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 Gütersloh Hedvig Eriksson soprano Yvi Jänicke alto Hugo Mallet tenor Jörg Hempel baritone Singapore Symphony Orchestra Sigmund Bothmann conductor

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.

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.

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 Gütersloh 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.

REVIEW: Friday concert, 11 Feb 2000 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 Jänicke (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 Jörg 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 Jörg 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 Jänicke. 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 Jänicke 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, Jänicke'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.

Chia Han-Leon, William Beh and Ng Yeuk Fan together form the Cantata Cruncher Corporation.

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649: 17.2.2000 ©Chia Han-Leon, William Beh, Ng Yeuk Fan

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