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Wednesday 8th September, 1999 Victoria Concert Hall |
Munich Chamber Orchestra Presented by the Goethe Institute of Singapore |
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Joseph HAYDN Symphony No.44 in E minor, Hob.I, 44 K.A. HARTMANN Symphony No.4 for String Orchestra W.A. MOZART Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat for Violin & Viola, K.364
Christoph POPPEN violin & director |
OVERALL NOISE RATING:
0 (Could have heard a pin drop!)
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.
This review has been kindly sponsored by the Goethe Institute, Singapore
by Ng Yeuk Fan
It
is not surprising that even in Germany (whose own suffering received
paltry recognition outside it largely because of its aggressor role in the
war), we see the ravages of war. This is not confined to, but certainly
included artists who struggled in the blanket banning of German music and
its supression. Karl Amadeus Hartman (1905-1963) was one such artist
and in his music heard today, expanses of deep exacting torment and dry
writhing loneliness express his experiences of the war and the Holocaust.
I breathed a deep sigh as the Fourth Symphony ended. It was such a pain to
bear witness to the soul of a musician - such heaviness that even in its
dance, there was much darkness. Christoph Poppen led with great respect
for the innate pulse of this sombre music, effecting uneasy colours from
an equally diligent orchestra. There was not a tad of pretension, no
heightened hysterics nor noisy cannon cries. Just chills and a lot of
nerve-wrecking - it was the isolation of an artist! Poppen's approach was
efficient but did not exploit fully Hartmann's music, which I believe is
good enough to inflict a morbid heart attack; for with all certainty, I
did survive my palpitations to write this review!
The performance of Haydn's 44th Symphony displayed great ensemble work and surprisingly acceptable tone considering how my ears are tuned to authentic-instrument interpretations. This said, too much Haydn leads to blandness and Poppen
must identify the reason why Haydn was convinced 43 symphonies was not
enough. (For that matter 45, 46, 47.... 100, 101, 102..., etc.) There is a
special sparkle in No.44 that would make Haydn lovers weak in the knees for
another symphony and this was not sufficiently captured by the
straight-forward reading. I was expecting rather more daring and panache,
which Haydn for one, I know wouldn't mind (artistic licence invoked here).
After all, today's team was the same one which premiered Tan Dun's opera
Marco Polo!
Elisabeth Kufferath duets most delightfully with the conductor-violinist
Poppen in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola. Her tone is
gorgeous though a bit too dark for Herr Poppen's sweet violin. The MCO
on the other hand was often too brusque for Mozart and I could almost moan
bruises in the tutti sections. The dark and disparate second movement was
most difficult to sustain and Kufferath, in her flowing red
cheongsam, must be credited with her level-headedness here!
Audiences were nonetheless enjoying this tight, flashy and virtuosic
composition screaming vintage Mozart - witty exchanges, impossible runs
and unbelievable modulations! May I each night recount this music and be
reminded of the virtue of humility!
The Munich Chamber Orchestra (MCO, right) or Münchener Kammerorchester surprises
with bold but sensitive programming tonight, all containing elements of grief and suffering. Unknown to some maybe, but September 1999 marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War and brings
back dark memories to those whose life have been dealt an unfortunate hand (the Flying Inkpot commemorates this with our ongoing Requiem Cycle).
The MCO has the required depth of sound depite its small numbers, but it
suffers from a subtle lack of focus to convince me of the meditative
prowess of Hartmann's musical soliloquy. Nonetheless, this raw power works
with thrilling advantage in the rhythmical death march (Allegro di
molto, risoluto) of the second movement. Hartmann's very individual art is
known to have developed from a variety of sources, suggesting and yet
defying a straightforward relation with composers like Bartók, Bruckner
and Mahler. The truth is, you've got to listen for yourself. This is a
remarkable composition indeed.
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568: 9.9.1999 ©Ng Yeuk Fan
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