STEVEN ISSERLIS & MARIO VENZAGO / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

 

STEVEN ISSERLIS & MARIO VENZAGO

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall 

Friday (20 December 2024) 

This review was first published in Bachtrack.com on 23 December 2024 with the title "Singapore witnesses Mario Venzago’s completion of Schubert’s Unfinished". 

The final Singapore Symphony Orchestra event of this year was not a Christmas concert but one with unusual couplings that worked despite its oddities. Led by Swiss guest conductor Mario Venzago, it began fairly predictably with Carl Maria von Weber’s Overture to Der Freischütz. 

Unison strings and a French horn chorale acquitted themselves well before leading to the Allegro which thrilled with a high speed romp. This standalone orchestral excerpt was an extension of Rossini’s overtures, but Weber in 1821 was already looking ahead to Wagner’s epics to come. 

Receiving its Singapore premiere was Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Cello Concerto No.2 in C minor (Op.77) with British cellist Steven Isserlis as soloist. Kabalevsky is often regarded as a poor man’s Prokofiev or Shostakovich. He avoided the 1948 Zhdanov-led purges by toeing the party line and writing mostly uncontroversial music, much of which for young people. He only trod the path after his more illustrious colleagues had cleared the minefield. 

Despite that, the concerto was a good undemanding listen, with Isserlis a very persuasive advocate (having recorded it on Virgin Classics in 1988) by wringing out drama and pathos through its conjoint three movements. The slow-fast-slow form gave much room for introspection, opening with solo pizzicatos, followed by elegiac musings and the occasional outburst. 

The fast central movement had the surprise of an alto saxophone solo, extrovertedly helmed by Samuel Phua. Isserlis’ solo cadenzas which linked the movements were predictably heart-rending, and animated as his Rattlesque silver locks flew in the air. The ending was quiet and retiring, but clearly moved the audience to applaud vociferously. 

Isserlis reciprocated with two Russian encores in the keys of C, Prokofiev’s March for Children (Op.65 No.10) and Kabalevsky’s Study in Major in Minor (Op.68 No.3) 

Isserlis and his cello
take a bow together.

Watch this video of the Kabalevsky concerto

and both the encores:

Also for the first time, the Singapore audience got to witness the completion of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony (D.759), in a four-movement edition by Venzago. The final two movements, he claimed, had been “lost” by his predecessor at the Graz Philhamonic, one Anselm Hüttenbrenner. With the reconstructed movements appended, the playing time is distended to some 46 minutes, thus comparable in scope with Schubert’s “Great” Symphony in C major (D.944). 

Mario Venzago waxes lyrical
about his reconstruction of Schubert's Unfinished.

Performances of the familiar opening movements tend to be expansive, sometimes protracted, but Venzago took them at a more than usual brisk pace. The B minor introduction from cellos and basses was suitably sombre, but the broad main melody in G major ran the risk of sounding harried or impatient. He however provided the impetus that made the music sound coherent, including a pacier Andante con moto in E major which in a paradigm shift, was no longer the symphony’s final movement. Also gone was the notion this was to be some solemn requiem. 

The Scherzo, back in the home key of B minor, was reconstructed from 30 fully orchestrated bars and a short-score. The music was decidedly jocular, consistent with Schubertian scherzi, and a lovely surprise came in the Trio in G major, which most listeners will remember as the Ballet Music No.1 from the incidental music for Rosamunde. 

The finale was also a case of reverse engineering, incorporating much of the martial music from Entracte No.1 from Rosamunde. But Venzago had a little trick up his sleeve towards the end, a reprise of the sombre first movement introduction now sounding like a distant echo, before closing in a blaze of triumph. An interesting experiment, and the audience liked it. But was it faithful or convincing? Only time will tell.

This review as published on Bachtrack.com:

Singapore witnesses a completion of Schubert’s “Unfinished” | Bachtrack

 

Star Rating: ****

TWO GLORIOUS DAYS AT THE PETWORTH FESTIVAL / Part I

TWO GLORIOUS DAYS

AT THE PETWORTH FESTIVAL

Preamble

It all began with my longtime piano-playing, chorus-singing and fellow Lyric Opera board-member Neil Franks retired and headed back to the home countries. Having served his due in Singapore for the previous thirty years, it was a glorious retirement to being a piano student once again, and amongst many other things becoming the Chairman of the Petworth Festival.

Neil Franks in his Aston Martin,
James Bond mobile without the red button!

“You must come!” he almost pleaded and the summer of 2018, which coincided with the festival’s 40^th anniversary, seemed the most opportune moment for me. A trip combining the BBC Proms, several concerts at Wigmore Hall and a weekend in the rolling downs of West Sussex was eminently do-able, and so I came. The Petworth Festival is a two-and-a-half week long summer music festival, held  in various historical venues of a typically English town. The bright lights of London are far away, and there are no McDonalds or Starbucks (or tall buildings for that matter) to be found for miles, it was an ideal setting for great music and the arts within an intimate setting.

For the record, within two all-too-short days, I attended more concerts in the Petworth Festival than in five years of the music-impoverished Singapore Arts Festival or whatever its called these days.

FRIDAY 20 JULY 2018

Parkhurst House, near Lurgashall.

Its only an hour on British southwest rail from Wimbledon to Haslemere, Surrey which was my entry-point into West Sussex. Met by Neil in his James Bond convertible, we made to Parkhurst House, his manor home near Lurgashall, overlooking miles of undulating countryside – and flocks of sheep! Before long, it was time for the first concert, a lunchtime gig held at the 160-seat Leconfield Hall (the old town hall)  in the old market square of Petworth itself.

Leconfield Hall is at the heart
of Petworth town itself.

Bloomsbury Quartet

12 noon, Leconfield Hall

Four young ladies in bright crimson gowns could not have given a more serious programme of music, something that would quite at home at Wigmore Hall itself. Beginning with Beethoven’s Quartet in F major (Op.95), nicknamed “Serioso”, that set the tone for the rest of the hour-long concert. They produced a robust tone and exhibited an immaculate togetherness. This was Beethoven with passion, oozing from every muscle and sinew. Then it switched to Stravinsky’s Three Pieces, alternating rhythmic vigour with strident discords, modernism without apology and a refreshing palate-cleanser from conventional Beethoven.

My first live encounter with Benjamin Britten’s Second String Quartet was an illuminating experience. Whoever thought that the master of dissonance and grit himself could accomodate his idiom to yield music that felt vulnerable and so touchingly human? First on the to do list: listen it on recording again. My last encounter with Britten’s quartets dated to the late 1980s: Quartet No.3 with the Chilingirian Quartet at Victoria Concert Hall, an unforgettable performance. This one came pretty close.

The quartet’s second violinist looked Asian, and she turned out to be Singapore’s Janell Yeo, some ten years after winning the $200K HSBC Youth Excellence Award. I had written about her in these pages ages ago and had wondered what happened with her. As her obviously proud mother regaled, Janell has since graduated from the Royal Academy of Music (the quartet was formed by its alumni) and gone on to philanthropic work alongside a busy music career. Giving back to society is something to be truly proud about.

Stained glass and altar piece
at St Mary The Virgin

Steven Isserlis and Tom Poster

7.30 pm, St Mary’s Church

The parish church of St.Mary the Virgin stands as the consecrated centre of Petworth, just beside the sprawling grounds of Petworth House. Its history date back to the 14^th century, and the faded gravestones littering its yard attest to its antiquity. It is over these gravestones that modern visitors traipse and enjoy drinks before the concert proper, one of the highlights of this festival.

Cellist Steven Isserlis needs no introduction having played many times in Singapore, his salt-and-pepper Rattlesque curls and their movements being almost as memorable as his performances themselves. The Canadian pianist Connie Shih had been replaced by young Briton Tom Poster but that made little difference. The programme of German and French music, headlined by Schumann, Faure and Franck, was to be a enjoyable and melody-filled one.

Notably, the music of two women composers – Clara Schumann and Augusta Holmes – were included. These are, of course, less familiar than those of their male counterparts (and main squeezes) but does gender make them any less worthy? The performances by Isserlis and Poster proved that there is no such thing as male or female music, only good music matters. The programme’s longest work was the Cesar Franck Sonata in A major, and it received a throroughly accomplished reading, not least in its ever-busy piano part. Reminded to self: better start practising!

CD Review (The Straits Times, May 2018)

THE CELLO IN WARTIME

STEVEN ISSERLIS, Cello

CONNIE SHIH, Piano

BIS 2312 / *****

British cellist Steven Isserlis has another winner in this album of cello sonatas written during the First World War (1914-1918) by composers from the warring nations. The contrasts are as varied as the composers themselves. 

Two Frenchmen nearing their last years find altogether different inspirations. Claude Debussy's Cello Sonata (1915) seeks a simplicity that defined early French music, and is a gem of brevity in three movements. Gabriel Fauré's Cello Sonata No.1 (1917) has a mellowness and autumnal lyricism that could only have come from the same pen as his famous Requiem of 1890.

Between these is the longest of three sonatas, Englishman Frank Bridge's Cello Sonata (1913-1917). Its two movements are filled with passionate and sometimes violent outbursts which reflect the brutal futility of war. Austrian composer Anton Webern's Three Little Pieces (1914) were chosen as the antithesis. Atonal and aphoristic, these play for just 9, 13 and 10 bars each, barely lasting 3 minutes in total. 

The recital concludes with four short pieces played on a “trench cello” (a compact self-assembled instrument housed within a rectangular case the size of an ammunition box) once owned by war veteran Harold Triggs who carried and played it on the fields of Ypres. 

Its limpid and glassy tone brings a poignancy to Saint-Saëns' The Swan, Hubert Parry's Jerusalem, Ivor Novello's Keep The Home-Fires Burning and God Save The King, which has to be heard to be believed. Isserlis and Canadian pianist Connie Shih serve up an aural treat in this excellent themed recital.

STEVEN ISSERLIS. ELGAR CELLO CONCERTO / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

STEVEN ISSERLIS. 

ELGAR CELLO CONCERTO

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (5 October 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 7 October 2017 with the title "Breathtaking performance".

It seemed like a short while ago when eminent British cellist Steven Isserlis last performed Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Wrong, unless one considers fourteen years a mere blip in time. That was in 2003, in Esplanade's first year, when Isserlis made his Singapore debut and SSO was still getting used to the Concert Hall's reverberant acoustics.

Both soloist and orchestra have matured, and the result was a totally satisfying performance that wrung out the pathos of this late work, composed shortly after the First World War. There was to be no show-boating, and Isserlis' opening solo – emphatic groan followed by long heaving sigh – was breathtaking for its depth of despair rather than actual brilliance.

This was its tenor from tumultuous opening to devastating close. Themes and climaxes were built up trenchantly, and the virtuosity involved became secondary to the music's essence. The mercurial scherzo whizzed by, providing scant respite, while the famous Adagio ached to its seams. If Nimrod (from Enigma Variations) represented nobility, this movement was surely the epitome of grief, greatly belying its relatively short-windedness (just 60 bars long).

The finale was to be a romp, but the juggernaut was stopped short with a reprise of the concerto's opening, a poignant reminder of everything that was lost. A standing ovation greeted its end, and Isserlis offered two solo encores. The first was Catalan cello legend Pablo Casals' soulful Song Of The Birds, surely his personal salute to people who yearn to be free.

Directing this concert was Singaporean Darrell Ang, who eschewed traditional and weighty conductor's scores for the compact iPad. The acuteness of vision required to read from this gizmo was also translated into excellent performances of two orchestral rarities.

Czech composer Josef Suk's Scherzo Fantastique, which opened the concert, immediately thrusted woodwinds into the spotlight. They did not disappoint, and neither did the mellow cellos which were gifted a lilting waltz to dance to. The skilful alternating between busy, fidgety flickering figures and warm sumptuous melody, accompanied by tingling triangle and tambourine, was a highlight, even if one thought this repetitious and several minutes overlong.

Also heard for a first time was Alexander Glazunov's Fifth Symphony in B flat major. The venerated Conservatory composition professor was an arch-conservative, and this symphony was predictably polished, highly tuneful (although one will be severely challenged to remember its melodies the next day), technically demanding for players, but ultimately inoffensive for listeners.

The orchestra nevertheless put up an impressive show, the stern opening growl looking forward to Scriabin while the thematic elements and development looked backward to Tchaikovsky. Woodwinds stole the show in its Scherzo and brass chorales reigned in the slow movement. The finale, derived from folk music, drove itself into a frenzied dance and conclusion. Cue more cheers, but do not expect this to be heard again for several decades, if ever. 

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, August 2017)

BRAHMS Symphonies Nos.3 & 4

NDR Elbphilharmonie 

Thomas Hengelbrock (Conductor)

Sony Classical  88985405082  / ****1/2

FOR THE LOVE OF BRAHMS

Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis & Jeremy Denk

Academy of St Martin In The Fields

Sony Classical  88985321792 / *****

Hamburg's iconic new concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie, opened its doors in January after a seven year delay and costing 500 million Euros over the initial budget. The first recording made in the hall by its resident orchestra the NDR Elbphilharmonie features the Third and Fourth Symphonies of Johannes Brahms, Hamburg's most famous native composer. 

The Fourth is heard first, and includes a four-bar introduction before the actual 1^st movement begins. This was Brahms' original idea before eventually dropping it, so the listener gets to hear a “new beginning”, thus symbolic of this new recording in a new venue. The recorded sound for both symphonies is excellent. 

The new recording of Brahms' Double Concerto in A minor from violinist Joshua Bell and cellist Steven Isserlis also stands out for its warmth, and closeness of communication between the two soloists and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. 

The fillers are also very apt. First is the slow movement from Schumann's late Violin Concerto in D minor, essentially a violin and cello duo, with Benjamin Britten's edition of its closing. 

Next is the original 1854 version of Brahms' Piano Trio No.1 in B major Op.8, which is longer and substantially different from the more familiar revised version heard in concert halls today. The duo joined by American pianist Jeremy Denk makes the strongest possible case for this rarity. 

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, August 2015)

MENDELSSOHN, GRIEG

& HOUGH Cello Sonatas

STEVEN ISSERLIS, Cello

STEPHEN HOUGH, Piano

Hyperion 68079 / *****

How does British pianist-composer Stephen Hough's Cello Sonata figure in this new album of Romantic cello sonatas? Interestingly it is scored for cello and piano left hand and carries the Beethovenian subtitle “Les Adieux” (The Farewell). A single-movement work playing for 20 minutes, it is a darkly introspective work that distils the fraught and melancholic emotions of Romanticism through a tonal musical language that is as approachable as Shostakovich, Ravel and Fauré. Perhaps expressing regret, sorrow and parting, it receives a heartfelt performance from British cellist Steven Isserlis and the composer himself as pianist.

The work sits comfortably two rather different and not so often heard Romantic sonatas. Edvard Grieg's Cello Sonata in G minor (Op.36) was the closest thing he wrote to a cello concerto, and includes familiar themes to be found in his earlier Piano Concerto and Sigurd Josalfar incidental music. Another instance of musical deja vu (“Where have we heard this before?”), Mendelssohn's Second Cello Sonata in D major (Op.38) is typical of his ebullience and tunefulness, a good example of the early Romantic style. The juxtapositions on this album make total sense, and the high musicianship displayed by both performers is to be savoured.  

NEW SEASONS

GIDON KREMER, Violin

Kremerata Baltica

Deutsche Grammophon 479 4817 / ***

Is it blasphemous to state that “emperor's new clothes” is the reason why every new work by American composer Philip Glass is greeted with nothing but adulation? In his Second Violin Concerto (2010), also known as The American Four Seasons, he rehashes just about every cliché he has worked to death in earlier works, including his First Violin Concerto (1987). The Seasons are in 8 parts, with a Bachian solo (entitled Prologue and Songs Nos.1 to 3) preceding each movement proper. As expected, the limited musical material is built upon tonal triads and repeated endlessly to pad up its 40-plus minutes. So what else is new?

Georgian composer Giya Kancheli's Ex Contrario (2006) for violin, cello, keyboard, bass guitar and strings is minimalist in a different way. Its static pace, long stretches of pianissimo and gaping silences are drawn out to an almost interminable half hour. As brief fillers, the Estonian Arvo Pärt but cheerful Estonian Lullaby features the Girls Choir from the Vilnius Choir School, while Shigeru Umebayashi Yumeji's Theme from the film In The Mood For Love is sentimental and soothing movie music with a popular twist. Superstar Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer and his string band give slick and polished performances in the demonstration class, but that is the very least one would expect for the premium-priced outlay involved.

STEVEN ISSERLIS PLAYS SHOSTAKOVICH / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

STEVEN ISSERLIS PLAYS SHOSTAKOVICH

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (30 April 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 2 May 2015 with the title "A cellist's glitz and glamour".  

This Singapore Symphony Orchestra season has seen its share of Gala Concerts featuring celebrity soloists and with ticket prices to match. Although the renowned British cellist Steven Isserlis was not accorded Gala status, his appearance in Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto had every bit of glitz and glamour. It could be said that the capacity house, evidenced by long lines at the box office, had been well served.

Shostakovich's more popular of two cello concertos is now firmly established among the greats of 20^th century concerto repertoire. No one should claim to fear its modernisms or dissonances because of the Russian composer's unambiguous use of tonality and much-employed wit. The four-note motif that is the foundation of its opening movement was trenchantly stated by Isserlis, and echoed by Principal Hornist Han Chang Chou's excellent solos.

In the rapidfire cut and thrust of the work, both soloist and orchestra were timed to perfection under Music Director Shui Lan's direction. As Isserlis' bow grittily dug into his cello's strings, bringing out the rawness of the music's Socialist Realist statement, the orchestra responded in kind with a mocking sarcasm that was totally apt. There was tenderness in the lightly-scored slow movement, but the song of Isserlis was more of a lament, tinged with sorrow and bitterness.

The orchestra fell silent for the extended cadenza that followed, and one could hear a pin drop. Unfortunately Isserlis's plaint had the unwanted intrusion of audible voices emanating from an usher's earpiece. Why were people even talking when the music is taking place? This is one area which Esplanade as a premier concert venue needs to address: either silence the earpiece, remove the oblivious usher, or both.

The cadenza was a crescendo that built up to an impassioned head of steam, launching into the burlesque of the finale. Here both cello and orchestra jostled for supremacy in a grotesque tug-of-war before the bold restatement of the first movement's motif, now delivered with a crushing finality. With typical irony, Isserlis jested about playing something “energetic”, and Prokofiev's naively optimistic March For Children made for a delightful encore.

The second half belonged to Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, better known as his “Pathetique”. This nickname does not refer to the common use of the word “pathetic”, but rather the state of inducing pathos, often equated with tragedy. In that sense, this concert had two mirroring works of great pathos. The raucous rawness of Shostakovich was a foil for the svelte, fatal elegance of Tchaikovsky.  

      

Overstatement could either enhance or undermine Tchaikovsky's message, so conductor Shui's approach  kept mostly (and safely) to the middle of the road. His tempos were on a brisk side and thus could not be accused of wallowing in self-pity. One waited for the catharsis but it did not always appear when expected. There was a manic edge to the first movement's fugato which did not disappoint, balanced by the bittersweet waltz of the second movement.

The rumble-tumble Scherzo was rowdily impressive, and credit to this audience for not wildly applauding as if the work had ended with it. This was merely the prelude to the finale's veil of tears, which rose to an anguished high before descending into a bottomless abyss. This last bit showed the orchestra's maturity as it plumbed the depths, diminishing in volume with such nuanced finesse to absolute silence. Tchaikovsky had predicted his own death with this, and that eventuality came one week after the work's premiere.

There was a long and precious moment of total quiet before the eruption of applause. This audience, more sophisticated than the usual gala crowd, had understood its message unequivocally. That was a sure sign that listeners too can contribute to the success of a concert.

Post concert: Steven Isserlis meets with Qin Li-Wei
and discusses finer points of Shostakovich,
as well as mugs for the camera with
Jeong Ae Ree & Chan Wei Shing.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, April 2014)

LISZT AT THE OPERA

LOUIS LORTIE, Piano

Chandos 10793 / *****

Make no mistake, this is about the greatest disc of opera transcriptions by Franz Liszt since Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s mid-1990s anthology on Decca. There is some duplication of works but in the big showpieces, French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie holds his own against the best in the catalogue. In the Wagner Tannhäuser Overture which opens the set, he commands an orchestral-like sonority, including the spectacular echoing effects of the Pilgrim’s Chorus. For his sheer sweep, no one need miss Moiseiwitsch, Cziffra or Bolet now.

The Reminiscences de Don Juan after Mozart’s opera builds upon the duet La ci darem la mano before riotously dispatching the Drinking Song with gay abandon. The ad-libbed bits to the Waltz from Gounod’s Faust are also deliciously crafted. For contrasts, there are also quieter pieces, including the Romance to the Evening Star (Tannhäuser), the Spinning Chorus from Wagner’s Flying Dutchman and the best bits from Tristan and Isolde. The latter take the form of a feverish Liebestod (Love-Death) and Lortie’s own transcription of the Prelude. In terms of stunning pianism, this one is hard to beat.

ISSERLIS Piano Music

SAM HAYWOOD, Piano

Hyperion 68025 / ****1/2

Julius Isserlis (1888-1968) was the grandfather of British cellist Steven Isserlis. Born in Chisinau (now present-day Moldova), he was schooled in Kiev, Moscow and in Western Europe. His teachers included Puchalski (who taught Horowitz), Taneyev (Tchaikovsky’s favourite student) and Widor (of organ Toccata fame). Emigrating from Austria to England before the Anschluss in 1938, he was spared from the Nazi holocaust. He wrote mostly short works for the piano, proudly bearing his Russian heritage. These are heard here in very attractive and idiomatic performances by young British pianist Sam Haywood.

Listen first to his Ballades Op.3, their Chopinesque titles belying a debt of influence to the young Scriabin and Rachmaninov. The E flat minor Ballade shares a theme rather similar to Rachmaninov’s Elegie (Op.3 No.1), also in the same key. His shorter Preludes, several of which have sequestered and “lost” in Russian archives, are equally enjoyable. Also distinctive are the orientalisms in the Prelude Exotique and virtuoso writing in Toccata in Fourths, Flight of the Swallow and The Bumble Bee, all of which make lovely encores. Steven Isserlis makes a cameo appearance in the Ballade in A minor for cello and piano, 9 minutes of Tchaikovskyan melancholy. Well worth exploring.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2013)

WEIGL Isle of The Dead / Six Fantasies

JOSEPH BANOWETZ, Piano

Naxos 8.572423 / ****1/2

The Austrian-Jewish composer Karl Weigl (1881-1949) was witness to the heady years of Mahler’s prime, Korngold’s prodigious childhood and the rise of the Second Viennese School of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. Through all of this, he retained a strong foundation of tonality in his works, and any chance of fame was curtailed when he had to emigrate to the United States following the Nazi occupation of his homeland. This album of his piano music is well worth listening for its invention and period charm.

Almost 30 years separate his Night Fantasies (1911) and Six Fantasies (1942), pieces of atmospheric beauty that recall the smouldering lyricism of Richard Strauss. Ironically the earlier set displays a greater level of dissonance, its nocturnes being far more closely aligned to Mahler’s Nachtmusik of his Seventh Symphony than Chopin.   

Toteninsel (Isle Of The Dead) from 1903 was inspired by Arnold Bocklin’s expressionist painting, and predates the famous tone poem by Rachmaninov. Its funeral procession over the River Styx is reminiscent of the gloominess of Liszt’s two late works titled La Lugubre Gondola. More light-hearted are the droll and spiky Dance Of The Furies (1938) and the fantastical imagery of the six Pictures And Tales (1909). Veteran American pianist Joseph Banowetz, champion of the obscure and arcane, breathes into these minor masterpieces a sense of urgency and vitality they fully deserve.  

IN THE SHADOW OF WAR

STEVEN ISSERLIS, Cello

Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

& Tapiola Sinfonietta

BIS 1992 / *****

This album presents three cello concertos in 67 minutes of unremitting gloom. The composers were moved by the wanton waste and futility of war, from what must be the most violent century in mankind’s history. It is almost 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War, which prompted Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo (1916), a rhapsodic view of King Solomon’s proclamation “All is vanity!” in the book of Ecclesiastes. This is the most recorded of the works, and Steven Isserlis’s eloquent account is stirring and heart-wrenching.

Much less well known is Frank Bridge’s Oration (1930), where the cello’s orator bears witness to the carnage in the mud and trenches, and is inexorably sucked into the quagmire. The relentless march that forms the torso of the single movement work is frightening, as is its mind-numbing vision of young lives facing impending slaughter as if on an assembly line. The quiet and serene ending represents heavenly repose and the hope for peace.

Pianist Stephen Hough’s The Loneliest Wilderness (2005), after words by Herbert Read, mines the same vein. It distils in 16 minutes the sorrow and memories of a lost generation, and is ironically the most approachable of the three works. A listener may begin with this and later move on to Bloch and Bridge, in increasing order of sombreness. The experience is intense but ultimately rewarding.

SSO Concert: WALTON'S CELLO CONCERTO / Review

WALTON’S CELLO CONCERTO

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Saturday (17 November 2012)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 November 2012 with the title "Rare music treats performed with heart".

It is always good to hear music that is rarely performed in concert, and this evening’s offerings provided that in abundance. Top on the list was the Singapore premiere of William Walton’s Cello Concerto. Those familiar with his more popular violin and viola concertos know what to expect; lyricism in an age of atonality, warmth and wit delivered with a stylish insouciance.

Celebrated British cellist Steven Isserlis, sporting a Rattlesque greying afro and playing with gut-strings on his 1726 Stradivarius, brought out a mellow and singing tone in its reticent and restrained opening. The orchestra, ever sensitive to nuance and phrasing, matched him for every move, and the bittersweet first movement breathed a long and impassioned sigh.

Those expecting fireworks got them in the scherzo-like second movement, which like in the violin and viola concertos, was a mercurial study in biting sarcasm. Where its menacing undertones were smoothed over by fiendishly virtuosic playing, Isserlis rode its thorny challenges and tread a dizzying tightrope in its high registers with commanding aplomb. 

The finale surrenders some clues as to why this work is not often heard. Its greater level of dissonance, difficult improvisatory solos divorced from orchestral manoeuvres, and a subdued (read unspectacular) close militate against “hit” status. However Isserlis’s persuasive manner, wholly convinced of its greatness, won over this audience. Their vociferous applause with multiple curtain calls was rewarded with two lovely encores.

The concert opened with Berlioz’s Queen Mab Scherzo from his dramatic symphony Romeo And Juliet. Under the direction of world-renowned Berlioz specialist John Nelson, the orchestra revelled in a quiet and subtle pianissimo through its entire duration. The ensemble sounded totally refined, a silky evenness of strings interjected with woodwind solos and cameos by two harps and a French horn quartet. The sheer fleet-footedness impressed.

The choice to close with Dvorak’s Sixth Symphony, another rarity, was an inspired one. This listener has had enough of the Eighth and Ninth Symphonies, and this work of Brahmsian expansiveness and richness was balm for the jaded. The first movement moved with its sunny melody and broad sweeping strokes, while the slow movement’s edifice built up organically from a simple three-note motif, first heard on the oboe.

The rustic rambunctiousness of the third movement’s furiant (a fast and furious Slavonic dance) was celebratory, and further folk material fuelled the finale’s spirited resolution. Conducting without a baton, Nelson coaxed a finely detailed performance that did not miss out on its big embracing gestures. This is music with a heart, and the rousing reading wore that fact proudly on its sleeve.   

At the post concert chat, John Nelson explained why he does not conduct with a baton,  while Steven Isserlis mused on his love of gut-strings. "In Gut We Trust", he proudly proclaimed!

N.B. Steven Isserlis's two solo encores was Georgian composer Sulkhan Tsintsadze's Chonguri and Pablo Casals's arrangement of the Catalan melody Song of the Birds.