Sat, 25 Aug 07
CLOUDS OF GLORY
Choo Hoey conductor
Li Chuan Yun violin
FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY
The Fair Melusina: Overture, op. 32
PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Violin Concerto in D major, op. 35
Intermission
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Nocturnes: Clouds and Festivals
IGOR STRAVINSKY
The Firebird: Suite (1919 version)
The long-awaited concert had finally arrived, and I attended it, hoping for an evening of good music. The conductor was Choo Hoey, who was the founding Music Director of the SSO in 1979. (Seeing that even my dad knew who he was, I assumed that he was some great conductor and was dying to watch him conduct)
Mendelssohn’s concert overture, The Fair Melusina, proved to be an amenable opening to the concert. The poetic essence of the story was captured by the light, shimmering strings beautifully. With the rippling arpeggios more than reminiscent of the Rhine motif in Das Rhinegold and sinuous wind playing, the orchestra sketched a convincing tone-picture of Melusine herself. Choo Hoey’s phrasing and sense of rubato was unflawed, and with the orchestra responding together, he brought out the irate minor-key figure of Count Raymond of Lusignan as a smooth extension of the first motif. The fluid melody of the clarinet was interwoven nicely into the picturesque, more urgent second idea. Despite its deeply inflective and nachdenklich nature, the piece ended almost ungracefully in what was supposed to be a serene conclusion. The last pizzicato chords were scattered and clumsy, with the orchestra musicians barely able to follow Choo’s inappropriately large sweeping gestures for a peaceful, quiet ending.
China-born, Julliard-educated Li Chuan Yun took to the stage in an extremely flamboyant attire – a black shirt with crystals around the neckline. Albeit slow, the orchestra set the right ambience for the entry of the soloist. There was no mistaking in Li’s matchless double-stops and his flawless technique. Li tackled the violinistic hurdles fearlessly, but much to my disappointment, without any character and power. It was apparent that besides technical virtuosity, there was nothing else Li had to say about Tchaikovsky. He made the triumphant first movement sound brooding and moody. What happened to the poetry, the passion, the imagination, the glory? His rendition of Tchaikovsky had obviously failed to move the audience.
There was tenderness in the second movement, and his sublime introduction had exhibited fleeting moments of beauty. His execution of the portamento and his ornamentation were gentle and graceful, and the movement died down to a tranquil close before the orchestra burst into the loud, rousing finale. The powerful promising start to the third movement died down as quickly as it came, and dragging back into its monotonous, sleepy state. This was very obviously ignoring Tchaikovsky’s Allegro Vivacissimo tempo marking! The cadenzas were disappointing, with Li pausing at unmusical places and altering the tempo as he desired.
The orchestra was untidy most of the time, sometimes with miscued entries, sometimes not together with the soloist. Nonetheless, Li managed to finish the concerto much to the delight and applause of the audience, even receiving a few standing ovations (sigh, what on earth were the audience thinking?!). He was accorded three curtain calls, and came back for a vigourous technical display of an encore piece, ending it off with a maori-like war cry, to the amusement of the orchestra and the members of the audience.
[the second half is not reviewed because I had to leave after the first half :(]
On a lighter note, I’ll be leaving for KL, Malaysia, for a performance on the 4th of September and returning on the 8th. Apparently I’ll be playing the violin for some pop-concert in Genting. Let’s see how this goes (: