Friday 23rd April, 1999 Victoria Concert Hall |
Great Classics Series/Prodigy Series |
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Antonin DVORAK The Water Goblin, op.107 Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.4 in G, op.58 Felix MENDELSSOHN Symphony No.5 in D major "Reformation"
LANG Lang piano |
OVERALL NOISE RATING:
2 (During the Andante of the concerto, naturally.)
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 Chia Han-Leon
The following is an expanded version of the review in Life! The Straits Times, April 26 (for same Friday concert).
Rather mushy, this Water Goblin, and unfortunately it would plague the SSO the whole night. Dvorak's tone poem on the gruesome tale of an evil goblin who kidnaps and marries a girl, fathers her child and then smashes its headless corpse on the door of her house would give any composer or performer much food for thought.
The supreme Czech melodist naturally turned out a 20-minute sequence of tuneful drama. But playing pretty sounds in a tone poem does not necessarily make a good performance. The strings were a little steely, the winds quite indifferent and the themes were there. But Choo Hoey's direction was remarkably uninspired, completely lacking any visual expression or impression of the grisly plot. In fact, I could not for the life of me make out what on earth he was doing for about 70% of the time. I could not detect his beat, and evidently neither did the orchestra. The SSO didn't appear to be following him, going ahead or dropping behind intermittently. It seemed a mere coincidence that conductor and orchestra happened to be roughly at the same tempo. Sometimes, that is.
As a result, the orchestra could only return an empty atmosphere of nice tunes, with no dramatic contrast or impetus. The magical storm created by the goblin never even got to its feet before petering out. This goblin didn't scare me; in fact I found it dreadfully boring. I like Dvorak's legend-inspired tone poems (The Noon Witch, The Golden Spinning Wheel) - they are very accessible tone poems in a kind of "learned cartoon" way. But here, I must say, was the worst performance of The Water Goblin I have ever heard (granted I should not compare a 'live' performance with recordings).
This indifferent goblin style didn't stop there. Even though Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto is very much a poetic and contemplative work, it need not be so mild and dull. I am referring again to the orchestra and the conductor, whose lacklustre accompaniment desperately needed more poetry, sometimes weight and also life (particularly the last movement). Their support was incredibly mild-mannered, thin and insubstantial, seeming to say nothing. Beethoven almost became drain water.
His strength of utterance and graceful fingerwork, producing clean and solid runs, makes for eloquent Beethoven. His playing makes the piano and the music "speak" very well - I suspect this young man will play Mozart very well indeed. In particular, he has a beautiful touch, one which is complemented by his ability to transmit solid strength just through his hands and fingers, with minimal effort on the arms. This despite the hard top range of the piano which was used.
In the first movement, the most impressive part was his cadenza, combining the fire of Liszt and the wit and clarity of Mozart. In other words I found him best when playing alone - it would be interesting to hear him in a solo recital.
The quiet Andante con moto exemplified this. Lang Lang depicted, as I would see it, as Beethoven reflecting on his deafness, so lyrical yet anguished is this profound music. In addition to bringing out its poetry, I think Lang also showed how much pain and suffering it could embody on behalf of the composer. It seemed as if Beethoven was looking in on himself and talking to his deafness, asking it "Why?... Why me?..." and bowing his head in resignation. The poignant last bars would show the opposite side of Lang's arm technique. He thrust his whole arm on the last note, seeming to transmit more strength than is necessary - but the result was a poetic final sigh, fading away pianissimo.
Still, thanks to the lifeless accompaniment, I felt disappointed at the end. It was quite an ordinary performance, perhaps even less. Shouts of "bravo!" came from behind me - I expect (and hope) it is just for the pianist.
Rejected by the composer for publication but printed after his death anyway, Mendelssohn's Fifth Symphony is in fact his second, completed in his 23rd year (when it was first performed). He started on it around 1829-30, hence other sources indicate that Mendelssohn was just 21 when he wrote the piece to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Diet of Augsburg, 1530 (but the symphony was premiered only in 1832).
The SSO was more attentive in this work, particularly in the outer movements. Mendelssohn's trademark busy string-writing received ample service from the string section, but I would prefer more intensity and pointedness overall. After all, two of Mendelssohn's greatest influences were Mozart and the High Baroque masters.
Nevertheless, the finale opened majestically with rich tone. Though the horns failed to play out (and elsewhere the brass section produced quite a few disturbing harmonies), the strings stated their fugues powerfully and the symphony ended with a broadly (perhaps even rigidly) paced but effective final statement of Luther's hymn Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott. My main complaint is that somehow, Mendelssohn's youthful earnestness was not really there. (The portrait on right shows the composer near the end of his short life). On further reflection, I also don't think the performance really sounded truly 'victorious', which is the tone of the movement.
To me the spiritual heart of this symphony is the sorrowful Andante. But Choo Hoey refused to savour this sad "song without words", turning it instead into something I can only describe as an awkward slow dance. He executed a sudden increase of tempo in the opening which I found really annoying. Why so fierce, for goodness sake? But worst of all, what should have been a heartbreaking final heave of resignation was abrupt, dismissive and cold, the ending dead. I was deeply deeply disappointed.
A personal note: I am being so particular about the "Reformation Symphony" because I have performed it before (albeit just the last three movements) with the NUS Symphony Orchestra. And I am proud to say we did much better than tonight's efforts. I remember how much human sorrow our conductor brought out from the Andante, for which I had shed tears for even though my part in this movement totalled just 2½ bars. It makes this SSO performance all the more saddening. Mendelssohn was a prodigy par excellence; at the time of this symphony he was just about five years older than Lang Lang today. It just doesn't feel good to have two youthful talents snubbed in one night.
Chia Han-Leon also has fond memories of learning to play the Vivacissimo highland clarinet tune from the "Scottish Symphony".
The young soloist was thus not paid the justice he deserved. Chinese pianist Lang Lang demonstrates a maturity far beyond his mere 16 years of age. His expressions of rapture (gazing up into the ceiling), sincere emotion and immersion into the music notwithstanding, Lang Lang possesses much skill which should see him reach greatness in the future.
The winds suffered from the occasional suspicious note, and bad ensemble marred the scherzo of the woodwinds in the Allegro vivace. Indeed, here their articulation was quite flubby, with some rather gurgled sounds. In the central trio, I noticed Choo Hoey beating a useless waltz rhythm, completely wasting the latent imagery of the cheerful, pastoral, bird-singing and sunny lyrical themes.
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466: 25.4.1999 ©Chia Han-Leon
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