SMETANA AND DVORAK / VCH Presents Chamber / Review

 

SMETANA AND DVORAK 

VCHpresents Chamber 

Victoria Concert Hall 

Friday (17 May 2024) 

This review was published in The Straits Times on 20 May 2024 with the title "Warm evening of Bohemian rarities at SSO's chamber concert."

Was it good planning or mere coincidence that this year has been a boon for lovers of Bohemian music? Concertgoers might remember superb performances of Antonin Dvorak’s chamber works: Japan’s Aoi Trio in his Third Piano Trio (Op.65) and More Than Music & Friends in the Second Piano Quintet (Op.81). 

Sunday will see the Singapore debut of the Prague-based Pavel Haas Quartet in music by Josef Suk, Bedrich Smetana and Leos Janacek, but this evening’s offering by members of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra should be remembered equally fondly. 

Smetana (1824-1884) is known as the “Father of Czech musical nationalism”, with tone poem Die Moldau (or Vltava) from the orchestral cycle Ma Vlast (My Country) being his best-loved work. Attended by a well-filled house, the 200th anniversary of Smetana’s birth was commemorated with the rare performance of his Piano Trio in G minor (Op.15). 

Composed after the tragic death of his daughter from scarlet fever, the music exuded sadness, opening with violinist Ye Lin’s impassioned solo. Throbbing chords from pianist Albert Tiu added to the pathos while cellist Christopher Mui’s lyrical lines provided a more calming influence. 

The threesome worked very well together, even if the work often highlighted the violin. Ye’s robust tone and flawless intonation seemed symbolic of Smetana’s representation of feminine pride and dignity, which was lent a poignancy through his daughter’s loss. 

The Scherzo was more light-hearted, with a folk dance-like quality, later transforming into something more stately without making a grand statement. The Presto finale fired on all cylinders, with pianist Tiu’s prestidigitations dictating the pace. Cellist Mui’s big melody almost stole the show, before the main theme ground into a slow funeral march. 

OK, who just farted?

Everything's alright,
it was just the VCH ghost!

The brilliant close to the trio got the plaudits its deserved from an unusually mature and sophisticated audience, on a rare evening which had neither fidgety children, errant handphones nor inappropriate clapping between movements. 

The rarities continued into the second half with the Second String Quintet in G major (Op.77) by Dvorak (1841-1904), performed by violinists Chan Yoong-Han and Sayuri Kuru, violist Gu Bing Jie, cellist Ng Pei-Sian and bassist Yang Zheng Yi. The unusual scoring with string quartet backed by double-bass translated into music of genuine congeniality, not unlike that experienced in Franz Schubert’s Trout Quintet. 

Thus its four movements radiated warmth and mellowness which never overstayed their welcome. The opening movement bristled with vigour, contrasted by a Scherzo which was not so much a joke, but a play on listeners’ expectations. Tempo and rhythmic shifts, skilfully handled by the players, had one wondering whether this was a dance, or something more serious. 

The slow movement oozed Slavic intensity. Violinist Chan and cellist Ng strove to maintain its melodic lines and did so gloriously. The finale’s driving rhythms, with ensemble at full throttle, ensured this Bohemian rhapsody closed with highest possible of spirits.

BOMSORI KIM IN RECITAL / Review

BOMSORI KIM IN RECITAL

with LIM YAN, Piano

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (18 April 2021)

This review was first published on Bachtrack on 19 April 2021 with the title "A fine Sunday afternoon’s fare from Korean violinist Bomsori Kim and pianist Lim Yan".

 

It has been over one year since a foreign soloist last performed in Singapore. Travel restrictions imposed by the Covid pandemic have wreaked havoc on concert schedules involving visiting artists, but this impasse has finally been relaxed with Korean violinist Bomsori Kim appearing with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and giving a solo recital. For the record, the last visiting soloist to perform in Singapore was violinist Philippe Quint way back in 5 March of 2020.

 

In an hour-long programme, Kim showed what the fuss was all about, having signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and being in great demand as a soloist. J.S.Bach’s Chaconne in D minor was an ideal opener, with her exercising a healthily robust tone, unafraid of exhibiting a broad vibrato all through the unaccompanied work. More importantly, she fully understood the overall architecture of its series of short variations, building arch-like to an impressive climax and completing the edifice. There was a momentary lapse in concentration towards the end, but there was no denying her artistry and instinctual grasp of the masterpiece.

 

Kim was joined by Singaporean pianist Lim Yan for Beethoven’s popular Spring Sonata. Lim is presently the Artistic Director of the Singapore International Piano Festival, and was the first local pianist to perform all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos in a cycle here in 2012. Both violinist and pianist elicited very good chemistry in a genre that specified the keyboard as the main protagonist.

 

In reality, they were equal partners in the sonata’s four movements, radiating genuine warmth and congeniality in the opening Allegro, while also benefiting from a driving impetus in its development.  The slow movement’s lyrical charms were not glossed over but lovingly voiced, before the brief Scherzo’s quickfire repartee had pulses racing again. For the finale, it was a return to the opening’s pastoral qualities, this time with an added urgency that made for a exciting finish.

 

The obligatory virtuoso showstopper was Franz Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy. The Germany-born Jewish composer was best known as an Oscar-winning film composer, having scored for movies like Sunset Boulevard, Humoresque and Bride of Frankenstein. Although his Carmen Fantasy is less well-known as Sarasate’s despite having essentially the same popular Bizet tunes, it is a darker work that dwelled more on tragedy than surface glitz. The violin part is arguably technically more difficult but Kim took these in her stride and the duo romped to a brilliant close.

 

The clearly-enthused audience was rewarded with two popular encores. The sentimentality of Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs was milked for all its worth, while the gemütlich charms of Kreisler’s Schön Rosmarin raised more the smiles for a Sunday afternoon well spent.   

 Star Rating: ****

OCTOBER LIVE CONCERTS / Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Orchestra of the Music Makers / Review

HAYDN’S EMPEROR

AND TCHAIKOVSKY’S FLORENCE

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Thursday (8 October 2020)

 

OMM RESTARTS!

Orchestra of the Music Makers

Singapore Conference Hall

Sunday (11 October 2020)

 

What a joy it is to return to live concerts. Ever since Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s entry almost a month ago, other orchestras have also got on the act thanks to the National Arts Council’s live performance pilots. Concerts are, however, still limited to chamber-sized groups, attended by audiences of just 50 socially-distanced heads.   

 

Ten string players of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra presented two popular works of the chamber repertoire. Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in C major (Op.76 No.3) is the most familiar of his sixty-eight string quartets, largely because of its slow second movement. It is a set of variations on Haydn’s own Emperor’s Hymn, later adopted as Austria and Germany’s national anthem.

 

The arch simplicity of its melody and subsequent variations was well realised by the quartet of violinists Xu Jue Yi and Chikako Sasaki, violist Wang Dandan and cellist Guo Hao. Incisiveness and clarity marked the opening movement, while humour filled the 3^rd movement’s  minuet and trio. The mood turned serious for the finale, but its storms and stresses were soon dispelled as daylight shorn at its conclusion, happily back in the key of C major.    

 

Just as enjoyable was Tchaikovsky’s String Sextet in D minor, also known as Souvenir de Florence. Here the six players - violinists Chen Da Wei and Nikolai Koval, violists Janice Tsai and Marietta Ku, cellists Yu Jing and Wang Zihao – functioned like a mini string orchestra, one generating a rich plethora of sonority.

 

Despite its minor key, this was one of Tchaikovsky’s sunniest scores, reflecting the Mediterranean warmth of its inspiration. The musicians dived headlong into the music, with caution thrown into the wind. This made for exciting listening, balanced by sensitive and lovely solo playing from the first chairs.

 

It was a larger group of 23 string players when the Orchestra of the Music Makers (OMM) took to the stage, conducted by Chan Tze Law. Schubert’s dramatic lied Erlkönig (Erl King), as arranged by Lee Jinjun, resounded with Wagnerian vehemence and vigour, making for a stirring prelude. Young composer Jonathan Shin’s Folk Games put three local songs through a distorting prism, and who would have guessed that Rasa Sayang, Singapura and Chan Mali Chan could sound like Shostakovich or the Second Viennese School?

 

Two oboists and two French hornists joined the strings for the 1^st movement of Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major. Here, cellist Qin Li-Wei put on a dazzling display in a work far more technically demanding than initially suspected. This was topped by a brilliant cadenza written by Shin, that unapologetically overflowed into over-the-top Romantic-era virtuosity. Soloist and orchestra also threw in Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No.5 as a welcome encore.

 

John Rutter’s pleasing Suite For Strings, all four movements based on folksongs from the British isles, concluded an enjoyable evening. Live concerts are making a valiant comeback. Hopefully, these may soon be enjoyed by larger audiences they thoroughly deserve.

 

ANGELA HEWITT PIANO RECITAL / Review

ANGELA HEWITT Piano Recital

Victoria Concert Hall

Thursday (4 May 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 6 May 2017 with the title "Playing Bach with elegance".

Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt is one of the planet's great Bach interpreters, and so she was expected to perform Johann Sebastian Bach's keyboard works, as she did in her previous recitals here. She had played the Goldberg Variations (2001) and The Well-Tempered Clavier (2008) in the same venue to ecstatic acclaim. This time, two of Bach's six Partitas got an airing.

Playing Bach on a modern piano is no longer a contentious issue. That pianists as diverse as Glenn Gould, Rosalyn Tureck, Andras Schiff and Angela Hewitt could be equally persuasive in their own way showed that there is no single prescribed method of showcasing the great German's music. Hewitt's Bach is elegant and tasteful, articulated with freshness and vitality. She proved it yet again, bringing out a rich, pearly tone on a Fazioli grand piano specially flown in from Italy.

The multi-movement Partitas were originally designated as keyboard exercises, but these handily brought together series of antique dances offering an unending source of invention for the performer to revel in.

The short and slender First Partita in B flat major made stark contrasts with the monumental Fourth Partita in D major. Hewitt chose to play all the repeats, with some ornamentation – effective and never overdone – to vary the course. The fast dances were unerring in detail while time stood still in the slow and ruminative Sarabandes.

Then it had to happen at a quiet and meditative point of the Fourth Partita. A toddler seated on his mother's lap in the front row threw a tantrum, shouting, “I wanna go home!”. Hauled out United Airlines-style and yelling all the way to the exit, the magic of the moment had been irreparably sullied.

While one does not expect outright bans on children in concerts, parents should at least exercise commonsense in choosing suitable concerts for their juveniles' ages. Toddlers simply do not belong outside of Babies Proms. To Hewitt's credit, she never flinched, completed the Sarabande before launching into the fugal Gigue with stunning aplomb.

Never satisfied to be type-cast as merely a Bach specialist, the balance of Hewitt's recital offered yet further contrasts. In five Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, the piano was imaginatively transformed to strumming guitars, hunting horns and a military band with drums and fifes, with myriad colours and shades to match.

The three movements of Ravel's Sonatine combined to varying degrees classical restraint, French impressionism and Belle Epoque aesthetics. The transition from the staid Minuet rhythm of the slow movement to the finale's brilliant whirlwind also summed up in a nutshell the recital's sense of variety.

And what about the playful final number in Chabrier's Bourree Fantasque? It was a joyous return to the recital's earlier dance theme, this time with French modal folk influences and dancehall gaieties thrown into the mix. Very loud applause yielded two sublime encores. First, Debussy's Clair de lune and it was back to Bach in the Aria from the Goldberg Variations.