SPECTRUM: THE TRYST / Review

SPECTRUM: THE TRYST
Chan Yoong Han, Violin & Shane Thio, Piano
Esplanade Recital Studio

Sunday (10 July 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 13 July with the title "Mosaic of sight and sound".

Esplanade’s Spectrum series of concerts has become Singapore’s de facto leader in showcasing contemporary and avant-garde music. Its events are well subscribed and attended by a young audience, mostly people in their twenties. The reason for popularity is understandable; intelligent and adventurous programming, supported by performers who are more often than not the nation’s best musicians.

The Tryst, bringing together Scottish, Dutch, Japanese and American new music, was no exception. This was essentially a violin and piano recital, augmented by voice, specifically the tenor Adrian Poon who also doubled as presenter. His was the reassuring soft cushion for the cutting edge instrumentals, opening with James MacMillan’s Scots Song (1991, left).

His multi-layered and expression-filled voice lit up the simple strophic song of love and parting, sparingly accompanied by Shane Thio’s piano. This ushered in Chan Yoong Han’s angular violin part in After The Tryst (1988), based on the same song, but deconstructed and improvised upon.

There was a mirror-like symmetry to Toru Takemitsu’s From Far Beyond Chrysanthemums and November Fog (1983, left), which began with his typically post-impressionist musings on the violin before giving way to the song The Encounter (1968). Sung in Japanese by Poon, its John Lennon-like leanings suggested that the late master was equally adept in J-pop.

In between, Dutch minimalist Louis Andriessen’s rather pretentious Disco (1982) attempted to put a beat to its portrayal of dismembered states of mind. There were long stretches of tiresome single-note hitting accompanied by long-held violin scrapes. Only Joyce Gan’s visuals and Michael Corbidge’s verses projected on a screen prevented a state of stupor in what may be described as dreary Saturday Night without the fever.

The most stunning performance fell to the longest work, John Adams’s Road Movies (1995, left). A three-movement violin sonata in all but name, complex motoric ostinatos dominated the outer movements titled Relaxed Groove and 40% Swing, in what the composer described as “travel music”.

This theme was accompanied by short films of European scenes taken from moving vehicles, adding to the restlessness of movement. While the slow movement Meditative ruminated on the blues, it was Chan and Thio’s rapier-sharp reflexes and rhythmic exactitude that stole the show, bringing the 70-minute mosaic of sound and sight to an impressive close.

VCH Chamber Series / Spectrum: Cage + 5 / Review

VCH Chamber Series: Evening Potpourri
Victoria Concert Hall
Sunday (1 November 2009, 5 pm)
Spectrum: Cage + 5
Esplanade Recital Studio
Sunday (1 November 2009, 7.30 pm)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 3 November 2009.

Contemporary music appears to be winning over a growing audience, judging by the encouraging attendances at the weekend’s chamber concerts. If not, some consolation may be had that the hip image cultivated by the conductors, allied with strong musical values, seems to be drawing them in.

Darrell Ang (left), the epitome of new cool, helmed the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s chamber concert which was three-quarters modern. First, a J.S.Bach flute sonata, featuring Roberto Alvarez’s silvery tone, soothed the palate. Then the variegated textures of Benjamin Britten’s early Sinfonietta (Op.1) and Singaporean Kelly Tang’s atonal Wind Serenade took over.

The Britten was precocious with its use of bitty themes, developing into three varied movements contrasting strings and winds to marvelous effect, while the Tang was a model of concision and economy. Both paved the way for Aaron Copland’s popular ballet Appalachian Spring, written for Martha Graham, in its original version for 13 instruments. Ang’s quiet authority presided over a performance that mixed atmospheric slow moods with dances bursting with energy. It seemed a pity there were no dancers on stage.

The choreography at the Esplanade was provided by Kawai Shiu (left), the pony-tail sporting composer-conductor who directed the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory New Music Ensemble. His wide-ranging arm movements and gestures resembled some martial arts meister in pugilistic combat as the group mastered a series of treacherously thorny scores.

Again, a wealth of nuance, shade and rhythm defined the diverse music of Isang Yun (Korea), Wu Na (China), Douglas Knehans, Michael Torke (both USA) and Shiu (Hong Kong) himself. Some 32 years separated Yun’s Piece Concertante and Wu’s Culture’s Gift, but were united by a sense of nostalgia for their native cultures. The two Americans had a gift of pulse and kinetic impetus that propelled their music onward, while Shiu’s Three Seasons traversed from violence to an uneasy calm.

Instrumental virtuosity was at a premium throughout and if people needed convincing about the power of new music, that was provided in spades. The iconic John Cage’s Five Squared, performed by just five musicians, opened and closed the concert like some ceremonial ritual. That both identical performances sounded different seemed an uncanny illusion. The magic and chemistry about music is that over the 80 minutes or so, one’s mind had been irreversibly transformed.