|
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.
Ng Yeuk Fan needs two panadols and a night's sleep.
218: 20.6.98 Explore the Flying Inkpot They're
Alive!
Bit deadish: Other
Resources at The Flying Inkpot
|
[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
|