Young Musicians' Foundation Orchestra Concert

YOUNG MUSICIANS' PROJECT FUND-RAISING CONCERT

YOUNG MUSICIANS' FOUNDATION ORCHESTRA

RAFFLES INSTITUTION PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE

15 MAY 2013

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 15 May 2013 under the title "Young hopes of classical music"

The common gripe amongst musicians in Singapore, whether factually or not, is that young students pursuing a career in music do not get enough support both financially and artistically. It is thus noble that conductor Darrell Ang, who himself faced many struggles during his studies, has taken the lead in helping these future performers with the formation of the Young Musicians’ Foundation.

Their fundraising concert saw the introduction of their resident orchestra, the Young Musicians’ Foundation Orchestra. It was an eclectic blend of youth and experience, which included rising stars Yang Shuxiang and Jasper Goh and also young violinists Lannabel Teo and Martin Peh, and they were led by guest conductor Yordan Kamdzhalov, General Music Director of the City of Heidelberg.

It is never an easy task performing in a hall with dry acoustics, but the ensemble coped admirably and it was immediately evident that the strings were in top form from the opening of Felix Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture. The stirringly-coloured introduction by the celli and violas set the emotional depth for the rest of the orchestra, while the violins never shied away from the soaring lyricism synonymous with the music of Mendelssohn and conductor Kamdzhalov’s alertness to the intricate details of the score painted an evocative picture of The Fingal’s Cave.

Joining the orchestra in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 was pianist Thomas Ang. Currently a student at the Royal Academy of Music, he was the first recipient of The Raffles Institution-Darrell Ang Young Musicians’ Foundation Scholarship (formerly known as the Hamish Dyer Scholarship.) The young pianist’s relative inexperience was apparent in his struggle to exert a commanding presence in this concerto. While the barrage of notes were churned out with relative ease, the more delicate turns in the thematic metamorphoses seemed lost. Indeed, the most effective moments of the performance were with the orchestra taking the lead and pianist playing second fiddle.

Although the work was drafted by the composer prior to the completion of his first piano concerto, Liszt’s reworking of the piece aimed at distancing himself from virtuosity. The soloist displayed some impressive technical abilities in the incessant octaves, but lacked the sparkle and subtlety to truly convince. His encore of an original arrangement of Roger Quilter’s Go, Lovely Rose was perhaps a more accurate representation of himself as an imaginative performer ever sensitive to harmonic and melodic shifts and one less interested in musical high jinks.

The ensemble’s youthful exuberance was most pronounced in Dvorak’s overplayed warhorse, Symphony No. 9, also known as the New World Symphony. The brass section, however, showed tremendous restraint in their significant solo contributions and were mindful not to overpower the rest of the orchestra. Kamdzhalov opted for a more relaxed tempo, allowing for a clarity of texture and balance. His sense of phrasing and colour was reflected in the serene and ethereal atmosphere he set in the Largo movement, allowing the iconic Cor Anglais solo by Simon Lee to revel in its cries of tranquility. Although some over-enthusiastic playing resulted in some less than pristine ensemble-work and intonation, it never threatened to derail under the conductor’s clear and precise direction.

The ideology of the New World was one about hope and a better tomorrow, and if this group could stay grounded under the leadership of artistic director Darrell Ang and not evolve into another gimmicky ensemble, they could yet be one of the best things to happen to the local classical music scene.

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