OVERALL NOISE RATING: 1 (Surprisingly quiet, save this one guy with the baritone cough)

The Noise Rating Index is a partially-objective measurement of pager and handphone blasts, 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.

The programme for the evening of the NUS Symphony Orchestra Annual Concert started with the 8-minute Danses Joyeuses, receiving its premiere. It is usually of some interest to listen to a premiere of a piece, and I listened with some anticipation, having glanced through the curriculum vitae of the two composers. Twin sisters Low Shao Ying and Shao Suan have both received their LTCLs, FTCLs and LRSMs. The innocent listener could not possibly have divined this. Except for a few moments of interesting orchestration, Danses Joyeuses was generally insubstantial and I wasn't convinced that an orchestra was needed for this. Unfortunately the themes were rather juvenile, and the piece was weak as a whole.

To their credit, the Orchestra played the piece to the best of their abilities, though surely too many strings have been employed. The trumpet solo was played rather well by Isaac Phang. Sadly, this was not enough to save it. I thought the narrative programme written for the piece was rather superfluous and weakened rather than enhanced my impression of this piece.

from The Herald, Monday 10th August 1998 by Alan Cooper (reproduced without permission). THE conductor of Saturday night's concert, Lim Soon Lee, actually attended the first ever International Festival of Youth Orchestras as a 12-year-old violinist in Lausanne. That was in 1971, two years before the Aberdeen. On Saturday he steered though two commendable performances and one exceptional one with something delightfully unusual to finish. After a nervous start to the Academic Festival Overture by Brahms, betrayed by some murky sounds from the brass, the music opened out into a joyful and expansive account which had the desired impact. The exceptional performance was of the Piano Concerto No.2 by Saint-Saëns. Soloist Toh Chee-Hung is actually a seasoned professional. She gave a smoothly-flowing, musucal account of the Bach-like opening cadenza, lifting it up beautifully before taking flight into a full-blown romantic performance that was remarkable for its clarity of articulation. The orchestra rose to her challenge and shadowed her perfectly thoughout this work. It was the excellent string section that really kept Beethoven's Seventh Symphony on the rails. They held the rhythmic pulse of the music nicely in place and throbbing with life. Brass and woodwind were a little less steady, but where they were on form the result was magical. The orchestra then launched into an un-programmed work. It was a set of variations on a traditional melody Dance of the Yao by Liu Tosun. here the orchestra really came alive, with smiles on all their faces. I would have liked to hear more of their own music.

The rest of tonight's programme is the same which the NUSSO performed on August 8 during the Aberdeen International Youth Festival in Scotland - to much acclaim (see box).

Brahms's Academic Festival Overture followed. This piece was composed for the University of Breslau which granted Brahms an honorary doctorate. He proudly recorded it on a cylinder which he was invited to test out, saying "This is Dr Brahms." Like Danses, the Overture is of predominantly happy character. Still, I've found this piece rather weak, lacking Brahms' characteristic sense of structure. But it is in fact a medley of student songs.

Conductor Lim Soon Lee conducted the piece with much gusto, and the woodwinds and brass tended to respond much more favourably to his style of conducting. I thought that Mr Lim could have been more interesting, and more communicative to the orchestra. The upper strings took much time to catch the infectious happiness of the Overture, which contrasted fiercely with the obvious enthusiasm from the percussion, which more often than not tended to wake the first violins up gleefully. The brass played rather well, barring some ensemble problems, though the horns were often less than satisfactory throughout the concert.

After the Overture came to its close, the Steinway grand piano was wheeled in for the Saint-Saëns Second Piano Concerto. London-based Singaporean pianist Toh Chee Hung soon came on stage wearing a glittering lilac dress. Having made sure that everyone was ready, she then launched most impressively into her introductory solo. Overall the first movement was accompanied sensitively and the orchestra members seemed to be warming up to the French Romanticism of the piece. However, the strings frequently came in late, especially in the last stands. Ms Toh's left hand technique is stronger than that of her right hand, and she seemed a little discomforted when she had to do flourishes up and down the keyboard on the latter. She seems much more comfortable with the more showy, fast parts of the piece, and I sometimes had the feeling she was playing Rachmaninov rather than Saint-Saëns, which is also showy, but in a different way. Her interpretation was often very musically informed and satisfying, her playing carrying herself away. The cadenza was well played, with much drama.

The second movement, a light Scherzando found the NUSSO and Ms Toh in better rapport. Mr Lim tried to communicate the more playful aspects of this uncharacteristic middle movement, but since many of the orchestra players were not quite paying attention at his direction at all, this effect was only half-achieved. Ms Toh has really good technique, but I often felt she could have been more subtle. The closing bars of the movement, with the "wink" similar to that closing of Rachmaninov's "Paganini Variations", for example, should have been treated less deliberately.

The third movement was well followed, and difficult moments were overcome admirably. The NUSSO and Ms Toh seemed most at home in this movement, and besides the usual quibbles about the horn parts (which is a one of the Three Most Difficult Instruments in the World - along with the oboe and harp), I enjoyed the performance very much. Despite many technical slips here and there, it was a very musical reading.

After the interval (much extended by VIPs upstairs finishing their chit-chat and wolfing down their last egg tarts...), the programme continued with Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. The opening chords of the work were heavy and well done. The first movement was taken at first at quite a flowing tempo, and then at a slower tempo when the optimistic woodwind theme enters. This is quite contrary to the usual interpretation. The sense of mystery was lost. In addition the mysterious colour of the opening was also absent. When the woodwind theme came in the effect was spoiled and the overall effect was something like "Oh, by the way here's a new theme - pretty much like the other, don't you think?" The interpretation was a little at fault here.

The slow movement Allegretto was taken at a flowing pace as well, but was rather ordinary. The violins especially need to improve on their sense of dynamics, since they seemed to be too loud very often. Indeed, too many strings have been fielded for the performance. Often, as in the Finale, the cello figures could not be heard for the violins. Needless to say, so were the double-basses. What was more surprising was that the brass section and the woodwinds frequently could not stand up to the volume of the overpowering violins. I thought that in the Allegretto more phrasing and sense of direction would have been welcome.

Hence, throughout the performance the strings tended to swamp the rest of the orchestra. The irony is that the number of wind players employed by Mr Lim is very similar to the numbers Beethoven would have used in his own time (eg. two of each woodwind and three horns, among others). If the huge string orchestra (impressive but in the final analysis detrimental to the performance) could have been cut in size to match and balance with the wind group, much more in the music could have been achieved. In fact, this was what the NUSSO did during their Aberdeen performance (strings 10:10:5:7:4 - see page 16 of the programme booklet) - apparently to great effect (see box).

The Scherzo was well-played and imaginatively paced, though I felt as always that the NUSSO could have been more confident in their entries. In addition more practice is nearly always beneficial - but of course, this is an "amateur" orchestra. (The NUSSO rehearses once a week, increasing to two near major performances). Also, I often found the violins seeming to have just one tone; more colour and shading would have been very welcome.

The Finale was started "presto" immediately, at a very high velocity. In the light of this tempo the playing was fine. The balance of the orchestra could have been improved here, but this was again very enjoyable playing, barring ensemble, which is always a problem here.

Overall I found the Symphony well done, with some spots that were admirably played, by any standards.

For an encore, the NUSSO played The Dance of the Yao People, better known in its Chinese orchestra incarnation. This was played in a rather straightforward manner, rather fast. Where other conductors seek to bring an air of mystery to the beginning, this interpretation was somewhat more sure-footed. Instead of the concertmaster solo bringing in the first theme, the whole first violin section came in. I thought more ebb and flow could have been brought to the music, which is certainly not difficult.

In addition, more flavour could have been injected into the playing of this piece - this is Chinese music. In this respect the colourless playing of the violins did not help much, although the 2nd Violins should be praised for indulging (relative to the rest) in some truly authentic Chinese music effects (eg. sliding crushed notes which lead phrases). Overall I thought more sweep, bloom and "Chineseness" could have been brought to this short but effective piece.

I felt that generally the Orchestra could do with more confidence, and Mr Lim could give them that by communicating more to the orchestra. More motivation is also in order. In view of the fact that the Orchestra is in fact made up of students not pursuing a music degree/profession, their achievement is quite laudable, and I hope to hear them in future concerts.

Post Script: I spoke to the two composers of Danses Joyeuses two weeks after this concert. It is their first attempt at writing an orchestral piece and they said that they were disappointed with the result, saying that the orchestra would have done better had they had more rehearsals. I still think, however that the piece was a weak one. The two have written other pieces; it would be interesting to hear their piano works, I think.

Derek Lim's personal computer has succumbed to the attacks of the full moon.

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