The Singapore Festival of Arts 1998
Tuesday |
QUINK |
|
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872 - 1958)
Fain Would I Change That Note Ring Out Your Bells Linden Lea
Rest Alister McAlpine's Lament The Dark-Eyed Sailor Silence And Music
BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976) Sacred & Profane St Godric's Hymn I mon waxe wod Lenten is come The long right Yif ic of luve can Carol Ye that pasen by A Death Five Flower Songs op.47 To daffodils The successions of the four sweet months Marsh Flowers The evening primrose Ballad of Green Broom MTYS GYRGY SEIBER (1905-1960) Four Yugoslavian Folk Songs The unfaithful Lover Hansome Mirko Heaven Above Hussars Three Nonsense Songs (There was an old lady of France The was an old person of Cromer There was an old man in a tree Closed Harmony Arrangements that were announced: Besame Mucho If Ever I Would Leave You My Romance Ain't Misbehavin'
MACHTELD VAN WOERDEN soprano |
OVERALL NOISE RATING:
5 (Latecomers, more latercomers, more unnecessry applause, more applause that ruins unfinished songs...)
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.
Arts Fest 1998 tickets for Inkpot classical music reviewers have been kindly sponsored by the National Arts Council.
Ng Yeuk Fan
All these I did not know until I read the programme. I was surprised to see an all-English programme on the offering and could not help feeling a little dismayed. This is all serious stuff, I had thought to myself; and surely is not a simple task to perform or even listen. Though I have the highest respect for Britten and Vaughan Williams, I really was not prepared for an all-English programme.
There were many moments of awkward pause as the group who appeared on stage sharply at 8:00pm had to wait for the latecomers to settle. Additionally, the audience chose to clap after every song to express their Asian-styled acknowledgments and this permitted the latecomers to saunter onto the aisles between each song in the greater part of the first cycle of Vaguhan Williams. Pathetic. This display of poor uninformed concert manners culminated in the Hussars, when the audience clapped prematurely before the coda al fine section.
Very irritatingly so, Van Woerden consistenly sang flat on even mid-range notes and was completely off too many times at the top to justify her continued singing in this world-class a capella group. I suspect that she is unwell because all her top notes appeared strained and too buccal - she was a pain to listen to. For example, in I mon waxe wod, where both the sopranos did some sound painting; Van Woerden's gliss to her top notes were weak, flat, and as a result ineffectual.
Additionally, both sopranos did not match the blended quality that the tenor, bass and alto delivered consistently. This effective blend (the alto, tenor and bass) was excellently demonstrated during Silence and Music and also in Yif ic of luve can. In the latter, Van Woerden's off-stage soli was tightly strained, slightly wobbling and much too buccal; I had wanted to enjoy this song.
These problems surfaced again and again, destroying some of the nicest works in the night's offering, e.g. To Daffodils, a song with much charm and grace, was completely wrecked by poor intonation and flat top notes.
Quink's choice to perform with scores somehow impeded the communication and I felt that many songs suffered from a lack of emotional imagination. Vaughan Williams and Britten should never be sung in a dull fashion. There is a lot of human content in this music, not just literally, that could have benefitted from a more detailed study, and a more involved emotion. The choice to promote the music of little known Mtys Gyrgy Seiber ought to be lauded. His music is immediately attractive and uniquely in a place of its own. Seiber deserves to be explored.
Quink's offering of nonsense limericks and closed harmonies which featured popular songs arranged for part song could be seen as an attempt to liven up the concert. Additionally, Van Woerden's imitation of a trombone captured a few laughters from the audience in the hall. However, this transition from the serious programme earlier to this lighter arrangement did not work for me and the ending of Ain't Misbehavin with its "typical broadway Yea! with outstretched hands" treatment had me grimacing in embarassment.
The a cappella group Quink debuted in 1978 at the Holland Festival. This Danish group comprises five Dutch singers - two sopranos, an alto, a tenor and a bass-baritone. They quickly established themselves professionally, acquiring a vast repertiore with varied styles. Their artistic highlights include multiple successful tours of the U.S. plus participations in international festivals of acclaim. Further, their recordings are many, with colloborations with the Etcetera, CBS and Telarc labels.
With the exception of the soprano Machteld Van Woerden, Quink displayed an excellent blend and superb group dynamic control; especially so were the many phrases requiring a beautiful legato line, shaped with crescendos and decresendos. The sustained cadences at double piano were all impeccably executed. Having said that, there were numerous incidences where insecure intonation destroyed the effect possible and intended by the spacious choral writing of both Britten and Vaughan Williams (right). These difficult works required tip-top intonation to balance the discordence. While the basic note-to-note structure was perceivable, the entire soundscape painting could not have suffered more from this insecurity of intonation, which even Harry Van Berne, the excellent tenor of the group, was guilty of. An understanding of the temperament of sound is crucial in small ensemble singing such as this. This seems to be lacking entirely.
Still, there was much to listen to: the Britten's (left)Ballad of Green Broom showed off both the tenor and bass wonderfully. Heaven Above was given a very subtle, prayerful treatment that I couldn't agree with more. Corrie Pronk sang a lovely soli line in The Dark-Eyed Sailor and showed further mettle in the closed harmony arrangements. Notably, despite her less-than-rounded voice, Marjolein Koetsier displayed excellent musicality in many of the songs offered, especially enjoying herself in the closed harmony arrangements. She was extremely pleasant to watch because she sang so convincingly. Stephen MacLeod provides more than decent support and was extremely versatile throughout the concert; definitely more than a great voice here.
Ng Yeuk Fan needs two panadols and a night's sleep.
|
Click to Return to the Concert Index!...
or Visit the Inkvault archives! |
218: 20.6.98
 |
Explore the Flying Inkpot
| Concert Reviews |
Bit deadish:
| Singapore Arts Festival |
[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