|
The
typical English gentleman conjures up an image of a man with an
impeccable suit accompanied with exacting, clipped Queen's English.
Well that was what we almost got to hear through the SSO on the
night of this concert.
 Under
the baton of Brian Wright, the SSO maintained a controlled, exacting
sound throughout, almost like a well-disciplined, well-suited English
gentleman with nary a strand of hair out of place. It was a tight
control Wright held over the orchestra, notes concise and never
dragged for more than was required. It would be interesting to note,
however, there were instances where Wright could be visibly seen
to be trying to exact something out of the orchestra, his movements
and gestures trying to wring out the music out of them, asking them
for more. But they seemed unable to comply.
The
mood for the night set, we opened with Elgar's Introduction and
Allegro for String Quartet and Orchestra, Op.47. This very 'stringy'
piece was quite a delight to hear, with associate leader of the
first violins Lynette Seah leading them wonderfully. Wright, as
mentioned above, did not indulge in melodrama. The piece was tight,
colourful, had enough dynamism to carry it off, only hampered by
the awful acoustics of the VC, which made it sound like the music
was largely only for the musicians' ears. The sound refused to travel
any further than the conductor's stand. Alas, I should say that
had the sound been louder, travelling across the hall, it would
have been close to achieving what the piece was intended to - to
be a 'bring down the house piece for strings'. Also, the Welsh tune
located within the piece had several musicians tumbling over the
notes, and the orchestra made one fatal error - they failed to end
together on this piece.
The
Walton piece is perhaps one item in the English programme that just
does not seem to be quite part of it. While the Elgar and Delius'
pieces manage to complement each other, the Walton violin concerto
did not do so. While that may have been minor, the lyrical and rather
romantic sounding concerto, originally composed for Jascha Heifetz,
demands a lot from its soloist. This was evident from Foo Say Ming's
exertions. In the Andante tranquillo, Foo was good with the
lyrical parts, his violin suited for such 'emotional' segments.
The overbearing climaxes were another thing altogether, his violin
sounding not quite suited for those fast paced segments, and the
SSO drowning him out anyway. The Presto did not bring out
any surprises, in fact more than once did Foo's violin rasp rather
annoyingly. But the SSO did pick up, gaining the 'piquant' mood
rather well, and was forceful and a tad livier. The Vivace
was the same, that is it could have done with more emotion, and
it rather suggested this to me, that while Foo sounded fine on the
lyrical parts, he may have been better off playing a more romantic
piece instead of the Walton concerto.
A
plaintive oboe opened the Delius' piece, almost getting it right.
The music was derived from the opera A Village Romeo and Juliet,
and represents the dramatic climax in which the two lovers are approaching
their deaths. There were many reflective moments in the piece, and
this the SOO got right. There was a strong hint of Wagner in the
music of course, and the individual instrumental voices that constituted
the characterisation were rather clear. What I quite liked was the
ominous tone/smell of death in almost every bar of the piece, and
Wright did a wonderful job creating, through the music, a juxtaposition
of the lovers' love against the tragedy and the looming Spirit of
death.
The
Elgar Enigma Variations is one of my favourite pieces in
classical music. It is the brilliant way Elgar creates portraits
of his friends through the music, so vivid it is almost like painting
a picture with his notes. Wright again takes us through the variations
with a controlled hand, precise, but slightly quicker than usual.
Which is fine for certain variations, but was not for others. The
first variation on Alice, Elgar's wife, was touching, believable,
yet when it came to Nimrod, I must say I quite cringed from it.
Not just a tad too fast, the SSO almost sounded like it had a train
to catch at the end of the Nimrod variation. From majestic it instead
bordered on dark humour.
Though
overall, it must be said that Brian Wright must be commended for
his conducting. It did, in small or big ways, make a difference
in the sound of the SSO that night. And the audience noticed.
DAVID
CHEW is doing a side of English Literature at the NUS.
If
you wish to Add a Comment to this review, please post your comments
to classical@inkpot.com.
Last
Concert Reviewed | Next Concert Reviewed
All
original texts are copyrighted. Please seek permission from the
Classical Editor
if you wish to reproduce/quote Inkpot material.
|
|
