8 AT PLAY / Philharmonic Wind Ensemble / Review

 

8 AT PLAY 

Philharmonic Wind Ensemble 

Esplanade Recital Studio 

Sunday (1 December 2024) 

Harmoniemusik refers to music for wind ensemble, typically with pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and French horns, which was all the rage during the 18th century in Central Europe. These ensembles were typically employed by the aristocracy, performing serenades, divertimentos and music from the popular operas of the day for fun and profit. The Philharmonic Wind Ensemble, an elite group from The Philharmonic Winds, made its debut in this enjoyable 70-minute concert led by its music director Leonard Tan. 

The afternoon’s programme opened with Mozart's Overture to The Magic Flute, as arranged by Joseph Heidenreich. The music is familiar, with its solemn chordal Masonic opening in E flat major, followed by the fugal chatter which all of us have come to love. The playing was very well articulated with its contrapuntal lines coming through clearly from all parts. The ensemble could have played a whole concert of operatic overtures, and no one would have minded, but more later. 

A rare outing for Francis Poulenc’s Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano, from oboist Tay Kai Tze, bassoonist Daniel Aw Yong and pianist Chenna Lu, was alone worth the price of admission. As Tay waxed lyrical in his preamble, this was music of jollity and sadness as reflected in the Frenchman’s inimitable duality of idioms. The apt descriptions of “saint and sinner, monk and scoundrel” comes to mind. The performance was en pointe throughout, from the stark Stravinskyan opening, Parisian playfulness to the finale’s fast banter. As with much of his music, the moving central slow movement was contemplative, tinged with melancholy but the work’s beating heart. 

20th century American composer Vincent Persichetti's Parable for solo horn from French hornist Alan Kartik came like a bolt from the blue. Its atonality was more than bearable largely due to his clear-headed virtuosity, tonal warmth while delineating its themes with exacting clarity. It also helped by him indicating to the audience what recurrent motifs to listen out for. 

The concert’s major work was another relative rarity, Beethoven’s Octet in E flat major (Op.103). Its advanced opus number suggests it belonged to the same period as his late cello and piano sonatas, but this was a work of callow youth, dating from 1792. Its idiom is closer to Mozart’s Gran Partita (from 1781) and his youthful Septet (1799) than what we are more familiar with. So, no chest-thumping or fist-shaking, but much more fun, opening with a lively burst of energy. 

The depth and volume of this excellent ensemble was evident from first to last. The slow movement with its juicy operatic aria-like solo from oboe and bassoon solo was memorable to say the least. Even the Minuet with its quizzical motif of repeated notes was a departure from the usual courtliness, and a Trio with clarinet, horn and bassoon in sequence was part of LvB’s brand of humour. The finale romped with a rustic ebullience, led by the clarinets, and its irresistible oompah vibe has defined what is loveable about Harmoniemusik. 

Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance in C minor (Op.46 No.7), as arranged by Patrick Clements, very cheerful despite its minor key, closed the concert on a spirited high. This afternoon, I was privileged to be in the presence and company of Singapore’s finest wind players.

The ensemble comprised:
Oboists Simon Lee & Tay Kai Tze,
Bassoonists Daniel Aw Yong & Emerald Tan,
Hornists Alan Kartik & Joey Aston Lim,
Clarinettists Ralph Emmanuel Lim & Daniel Ong
& Bassist Sanche Jagatheesan.

THE PHILHARMONIC WINDS AND TIMOTHY REYNISH IN CONCERT / The Philharmonic Winds / Review

THE PHILHARMONIC WINDS

AND TIMOTHY REYNISH IN CONCERT

The Philharmonic Winds

Esplanade Concert Hall

Sunday (17 June 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 June 2018 with the title "Musical birthday party for an octogenarian"

For two evenings last week, the 77-year-old pianist Martha Argerich lit up the stage of Esplanade Concert Hall. On Sunday evening, it was the turn of octogenarian British conductor Timothy Reynish to dominate the proceedings, leading The Philharmonic Winds in an invigorating concert which celebrated his 80^th birthday. 

Some of the works were commissioned by or dedicated to the wind orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor, and included two local premieres. The concert opened with Kenneth Hesketh's Masque, a light-hearted scherzo-like movement showcasing pinpoint articulation from the woodwinds and a big melody from the sonorous brass.

Its pomp and pageantry continued into Guy Woolfenden's Illyrian Dances, a neo-baroque suite of dance movements distinguished by flights of fancy. Sounding like film music of popular appeal, it was well played, such as in the finale's tricky jig-rhythms which closed with good humour.

A sterner test was provided by Derek Bourgeois' Symphony for William, the first of two extended works. Written in memory of Reynish's third son William, who was only 34 when he perished in a mountaineering accident, its three movements encapsulated the young man's free spirit.

The opening Will-o-the-Wisp displayed an elfin lightness and mordant wit not unlike scores by Prokofiev or Walton. A warm French horn solo provided a bittersweet tinge to the slow movement Dianthus Barbatus (Sweet William), answered by an oboe's plaint in calm moments of reflection and contemplation. The finale, Will Power, bristled with anger and discord before racing off in a wild chase which brought to mind Khachaturian's Sabre Dance, but it closed on a quiet note.

The other big work was Yasuhide Ito's As Time Is Passing On, a symphonic poem which featured the 65-strong Philharmonic Winds Festival Chorus (Zechariah Goh, choirmaster). Mortality and impermanence were delved in its four linked sections, opening with a sombre Lamento before erupting into a lively Marcia, striding with Elgarian swagger.

Japanese composer Yasuhide Ito
receives the applause for his works.

The voices entered in Dies Irae, all dissonance and apocalyptic visions, and followed up mostly a cappella in the final part singing in Japanese. The accompaniment was light, with isolated percussion, pared-down woodwinds and harp. Closing in Latin with Requiem Aeternam, this brought to mind Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem, originally dedicated to the Empire of Japan but rejected because of its religious content. Ito was just returning the favour here.   

Receiving its world premiere was Ito's Time-Into-Music, written for Reynish's seven score and ten. A chirpy woodwind chorale gave way to a busy fugue, quoting from Verdi's opera Falstaff (composed when the Italian was 80), before returning to the earlier celebration. Another birthday greeting was Spaniard Luis Alarcon's Tim, A British Pasodoble, a bull-fighting dance dressed in English garb with a cheeky quote from Elgar's Pomp & Circumstance March No.1.

The concert concluded with Adam Gorb's Bohemian Revelry, four movements of Slavonic-styled  dances taking Smetana and Dvorak as inspiration. Rustic, comedic and colourful, it was an excellent way to end a musical birthday party.  

Some Photographs from FROM BERNSTEIN TO COPLAND / The Philharmonic Winds

FROM BERNSTEIN TO COPLAND

The Philharmonic Winds

Esplanade Concert Hall

Sunday (25 March 2018)

It would seem unusual to see conductor Yeh Tsung lead an orchestra which is not the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. 

That should not be a great surprise since he was for 28 years the Music Director of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra in Indiana (USA) besides being the founder of the highly-regarded Hong Kong Sinfonietta. However, he did admit near the start of the concert that this was his first time conducting a wind orchestra. For a debutant leading Singapore's finest wind band, this is was an excellent effort which led to a highly enjoyable concert of Americana.

The concert opened with Leonard Bernstein's Slava!, a concert overture celebrating Mstislav Rostropovich's inauguration (hence his nickname being the work's title, which is also Russian for "glory") at Washington D.C.'s National Symphony Orchestra in 1977. Much like his better known Candide Overture, it was a light and sparkling affair, full of Rossinian wit and humour, which the Philharmonic Winds brought out most trenchantly.

There was some insecurity of intonation in the highly-exposed beginning of Aaron Copland's A Lincoln Portrait, but that soon settled as the band grew in confidence in a rather long introduction. The narrator reading Abraham Lincoln's words was Benjamin Chow, a young actor already well-known for his portrayal of another politician - Lim Chin Siong, in the local musical LKY. 

He has an assured way with words, carried with a stature that belied his tender years, thus making his all-too-short appearance a sympathetic and very believable one. If pressed to name an American actor whom he might resemble at this instance, I would say Gregory Peck.  

The first half concluded with the Four Dance Episodes from Copland's ballet Rodeo. Here the orchestra was in its element, projecting with lots of verve and energy. The solo trombone and trumpet were excellent in their comedic, split-second timing. High winds - oboe, flute and piccolo - distinguished in the slow movement (Corral Nocturne) while the oboe shined in the lilting Saturday Night Waltz. For the coruscating Hoedown, the audience was "tricked" into applauding prematurely, no doubt a ploy from the conductor himself, as the work wound to a joyous close.

In the second half, Copland's Clarinet Concerto received a most rapturous reading from soloist Desmond Chow. He brought out a very mellow sound, luxuriating in the moody blues of its slow beginning before upping the ante for the stupendously-helmed cadenza and the fast finale. In the latter, one might have hoped for a little more unbuttoned showing, but sometimes it pays to be a little cautious as the finish with the clarinet's fast-rising swoop was quite excellent. 

Judging by the number of wonderful performances of this work in recent times (including outings by the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra), one can only conclude the number of fine young clarinettists in Singapore is not negligible.     

Maestro Yeh Tsung points to the
direction of "Somewhere".

The concert closed with Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, which is an orchestral tour de force. From the opening finger-snaps to the collective shout of Mambo, this was a very invigorating performance dominated by the brass and an 8-person percussion crew. Besides the expected bluster, there were also tender moments, such as Somewhere and the Cha Cha, which were very well brought out, culminating in a wonderful fugue when one was least expecting it. 

After much prolonged applause, the maestro was coaxed into leading an encore: a reprise of the Hoedown from Rodeo. Not for the first or last time, premature applause erupted again, accompanied by the invariable laughter that goes with it. Whoever said concerts should not be fun?   

This was a very well-programmed concert which also happened to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's birth. It was delivered with the usual high-octane panache from The Philharmonic Winds, aided and abetted by the master entertainer that is Yeh Tsung.

The two Maestros: Yeh Tsung with
The Philharmonic Winds' Leonard Tan.

ON THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS / The Philharmonic Winds / Review

ON THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

The Philharmonic Winds

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (29 December 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 January 2018

Christmas has come and gone but its spirit lingered on in this feel good concert by The Philharmonic Winds. Conducted by Leonard Tan and hosted by William Ledbetter, five golden rings were introduced to the audience in the form of a guest conductor, three soloists and a children's choir.

The concert opened with Frank Ticheli's Nitro, a short but energetic scherzo which pulsated with a mercurial beat and radiated Stravinskyan brilliance. There were those rapidly evolving elements of minimalism and tricky cross rhythms, but the orchestra handled its demands with confidence and discipline. The baton was then handed to Ignatius Wang (below) who led in Percy Grainger's Children's March “Over The Hills And Far Away”, a catchy tune which built to a terrific climax before winding down.

Three of Singapore's top young wind talents came under the spotlight, beginning with saxophonist Samuel Phua in Ralph Hermann's Tosca Fantasy which recycles popular arias from Puccini's opera. Playing alto sax, his smooth and creamy tone relived tenor and soprano moments in soaring melodies like Recondita armonia, Vissi d'arte and E lucevan le stelle.

Euphonium soloist Kang Chun Meng, who appeared in this year's President's Young Performers Concert with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, also exuded an operatic flair in Eduardo Boccalari's Sounds of the Riviera. A richer and more burnished sound would be hard to find as he ambled from Italianate warmth to Hispanic fire in this dance-like showpiece.

Receiving the loudest cheers was clarinettist Ralph Emmanuel Lim who was in his element for Artie Shaw's Clarinet Concerto, a big-band era classic rife with jazzy riffs and flourishes. His seemingly effortless show continued into Malcolm Arnold's Pre-Goodman Rag as an outrageously hip encore. Like him, both Phua and Kang also had encores which they nailed with fearless aplomb.

The longest work was Howard Blake's enchanting music for the 1982 BBC animated television classic The Snowman, directed by Dianne Jackson. The wind arrangement by Phillip Littlemore accompanied the 26-minute-long movie that was screened in its entirety. The touching story is about a little boy who builds a snowman who comes to life at night, befriends and takes him on a magical winter flight to meet Father Christmas.

How the orchestra adapted so well to the movie's swiftly changing scenes and Ledbetter's lively narration was a credit to both the players and conductor Tan's abilities. Stealing the show was the 60-strong children's choir from Zhangde Primary School, which sang the hit song Walking In The Air with wide-eyed innocence and charm. There was a bittersweet end and anyone with dry eyes could be accused of having a heart of ice.

Three encores certainly pepped up the mood. The choir beautifully reprised Walking In The Air before Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride (conducted by Wang) and a sax arrangement of Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You heralded the obligatory avalanche of balloons. 

FUN WITH MUSIC! / The Philharmonic Winds / Review

FUN WITH MUSIC!

The Philharmonic Winds

Esplanade Concert Hall

Sunday (3 April 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 5 April 2016 with the title "Blown away by fun tunes".

Every arts group knows it is vital to build audiences and future supporters for its cause, which is why light music is often programmed with that aim in mind. Although this concert by The Philharmonic Winds was not billed as a young people's concert, it was attended by many families and children who knew that the titular “Fun” was not to be resisted.

Conducted by its founding artist director Robert Casteels, the 80-minute long afternoon concert opened with Eric Coates' London Bridge March, a rousing curtain-raiser that also introduced that master of Masters of Ceremonies, William Ledbetter, who played the role of circus ringmaster and agent provocateur as only he knows how. Following which, Michael Markowski's arrangement of Turkey In The Straw was so luxuriantly and jazzily orchestrated in the form of variations that the original melody was almost completed masked.

The first soloist to appear was 12-year-old Chen Xinyu, whose breathtaking pipa solo in the Chinese classic Ambush From All Sides (arranged by Ong Jiin Joo for wind orchestra) was literally a showstopper. There was a section when conductor Casteels stepped off the podium and the orchestra silenced as she evoked the raucous sounds of furious battle, later joined by shouts from the players. 

Not to be outdone was clarinettist Ralph Emmanuel Lim in Adolf Schreiner's Immer Kleiner (Always Smaller), who had his instrument dissembled joint by joint until he was left with its mouthpiece. As the pitch got progressively higher, so did his playing get faster, capping off this virtuoso vehicle with a shrieking squeak.

Three percussionists. Dennis Sim, Yeow Ching Shiong and Sng Yiang Shan, then took centrestage in a hilariously choreographed version of Leroy Anderson's Sandpaper Ballet, where three pairs of sandpaper blocks jostled and scraped for their place in the spotlight. Judging from the delighted audience response, they were obviously rubbed the right way.

Sand artist Lawrence Koh gave a masterclass in his rare skill of projected animation, with a sequence of African motifs set to Robert Smith's Africa: Ceremony, Song And Ritual. Visions of tribal art, savannah flora and fauna miraculously surfaced to the strains of indigenous song and drumming.

The final soloist was Singapore Symphony Orchestra tuba player Hidehiro Fujita who proved that his ungainly instrument, the largest in the brass family, was anything but clumsy. The story of Three Billy Goats Gruff was narrated by Ledbetter to outlandish effects in Fredrik Hogberg's Trolltuba, a nifty act that was only exceeded by lots of horseplay and lung power in Vittorio Monti's Csardas, a work usually associated with the gypsy violin.

Shouts for an encore were rewarded with an elaborately dressed version of Do-Re-Mi from the musical The Sound Of Music, which prompted a clap-along and an avalanche of balloons that used to be de rigeuer at SSO's Christmas Concerts. It is another eight months till the Yuletide season, but The Philharmonic Winds was not going to deprive anybody of their quota of fun.