Concert Review – OMM/WAYO 14th Dec

I wish I had played in this concert, honestly. Other concerts, not so; certainly not the Rach or the Rimsky-Korsakov programmes and probably not the Mahler ones coming up next year either. But I can't help but rue the fact that this is the second time in my musical life there was an opportunity to play the Planets, and I missed it (the first one when I was too noob to be in SNYO, years back).

We saw some pretty solid playing, and I was impressed that the combined orchestra rose to the occasion. The brasses especially were fabulous, and milked the loud bits for all they were worth. I'm sure they enjoyed the mambo from West Side Story. I thought the basses did pretty well too, especially a couple of prominent passages in Holst's Saturn.

Fabulous solos from Ike, Zhaohan and especially Beverly. I'd forgotten that she was back, didn't recognise her at first and was absolutely stunned by the solos in the first couple of movements of the Planets (I think Venus); I was wondering where in Singapore did OMM manage to dig out this cellist! The quartet in West Side Story (was it Somewhere? or a later section?) did well too, as did the harps (especially the first encore).

A couple of disappointing areas though – though I'm not familiar with the score, I felt that the tempo changes in Mars (the contrast between the opening/final tempo and the quieter middle section) were rather jarring. There was too wide a discrepancy and when the orchestra went back to tempo primo it seemed more wrenched and forced than necessary. Mercury almost fell apart I think at or around the first violin solo – I think there was a missing part or section there, and it offset everyone rather. The opening tempo for West Side Story was rather controlled too, almost lacking in energy; I think everyone was too cautious there. Or perhaps it was a long programme.

Having the choir directly facing the audience in Neptune – rather than backstage as directed by Holst – seemed to make it a tad too prominent and jarring too, and the blue lighting merely cheapened the experience! The ethereal, otherworldly quality of the writing was completely unexploited. Having said that though, I guess there must have been reasons for having the choir visible to the audience; it was their only part in the entire concert and I'm sure they appreciated the visual exposure.

But these were minor details, and generally it was an excellent effort on the part of the players! I appreciated the thoughtful choice of the second encore, and I must admit I sang along to 'Land of Hope and Glory'. I don't think many people know the lyrics so here they are:

Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?
Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet,
God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet.

enthu but tired

I think the Soldier's Tale counts as one of the most shiok concerts I've ever played in. Mentally and physically it really felt just right, I was all psyched up and everything, and I think (I hope!) I didn't let any of the other players down. There were passages that I'd never got right before, that somehow magically fell into place in concert.

Anyhow, to bed!

playing stravinsky

Just some thoughts here.

Playing in The Soldier's Tale is really turning out to be quite an experience. For one, it's my first time playing under Mr Lim Yau. So far I've never even met him; only ever heard stories about how strict he was in YO and his fearsome reputation as a conductor. And being one of 7 players (and the most noob!) I think quite a bit of his attention has landed on me -.-

Of course it's been a challenge to meet the expectations and demands that he has, and in trying to meet them I've grown, musically and mentally. It takes some mental stamina to count the twisted rhythms that Stravinsky writes.

It's also an experience to see, first-hand, how a piece as complex as this is put together at rehearsals. At first I was just practising my part - little dismembered rhythmic or melodic motifs, sometimes just 3 or 4 notes repeated 30+ times - but then over the rehearsals I've grown quite a good sense of where and how I fit into the big picture; how, for instance, some of my notes fit in or trigger a dialogue with trombone, or how I double a bassoon line for a bar then start harmonising.

I've also realised just how vital a bass line can be. I literally set the pace for quite a few of the earlier movements, and everyone - even the conductor - follows. If the tempo's too slow, it gets sluggish, the momentum's lost, violin bows don't slice the strings just right and they end up hitting false notes or things like that; if it's too fast everyone's racing along, out of breath; if it's erratic, people seize onto tempi convenient for themselves (and different from everyone else) and the whole thing falls apart. That's a huge responsibility.

I think I've been extremely fortunate that everyone's been very patient, especially Mr Lim. And in terms of playing chamber music, I've probably learnt more from this piece than anything else.

Anyhow, it's shaping up to be an awesome concert.

concert alert

Woohoo I was pleasantly surprised that Esplanade dumped an advert in my inbox plugging a concert that I'm playing in, myself. So here it is:

http://www.esplanade.com/edm/spectrum/soldier/

It's an exciting performance so do consider blowing 24 bucks on a ticket!

a soldier's rhsl

I've just got back from my first rehearsal for TPO's The Soldier's Tale (come watch me plz! 12 July!) and it felt like I was being slapped on the head by a bunch of seals, a different number of slaps each bar, but equally intense and painful throughout. 

Mr Lim Yau's conducting is... for this one piece... ignorable. On purpose. As far as I can tell he's just waving his hands in a manner vaguely remniscent of the beat, while we play like heck and well... ostensibly I'm supposed to feel the rhythm, the harmonic rhythm, but I'm certainly not familiar enough with the piece to do that -.- need more practice.

And it was only two people at today's rehearsal: me and the violinist Kathleen. O.o she's pro - and has either practised much more than me, or has extremely good rhythm, or both. (I'd only played through the whole thing twice... asking for trouble.)

I'm completely noobified. Still counting every single quaver for dear life. I'm glad Mr Lim hasn't thrown me out yet ^^ It's an awesome piece, and he's one of the luminaries here... all in all a crazy musical challenge.

brahms piano concerto (again)

Now my dream is slowly coming true. I've played through a near-perfect Brahms piano concerto. At that kind of level I've realised that technical proficiency is far from enough - and face it, my technical proficiency is far from enough. But being in the right frame of mind changes things, helps one transcend one's limitations, if only a bit. 

I've realised that to play that Brahms well, I've got to feel like all the pain and sorrow in the world is crystallising within me, and ignore everything else but that state of induced agony. Now gotta go memorise the thing and get familiar with the tuttis and entries and everything, and hopefully I'll do something about it next year.

letdown

I just went to gramophone at cathay and got an Ella Fitzgerald / Louis Armstrong album (I think it's a compilation, there's too many good tracks on it to be true) among other things. That album was unpriced, so just before I handed my card and the stack of CDs over I asked how much it was. Got the answer - $44.95 - gulp - skinflint philistine in me screamed wtf! but I got it anyway. 

Then I got home and found out the last track on the first disc skips. My heart bleeds.

Damnit gotta go gramophone another time - and before that, test ALL the 6 other CDs just in case. Shit.

UPDATE: Somewhat happy ending - the guy at gramophone managed to get hold of another copy and exchanged it for me. (He also forgot to take off the anti-theft thing, resulting in 3 gramophone cathay staff running at me just moments after I set off the store's alarm unwittingly.) Unfortunately now disk 2 has 1 tiny tic (it skips a couple of seconds) on my favourite track, Let's Call the Whole Thing Off. But since I burnt the old (non-defective) disk 2 on my comp I don't really care any more heh.

can't be arsed

Ok I haven't updated for ages, but I really can't be bothered to do a proper post or rant or anything like that. I've been swamped with an overwhelming 'who gives a shit' feeling. I didn't have a spectacularly bad week or anything, just that I don't have any sense of purpose at all at my workplace. Every day I feel a renewed sense of the truth of Tennyson's words

Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die

and that feeling kinda sucks.

I've discovered Phish and they are a level of awesome in themselves!

In other news I've been going regularly for some sunday rehearsals - Brahms' 1st Symphony, Wagner's Meistersingers Overture and the Lalo Thing - which is a welcome change from the mindless office tedium. I had some misgivings about leading the section; after all I'm new there, not exactly nice to parachute in. But then again Brahms is a nightmare, and even the Lalo Thing has rhythm issues to address. For instance: triplets are always slower than they seem, and it's quite difficult to get that across.

I like the sense of guiding them along through the piece, and bringing out the nuances and contrasts of articulation and all that. It's rather anal, but there are so many factors that make a good sound. Just consider the bowing technique: the particular angle that the bow strikes the string, the speed of the bow stroke - slow: heavy; fast: light - the length of bow used, even the finish - uplift gives it a nice crisp sound. And all that takes some experience. It is immodest, but I've played in orchestras for years and there are things you discover in that time. There're young players to guide and it's always rewarding when you cobble a section together.

There's also that SYFO business, playing the Brahms Violin Concerto, Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphoses and the Tchaik 1812 Overture. Different kettle of fish, many players who're much more inexperienced and lots more work to be done. I'm tempted to ask to take the sectionals, because the times when I was in their shoes are still fresh in my mind, and again there's a great opportunity to guide and shape their approach to the music. And Brahms again! Fascinating work, bursting with energy. And you can't play everything the same; there are notes, and then there are notes. Again, nuances and contrasts to emphasise. But first they need to practise!

Problem is I'm getting into a kind of rut; there's so much music in my life, to the exclusion of other things. I would like to do other stuff, maybe start a poetry or literature group (public readings!) and of course I need to get back up to speed on maths and economics. All that while making sure I still can pass IPPT gah.

There are some precious few insane people out there who can do all those things with ease; I'm really not one of them, although it might look like it sometimes. It's really taken me an awful lot of effort. But one thing I will not stand for is to accept mediocrity, the acceptance of the substandard. It will just take time and patience, but I've got to escape mediocrity.

chick corea & hiromi uehara

If this performance isn't legendary it deserves to be.

Gershwin's Summertime

Chick Corea's Spain

I am parody

I know lots of you out there have heard the Arrogant Worms' I am Cow. But have you heard Helen Reddy's I am Woman? It was hilarious when I first heard it and noticed the obvious similarities in melody and lyrics, particularly this:

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land

and this

I am cow, here I stand
Far and wide upon this land
And I am living everywhere.

Brilliant! Made me love the Arrogant Worms even more haha.

brahmsrave

I've been listening to it again, and it struck me how elegant the d-minor brahms piano concerto is. I'd never heard the first and second movements properly but I've always loved the third, with that bold furious statement of intent from the piano and the exhilarating scales and arpeggios. And now that my technique is approaching the point where I can finally dream of playing stuff like that (I flatter myself, but still!) it seemed worth a re-listen. Yes it's early brahms but it's already brahms the master, not a note out of place, everything calculated, everything in shape, in time, fitting together like some infinite jigsaw, yet spreading out inexorably in space and time... Everything so inevitable, as though the F was designed to fall into the E, to be swallowed up by D... as though the laws of the universe decreed it.

shuttup now rayner. shuttup.

problem

Bye Daniel. xP Another PSC bastard going off, this time to Stanford...

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I've been trying to write a piano quartet for some time, with hardly any progress. It sounds nice and complicated, but there's no real direction and it's going to peter out soon. I can't find room for the melodic fragments to develop. And as a bassist I pay special attention to the bass with the result that the piano part is heavily left-handed and sounds horribly thick (though that's nothing too serious; I'll just have to play it through, do some rewrites here and there).

More importantly perhaps, I'm not inspired by my life and things that are happening to me right now; my life lacks the sense of the "lofty and beautiful" (as derided by Dostoevsky). There's no epic tragedy or drama unfolding, and I'm just living a fairly normal life with slightly more than the average anxiety and angst, nothing to be too worked up about. And thus creativity eludes me.

I hope it's done by next year, though. I'd like to get an obliging pianist, violinist, violist and cellist to whack through the thing and utterly demolish my musical visions - I mean pretensions.

contemporary classical music

I couldn't agree more with Joe Queenan: Admit it, you're as bored as I am. Thanks ZH for the link. He's found exactly the words I needed to express my utter disgust at anything "avant-garde" in classical music. If anything, classical music has been more harmed than advanced by attempts to move beyond the paradigm established by Bach and upheld for over 300 years. Yes there've been occasional bright sparks but no luminous visionaries to light the way ahead. Minimalism, serialism, the 12-tone row... unfortunately these are all historical curiosities that'll only endure as museum pieces.

composing

I have just written down 4 bars of a godawfully beautiful melody and harmony to go with it, and now that that's done I feel a magical inner peace.

Unfortunately that means I can't continue it, because anything that comes after will be pure crap.

discovering pop.

It's taken me a long time but I've grown a respect for pop that I never quite had before. I guess I never found satisfaction in the watered-down crud that the radio stations play, or the country music my parents love. Geez. Then I found Hey Jude, and Barcelona, and Mrs Robinson, and life wasn't quite the same. They spoke to me as clearly as Bach and Brahms and Sibelius and Elgar ever did.

So I'm still discovering the classic albums that define '60s rock... Revolver, Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper's... I'm on Pet Sounds now, off the Beatles for a change (I only ever knew the Beach Boys from that saccharine-sweet song Kokomo, which is like knowing classical music from Pachelbel's Canon). And dang, God Only Knows is languidly, beautifully compelling. That's music as worthy as anything ever written and recorded. There's just something about the shape of that melody and the simplicity of the words that caught my mind like a mousetrap and isn't going to let go anytime soon. There's a je ne sais quoi about it. Like you, my friend...

For you out there: God Only Knows

I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I'll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I'd be without you

If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on, believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me
God only knows what I'd be without you

My top 15 beatles songs

Wow ok this is interesting. At the urging of Zhaohan, I'm supposed to think up my top 15 Beatles songs. Just when I'm listening to Simon & Garfunkel -.- And this will sure prove embarrassing, I hardly know 15. Well fuck that, since I've nothing better to do, just off the top of my head, in no particular order, here goes:

1. Hey Jude. This was the song that kicked my head in and started my own Beatlemania. It made me go wow; still does. It reminds me in my darkest moments that there's still hope and love in the world. "For well you know that it's a fool/ Who plays it cool by making his world a little colder" is quite possibly my favourite line, ever. And I love the 4-minute refrain & fadeoff; it's mesmerizing. It's a great end to an anthem of life.

2. With A Little Help From My Friends. For the turn-on-the-warm-fuzzy-feeling win. For reminding me that there is hope in friendship. For inspiring in me the will to carry on. "Are you sad because you're on your own?/ No! I get by with a little help from my friends./ Mmm! Get high with a little help from my friends. Mmm! Gonna try with a little help from my friends." I love that bit.

3. Carry That Weight. Bloody ironic that I remembered the first couple of lines of this one in the middle of my SISPEC 28km route march. I guess I'd taken it and imbued it with my own personal meaning, when it's actually a wisp of a song. Well well it captured my imagination.

4. Eleanor Rigby. Ouch this really speaks to me. "Waits at the window/ Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door/ Who is it for?" It feels to me like a chilling dissection of modernity.

5. I Am The Walrus. Haha this screws your mind to eternity and back. I just refuse to visualise any of the images, but the first verse still grips my brain and refuses to let go. "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together." Wooaaahhh...

6. Got To Get You Into My Life. The sheer sound of those rolling syllables just never quite left my head. So I was introduced to the cover by Earth Wind and Fire first, so what? Both are great. It's sheer bloody exhilaration. I don't care if it's love or crack; "Ooh! Did I tell you I need you/ Every single day of my life?" Oh and the bass is pretty cool.

7. Yesterday. This is hard to bear. Kinda pulls at the heart.

8. Here Comes The Sun. It's a kind of wistful, nostalgic, tempered but quietly blissful optimism. The guitar's magical. "It's alright" and I'm somehow back in my childhood when (I've said this before) everything that could be right was right and would always be that way for ever and ever Amen. Lovely lovely lovely.

9. Oh! Darling. These are words that could've come right from my own heart. "Oh! Darling,/ Please believe me/ I'll never do you no harm." Awww...

10. Getting Better. A bit like Here Comes The Sun and With A Little Help, this reminds me that there's hope in the world. I can almost believe "it's getting better all the time".

11. From Me To You. See comments to (9). And if I could've dreamt it out it must've hit home.

12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (and reprise). I almost feel I belong there haha. It's a brilliant atmosphere. The chords are fresh out of the shining gates of chord heaven. And the guitar's a helldemon.

13. Maxwell's Silver Hammer. I just love that li'l piece of shit.

14. Let It Be. I detest myself when I get emo, and this makes me detest myself every time. But there's got to be a reason why I keep on going back to it. It's awfully reassuring to know that "there will be an answer: let it be." It kinda reminds me of my childhood, when I got nightmares and used to creep to my parents' bed, turn on the table lamp and wake them up cos I just dreamt of a monster or something. I'd be told to say the Hail Mary and everything would somehow be all right again.

15. All You Need Is Love. This keeps on running through my mind too. It's awfully empowering, just as the feeling of love is - you can do anything, be anything, if only you love. And I'm quietly reminded of all the people I hold dear.

Yup that's what the Beatles does for me. I'm sorry if they're mostly awfully obvious choices. There's lots of the Beatles I haven't heard, or heard enough of, and it hardly does them justice. Oh well if you've got a problem with it shucks to you then ;D

Edit: I should have listed You Never Give Me Your Money/Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End (from Abbey Road) all together, since they're clearly thematically linked. And it gives me 4 songs for the price of one slot heh. And I like them all, especially Golden Slumbers. Yup.

woah.

Anna Netrebko, Meine lippen, sie küssen so heiss, from Giudetta, Franz Lehar,
Last Night of the Proms 2007.


Kristen Chenoweth, Glitter and Be Gay from Candide, Leonard Bernstein.

the last week

concert yesterday went... kinda suckily but ok lah. it was tolerable thanks to the good friends who were playing / old acquaintances that i met again. was horrified at the starting of the spitfire fugue though; hardly anyone came in right. probably mistook ctl's starting for a muscle spasm or sth, he only gave 2 beats instead of the usual 4. -.- wtf

w00t for dinner with the YO oldies. had a great time.

other than that rhsls have been mind-numbingly tiring. i'm drained.

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looking forward to meeting friends for the last time before ns. i don't have many so it's just a coffee and a lunch. oh well.

d-day 10th jan.

brahms string quartets

yes i finally went out and bought the brahms i've been meaning to get for ages. a recording of the string quartets and piano quintet by the emerson string quartet. listening to brahms is like... i don't know. catching a glimpse of the eternal and infinite. it's breathtaking, and it's quite angsty. not in a teenage spots way; in the way of a man who's lived half his life and has grown a finely cultivated rage at injustice and inhumanity.

hrm. i'm only on the second string quartet so i'm not qualified to talk about the others yet, but the first quartet is pretty good. i'm sure i'll pick up a lot more facets of it on repeated hearings. there's a fascinating quality about it; it's driving rage (the word is rage, i don't know how else to put it) and yet it's scintillating, precisely directed, and it has a certain depth and quality about it. i think it boils down to the cello part - even though you hear it you don't actually listen to it (note the difference), and so it touches a level deeper than your consciousness. it awakens gut feelings of fear, anger, joy...

i'm raving now. i'll stop and do this again when my thoughts are clearer

feeling smug/a little music rant

for the first time in 12 years, i'm not in school on jan 2nd. =D

of course that smug feeling will wear off by jan 10th =(

and meanwhile i have to do that psc essay and pract for the concert. ugh. film music -.- doesn't quite feel right without the film. and the spitfire (walton) is kinda humdrum (they used it as a transition in little britain O.o lol). if it wasn't for rhapsody in blue i wouldn't have agreed to play.

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it's a bit galling, how no one wants to do brahms, beethoven or sibelius symphonies - let alone exciting offbeat stuff like nielsen, vaughan williams, stravinsky, mahler, even walton symphony no. 1... the classical music scene in singapore is ridiculously boring. i would really like to go watch a thrilling bartok concerto for orchestra and let my mind be blown to smithereens.

if anyone knows of a performance of the following over the next year (that i'm available to watch of course), please tell me:
BACH: Brandenburg Concertos/ Mass in b minor
BARTOK: Concerto for Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto/ Triple Concerto
BRAHMS: any Symphonies/ Double Concerto/ Violin Concerto/ Serenade
ELGAR: Cello Concerto/ Enigma Variations
FRANCAIX: anything at all
HINDEMITH: that thing with the weber. whatsitname. Symphonic Metamorphoses
MAHLER: good stuff.
MEDTNER: anything at all
NIELSEN: Symphony no. 4 'Inextinguishable'/ Overture to Maskarade/ Helios Overture
RACHMANINOV: THE Variations
SIBELIUS: any Symphonies (not by TPO plz heh. dunno why they can't pull it off properly)
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: A London Symphony
WALTON: Symphony no. 1

yup thats it.