Saturday 15 July 2000 Victoria Concert Hall	FAMILIAR FAVOURITES Singapore Symphony Chorus 20th Annniversary Concert
	Charles GOUNOD (1818-1893) Extracts from Romeo et Juliette Carl ORFF (1895-1982) Carmina Burana Esther Oksorie LEE soprano Mae HENG mezzo-soprano Simon O'NEILL tenor Warwick FYFE baritone Singapore Symphony Chorus with the Raffles Institution Chorus Bart FOLSE conductor

OVERALL NOISE RATING: 2 (Little girl sneezing. Handphone ringing, which promptly got made a fool of by TV star Bart Folse.)

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.

I still remember that fantastic - no, historic - concert way back in September 1995 when Lim Yau, this orchestra, and this choir performed a stupendous account of Carmina Burana. That was simply the best performance of the work I have ever encountered, on and off record - and Mr Lim Yau's (then the SSO's Associate Conductor) most impressive achievement ever.

Needless to say, this concert inspired many comparisons with that spectacular day - so you've been warned. (Actually, I just regret that the Inkpot, being born in 1996, didn't review that concert).

But first, the extracts from Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, which made an interesting contrast to 20th century Orff. The SSO began with a warm and sweet sound, a welcome greeting from their June break. The violins and harp were particularly commendable, wth the right blend of lush, neither over-refined nor under-coloured.

In Simon O'Neill (right) we had a Romeo of excellent voice, with a gorgeous body of tone and ample projection. His full sound possessed a pleasant woody timbre, a little hard but providing a nice contrast with the orchestra. Not to everyone's taste perhaps, but with his effortless singing and impassioned delivery of the Act 2 cavatine ("Ah, lève-toi, soleil"), I think everyone approved, judging by the spontaneous applause.

Esther Lee's Juliet also provided ample theatre, with her sweet but strong tone (during the interval, the woman next to me who slept through the whole thing also agreed). Her joyous aria "Je veux vivre" can be a touch lighter, but it was otherwise spritely and enjoyable, adding to her admirable efforts in acting out her drama of girlish delight.

Together, the couple made a well-matched pair. No hint of any star-crossed fate marred their duet, with both voices clearly and sweetly intertwined. Similar was the Act 3 marriage scene, well sustained by all in resplendent atmosphere, down to the post-ceremonial kiss. Meanwhile, the SSO accompanied in very fine form, with Bart Folse conducting with appropriate fervour, eager but unobstrusive.

Before Carmina Burana began, a ripple of laughter made its way through the performers on stage, as everyone shared a common joke. For those of you who don't know, the inside humour refered to the previous night's concert when an over-enthusiastic Bart Folse toppled off his podium while conducting the work - bravo, I say(!).

"O Fortuna...." and we're o(r)ff! Without doubt, everyone intoned the famous chorus with energy and volume. It struck me again how much alive the work is, and as such needs to be experienced 'live' to fully appreciate Orff's (left) tremendous drama.

Tonight's performance proved to be as energetic as Lim Yau's classic performance, but also different. Whereas Folse's take bellows with raw energy and enthusiasm, it is not the same as Lim Yau's decisive, crackling, lightning-sharp energy. It is not as crisply performed as I remember (really, that 1995 concert still rings clearly in my head, such was its mighty impression) - for example, one part which I clearly remember in that concert was the smallish orchestra Lim Yau employed, with Souptel leading a fiery, skittering Tanz. Folse's Tanz was rather more dainty.

Tonight, the orchestral sound is too fused, lacking the detail of Lim Yau's reading. Even the tam-tam which features prominently in the Fortuna chorus sounded too far submerged. While it was an effective move to place the brass on the right side of the stage, providing contrast with the rest of the performers, the section remained cloudy in tone, at worst becoming messy. But having said that, the fanfares in Were diu werlt alle min were triumphant. Nevertheless, many Orffian technicolour effects were lost in this performance as a result of the less attention to transparency.

The Singapore Symphony Chorus was in good form - it is heartening to see now that the different sections are in equal vocal strength, whereas in the past the women tended to be stronger. They infused the Ecce gratum with ample "Christmas spirit", and gave a speedy and full-throated Swaz hie gat umbe, followed by a lovely Chume, chume, wherein the violin quartet led by Lynette Seah read their parts with lyric beauty.

One of the showstoppers in the Lim Yau concert was the men's blistering "bibit" chorus in the tavern scene. That performance remains unmatched - this time it was comparatively mild, rather than crackling with vibrancy.

Baritone Warwick Fyfe proved to be an inappropriate choice among the soloists. He sang with a bright but rather solemn voice in the Omnia Sol temperat, a little lacking in colour. The Estuans interius of the tavern scene was dramatic and generally well-read, but could do with more furioso and a sense of delirium ("... non me te-nent vincula!...."). His Dies, nox et omnia was not very successful - it was plainly obvious that the falsetto part was giving him much trouble.

Yet another highlight (there were many many) of the Lim Yau concert was the Roasted Swan, in which countertenor Nicholas Clapton delivered an awesome tragi-comedy of pure sardonic horror - I still remember him slowly twisting in agony on stage. O'Neill achieved a very tragic reading tonight, but merely mildy terrifying, resigned and defiant; Clapton's delirious rendition was just the epitomy of humour horrified. O'Neill was just a touch too refined, and underplayed the falsetto.

Of the soloists, Esther Oksorie Lee (left) was perhaps the best. The flittering Siqua sine socio of the Courts of Love scene showed her in lyrical voice, sweetly delivered, with just the right kind of light vibrato. However, there was a lack of lyric curvaceousness in the In trutina solo, made up with some lovely melisma in the Dulcissime.

Folse provided more laughs when a handphone rang in between the Tavern and Courts of Love scenes - turning around to the audience, he hollered, "they didn't see my commercial on television?" (refering to the latest courtesy advert against ringing gadgets at concerts, which featured the SSO and Folse).

But seriously, Folse's concert tonight is perhaps one of his best conducting efforts - the 18th movement, Circa mea pectora, for example, which requires some clean coordination between all involved, was very well-directed. In addition, his energy was never lacking - all he needs to show now is some degree of refinement and concision of gesture.

The choice of a children's choir could be better. Displaying the same amount of fervour as a platoon of miniature terracota statues, the Raffles Institution boys' choir sang as dull as stone, showing absolutely no interest nor enthusiasm. They were effectively absent from the concert. I hope they grow up to be livelier.

Speaking of the matter of energy (again), the main problem in this performance, perhaps, is that the energy which Folse has succeeded in gathering from his performers lacks that final ounce of purposefulness. This is what distinguishes Lim Yau's concert from tonight's - purposefulness in channeling that energy, plus vibrancy, rather than just coarse, pounding energy.

But pounding energy is not all bad - the Ave formosissima and the final chorus gave all the opportunity for a final paean in Orff's grand tradition, which did not disappoint.

Despite my reservations above, a very entertaining concert - my congratulations to Bart Folse for a smashing start to the season.

Chia Han-Leon couldn't bring himself to blame the little girl sneezing cutely two seats to his right.

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741: 17.7.2000 ©Chia Han-Leon

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