There's no doubt about it - the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra is better than the SSO (and I'm not just talking about the funding...). There's no shame in this - different people lead different lives.

Anyway, this is a world-class ensemble from the word "go". The skittering Maskarade Overture gave us a treat with the MPO's strings in tight formation, a quality lent even more status by their cooler and softer tone (compared to the SSO), but also capable of warmth. But the MPO's warmth is like a kind of dry, European warmth, whereas for the SSO we always get a much more humid kind of warmth - it's like the MPO is this warm, dry baguette fresh out of the toaster, while the SSO is a sort of char kway teow sizzling warmth, more oily as it were. (It's true: we reviewers, ST and Inkpot alike, are very hungry people).

MPO Press Conference, 9 Nov 1999 Conrad Hotel, Salon 4. By Chia Han-Leon Does money make the orchestra's world go round? And the answer is of course, "Yes". Though frank and straightforward with his answers, Kees Bakels turned out to be the experienced diplomat in answering questions about the MPO. Of course, on everybody's mind was the question, "Just how much are you guys funded?" but it was a question everyone was too polite to ask. So it wasn't. On an even more sensitive topic, Dr Chang Tou Liang asked if the MPO would or would not play music with Christian content. In very simple words, Bakels answered, "No, it's just not the kind of thing you do in some countries." (Malaysia being a Muslim country). With regards to the now popular subject of mass appeal in classical music, Bakels noted that although the first season of the MPO featured more conservative music, he has upped the amount of 20th century music in its second ('99/00) season. Despite his fears, these concerts continued to be well-subscribed - "the problem is not programming but making a choice!". The challenge that the MPO is pursuing is "to create awareness" among the public. The repertoire is chosen by Bakels, to present the greatest variety of music to the Malaysian people, to broaden the cultural base of the country. Currently, its audience comprise mainly urbanites in their 30-40s, from as far as Kedah. This is its first trip outside Malaysia. It is a well-known fact that the MPO only has 5 Malaysians among its ranks. Efforts will be made to increase this proportion, but at the same time, the MPO made clear that it is positioned as an international orchestra (based in Malaysia), rather than a culturally specific Malaysian orchestra. The MPO does its own marketing, while IMG Asia is its artistic "consultant" along with Bakels. The Director of IMG Asia, Ian Smallbone, has in fact been appointed as the GM of the orchestra, which in effect seals the continued influx of world-class soloists and conductors for the MPO. On this subject, Bakels said that he hoped to wean the public away from a name-conscious diet, by trying to engage a mix of famous artists and not-so-famous artists who share the same standard.

All this gives the MPO much more focus and precision, more pixels to depict detail in articulation. Although only 1½ years old, their ensemble is very impressive; the cooler tone also makes the celli and violas pizzicato with delightful transparency. The superb interplay between sections was best demonstrated in the fairy vivace of Tchaikovsky's Manfred - what marvellous woodwind staccato! At that speed! The opening wind introduction to the Adagio of the Sibelius concerto was also beautifully evoked, adding greatly to the scenic forlorness of the music. And the bassoon in the finale - I've never heard it so clear before!

The tone is big but not as big as European orchestras I've had the opportunity to listen to (not much, admittedly), and you can imagine that they must have great tone to play in the glory of the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas - but actally no. The DFP is said to have pindrop acoustics, and is not very large in size. All this reflects the MPO's tone - for a hall like this, you need not play loud, but you must play accurately. You may not like the tone, but you must admire the skill at least. More interesting is the MPO's ability to create a sense of space - theirs is a more three-dimensional voice, able to allow the audience to differentiate the different sections and parts of the music.

Though the tone started out big in the Nielsen, much too big for the Victoria Concert Hall, the orchestra quickly adjusted. By the time of the Tchaikovsky, it was generating tremendous body in the strings without being overwhelming in volume. In fact, we were wondering for a long time why is the MPO so "soft"? There were two schools of thought tonight - (1) that it is soft (for various reasons, including those above), and that (2), they hadn't open all their gun ports yet.

Indeed, the latter would be the correct thing to do for a real first-class orchestra. A great orchestra knows how to control its volume - a great orchestra has maybe six gears. But a lesser orchestra does not, a lesser orchestra only has three gears - soft, somewhere in the middle and loud. We are accustomed to the SSO blasting the VCH away during fortissimo sections. It occurs to me that the MPO, its apparently greater discipline (and paycheck) as support, has much greater dynamic control and does not anyhow let loose its top volume.

(But we weren't sure about this, so it was left to Derek - the guy who would attend both concerts - to see what happens in tomorrow's Mahler).

For the Sibelius concerto, for example, there was no true blazing fortissimo at all - certainly not those the SSO would come up with in this work, a seasonal staple. The MPO's range of dynamic here went from a remarkably hushed, near silent pianississimo (eg. the opening, first movement, and the ending of the Adagio) to a forte. I know a lot of people disapprove of this, but on many accounts I feel this is a good quality.

For one thing, this is a concerto - you're not supposed to drown out the soloist, as the SSO tends to do sometimes (more in the past than nowadays, depending on conductor). Having said that there were tutti sections when Ms Weithaas was drowned, but for the most part, it was clear (to the ear) that she dominated the proceedings.

Antje (apparently it's pronounced "Angie") Weithaas (b.1966) hails from East Germany and has played with all manner of great orchestras from Europe to America. Her violin, by Matteo Goffriller, is 300 years old. What a violin, producing very beautiful tone, firm and intense, backed by superb double-stopping of great clarity. Her dynamic shifts matched the MPO's with evident kinship, and their tone/disposition were remarkably equal. Her entries were all seamlessly evinced.

Ms Weithaas' phrasing is very hard, rather unelastic, with great - virtually flawless - technique. Running passages were fluid with every note articulated clearly. It was impressive at first, and one could not deny her dedication to the music. But as the first movement wore on, the deliberateness became distracting as she focussed on every note to a fault. The great lyric outpouring theme of the first movement was thus somewhat dehumanised, rather too rigidly segmented.

Interestingly, this deliberate manner was much more effective in the Adagio, giving the long flowing music more focus and sense of purpose. Likewise for the finale, effective though the performance seemed to lack volume - the ending found both soloist and especially orchestra in surprisingly low key.

Dutch conductor Kees Bakels ("Kays Bar-KELLS"), whose Naxos recordings of the Vaughan Williams symphonies are a real eye-opener (the one with No.7 is superb!), turned out to be, um, a rather unimaginative conductor. I mean this visually. Without doubt the orchestra responds to him, but with his energetic arm-waving (no stick), his "stop", "hush" and "go" signals, I just couldn't shake off the idea that he was conducting like one of those Filipino traffic junction wardens who direct traffic, dancing (especially that right knee).

All in all, based on international standards, this is a superb orchestra - different from the SSO in many ways, which makes them in some sense difficult to compare. But from the perspective that the MPO is not even two years old, one cannot deny that they are already in superb form - and with a near perfect combination of good funding, good hall, good conductor (as far as the musical performance can reveal), good management (going by their high quality programming) and... this is an orchestra that, regardless of the nationalities of its players, is one to watch out for.

CHIA HAN-LEON is a regular full-fledged Inkpotter - when we aren't writing reviews, we eat. Sometimes, we do both.

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594: 13.11.1999 İChia Han-Leon

 

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