 Sunday 28 September, 1997 Victoria Concert Hall |
The Safri Duo Presented by the Singapore Symphonia Company |
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J.S.Bach Prelude & Fugue in C# major from The Well-Tempered Clavier (1722, clavier)
Felix Mendelssohn Scherzo from Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream (1843, orchestra) Maurice Ravel Pavane pour une infante defunte (1899, piano) Jacob ter Veldhuis (b.1951) Goldrush Steve Reich (b.1936) Clapping Music (1972) Anders Koppel (b.1947) Toccata for Vibraphone & Marimba (1990) Minoru Miki (b.1930) Marimba Spiritual II (1983-4) Uffe Savery and Morten Friis percussion |
OVERALL NOISE RATING:
2 (Gee... who'd thought pagers could go off in the same key as the vibraphone??)
The Noise Rating Index is a partially objective measurement of pager
blasts, 9pm and 10pm watch beeps, coughing-during-the-pianissimo-bits
and other really inapt noises emitted in the concert hall during the
music itself. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 5, in increasing
annoyance.
Safri Duo tickets for Inkpot classical music reviewers have been kindly sponsored by the Singapore Symphonia Company.
by Chia Han-Leon
No doubt about it, the Safri Duo are a pair of extraordinary percussionists. Not only that, they play with finesse, grace, power and an ability to hold the audience's attention in much more than one way. Comprising Uffe SAvery (right in the picture) and Morten FRIis (I was so blur I had to have someone point that out to me), this mallet-armed duo is currently the holder of the title of the Danish National Ensemble. Formed in 1988, these two "young and dashing" (I suppose... blond hair, rock-hewned "Nordic" warrior faces and all) have been playing since they were small boys.
Percussion concerts are always so damned fascinating for offering a rarely assembled instrumental menu and even rarer dishes. The Safri Duo carefully planned their concert programme to begin with the familiar and gradually introduce lesser-known composers, a process which they pulled off seamlessly. Beginning with Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C sharp major from the WTC, they demonstrated not only their consummate skill but the wonderous musical architecture of Bach, so much more intricately revealed via watching it played on four hands, eight mallets and two marimbas. The almost delicate precision of their playing in the Prelude is matched by the utter complexity of the Fugue. Their skittering rendition of Mendelssohn's Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream, arranged for two marimbas, is likewise magically played, ending with the quietest of exits which the Duo were to show was one of their musical hallmarks.
Things started to look even more interesting in the Ravel. The well-known Pavane "for a dead infant" is here arranged for a vibraphone (taking most of the wistful melody) and accompanied on the marimba. But wait - as the piece got on, strategic points in the score were punctuated with first the bright ring of the crotales, then the solemn "ding" of the tubular bell, and even the muted boom of a kettledrum. Taking the melody, Friis produced an organ-like sonority, becoming almost hypnotically hymnic, especially the suspended ring of the crotales. A magical arrangement that recreates the intimacy of the piano original while marvelling in the power of a single note. Each kettledrum boom, for example, is shocking in its intrusion yet fits into the ends of the phrases perfectly. Now who says "percussion" only meant boom, crash, ding and bang??
Goldrush by Jacob ter Veldhuis was composed at the request of the Duo -- a very happy phenomenon, I must say, that composers have been inspired or accorded to the presence of the many extraordinary musicians of our time. Just think Evelyn Glennie (another fine percussionist) or Michala Petri (of recorder fame). Anyway, this work represents an adventure in search of gold. The opening movement, organic and calm, is followed by the "rush" of the second part -- fast and furious, pitting orchestral percussion versus military percussion, culminating in a massive drum solo. Ingeniously, the work creates a melody out of the rhythmic lines, as if depicting the prospector's search: dig, dig, dig, dig, dig..... and then gold via the scintillating breezes of the chime tree, a sound that Morten, speaking to the audience, is appropriate as "gold sound." Much to his chagrin, the audience laughed. But don't worry - he too understood the awkwardness of words in the face of music.
Steve Reich's Clapping Music was a truly humbling experience. Let me explain. In heavily-accented English, the Danish duo taught the audience to play -- clap -- the basic unit of this minimalist piece, or should I say bar, since it is only composed of this single idea, in 12/8 rhythm, which goes |xxx-xx-x-xx-|.
Okie-doke. Once we got the hang of it, the Duo divided the audience into two (Savery inserting a little remark about having to split the Queen of Denmark in half during a concert at home), and proceeded to make each half clap the music, but one entering part-way after the first. This produced one helluva din.
But you get a rough idea of what Clapping Music is about. Now the real thing: Friis began clapping the rhythm first. Four bars later, Savery enters. Four bars more, and Savery takes one quaver rest and enters again with the rhythm, and hence we get two rhythmic lines going:
Clapper 1: |xxx-xx-x-xx-|xxx-xx-x-xx-| ... etc.
Clapper 2: |-xxx-xx-x-xx|-xxx-xx-x-xx| ... etc.
Four more bars later, Clapper 2 (Savery) takes another quaver rest, and so on for every four bars until he is back in synchronous rhythm with Friis. Not only did they pull this off, Friis the visibly more intense performer, they did this at the approximate tempo of ... oh hum, about molto prestissississississississimo. I have never ever seen any human being (let alone two) clap so orderly, so fast. Ever the gracious host, Friis then invited the audience to take a break of 20 minutes. Okay!
Anders Koppel's Toccata for Vibraphone and Marimba is a melodic and even lyrical work, with much use of the tango. A middle section dances in the waltz, and I was fascinated by the two percussionists taking turns producing the oom-pah-pah rhythm while the other plays the melody, alternating many times throughout. A quiet section follows before the tango returns. In all, the Safri Duo make an excellent case for the music, demonstrating that at least some contemporary compositions are far from their oft-heard accusation of being "atonal", "inaccessible" and other naive assumptions.
The final work in the concert was Minoru Miki's Marimba Spiritual II, a work originally written for three percussionists. Yep - three, not two. Imagine the delight of the Duo, as they explained, when they realized they could do it with four hands! This work is the Duo's signature tune, a work that they have performed regularly since their debut concert in 1988, Cast in two sections, the piece is imaginatively scored for several instruments, each carefully calculated to create distinct effects. The opening movement is mysteriously meditative, evoking a tense atmosphere of anticipation, as in Japanese Noh drama. A small gong, among other individual instruments, is used to great effect, punctuating the score at precise points of dramatic tension, like a flowing line of moments. As in Tan Dun's Orchestral Theatre No. 1, the work calls for gestural shouts in the native (in this case, Japanese) language. The second half follows on with a display of loud and violent order which leads to what the composer calls a "lively resurrection."
Throughout their entire performance, the Safri Duo enthralled the audience with their skill, and even better, they made good -- really good -- the music of the composers and the composers themselves. Between the Bach and the Miki, I was never in any way made to think that one is "old" or "classical" music while the other is "new" or "modern" music. The Duo made everything sound like music for all time, and yet each individual piece, like each of the Duo, displayed and affirmed their personal identity. Perhaps there is more than an element of truth in the idea that from the beginning of time, the first note of music played by man was on a percussion instrument.
Out of sheer boredom, Chia Han-Leon once played the bass drum during a rehearsal of Shostakovich's Festive Overture -- and it was gloriously fun!!
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