An Evening of Operatic Music with I Musici

AN EVENING OF OPERATIC MUSIC WITH I MUSICI

I MUSICI

SINGAPORE CONFERENCE HALL

9 June 2013

A shortened version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 11 June under the title "Italian baroque at its best"

Italians have had a long history of being home to some of the most loved products in the world. From their soccer teams, to celebrity fashion designers and culinary masters, their success have often been achieved by unfairly good-looking personalities. So it comes as no surprise that their composers have composed some of the most popular opera tunes to date, and on this night performed by I Musici, whose members would not look out of place on the cover of a fashion magazine.

Concertgoers expecting a precision of execution from the 12-member string orchestra would be disappointed, as this ensemble’s mantra was not about technical flawlessness but to extract every bit of joy from the music they perform to be shared with their audiences.

Their opening act, the Overture to “Barber Of Seville” by Rossini sounded more of Sicily than Andalusia, but violinist Ettore Pellegrino’s exploits in Paganini’s Variations On A Theme from “Moses in Egypt” brought out the smiles. Reliving the spirit of the composer as a virtuoso bar none, he brought a level of spontaneity rarely experienced in concerts nowadays. Despite the work’s notoriety for the difficulty in having to perform entirely on the G string, Pellegrino’s showboating antics and improvisatory feel would have made Paganini proud.

Verdi’s Prelude to Act 1 from the opera La Traviata, and the Sinfonia from Il Nabucco, saw the violins breathe Venetian charm into their soaring melodies while the lower strings provided the buoyant rhythm of a light-footed waltz.

Soprano Nancy Yuen, now based in Hong Kong as the Head of Vocal Studies at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, took center stage in A Vucchella by Francesco Paolo Tosti and the ever-popular and over-performed O Mio Babbino Caro by Puccini. Her penetrating high register was wondrously clear, and even in the muted acoustics of the Singapore Conference Hall, her lush voice always prominently projected. While a higher dose of vulnerability would have made the performance more believable, as a stand-alone work the reign of beauty was more than sufficient to make her rendition thoroughly enjoyable.

The ensemble’s long-standing association with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons stems from them being the first ensemble to ever record the work, and it was in this work that they showed why they are one of the most highly-regarded string orchestras in the world. Their intrinsic affinity with Baroque music was unmistakable in their dignified approach that was also full of courtly elegance, and violinist Antonia Anselmi not so much a soloist but a leader.

The intricate songs of birds were intricately sculpted in Spring, where its joyous scenes of nature gave way to the mournful remembrance in the opening of Summer. Their muscular approach to the fury of Autumn only made feasible by a considerable show of restraint, and ending the set on a more solemn note with Winter sounding like a distant waltz.