13 posts tagged “music”

Interesting article: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/lifestylenews/view/438452/1/.html

So, the flute is the oldest musical instrument recorded. :)
And to think I've heard the 骨笛 being performed before. Heh!

Three-time Grammy Award winner for Best Traditional World Music, Ladysmith Black Mambazo hails from South Africa and had been around for over 40 years. "Ladysmith" is the name of the hometown of the founder, "Black" refers to the oxen and "Mambazo" is the zulu word for axe. Interesting. And so was the programme. 

For the entire evening, the group presented works from their 2009 Grammy Award winning CD, Ilembe, and selections from their rich and long history. Their performance was extremely polished and their harmonies were so tight, even when they incorporated movements whilst singing, they were still perfectly synchronised with each other. Amazing! The 1st half was a tad hypnosis-inducing, mainly because of the endless looping of South African tunes. But it was so comfortable listening to them, it would have been a sweet slumber indeed. :p

The 2nd half was more fun, with one of the singers heating things up with jokes and audience participation. At the end, they invited members of the audience up on stage to dance along with their melodies. It was really quite cool as 5 gung-ho ladies took to the stage. I thought it was a great way to reach out to audiences as the ladies seemed to really enjoy themselves. And from the very easy and comfortable way the singers interacted with the audience, it is no wonder they're the commercial success they are. 

Years down the road, these ladies would probably always remember those fabulous few minutes and other members of the audience would probably always remember the South African group that came and brought music and fun... Singapore's arts groups really need to learn more from this group.

Pianist:
Joanna MacGregor (UK)

Programme:
1st Half - Bach & Shostakovich's Prelude & Fugues
2nd Half - Brazilian Piano Music (Villa-Lobos, Edu Lobo, Gismonti, Jobim, de Moraes & Piazzolla)

This wasn't one of my 1st choice concerts to watch, however as there were extra tickets, I couldn't pass up the chance. But I mean, I'm not the biggest fan of Bach... undoubtedly he's the great grandfather of music, but still... he's Bach... and somehow, his music brings back somewhat traumatising memories of the Preludes & Fugues I used to practise for piano exams in my youth.

It is rather admirable of Ms MacGregor to present the recital as such. Shostakovich's P&F were influenced by Bach and though the 2nd half was Brazilian piano music, the composers she chose all loved and admired Bach. In the 1st half, she played alternately Bach & Shostakovich for a full 45 minutes without stopping. It was really quite amazing though after about 20 minutes, I kind of got lost. Add to the fact that our seats were at an angle of 90 degrees to the stage, it made my neck extremely uncomfortable. I found solace in closing my eyes and enjoying her playing for what it was.

The 2nd half was livelier. Ms MacGregor's virtuosity and versatility in her techniques were displayed. I loved the 2 Villa-Lobos pieces, actually I've always loved guitar pieces which were rearranged for piano. I always liked the warmth in the music. The last piece of a medley of Six Tangos by Piazzolla was also really interesting and reflected Ms MacGregor's wide range of emotions and depths which she managed to express brilliantly. 

All in all, an enjoyable concert in a very uncomfortable seating position.

Musicians:
(i) Jeremy Monteiro
(ii) T'ang Quartet
(iii) Randy Brecker (Trumpet)
(iv) Ernie Watts (Saxophone)
(v) Richard Jackson (Vocals)
(vi) Shawn Kelley (Drums)
(vii) Christy Smith (Bass)

I wasn't quite sure at the start if I might enjoy this concert was jazz was also something which I don't really know much about. But I was fairly sure about one thing - I would definitely enjoy T'ang. The concert started off with Kelly Tang's "Tang-ology". The quartet was spirited and a joy to watch. And then the rest of the concert featured the jazz musicians. All I can say was that, the entire concert was really enjoyable. In particular, the pieces which featured both the trumpet and the saxophone were amazing. The pairing off of the 2 veterans produced a wonderful kind of spark, which sizzled throughout the concert. I learned something about jazz that night, the tunes just seemed to keep looping. And there's this "tendency" or "need" or whatever to feature each instrument singularly. So the trumpet might start first, then the saxophone, then the drums, then piano, then bass... It could get quite tiring, especially since the 2nd half was longer than the 1st half. That's not to say that it wasn't hard on the musicians of course, but for the audience, especially for the untrained ear for jazz, it could get quite exhausting.

However, the entire evening was so fun, the performers were all so great, the momentary exhaustion was quickly diminished and forgotten. The saxophonist was especially incredible. He played the instrument as if it was effortless and as if he had lungs the capacity of an oil tanker or something. 

A special mention to Jeremy - towards the end of the concert, he thanked the organisers, his team, his musicians, etc. And he even thanked the venue (Esplanade) staff. I thought that was a really great gesture. Most people would just thank the usual people and it's probably the only time I've heard a venue being thanked. Of course, the Esplanade people always do great work - I can vouch first hand - but it's still nice to be thanked. Kudos to Jeremy for remembering to thank the people that really mattered most to the production. :)

The day of the concert was especially hot and humid. And for some reason, the heavens decided they would like to toy with me. The second I got off the bus, rain drops started to fall. My bus stop was the one right in front of Victoria Concert Hall, and I literally ran the entire way to Esplanade, making me even hotter and stickier. Bleargh... And the moment I got into the cool shelter of Esplanade, the rain stopped. How... nice.

Synopsis: A young traveller, Tamino, fell in love with the daughter of the Queen of the Night, Pamino, who was kidnapped by an evil man. The Queen presented Tamino with a Magic Flute to aid him in his quest to rescue the young lady. Through a journey of trials and tribulations, the characters discover humility, compassion and tolerance.

Rearranged, restaged and revived from Mozart's 1791 The Magic Flute, this South African musical is totally un-high brow, and completely accessible, fun and an absolute delight to watch. The performers, who were all not mic-ed up, were powerful vocalists in their own right. They doubled up as singers and musicians, at times playing exuberantly on the marimabas, at times belting out the operatic tunes with heartfelt emotions.

I went because I was curious to see how Mozart's opera would be restaged. And it was quite an eye-opener to see how African music could be integrated with the operatic melodies. I also really enjoyed watching the performers' sheer sense of fun on stage. In fact, the accessibility of this production made me want to find out even more about the original opera. 

Just 1 tiny gripe... when I arrived at the Victoria Theatre, I saw hordes of secondary school children. I was initially stunned and wondered if I had arrived at the wrong venue. While it was really commendable to be able to sell tickets by loads to so many school kids, and indeed it was extremely good for the kids to be exposed to the productions, I had not been in the company of so many children since my school days. It was... to put it mildly, rather traumatising for me that night. Adding to that, a SO of one of the ministers decided to sit right next to me. His cologne irritated my nose so much I almost couldn't stop sneezing. And oh, I HATE the seats at VT... they're so old, every time I just moved my body very slightly, it creaked very loudly. Damn embarrassing.

Thanks to Ivy's invitation, I managed to catch JJ Lin's concert this year - a first for me. It was a 3 hour long affair and the indoor stadium was packed to the brim with young screaming fans.

What I liked:
- I've never really understood his appeal, but after tonight, I can begin to understand why young girls like him so much. He never gives up any chance to tell his fans that he loves them and he never gives up any chance to remark that they love him too. *grin*
- His boyish grin and dimples and constant teasing of the fans and audience. He made the entire event very personable.
- Fan Wei Qi, his guest star, and how sweet and jovial she was and how she managed to really stir up the audience's enthusiasm.
- His sweetness: He hid 100 self-penned cards under the seats of some audience as a birthday present from him (It was his birthday on 27 March, the day before the concert) & he invited 1 lucky young girl up on stage to share a song with him & how his family shared the stage with him for 1 song and he got so choked up with emotion. It was quite moving.
- How his music has matured over the years
- The level of sincerity in his performance

What I found lacking:
- Very little interaction with the band: it was very much a JJ vehicle. Nothing wrong with that, but if he had gelled with the band more, such that the entire performance would have been more about the music and it would, IMHO, be much nicer.
- I wasn't very impressed with the backup dancers, nor with the twin girl band By 2.
- Somehow I found the balancing of the band a bit weird/off-balance? But I could be wrong, of course...

I'd been so bogged down with work since the start of the year that I just refused to attend any performances during weekends, just so I could stay home to recuperate enough to battle the following week. And though I was not a JJ fan to start with, I really quite enjoyed my first concert of 2009. May the rest of his world tour be as successful as tonight and may he continue to write better and better songs. :)

I always thought that my reviews wouldn't invite much interest and they would primarily serve as my archived documents for me to remember when my memory dimmed in future, but Saresha and Wwolf had proven me wrong. *really touched*

"QNG - Quartet New Generation is a recorder collective founded in 1998 by 4 recorder players (all young ladies by the way) who met during their studies in Amsterdam and Berlin. Its innovative programming has attracted enthusiastic audiences throughout Europe and the America, demonstrating the recorder's ability to be a modern classical instrument. The instruments played include a large number of accurate copies of authentic historical instruments plus modern recorders called Patzoldbasses. These square box-like recorders produce a different structure of overtones and therefore an extraordinary sound, further enhanced by the percussive nature of the keys." (From the programme)

And it was an eye-opening experience. The girls performed 9 contemporary and early music works using over 20 different types of recorders. There're bass recorders which were much bigger than the ones used by primary school students, and also recorders in shapes of rectangular boxes. I'd never seen so many different types of recorders in my life! Some of them were positively beautiful, especially the colour of the wood used to make them. Michiel Mensingh's 2007: A Space Odyssey was great fun to listen to and I also enjoyed JS Bach's The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080. I also liked that each of the four ladies took turns to describe the work they were about to perform, thus making it more accessible to the audience.

I wish I could say more about this performance, but my knowledge of recorders's really limited to the small instrument I once held in my hand more than 20 years ago. The flair the girls displayed last night also included a myriad of woodwind-performance techniques I know - 花舌、双吐、颤音, etc - you name it, they did it. Of course, they sounded nothing like the pathetic melodies we used to force out as kids. Having said that, however, there're limitation to the sound, timbre and range of the recorder. Oft times, the quartet sounded merely soothing and sweet - almost lull-inducing indeed, but in a good way.

Oh yes, a special mention must be made with regards to a member of the audience. Somewhere in the middle of the last song before intermission, a loud rustling noise (of plastic bags) could be heard from the front. I was seated somewhere in the middle but from my angle, I couldn't see who the person was. But I could see and hear a man, seated across the aisle, snapping his fingers at the "rustler" and then moving his hand across his neck to indicate to the person to stop making that noise. He was ignored to the point of frustration whereby he threw his programme at the perpetrator! Only then did the rustling noise stop.

Thereafter, I heard from the grapevine that the "rustler" was an Indian woman in her 60s, and she was trying to find food from the plastic bag within another plastic bag!!! Hmmmm, did she perhaps think that Jubilee Hall was a cinema where food and drinks were allowed??!! In any case, I further heard that, during the intermission, another man tried to tell her nicely that she was disturbing the other patrons. But this woman, instead of being apologetic, told that man off!!! The world had changed man! The perpetrator could become a victim in the blink of an eye! Perhaps the woman thought that she paid good money to watch the performance, hence she should be allowed to do anything she liked, including eating and drinking in a theatre whereby food and drinks were PROHIBITED. But I'm sure this woman had also forgotten that about 300 other patrons also paid good, if not better money, to watch the same performance. So what gave her more right than the others to behave in such an outrageous and atrocious manner??!! Seriously man, Singapore audiences needed to be taught proper concert-going etiquette and their behaviour needed to be cultivated to become more considerate and cultured! Otherwise, no matter how many performances one attended in a year, one would never be able to attain any sense of culture. 

Performed by the Singapore Festival Orchestra, conducted by Chan Tze Law and held at the Esplanade Concert Hall. Initially I thought the programme sounded boring and didn't really care to attend. However, I was asked by boss to attend (read: no choice). 

Programme:
Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Wasp Overture
Tan Chan Boon's Cherish (珍惜)
Edward Macdowell's Piano Concerto No. 2 in D Minor Op. 23 (Soloist: Wenyu Shen)
Pablo de Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy (Soloist: Tee Khoon Tang)
Giacomo Puccini's Preludio Sinfonico
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Festival Overture Op. 36

Just a little sidetrack - I was running late for the concert. I reached Marina Square at 7:20pm and I literally flew across the shopping centre towards Esplanade and then into the hall. In fact, I was just so in time, the conductor was already on stage when I rushed into the hall and the first note rang 1 second after my butt touched my seat. :P It was just all so exciting for me! :P I was all prepared to spend the 1st song catching up with my breath and just warming up to the concert. However, the music was so well-written and the performance almost flawless, I forgot I was out of breath! In fact, for the entire concert, all the pieces that were performed by the SFO were beautifully executed. The strings were especially good as the sounds were warm and rich. And the programme was not as boring as I initially thought. In fact, it was a well thought and well planned programme. I particularly liked Puccini's Preludio Sinfonico - no surprise there as one of my all-time favourites was his Nessun Dorma from Turandot. The choice of the encore pieces was smart too - an excerpt from Swan Lake and The Flight of the Bumblebee - all time favourites and familiar tunes, and short and sweet. Oh, and I was worried about Tan Chan Boon's composition. I had heard his compositions before and I always felt that they were too avant-garde for me to appreciate. Thankfully, this composition (about loving earth) was not too... abstract. In fact, it was positively easy to listen to. While I felt that a few parts could be even better developed, it was really perhaps the 1st of all his works that I could listen to.

Perhaps a mention about the soloists. Wenyu Shen's a young Chinese prodigy. His performance was definitely admirable, though I thought he was a bit too bouncy when on the piano chair, especially when he was crashing the chords. But I guess, it was due to his small stature. :P My other, urh, very bimbotic impression of him was - his head's bigger than any other parts of his body. After his very long concerto, he rewarded the audience with a piano solo piece as his encore, and of course, time overran. Tee Khoon Tang didn't look at all like what she looked in the picture in the programme. She was so skinny she looked almost anorexic on stage. But if she was, she definitely didn't behave like one. Her strides on stage made her seem almost... 粗鲁. But when performing, her movements were fluid, strong and confident. Some of the 泛音s were a bit painful to listen to, but it was very obvious she had great control and mastery over her instrument. Her interpretation was also mature and it was unfortunate that her violin didn't sound very good.

Anyway, this is SFO's 3rd performance I'd heard in this 1 month and it's so far the best. In fact, I enjoyed this performance very much although it was very long. They definitely redeemed themselves very nicely after the not so well-done LOTR concert.       

This is one performance I'm not quite sure how to review. Perhaps I should break it up into separate components and talk about each individually.

Awaking is a production conceived and directed by Ong Keng Sen of TheatreWorks; conducted by Maestro Tsung Yeh and performed by Kunqu actress Wei Chun Rong with the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre, Musicians of the Globe (led by Philip Pickett) and with 11 musicians from the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. The production brought together Shakespeare's plays and Tang Xian Zu's The Peony Pavilion (牡丹亭), with new music compositions by Qu Xiao Song.

It's always a pleasure listening to a SCO performance and always, always a great pleasure to watch Yeh Tsung conduct on stage. And this time, besides listening to them play their instruments, certain parts of the music required them to chant softly. The chanting reminded me of a monk chanting Buddhist scriptures and it was very soothing to listen to. 

The Musicians of the Globe were also very good. The soprano was bright and clear and the music was soothing and lull-inducing. :P Saresha said it's garden music, which was very apt as I could imagine people lounging, chatting, eating, drinking and laughing in gardens - men in their suits and women in their gowns and parasols. :P

The Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre actually only sent 2 musicians - a dizi and a percussionist (the latter, if I don't remember wrongly!). The instrumentalists were ok, playing the endlessly looping tunes of the familiar kunqu. But when the actress came out to sing, it felt... as if I was sitting in a travelling car and listening to a radio, with varying degrees of frequency. Sometimes the sounds are bright and loud, and at other times, it's as if the car was going through some tunnel and I could hear it and then don't hear it. It was very irritating and I began to wonder if kunqu's performed in this way! I mean, kunqu music is not unfamiliar to me, but I'd never heard nor watched it perform before, so I wasn't sure. And she's supposed to be at the top of her field, someone with high accolades and stuff. But the only impression I had of her was... "HUH?"

The set was... interesting. The musicians all sat on transparent plastic chairs and their music stands had attached lights, which were controlled by the lighting crew. Then there was some kind of platform in the shape of a wave which rose up to the end of the stage. On that raised platform was a lone white plastic chair and above it, (of all things!) a chandelier! At the end of Act 1, the actress (after doing her stuff - waving her sleeves, etc) collapsed into the plastic chair and I was thinking to myself, you mean got plastic chairs in the olden times one meh? Oh yes, and the costumes were just... weird! The costumes worn by the Musicians of the Globe were still ok - floral design and the ladies had white soft sleeves attached. However, when the SCO musicians came out, all I could think of was - old jazz band of the 20s/30s - so dated!!! The actress performed in traditional opera garb for 2 acts but in the final act, she shed her wig and costume and came out with a long-sleeved dress that fell to the mid of her calves. The fabric was similar to what the musicians were donned in too. My first thought was kunqu had become Noh. It was just all so... avant garde-ish and weird to me.

Frankly, besides the design of the stage, costumes and lighting, I'm not sure what other things TheatreWorks was in for. I was wondering what in the world was so special or niche about this production that required the services of Ong Keng Sen 他老人家? And near the end, after a most sleep-inducing Act 3, I had an epiphany. I finally realised why the production was called "Awaking". There's no choice but for the audience to wake up at the end, because there were 2 loud clashings of the cymbals and then a strong bright light shone on the audience to ensure there was no one sleeping at the end. And at the end, although I won't call this a bad production, I won't say it's a cutting edge production either. Separately, the 3 groups of musicians were fine. But when meshed together in a single production, the gelling of the Globe and SCO just didn't quite make sense. Saresha mentioned that such productions were very self-indulgent for the performing artists and I couldn't help but agree. It's also as if art was going back to Mozart's age where only the rich and elite could have access to. Such productions are a bit too much for me. With all due respect to OKS, no more of his works for me in future.

I want to end of this post with one final grouse. The programme booklet rambled on about the biographies of the key personnel like OKS, Qu Xiao Song, Yeh Tsung, etc... There's even 2 full pages listing TheatreWorks' Board of Directors. But the names of all the musicians were crammed into 1 page, and they were classified under the organisation they belonged to, WITHOUT any mention of what instrument each played. I think that's being very disrespectful and paying no heed to the musicians. Without them, the core and spine of the production wouldn't have been possible, so surely, listing their instruments, even if it's in parentheses, next to their names, wouldn't have been asking alot. Would it?!     

Probably the most interesting concert I attended for the Arts Fest and this year so far. Ha!! It was really fun. I attended the concert partly because the root of several Chinese instruments originate from Central Asia, so I thought I might as well go learn something there.

The concert featured the following groups:
From Kyrgyzstan: Tengir-Too
From Kazakhstan: Bardic Divas
From Azerbaijan: Alim & Fargana Qasimov

According to the programme notes, Spiritual Sounds of Central Asia is an activity of the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia (AKMICA). Created by His Highness the Aga Khan in 2000 to support the efforts of Central Asian communities to sustain, develop and pass on their musical traditions, the Music Initiative supports outstanding musical talent, cultivates new approaches to performance, and stimulates interest in Central Asian music worldwide.

Spiritual Sounds of Central Asia brings together three groups of performers who represent the strikingly diverse musical heritage of a region that has long been a wellspring of art, culture and spirituality... music has been a means of expressing social identity, preserving spiritual practices and beliefs, cultivating the performance of poetry, and transmitting history, philosophy and ethics.

It was indeed very fun to watch, especially when the Azerbaijani sang about love epics - of unrequited or abandoned love (usually the mourning of a man dumped by a woman!) - it was almost Shakespearean-like! And there I was thinking, this is Azerbaijan we're talking about - a muslim oriented country, a place I imagined to be male-dominated and a place where women will be suppressed, if not at least, pressed into obedience. So how come the women can gain the upper hand to do the dumping instead? Hmmmm.... Nevertheless it was still fun.

I really liked the Tengir-Too's performance. They sang about horses, feasting, life, etc - the portrayal was just so simplistic and so... much less complicated. And of course the folksy/tribal instruments were all very interesting. A special mention must be made about the costumes worn by the Bardic Divas. The cut of the costumes was rather similar to the Vietnamese Ao Dai - long sleeved, body hugging, and the outer layer is long. The two ladies wore long dresses under the outer layer. But it's the colours of the costumes that really dazzled me. One was a rich red, like wine, while the other wore pale green that was almost shimmery. The design, colours and cut just drew my breath away. The moment they stepped on the stage, my first thought was, I gotta get me some of that! Hahahaha!!! The lady in red wore high cut boots while the other wore a pair of white stilettos. Modernity within tradition. Hee!!!

Another special mention must be made about the hats or whatever you call them worn by the Bardic Divas and the female performer of Tengir-Too. They had these long feathers sticky out on top; I couldn't help commenting to Saresha that they reminded me alot of feather dusters. :P

The entire concert stirred a deep interest in Central Asia within me. Someday, I hope, I'll be able to visit at least 3 countries from Central Asia. And that, would really be an eye-opener.