About two years ago in early 2005, I was invited to lunch with Russian composer Vladimir Martynov and his violinist wife Tatiana Grindenko. The Martynovs were on a week-long working vacation in Singapore at the invitation of the nation’s Ambassador to Russia, Mr Michael Tay, who had commissioned Martynov to write a symphony about Singapore. Besides getting a chance to sample Singaporean culture, their timetable included meetings with Singaporean composers and personalities from the local musical scene. The original invitee was the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s Deputy Chairman, Mr Goh Yew Lin, but he was unavailable, hence my “15 minutes with fame”.
The setting was appropriately a restaurant in Kampong Glam, where over Malay haute cuisine we had a chance to chat about Russia and Singapore. The Martynovs do not speak English but through an interpreter we communicated congenially for over an hour. The subjects ranged from the state of Russian music today (Tikhon Khrennikov* was still alive and the less we talked about him, the better.), Martynov’s music, Russian and Singapore tourism, and Singapore’s melting pot of cultures. Prior to this, I had known only one work of Martynov’s: his iconic Come In!, a work for two violins and chamber orchestra. I had written in one of my Straits Times reviews:
“… a set of variations on a very pleasant theme – what sounds suspiciously like The Poet Speaks (Der Dichter spricht) from Schumann’s Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood). Each movement’s variation has the violins creating an overarching sense of serenity and inner harmony… There are no loud outbursts of sound nor attention-grabbing gestures, just pure aural beauty on the strings and pregnant silences punctuated by tickings of a very fast clock… Time and space stand still for half and hour or so. Awesome!”
I asked him about the Schumann quotation, and he demurred, neither confirming nor disproving my observation, later adding that he was greatly attracted to Romantic music. Grindenko furthered that assertion by saying his music had caused an uproar in Russia because it was too tonal! The pendulum had indeed swung to the opposite side of The Rite of Spring. On our short limousine journey to the Raffles Hotel, I pointed out the old site of Bugis Street – famous for its transvestites – and lamented that they were only getting to see the new and improved (read sanitised) Singapore. Both appeared genuinely interested…
 Roll on two years, Martynov’s Singapore symphony entitled Singapore: A Geopolitical Utopia received its Singapore Premiere on 5 March 2007. The World Premiere took place in September 2005 at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall under a different – but more Schumannesque - title About Foreign Lands and People in a special concert called Singapur Po-Russki, a landmark event cementing Singapore-Russia ties. It was now Singapore’s turn to hear the work. (left: the cover of the program booklet)
I had - for some reason – neglected to watch the DVD so kindly sent to me by the Singapore embassy in Russia, and so arrived at Esplanade Concert Hall without any idea how the music was going to sound. The names of Rahimah Rahim and Sheikh Haikel in the combined Russian and Singapore chorus that appeared in the programme sent some alarm bells ringing – were we going to hear some Malay melismata or gangsta rapping? Thankfully those fears were unfounded. Those expecting Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Balakirev’s Islamey Oriental Fantasy or anything resembling a scene from Borodin’s Prince Igor would be also sorely disappointed. In the world of New Age Music, Martynov was to be a New Age composer who wrote world music instead.
The beginning was imposing, with the choruses – on either side behind the orchestra – alternating with the chant of “Sing-a-pore”, punctuated by rhythmic claps from the orchestra (the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Russian chamber group Opus Posth conducted by Lim Yau) and violin soloist Tatiana Grindenko. This effect could have been arresting for a minute or so but it went on for almost five solid minutes, and I was beginning to think this was Sing Singapore: The Symphony**. Then something happened.
A passage of counterpoint from the solo marimba then launched the symphony in the direction of John Adams’ trademark minimalism. Over this orchestral melee was a Babel-like recitation in Russian of Singapore’s geography, each sentence beginning strikingly with “Singapore!” before dissipating into a mass of murmurs, as follows:
Singapore consists of the main island and some 63 offshore islands. The main island is about 42 kilometres from east to west and 23 kilometres from north to south. Singapore.
So much for the “geo” aspect of the symphony’s title. Supposedly portraying the hustle and bustle that is modern-day Singapore, the rhythmic exuberance and kinetic energy was hard to put down. However it sounded a little too similar to The Chairman Dances (or should it be The MM Dances?) for comfort. At any rate, it was accessible and even enjoyable. This segment was appropriately used to accompany footage of scenes of Singapore (including those of cultural and religious diversity and harmony) at the National Museum.
The Russian element in the symphony takes the form of the choruses singing chants much in the manner of that heard in the Russian Orthodox Church. I fondly remember my visit in 1992 (the year between the two revolutions) to a church in Vladimir where in the darkness faintly illuminated with hundreds of candles, voices of women (mostly babushkas) echoed across the walls. In the heart of Mother Russian, it was magical and strangely chilling. However in Esplanade Concert Hall, it became merely a simulation.
I love everything about Russian music, but it is the “Singaporean” elements in this work that leave me untouched. This time: a really corny recitation in English of the national flag – red, white, crescent moon and the quintet of stars. S.Rajaratnam would have been mighty proud.
O, Singapore.
Flag of Singapore – two equal horizontal sections, red above white.
Upper left section – white crescent moon, five white stars within a circle.
Red – symbol of universal brotherhood and equality of man
White – signifier of eternal purity and virtue.
Crescent moon – the rising of a young nation.
Five stars – the ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality.
Singapore. O, Singapore
Was this really necessary? Would a symphony about the United States of America be incomplete without the Declaration of Independence or Gettysburgh Address set to music? Now a rap about the Singapore flag and the Pledge from Sheikh Haikel would have been timely – to break the monotony, if anything. Then something else happened.
From Shane Thio’s piano came the familiar G major strains of Schumann’s Of Foreign Lands and People (Von fremden Ländern und Menschen), the first movement of Kinderszenen. Gotcha! My query from two years ago had been answered! Martynov has now openly quoted Schumann (as he did in Come In! all those years ago) And this was consistent with the original title of the symphony About Foreign Lands and People. As if this wasn’t enough, out came another Schumann quote, this time from the first movement of his Fantasy in C major Op.17. This melody itself was a quote from Beethoven’s song cycle An die ferne Geliebte (To the Distant Beloved).
 I was beginning to get the picture: Martynov (right, with his autograph) quoted Schumann, who quoted Beethoven. More importantly, the message was one of a longing of a distant land, and the memory of loved ones from a distance. Imagine a Singapore heartlander having to live in Russia, to endure its freezing winters and cold blinies, yet longing for a bowl of laksa complete with dollops of see-hum. Martynov had seen Ambassador Tay’s love and pride for his homeland, and experienced it for himself, albeit for a week***.
From here the music was all smooth-sailing, serene, gratuitously sweet and firmly in the homely key signature of G major. The DaoDe Jing was quoted, and one can easily identify with the ethos of Chapter 80 (entitled Utopia) that closes the work. Was this the political philosophy of Singapore itself?
Let your community be small, with only a few people
[preferably grads and skilled workers];
Keep tools in abundance, but do not depend upon them
[especially missile gunboats and fighter jets];
Appreciate your life and be content with your home
[and be particularly appreciative of HDB];
Sail boats and ride horses, but don’t go too far
[Pulau Ubin’s the limit];
Keep weapons and armour, but do not employ them
[see line 2 above];
Let everyone read and write
[that’s what MOE is for],
Eat well and make beautiful things
[babies are what we really need].
Live peacefully and delight in your own society
[mind your own business, that is];
Dwell within cock-crow of your neighbours
[so that they’ll know when your flat’s on fire],
But maintain your independence from them
[and don’t over-rely on them for water or sand].
[words in parenthesis by Daoliang]
Here the “political” part of the title was being fulfilled – external diplomacy and internal harmony being the keys to our success. The last 20 minutes of the hour-long symphony could well have been a snooze-fest, but the music was always unremittingly tonal and tuneful. The symphony ends in a whisper, quietly and peaceably. No big bangs, marching bands or faux-triumphs. Only the composer of Come In! could have pulled off this coup. Martynov is without doubt a master craftsman who knows his trade, and he also knows how to please his hosts. His vision of Singapore was a rose-coloured and ceaselessly happy place; no strife, no turmoil, no upheavals, no protests, no demonstrations, no dissonance (read no dissent), no poverty, no hunger and no fear. In short, “A Geopolitical Utopia”.
 Singapore: A Geopolitical Utopia (S:AGU) is not the first symphony about Singapore composed by a foreigner. However it is leagues ahead of Swiss composer Heinrich Schweizer’s ridiculously contrived Singaporean Symphony (his third symphony) that quotes Sri Chinmoy amongst other things and uses Stand Up for Singapore as the basis of its final movement. S:AGU is eminently listenable and repays repeated hearings (although some parts may be fast-forwarded).
As tunes go, Martynov is more than a match for Bernard Tan’s Symphony in C major. As absolute music, it is perhaps less well structured as Leong Yoon Pin’s Singapore history-inspired First Symphony, which has a choral finale (Now this is a work that is worth reviving. How about it, SSO?) As programme music, its length becomes a handicap compared with Tsao Chieh’s forty-minute long and highly eclectic Singapore Suite for large orchestra. Despite all these, S:AGU stands tall in a good company of Singapore symphonies.
This is not meant to be a critique of a work that I suspect has had its final performance (I don’t think the Arts Festival, Sing Singapore, Chingay or NDP would ever touch it) but merely personal reflections on what I heard and saw. Many parts were very well crafted but as a whole, the symphony seemed less than the sum of its parts. I enjoyed certain stretches would certainly view the DVD recording sometime in the near future.
As for Martynov’s view of Singapore, I would encourage him to spend a year here – even six months – on his own expense and live as Singaporeans live, breathe and imbibe the real Singapore, without tourist guides or MFA minders. And if his symphony remained unrevised, fair play to him, and fair play to Singapore, our proud and beloved homeland.
By Chang Tou Liang
* Khrennikov was the infamous Secretary of the former Soviet Union’s Union of Composers. The party apparatchik had given the likes of Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Khachaturian a hard time.
** One local composer, closely associated with the Sing Singapore movement, wondered aloud: if Martynov had been commissioned to write a symphony by the City of Timbuktoo, would the beginning had gone – Tim-buk-too, Tim-buk-too…?
*** Now I would like to cite the example of SSO’s Principal Bassist Guennadi Mouzyka who played in the concert. In 1990, he was part of the ill-fated USSR Festival Orchestra that was stranded in Singapore because the concert promoter did not recoup enough money to fly them back to Moscow. Stuck for a week in a local hotel, he took the opportunity to see the real Singapore for himself. He fell in love with it and brought his whole family along. The Mouzykas are now Singapore heartlanders.
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