Thursday April Fool's Day, 1999 Victoria Concert Hall |
Subscription Series A Russian Easter |
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Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Russian Easter Overture, op.36 Piotr Illyich TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto in D, op.35 Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.15 in A, op.141
CHAI Liang violin |
OVERALL NOISE RATING:
4 (please see below.)
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.
This review has been kindly sponsored by the Singapore Symphonia Co. Ltd
by Derek Lim
The SSO has done some really successful programming for concerts; though as to
tonight's programme I didn't know whether to think them geniuses or otherwise. This is an attempt at all-Russian programming which didn't exactly pull through, but produced a wide range of results. First of all was Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture, a 15-minute piece of musical doodling, in my honest personal opinion, with half-baked themes which repeat over and over again (one sounds particularly like a train going off....well actually, a very extended rondo form). In other words, I found it boring, and I thought that though the work was weak, the orchestra must share the blame - though the SSO were dazzling in the virtuostic sections and the coda came through well, they seemed rather uninspired, sometimes playing unenthusiastically. Solos were rendered in a similarly lacklustre manner. This was greeted by lukewarm applause once it was over.
Down to the Tchaikovksy violin concerto. My relationship with this work has
always been one of up and downs. On the one hand, I find he has a great
sense of drama (if pulled off well), great melodies (he always does) but a
lot of weak spots, and a fair bit of repetitiveness. I love this concerto,
despite its apparent shallowness, because it's just so tuneful!
The
violinist CHAI Liang is the proud possessor of a tremendous technique (I was
on several occasions thinking Heifetz), great musicality, a powerful tone
and a violin with fantastic projection. All these naturally meant a
flowing, virtuostic reading on his side (weariness, probably from jet-lag,
was showing) which was nevertheless free of overt sentimentalism, the way
some violinists can spoil the concert with.
Noise Rating Elaboration: During the (modified) cadenza, most irritatingly, a certain idiot who owns a pager got paged, thus Tchaikovsky's high note sounded right in tune with the pitch of the pager's beeping, really a quite serenditipous discovery, but don't these people ever learn?! On my left across the aisle was a kid with really rubbery soles and Velcro straps who apparently had to un-buckle his Velcro, produce friction with the bottoms of his shoes and scratch an
itch. I was really distracted. Nevertheless the Concerto went on like a
well-oiled machine, and the audience gave their due appreciation at the end
of the first movement. (It's customary, no?) I heartily clapped along.
The second movement started off not very well, with the initial wind chord
sounding out of tune. This got better, though. This movement was taken at a
rather more flowing tempo, as befits the "Canzonetta" title. I'm used to
slower, more indulgent tempi but this was a refreshing tempo. Nevertheless, Chai Liang's large tone was used to not-so-good advantage here; it proved a
hindrance sometimes just as I was enjoying the orchestral interlude before
his entry.
The third movement (using the cut version) was the saving touch of the performance - this was
really 'live' music making, as Chai Liang and Lockhart both took some chances,
with the soloist rushing phrases here and there as he lunged from the quick
theme to the trepak theme. Apparently his staccato was out of order for the
day - spicatto had to be used instead, but still there were ample
fireworks. The audience showed their appreciation again at the end
with cheers and applause. Goes to show you can get them every time. Even better, Chai performed for an encore the Paganiniana by Milstein, a compendium of Paganini tricks from the Caprices. This was scintillating.
Left: Portrait of Shostakovich by Tair Salakhov.
A very very Shostakovichian witty/sardonic flute solo opens the
movement, and this was played well indeed; a sign of better things to come. Lockhart managed to keep up the tension and symphonic argument
for this movement, and though there were some things I would have liked done
in a certain different way (Souptel's exposed solo part where he slides down
in chromatic scale comes to mind - much more bite and staccato needed), the
overall result was of a coherent reading. The movement is, to my mind
similar to that of the first movement of the First Cello Concerto (1959; the symphony is from 1971), but much
richer and creative.
(Shostakovich's themes, by the way, makes me think of
weird things, among others, old men sitting down by the road trying to catch
cockroaches. I'm seeing my therapist tomorrow)
The second movement starts with a sombre brass chorale, which in tone didn't
meld so well together, but it was not ineffective. Shostakovich's deserted
orchestral colours - the touching, heart-wrenching cello solo, the violin
solo, the death-like trombone (played with ample vibrato here) The tension
was quite unbearable in this movement, with Shostakovich still sardonic and
wooden-faced. (He must be the Father of Sardonicism) Symphonic argument was
not done so well here, with the snare-drum roll seeming strangely out of
place; but the orchestra played well indeed here. The only pity was that
chief trumpeter had to drop his mute! Argh. But things like that happen and we need not blame them.
The third movement is extremely short (about 4 minutes) in comparison with the other movements. My impression of the performance was that of a messy piece of work where no one actually really knew what was going along. The DSCH motif was totally unclear, for example.
The crowning glory of the performance was a heart-rending account of the
last movement, which starts with the Fate motif from
Götterdämmerung, and the "Tristan Prelude". My impression of this finale is one of growing disgust with the world, and a hiding back to the old days of childhood (maybe?). Lockhart and the orchestra gave a glowing reading which did not lack at all the necessary sarcasm and bite. Despite the diffused nature of the
movement, there are obviously a lot of musicians in the orchestra who feel
for this music.
I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Apparently the
audience felt the same way - we must have kept quiet for nearly 10 seconds
before exploding into applause. I, for one, gave this performance my "Bravo!"
and standing ovation. It was a great performance of great music which touched the core of the human condition.
Derek Lim is working his way through the Shostakovich symphonies again.
DSCH rules!
Guest conductor Keith Lockhart (left) started the first movement agreeably, but ensemble problems crept into the orchestral tuttis. The Orchestra was cut down in size for the Concerto - a mistake, in my opinion. The Tchaikovksy is a grand Romantic work which needs the violin-against-orchestra contrast; here, the SSO merely seemed puny when compared with Chai Liang's incisive tone. Lockhart's accompaniment tended to be rather on the stodgy side for my taste, and too many opportunities were wasted when Chai was obviously trying to
release some flights of fantasy (and burn some rubber). The tempi never
approached the remotely fast, and the impression I got at first was
that of a well-played run-through lacking shape. I feel that Lockhart doesn't come across as a natural Tchaikovksian - he merrily squanders Tchaikovsky's drama.
After the interval was Shostakovich's last symphony, the Fifteenth. I've
heard this just twice in two recordings - Haitink's and Rostropovich - but not 'live'. After this performance I realised again the greatness of this work, and now I must find more recordings. The percussion section did extraordinarily well
in this piece which places great demands on them. Need I mention that
Souptel, Liu Peng, and all the other soloists had a hard time in this
Symphony?
In the pages reaching the cold coda (which is exactly like
the coda for the Second Cello Concerto), I thought my heart would stop -
the air was unbreathable and I felt Shostakovich's plight, his feelings and
his resignation at the world. (I also, strangely, thought of the end of
Berg's Wozzeck, where the boy goes "Hop, hop" - did Shostakovich had
something like that in mind when he wrote his sinister, yet childlike and
inviting, coda?)
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444: 30.3.1999. up.5.4.1999 ©Derek Lim
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