The Singapore Festival of Arts 1998 Sunday 14 June 1998 Victoria Concert Hall	The New York Philharmonic Orchestra Citibank 1998 Asia Tour
	PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No.6 in B minor, op.74 "Pathétique" (1893). MAURICE RAVEL La Valse (1919-20). Boléro (1928). KURT MASUR music director

OVERALL NOISE RATING: 4 (Inter-movement clapping of the worst variety, handphones, pagers, kids, two sneezes and one tear of velcro.)

The Noise Rating Index is a partially-objective measurement of pager and handphone blasts, 9pm and 10pm watch beeps, coughing-during-the-pianissimo-bits, intra-audience conversation and other mind-bogglingly inept noises emitted in the concert hall during actual performance of music. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 5, in increasing annoyance.

Tickets for Inkpot classical music reviewers have been kindly sponsored by Citibank. We wish also to convey our warmest thanks to Mr. Newton Mansfield for making our attendance possible, and for the honour of simply being able to speak with a member of the NYPO!

This is the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's 12,841st concert, a feat which I think no orchestra can match. Founded in 1842, the NYPO naturally boasts of many historical marks which people like us alive today can only dream about. Among its past music directors are the likes of Leonard Bernstein (1958-1969), Bruno Walter (1947-1949), Arturo Toscanini (1928-1936) and of course, Gustav Mahler (1909-1911) himself. The Orchestra is currently led by the unassuming but talented Kurt Masur (right).

Don't care for names? Well, the NYPO also has had the honour of the world premiere of works such as Dvorak's "New World Symphony" (1893), Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.3 (1909), Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F (1925) and Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements (1946). (All this information gleaned from the NYPO website)

In addition to the US premieres of various Mahler symphonies, the NYPO was also the first to present Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique* Symphony" on American soil. So it is something of a privilege to hear it performed here by the Orchestra.

The performance was actually unexpectedly relaxed, but very sure. The most distinctive trait of the opening movement, with its andante-ish mood, is its sense of stillness, as of peace. The dynamic marking "pianissississimo" (my name for pppppp) is put to real use here, handphones and pagers not withstanding. The woodwind solos were curvaceous; the nice, gradual building of the music soothing - a kind of warming up not of the players and instruments, but of the music itself. The weariness of the movement was conveyed in much of its serenity. All this speaks of one thing: the difference one hears here, compared to much younger orchestras such as our own SSO, is the smoothness of execution of the music, simple as that.

Tchaikosky (left) was one of the most brilliant composers of symphonic waltzes, and the Allegro con grazia of the Sixth, with its uncommon but totally graceful 5/4 rhythm, is one of the best examples. It is a movement which requires an easy yet consummate sense of swaying grace, of unsteady yet steady human lilt which a computerized conductor can never achieve. Admittedly, some of the luscious lilt was lost to the cavernous acoustic of the Singapore Indoor Stadium (SIS), which fogged up the undulation of the waltzing phrases. The relaxed nature of the NYPO's performance gave precedence to the melancholia of the waltz, and not so much its whiff of carefree contentment. Neverthless, it was still very smoothly done. When I asked Mr. Newton Mansfield, a first violin in the orchestra and member of its committee, whether the NYPO was playing down to compensate for the acoustics, his reply was no, but "we did the best that we could."

But I had no doubt that the echoey Stadium interior softened the brilliantly militant Allegro molto vivace substantially. Although the Orchestra played without flaw, contrast was missing. Considering the score ranges from pianissimo to a quadruple forte (or "fortississimo"), little of this extreme range was heard. The weightiness of the movement wasn't exactly there. Nevertheless, with my fingers and feet tapping, I cannot deny the excitement produced by the Orchestra, and obviously felt by the audience.

* Let's help Mr. Tchaikovsky here a bit: don't go around calling his Sixth the "Pathetic Symphony" - it is not what we understand by this word nowadays. "Pathetic" is derived from "pathos", the Greek word which covers experience, emotion, passion and/or suffering. Use the French "pathétique", which is approximately pronounced "pah-thay-TEEK". Much cooler than "per-tear-tic" anyway.

But obviously, that audience excitement realized our worst fears. Prior to the concert, we (the entire Inkpot Classical department was there) all wagered that audience applause would ruin the key attacca between the third and last movements. (That is, the last is to be played immediately after the previous with no break). And it happened. With a totally disastrous burst of applause, the audience completely drowned out the all-important opening sigh of the finale. Mr. Mansfield tells us however, that this happens all over the world, and the orchestra had prepared for it by opening the finale as fast as possible. He adds that the audience can't really be blamed, because the composer had scored the third movement to end so triumphantly that it naturally demands applause.

Still, gone was the heartbreakingly world-weary sigh, which is meant as a complete contrast to the wild march of the previous movement. Anyway, of the performance of the Symphony, I was most impressed with this finale. The NYPO laid out the miserably beautiful lament with singing tone - if only this was a concert hall. The smoothness of their execution here translates into an aid in the transition between the contrasting themes, giving the performance great unity. In the middle section, they are all magnificently anguished, shining with misery, and towards the end, it is just heartbreaking. Mr. Mansfield tells us wistfully that ideally, as the Symphony passes from the world, there should be a magical silence before the applause. Thankfully, we more or less got that silent pause, as Tchaikovsky breathed his last in this concert. The stillness returned, as it was in the beginning.

After the little "Jaws" opening, the NYPO delivered a playfully delicious account of Ravel's La Valse, full of grace and disciplined colour. The impulsive nature of the music was well brought out - something perhaps which its commissioner, Diaghilev, felt could not be danced to.

Bolero, a.k.a. "The Drummer Tester", is basically a long drawn-out orchestral crescendo. More than that, it is also a display of the harmonic and instrumental colours of Ravel (left), almost clinically dissected through the fascinating interplay of the various instruments, all incessantly repeating the famous tune. The NYPO again brought out the unsteady steadiness of the music.

I just realized that those of us seated above, rather than at "ground zero", were in a much better position to appreciate the work, because the interplay of the instruments in Boléro really needs to be seen in addition to being heard. And truly, we all watched in fascination as the melody passed through the beautifully voiced woodwind, to the saxophones, the brass, the pizzicato strings, the second drummer joining his brave leader towards the end as they both - four banging sticks - hammered the Bolero rhythm to its glorious end.

For the first encore, the NYPO performed Leonard Bernstein's raucous Mambo. According to our Bernstein enthusiast Adrian, it lacked the spontaneity and zest that characterizes the piece. "[This] could be because of the slight slower tempo that Masur chose for for it. Also, the lack of Latin percussion instruments played a part in the rather "unhappening" sound." This was followed by the entertaining and merry That's aplenty for brass quintet. Both these made me wish that the Orchestra had fielded more American repertoire in their programme instead. Glad for the bonus anyway!

Last but not least, someone please give a medal to Michael Steinberg, Program Annotator of the NYPO and San Francisco Symphony, for his absolutely beautiful and insightful notes. Worth much more than the $5 I paid for it.

The last time Chia Han-Leon was at the Indoor Stadium was for Aida, explaining why opera is more than about how fat the male lead is.

Click to Return to the Concert Index!... or Visit the Inkvault archives!

217: 20.6.98. up.24.6.98

Readers' Comments

Explore the Flying Inkpot

New York Philharmonic Orchestra

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Do you have a website relating to classical music performance in Singapore? Tell us about it! Email classical@inkpot.com