Saturday 12 February 2000 Victoria Concert Hall |
MASTERS SERIES
Bach 250th Anniversary Commemoration |
|
J.S.BACH (1685-1750) Mass in B minor, BWV 232 Bach
Choir of G黷ersloh |
OVERALL
NOISE RATING: 2
(For Saturday, we found ourselves also listening to the faint booms of the
Chingay Parade.)
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.
by Chia Han-Leon, William Beh and Ng Yeuk Fan
The chorus
was competent and boast a most admirable sound. Particular mention must
be made of the superb soprano section. Fielding about 80 members, the
Bach Choir of G黷ersloh gave sensible and uniformly satisfying performances.
The Kyrie began in "chorale" fashion, slow and steady, straight.
The effect can be tiring or reverent, depending on your tastes. What impresses
about the Choir is how, despite its size, the clarity of the individual
SATB sections come through unobstrusively and evenly. There was great
detail to be heard in the Gratias agimus, for example, while Et
incarnatus est was done with sorrowful pulse, in a semi-faltering,
tired yet hopeful mode, subltly dramatised. Listening to the Confiteor
was like listening to a very fine recording of a very bright and clear
performance. The Sanctus and Ossana movements were given
sumptious performances with full choral body and weight.
This has been one of
the best concerts so far this season, in terms of both hype and actual
delivery, and the full house turnout - notwithstanding all the complimentary
sponsors' tickets - must have been a soothing balm to the Singapore
Symphonia Company after last month's fiasco with the Empire
Brass.
This is a very impressive set of choristers who do their namesake
much credit, and it is a pity that the acoustics of the Victoria
Concert Hall had a tendency to flatten their multi-layered choral
timbre into something rather more translucent. Even so, it was clear
that the choir knew where they were going with this cathedral-like
music right from the start. Their powers of concentration were,
in fact, downright uncanny.
The massed choral items, like the introductory Kyrie eleison
and Crucifixus, were delivered with some panache, the latter
number not adopting on a censor-swinging rhythm (as some interpretations
do) as much as at a sombre processional pace. Their control of dynamics
was very impressive, patiently sustaining gradual fortissimos
that lasted over a good number of bars while performing multipart
vocal gymnastics.
The four soloists sung well together, especially the female duets.
The jewel in the crown of this performance must be the Et in
unum Dominium for Misses Eriksson and J鋘icke (above) - their
blended voices were simply pure silver, lush and vibrant. Their
male counterparts were only that much less impressive, but then
the ladies did have the lion's share of the solo/soli arias. Baritone
J鰎g Hempel was in danger of being drowned out by his instrumental
accompanists in the Quoniam, although he acquitted himself
well in the Et in Spiritum later.
Less commendable, unfortunately, were the instrumentalists, with
faulty intonation and wrong notes in the winds (the solo horn and
descant trumpets being especially prominent). The brass, however,
did pull off the Ex resurrexit with nary a wrong note, hitting
all their notes dead on and with attitude. The strings were responsive
and held up their end.
There was a lot of ambient noise, within and without, that marred
the performance. A handphone went off (and rang twice!) just after
the opening Kyrie; there was muffled rolling thunders of
Chingay rehearsal noise from outside and (in the Circle only) waiters
from the reception stepping into the hall to "catch a piece of the
action", getting bored and going out again - noisily. Latecomers
also caused much disturbance in the Stalls, for the first half-hour
of the programme.
Interestingly, the restart of the second half was delayed for
five minutes as the VIPs at the reception who had conveniently ignored
the two signalling bells had to be marshalled back to their seats
while the musicians patiently waited on stage. (It was an ignominous
moment for the people in the expensive seats).
The programme notes could have been a little less pretentious
(Wagner's Tristan an "example of perfection"? I mean...)
and more attentive to careless typo errors. I'd also elaborate on
the errors in the Latin-to-English translation of the text, but
perhaps I should already be glad that they did provide a
text for us to follow along.
Peripheral issues aside, this was a very rewarding performance
- the choral portion, at least. I wouldn't go so far as to say it
was "spiritual", but the 2½ hours flew by and listening to
this music "live" really isn't as intimidating compared to a recording.
I, for one, am glad that the Singapore Sinfonia Company brought
these performers in.
Although
their parts were generally few, the four soloists were perhaps the most
distinguished performers of the evening. Whether it be the bright, ringing
soprano-alto duet of the Christe, or the soprano-high tenor of the Domine
Deus, they were well matched in tone. All sung in appropriately "historically
informed" style, with minimal vibrato, light and clear voices. No over-wrought,
over-the-top helden-singing marred the concert.
Swedish
soprano Hedvig Eriksson, who is no stranger to music of the sacred and/or
Baroque fields, gave admirable performances of her soli with her pleasant
- in a dry and throaty way - voice. Her experience in the arena of 17th
century music is obvious in her plaintive singing. With the high tenor
of Hugo Mallet, the Domine Deus duet was full of pastoral sweetness and
dainty grace - surely one of the many gems of the evening.
Baritone
J鰎g Hempel belongs to (or sang in) the class of the majestic Handelian
father/heroes. His is an articulate (singing text to Baroque music - clearly
- at bass level is no mean feat), noble and throaty voice, brimming with
leadership and drama, yet also maintaining a moderate sense of weight.
But the
hero(ine) of the night was without doubt the voice of alto Yvi J鋘icke.
Regal and strong, her tone is not too dark, solid, queenly. Her singing
is intelligently and ever smoothly moulded, betraying absolutely no sign
of insecurity. The penultimate movement of the Mass, the Agnus Dei,
gave J鋘icke opportunity to reach even more divine voice - splendour of
tone mixed with sincerity and humility of expression. Her artful execution
of line and word was subtle and filled with the essence of simplicity.
Penetrating yet in its place, J鋘icke's voice is a marvel of Platonic
beauty - A truly magical moment.
Conductor
Sigmund Bothmann did not appear to exert much personality in the music
- insomuch as performances (and recordings) by, say, Herreweghe vs Gardiner
vs Suzuki vs Koopman would each have very distinct personalities. It was
clear that Bothmann displayed no sense of proportion nor intention on
how to make the individual movements of the B minor Mass a united whole.
This lack of intention is unpardonable. How does one not know, or remember,
what tempo to start the Credo? One does not fly thousand of miles
here to merely beat notes. Fascinating moments last night become clouted
with the suspicion that they had evolved randomly from secure technique
and the general proficiency of musicians. A very sad possibility for Bach
lovers last night, if that were true.
The SSO
gave well-crafted accompaniment, though many complained about the piccolo
trumpets. Mistakes notwithstanding, the piccolo trumpet is basically a
tragic substitute for the glorious instrument that is and the art of the
Baroque trumpet. I never really know who to blame. When Bach wrote music,
A=415, so it wasn't exactly the right sound one would hear today when
the piccolo trumpet is brought up as a replacement at A=440/442 - as if
the instrument wasn't high enough already! The result in the first half
of the concert was a series of brave attempts that was either doomed to
fall short or doomed to sound far too piercing for the divine sounds of
the Mass in B minor.
As if that
wasn't enough, one trumpeter was seen with his legs crossed and slouching
on his chair while playing (the "Messiah Syndrome" - what happens when
you have to wait eons for your turn to play. Play all of 32 bars, that
is). Forgivable are the difficulties he meets in playing Bach's wayward
festivites in such a restricted ensemble and hall, but as an audience,
one cannot forgive him for not trying. After all, many have paid for their
tickets.
But thankfully,
the second half of the Mass witnessed remarkable improvement - in the
Et resurrexit chorus, the trumpets joined in with choir and orchestra
in crackling pace and excitement. Even the trills - one of the major hurdles
of the Baroque trumpet - were despatched effortlessly.
More congratulations
to the various instrumental soloists, especially: Souptel, for his masterly,
beautiful and "historically-informed" soli passage accompanying Ms Eriksson's
Laudamus te, demonstrating his past experience with the currently
AWOL Singapore Sinfonietta; and flutist Jin Ta, who deservedly received
loud applause for his very assured and graceful solos, and the equally
matched oboist.
In all,
indiscrepancies notwithstanding (and the programme booklet's translation
of Gloria in excelsis Deo as "Gloria to be God on high"), these
were professional performances, honest, wholesome and satisfying.
The Mass in
B minor 'live' - now that's a rarity here in Baroque-deprived Singapore,
and even rarer is this opportunity to hear an experienced choir from Germany
sing it, alongside four soloists specially brought in for the performance.
But in many ways, this concert underlined the fact that Bach's B minor Mass
was excruciatingly difficult to perform.
REVIEW: Friday concert, 11 Feb 2000
Chia
Han-Leon, William
Beh and Ng Yeuk Fan
together form the Cantata Cruncher Corporation.
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649: 17.2.2000
〤hia Han-Leon, William Beh, Ng Yeuk Fan
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