RAVEL TONIGHT! / The Philharmonic Orchestra / Review

RAVEL TONIGHT!

The Philharmonic Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (28 October 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 November 2018 with the title "Ravel showcase of exquisite colour".

The Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lim Yau continued with its Composers Tonight series of concerts with a tribute to the French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Ravel was renowned for his skill of orchestration, creating orchestral works of original and exquisite instrumental colour, and all three works on the programme  reflected that gift.

Beginning with the song cycle Sheherazade, with three movements inspired by the tales of the Arabian Nights, the emphasis was on conjuring up an exotic tonal allure. While not quoting Middle Eastern or Asian themes and melodies, the music exuded an aroma of perfumed incense which immediately cast a spell on the imagination.

China-born Soprano Su Yiwen, singing in French the words of Tristan Klingsor (obviously a nom-de-plume, but one with a Wagnerian persuasion), played a large part in the aural magic. Her voice was sufficiently sensuous, and strong enough to carry across the occasionally over-enthusiastic orchestral playing. The opening song Asia set the mood, followed up by excellent solo flute playing which prefaced and closed The Enchanted Flute, and a final tease in The Indifferent One.

Totally different was Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, a work unique that it incorporated Basque influences with those of New World jazz. Malaysian pianist Nicholas Ong was a most persuasive soloist, one who perfectly judged its idioms, pacing and nuances.

Knowing when to act coy, then ratcheting up the temperature in insistent syncopations for the opening movement, and settling down with Mozartian clarity in the slow movement was all part of the game. The exciting prestidigitation of the Presto finale brought down the house, which was rewarded with Ong’s solo encore, the stately Minuet slow movement from Ravel’s Sonatine.     

All through this drama, there were also many taxing solo parts for the orchestral musicians, all of whom readily stepped up to the plate. The harpist had a demanding cadenza of her own and woodwinds, so critical to the music’s sound palette, also were excellent. Even the percussionist who operated the whip (essentially two pieces of wood smartly snapped together) was spot-on.

The concert closed with Bolero, one of Ravel’s most popular works, which he famously declared “a work without music. As repetitious as it might have been, there was no denying the hypnotic power of this infamous crescendo, with solo instruments and various combinations piling on layers of sound over a snare-drum’s obstinate beat.

Visually it was also a spectacle, with a sole percussionist centrestage leading the parade while string players strummed out pizzicato beats like a massed group of guitars. Notably absent was the concert series’ usual master of ceremonies William Ledbetter, but Ruth Rodrigues’ comprehensive and semi-interactive programme notes made up for it, if one was bothered to read. All in all, it was an enjoyable 80 minutes of one’s Sunday afternoon well spent.

OF POETRY & MUSIC / Ding Yi Music Company / Review

OF POETRY AND MUSIC

Ding Yi Music Company

Esplanade Recital Studio

Saturday (8 November 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 10 November 2014 with the title "Reliving ancient music and poetry".

The Song and Tang dynasties represented a golden age of the literary arts in China, which flourished until its conquest by the warlike Mongols of the Yuan dynasty. Its poetry inspired no less than the likes of Gustav Mahler in his autumnal lyric symphony The Song Of The Earth. This concert by the Ding Yi Music Company conducted by Lim Yau, with music by Zechariah Goh Toh Chai, was somewhat less ambitious while attempting to encompass similarly epic subjects.

An added dimension to this production was the projection of calligraphy by former Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts President Choo Thiam Siew, who is also CEO of the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre. Narrator Lee Yong Tick read the poems in Chinese as a prelude to each of the sung movements.

The first part comprised three poems, beginning with Butterflies Over Flowers, with hushed plucked strings (ruan, pipa, cello and bass) creating a suitably serene atmosphere for tenor Jeremy Koh’s impassioned song and recitation. Ladies voices from the NAFA Chamber Choir were unaccompanied in Li Bai’s Qing Ping Diao (Pure Serene Music) and a mixed choir incanted the word fei (Chinese for flight) countless times in Peng, a segment from Zhuang Zi’s Xiao Yao You (Carefree Wondering).

Of course, such polyphony in composer Goh’s scores were foreign and even non-existent in those times, but his intention was not to recreate ancient music, but to relive its spirit through modern compositional techniques. He succeeded with a combination of idiomatic choral writing and coherence in conception, even if the choir was at times not always spot-on in intonation.

The second part was Da Feng Ge (Song Of The Rising Wind), conceived like a six-movement cantata on the subject of war and ancient chivalry. Two bare-chested drummers opened the work with a pugilistic show of belligerence, heralding tenor Koh’s Song of Gai Xia, a show of anger and indignation that had both spoken and sung elements, accompanied by chanting male voices.

Soprano Su Yiwen provided the most glittering display of vocal prowess in Reply to Xiang Yu, the concubine Yuji’s song of anguish and despair. Two purely instrumental movements set the scene for the grand finale. Kenny Chan’s sanxian led the charge in Besiege From All Sides, while the stage was bathed in blood red light in Battle of Gai Xia, where the strident winds and high pitched strings chillingly depicted scenes of carnage.

The closing Song of the Rising Wind for full choral and orchestral forces was a glorious paean to ultimate victory, but a nuanced one where reflection stood in parity with celebration. This half-hour long work could be considered a Singaporean Chinese answer to Prokofiev’s war-inspired cantata Alexander Nevsky, and that is saying quite something. 

Photos by courtesy of Ding Yi Music Company.

THE VIENNESE SCHOOLS / NAFA Orchestra & Chorus / Review

THE VIENNESE SCHOOLS

NAFA Orchestra & Chorus

Lee Foundation Theatre

Thursday (30 October 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 November 2014 with the title "In the spirit of Mozart".

The title of this concert by the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Orchestra and Chorus refers to the two historical movements centred in Vienna that revolutionised the course of Western music. The first was the classical school of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, while the second was represented by the 20^th century atonality of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.

The evening’s very short first half comprised wholly of Anton Webern’s Six Orchestral Pieces Op.6, epitome of terseness and astringency that characterised the Austrian’s output. Its emphasis was on creating a specific tonal colour, known as klangfarb in German, rather than portraying a scene or mood. To this end conductor Lim Yau succeeded in coaxing a fine balance of sound from the young musicians.

Although certain solos sometimes struggled in their parts, there was an arch-like development to the pivotal 4^th movement, where percussion and winds managed to convincingly craft a crescendo of shattering and cataclysmic impact. The programme notes referred to the death of Webern’s mother as an influence, but this is absolute music at its purest and most uncompromising.

Mozart’s Requiem in D minor was the prime reason why this concert was very well attended. Conductor Lim elected to perform Robert Levin’s revision of the classic instead of the familiar and commonly heard Franz Sussmayr version. Levin was considered to have come closer to the spirit of the composer in a masterpiece that was left tantalisingly incomplete on his deathbed.

This meant paring down the orchestration in certain parts to better highlight the choir and altering some un-Mozartian quirks in the score. In the same spirit, basset horns favoured by the composer were employed instead of clarinets in this performance. A further addition was a new fugal Amen which followed the Lacrimosa, Mozart’s final utterance.

Typical of choirs trained by Lim, the NAFA Chorus was well-disciplined, accurate in pronunciation and consonants, and generally immaculate in fugal passages. Of sturdy and robust voice, the women outnumbered and out-sang the men; the latter group could do with further boosting and the vocal equivalent of Viagra. Their entry in Confutatis Maledictis was rather flaccid, for example.

The quartet of soloists, formed by faculty and students, were in good form and complemented each other well. They were introduced in sequence in Tuba Mirum, baritone Huang Rong-Hai, tenor Jeremy Koh, mezzo-soprano Jessica Chen and soprano Su Yiwen. From the opening Kyrie Eleison to the final Cum Sanctis Tuis, this was a very satisfying performance, filled with conviction and passion.

Tenor Jeremy Koh and baritone Huang Rong Hai.

Soprano Su Yiwen and mezzo-soprano Jessica Chen.

The concert was dedicated to the memory of Leong Yoon Pin, Lim Shieh Yih and Ong Lip Tat, all of whom were giants – figuratively and literally - of NAFA and Singapore music.