotlight.

 

Partnered by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra was Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji performing Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D minor. Composed in 1853 shortly before his demise in an insane asylum, the work has suffered in comparison to his piano and cello concertos. Saddled with less memorable themes and almost too long for its own good, it received a noble and totally musical reading.

 

Shoji has a robust and warm tone, evident in her resolute and confident entry, later softening to encompass more lyrical qualities. This flexibility worked well as the work meandered, but culminated in the short slow movement’s “Ghost” theme which was tender as it was vulnerable.  She remained unflappable all through the finale’s vigorous polonaise rhythm and her solo encore of Reger’s Prelude in G minor, with subtlety being the constant virtue.      

 

The orchestra led by Hans Graf also performed the Adagio from Bruckner’s String Quintet, a classic slow movement that moved seamlessly from quiet calm to climactic high. Quite different were the four movements from Schubert’s Third Symphony, a teenager’s vision of sunshine and cheeriness, which received an ebullient reading.  

 

Making a long-awaited hometown debut was the American Kate Liu, who made history in 2015 by being the first Singapore-born pianist to win a major prize at the prestigious Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw. She received the Bronze Medal, Audience Prize and the “Best Mazurka” award. With the Orchestra of the Music Makers directed by Chan Tze Law, she performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor.

Photo: Yong Junyi

 

Arguably the greatest of his 27 piano concertos, its storms and stresses found a voice of reason in her sensitive yet invigorating solo playing. Clarity and purity of sound were ever-present hallmarks, and when push came to shove, she rose to the occasion with big-boned playing, especially in the rough-hewn cadenzas by Beethoven.

Photo: Chen Chan

 

The best contrasts were to be had in the central Romanze, where elegance and volatility sat cheek by jowl, and the finale’s return to the work’s tempest-tossed origins. A shift to the major key and consequent change of mood, handled with steadiness and authority, made for a joyous conclusion.

Photo: Yong Junyi

 

The Mozart was well-balanced by two vastly different 20^th century works for quasi-chamber sized forces. The Suite from Stravinsky’s neoclassical ballet Pulcinella provided a light-hearted comedic opening while a rare outing of Kurt Weill’s Second Symphony possessed more serious undertones. Both highlighted excellent solos and ensemble playing from woodwinds and brass, an underrated aspect of our young local orchestras.

There will be further concerts featuring visiting guest performers, including London-based violinist Kam Ning (21, 22 & 27 October), Hong Kong pianist Chiyan Wong (31 October), Russian pianist Zlata Chochieva (5 & 6 November), French pianist Cedric Tiberghien (11 & 12 November), Latvian violinist Baiba Skride (1&2 December) and Austrian clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer (9,10 & 11 December) in the coming weeks. Do not miss these!

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, January 2012)

DE FALLA Piano Works
Nights in the Gardens of Spain
JAVIER PERIANES, Piano
Harmonia Mundi 902099 / ****1/2

Thanks to Arthur Rubinstein. Alicia de Larrocha, Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim, Noches en los Jardines de España (Nights In The Gardens Of Spain) by Spanish nationalist Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) is no longer considered such an exotic species of piano concerto. Its sultry blend of hot-blooded Spanish dance rhythms, nocturnal allure and Romantic pianism make its three conjoint movements pleasurable listening. Brilliantly realised by young Spanish pianist Javier Perianes and the BBC Symphony conducted by Josep Pons, this recording is more than a match for his famous predecessors.

The 80-minute anthology offers much more besides. Fantasia Baetica, written for Rubinstein, is a substantial work that distils the same passion and sweeping virtuosity of the concerto, a glorious extrapolation of the popular Ritual Fire Dance. Four Spanish Pieces (1906-09) are wonderfully written dance music from various regions including Aragon and Andalusia. Two Homages (to Debussy and Dukas) and four further salon-like short works complete this rather comprehensive survey. Perianes’s sensitivity and impressive pianism distinguishes him as an ideal interpreter of music from his homeland.

BACH Sonatas & Partitas
REGER Preludes & Fugues
SAYAKA SHOJI, Violin
Mirare 128 (2 CDs) / *****

The late 19th and early 20th century saw the emergence of a “Back to Bach” movement, led by composers like Ferruccio Busoni and Max Reger (1873-1916) who sought to relive the complex counterpoint and baroque formality of Johann Sebastian Bach’s aesthetics in their music. This lovely double album (retailing at the price of a single disc) marries Bach’s matchless unaccompanied violin music with selected Preludes and Fugues from Op.117 for solo violin by Reger. Was Bach a visionary or was Reger a retrogressive?

Reger’s Prelude in G minor opens with exactly the same chord as Bach’s Sonata No.1 in G minor, while Reger’s fugue follows a similar rhythmic dance pattern as the corresponding Bach fugue. Similarly the Fugue in B minor seamlessly leads the ear into Bach’s Partita No.1 in the same key. Although Reger does not bring anything new (not even dissonant asides) to the form, this is an act of homage rather than plagiarism. Young Japanese Sayaka Shoji offers immaculate versions of all six works (including the Bach Partita No.2 with its famous Chaconne), allying perfect intonation with faultless articulation, which demand an unqualified recommendation.