John Adams belongs to the second generation of American minimalist composers whose name is already synonymous with the movement. Amongst his successes are Harmonielehre, a large orchestral work which to me forms a link between early Schoenberg and contemporary minimalism, and opened up new vistas in the genre. Another popular piece Short Ride in a Fast Machine is an exhilarating orchestral showpiece that has found itself a place in the orchestral repertoire.

The Chairman Dances subtitled a "foxtrot for orchestra" draws material from Adams' opera Nixon in China. It combines the typical minimalist rhythmic energies and nostaligic dance episodes to create a fantasy, not unlike the nature of Ravel's La Valse though nothing could be more different. The scenario is that Ch'iang Ch'ing or Madame Mao, who had gatecrashed Nixon's Presidential banquet, hangs some paper lanterns, strips down to a skin tight cheongsam, and bgins to dance by herself. Mao steps down from his portrait on the wall and together they foxtrot into their past...

In general, the piece was neatly executed except for some nervousness in the beginning. Some of the entries by the violins on the highest registers were wanting in confidence in the high pitches and precision. Nonetheless, the ensemble held together very well under Bakels' efficient conducting and clearly executed cues which must have helped greatly considering the complexity of the work. There was a kind of latent energy in the rhythmic sections, but not the kind of driving pulse I would associate with this music. Thus, the orchestra sounded initially rather tame to this reviewer, who would later change his mind when he heard the Mahler.

In the dance episodes, the MPO's lush and marvellous strings give a warm lilt to the music. The horns contributed some memorable moments in their soaring lines. Ultimately, the result is quite satisfying, the contrasts made the point. Overall though, it lacked some of the wit and drive that would have made the music more convincing, and would have probably drawn greater applause from the audience.

Mozart's Bassoon Concerto calls for a smaller chamber-sized ensemble with strings and pairs of winds. This music is light, elegant and tuneful - a stark contrast to the work before. This is Mozart's earliest surviving wind concerto and though it is not a particularly important piece in his output, it is probably one of the most well-written works for the bassoon. It exploits the technical capacities of the instrument, making it sing in the beautifully expressive (but intonation-wise terribly insecure) high register, making incredible interval leaps and running up and down scales like it was the easiest thing to do on this difficult instrument.

What more can I say of soloist Támas Benkócs' playing than that he satisfies all of the above, and making it look so easy. His comfortable way with the style and unimposing musicality was a joy. Benkócs' cadenzas were sufficiently ambitious and impressive, but perhaps executed with a little too much indifference to capture my imagination. Tonewise I must say that I have heard better that have made stronger impressions on me. Nonetheless, this slight detail of taste on my part made little difference in my enjoyment of this performance.

The MPO strings, again, played most wonderfully. Impeccable intonation, impressive dynamics and a flawless articulation (they play with a true legato, something I've not heard for a long time) made them perfect accompanists. The winds in the ensemble were also good, deserving of mention would be the sweet oboes who observed the balance splendidly. Kees Bakels was at his best tonight in this piece with a refined sense of style, exhibiting sensitivity in accompaniment, yet never allowing the orchestral's part sound unintersting. I found his jerky cueing gestures to be somewhat distracting in this and the Mahler, though it worked perfectly in the Adams. Nonetheless, his control over the small ensemble was extremely admirable. It was ensemble teamwork that made this partcular performance work and ultimately, this is something I get strongly from the strings, to some degree from the horns and winds, but less in the rest of the brass. This would again become apparent in the Mahler Symphony.

By Derek Lim

There may be no doubt in the mind of my colleague, Leon, that the MPO is a superior orchestra. If one had stepped into the concert in the last two minutes of the symphony, one might have been tempted to agree straightaway. The sound of the MPO is overwhelming, far larger than the Victoria Concert Hall was ever meant to contain, and it was thrilling to hear the full orchestra in "swing", so to speak.

Yet the lasting impression was that the SSO played better in most aspects for this work, and what we heard on Saturday was a performance which seemed at times ill-at-ease with itself, to the point where it became frustrating, to say the least.

Having heard the orchestra play Manfred the night before, and having no difficulty with the most transparent of Tchaikovsky's textures, or his scales, my expectations were raised - but the heavy peppering of intonation errors, etc. during the course of the performance rather spoiled things for me. Comparatively the SSO made far fewer of these. I'm not saying that these are the be-all and end-all of a performance, but it certainly made it more jarring to listen to for me.

But let's get the subject of pure playing out of the way. The MPO strings, or rather the violins, are of a more homogenous, cooler variety. The sound of the SSO tends towards the more lush, warmer tone. The MPO may on the whole be the more technically reliable here, but the SSO is also the more daring in attack. The violas have lovely, distinctive tones, which the SSO has to, but to a lesser degree; the cellos and basses are where the most obvious difference in sound may be heard. The sound is, for lack of a better description at the moment, more "chunky", more "granitic".

The winds and brass are as a whole better as sections than the SSO, which is to say that they blend together more as a section. The SSO, on the other hand, have amongst themselves some outstanding soloists. This is not meant as a snub, as you will find later. There will be detractors, but I believe that an orchestra should not be purely a homogenous blend of sound within the various sections, but that the components of the orchestra - the individuals, retain some of that uniqueness in tone. In late-Romantic music, but especially in composers whose scoring is chamber-like sometimes, this is especially important.

And so I'll get to the point: the MPO players need to be more individual. Okay, let me indicate some who were - the two concert-masters, lovely acquisitions in any orchestra, and the double-bass leader. But in general, I missed a certain soloistic quality in the MPO's wind and brass sections.

The doubts started creeping in in the first movement, with numerous flute solo parts where all Mahler cuckoos are, um, cuckooing. There are many opportunities for individual freedom of expression, subtle rubato, etc., which were either smoothened out altogether or made metronomic so that it became rather boring and unnatural.

That description could have been used for the bulk of the first movement. Hardly a spark took off as the orchestra was kept under wraps and not allowed to explode into those sunbursts of colour which Mahler is so good at writing, even in his younger symphonic days. Kees Bakels' phrasing, his preoccupation with keeping the orchestra under firm control at times, never "letting it rip" or occasionally letting it have its head was interesting in last night's Sibelius, but it really grew tiresome in Mahler's First, that most youthful of pieces.

Another characteristic of the performance was that it grew fairly calculated. I found that Bakels refused to allow the small ritardandi which the music requires, instead bringing about huge ones in some places, for example the reprise of the first theme of the first movement, which as I mentioned was rather of a bore until the coda. Even this was marred by flaccid rhythms on the timpani, with none of the verve that the SSO displayed last year. This piece needs youth, and the MPO, or at least Bakel's interpretation just lacks that youthfulness and impulsiveness. The cellos in particular seemed discomforted with the interpretation, while the violins eased into it much more readily, with their ready, if a little calculated portamenti.

The second movement Scherzo on the other hand seemed brash to the extent of approaching lacking all subtlety. The same could be said of the Trio, which was waywardly performed by any standards. Here Bakels chose to pull tempi about, making for a rather distorted and undanceable Waltz, if undeniably sweet. Here again I missed the kind of humour which Shui Lan brought to the music (the last performance is reviewed here).

The third movement was one of the best-played, with an exemplary double-bass solo, if perhaps too refined. Generally Bakels and the MPO caught the Kletzmer portion of the piece well, if again lacking that last bit of abandon. The harp was far too loud at the invitation of the beautiful middle section (Auf der Strasse steht ein Lindenbaum from the Lieder eines fahren Gesellen) and magic was missing, but the entrance of the muted strings, truly beautifully played immediately calmed my heart. The point where Mahler cut the strings down to just a quartet was meltingly played, and worthy of any. Wonderful tone, and the concert-masters are certainly not lacking in individuality (delicious, gorgeous portamenti!). Indeed I think they are fully worthy of their position.

Bakels' interpretation of the last movement is ultimately, a small-scale one, rather than one of far-sighted vision. His attention for details sometimes overwhelms the overall, and sometimes one loses track of his thread, as he indulged in numerous small rubati, which I feel ultimately had nothing to do with the overall of the piece. This loss of concentration may have had to do with the loud beeper which rang during a particularly tender part of the movement, but I found the rubati rather artificial and his tempo changes did not seem to come inevitably, one of the most important things in large-scale Romantic symphonic music, and indeed, all symphonic music. Thus again I found the final triumphal moment where Mahler scores a musical sleight-of-hand by changing key rather out-of-place and inorganic. Here Bakel's handling of the Luftpaus as indicated by Mahler was not ideal, rather too short.

But in the final scheme of things, Mahler triumphed again, if only for the last two minutes - the coda. Here Bakel made use of Mahler's rarely-heeded instructions for the horns to stand - a magnificent sight and a powerful psychological enhancement to the music - bravo to that! Here finally most of the orchestra "let it rip", in a triumphant home-coming. In every other aspect, though, I find Shui Lan and the SSO play much better, more instinctive, more idiomatic Mahler, though I would give quite a lot to have such extroverted portamenti in the violins. Perhaps it is because Shui Lan is a younger conductor. But I digress.

Not surprisingly, the encore played this evening (the same piece as the previous night) was far more energetic and amiable than the staid affair we heard the night before. On the whole, a night not comparable to the previous.

ADRIAN TAN and DEREK LIM are regular concert-goers.

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595: 13.11.1999 ©Adrian Tan & Derek Lim

 

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