Having
history made before our eyes and ears is rare enough. Having it
made by as distinguished a group of virtuosi as the Russian
National Orchestra is rarer still. But having one of our own
walk a tightrope with them and almost crashing to earth, then
rallying to make it all the way triumphant, is something both
rare and extremely memorable. Such were the twist and turns
tonight as the RNO played their opening night at the Esplanade
Concert Hall as part of the Singapore Tchaikovsky Festival.
The first half kicked off with the Polonaise from Eugen Onegin,
festively and energetically performed by the touring orchestra led by
Christian Gansch, their Austrian born guest conductor,
impressing the audience with the resplendant sound, their
ensemble and the palpable joy with which they played.
Min Lee's performance of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto
followed, with great anticipation. To play a Russian masterpiece
as familiar to all and sundry as the Tchaikovsky is a nerve
wracking experience enough, without having to deal with the
added pressure of doing so with an orchestra that was born with
the music in their blood, has played it with all the greats of
our time and in all probability has their stands filled with
musicians capable of playing the piece at short notice. It is
the musical equivalent, as a fellow reviewer remarked, of
carrying coals to Newcastle, if there was one.
Despite
some early jitters, a quivering bow being one of them, Min Lee
(pictured left) quickly hit her stride, careening through the
music, although she never fully relaxed enough to breathe with
it. Her style is masculine and muscular but their was little
evidence of a rapport between the orchestra and her, the result
of a conductor keen on following his own musical sensibilities
rather than that of the soloist, perhaps.
For some reason, there were problems with articulation, the
result of a too-tight bow perhaps? What was in evidence was her
beautiful dark tone. Here it must be said that Min Lee has a
technically more proficient right hand than left. Although
pitch-perfect at the start, she started displaying signs of
weakness when playing the most demanding runs and arpeggios
ending in the higher registers of the E string.
Nerves finally won out when the unthinkable happened just before
the cadenza. The peg for her E string came loose in the middle
of a chord and she had to apologetically tune it in silence and
full view of the full-house audience that included the senior
minister, Goh Chok Tong. Inexplicably to me, no attempt was made
on the part of the concertmaster to salvage the situation by
offering his instrument, though admittedly finding one's way
around an unfamiliar instrument can be more damaging than
edifying an experience.
Whatever the case was, the audience applauded her spontaneously
and encouragingly and the orchestra started again, from a few
bars before the mishap. The playing immediately after took on an
authority and confidence that however was short-lived, giving
way again to technical insecurity and uncertainty, especially in
the double stops in the cadenza. Notes weren't
articulated, for example in the double-noted arpeggios and not
enough drama was made of the music. All in all the difficulties
of the concerto seem to be at the moment beyond her grasp.
The slow movement was mostly uneventful in comparison, but Min
Lee needs to exploit better her cantabile playing and exert more
of her own personality instead of taking a back seat to the
orchestra and conductor.
Min Lee doesn't have a natural staccato and this gave her
problems in the finale where having one at one's disposal can
set you at a huge advantage. This, and a less-than-total control
of the bow led to notes not sounding as they should. The
problems with the runs also affected the performance here, with
many notes dropped. Still, the performance ended resoundingly as
any, which in the end is the most important.
All in all it was a brave attempt, in the face of adversity. I
wouldn't like to make a judgment about Min Lee's playing based
on this night, compromised as it was. Ultimately it was a case
of nerves working their worst in the situation which all
violinists dread and keep them awake sleepless for weeks after.
Min Lee's challenge is to put this behind her for Wednesday's
performance.
The
second half of tonight's program featured Mikhail Rudy (right)
playing the Tchaikovsky B-flat minor concerto and was pure gold.
Again the concerto is so popular that it takes something out of
the ordinary to communicate the ideas, and in this Rudy did
well. His technique is near-flawless, showing signs of weakness
only in the octave scales on the right hand. He has double
octaves loud enough to match anyone's while all the while
maintaining a richly beautiful tone. Top this with an obvious
innate musicality and you have the makings of something quite
special. Rudy is also quite a performer and for the duration of
the concerto he had the audience in the palm of his hand. A
certain devil-may-care attitude pervades his playing and his
familiarity with the music led him to try turning some phrases
in ways that I found thoroughly refreshing. Clearly in his own
way he is a master of the keyboard. The slow movement had its
moments of impish fun and the last movement, taken at quite a
clip and throwing shards of brilliance in all directions, had
the audience in raptures. Clearly the orchestra loves playing
with Rudy and offered him exciting, brilliant accompaniment.
If
anyone had any lingering doubts, his performance of Emil Gilels'
transcription of the Shrovetide Fair from Petrushka put paid to
those. Jaw-dropping virtuosity in spades here, and an uncommon
ability to bring out the effects that Stravinsky wanted. It was
the perfect encore companion to a perfectly wrought performance
of the concerto, stunning but not effacing the memories of the
Tchaikovsky. Bravo.
