À Tout le Monde in Review

Hawk Liu reviews young flautist Jasper Goh's recital À Tout le Monde. The recital is published late due to miscommunications. Our apologies to Jasper.


À TOUT LE MONDE
27 June 2011, 8pm
1 Commonwealth Avenue, One Commonwealth Building #03-01
Singapore

Jasper Goh - flute solos
Teo Shaoming - flute (the duets)
Loh Wan Shan - piano

Fantasia No. 2 for Solo Flute – Georg Philipp Telemann
Flute Sonata in D, Op.94 – Sergei Prokofiev
Concertino for Flute and Piano, Op.107 – Cecile Chaminade
Duet No. 3, op.10 for Two Flutes – Friedrich Kuhlau
Rigoletto Fantasy for Two Flutes and Piano, Op.38 – Franz Doppler

A Review - written by Hawk Liu

I first heard Jasper playing a short Debussy flute solo just a few months ago and now i am hearing a whole concert. I was treated to a good range of repertoire in terms of classical periods. I seldom listen to recorded flute music because the flute doesn't record well. Even in a concert hall, its beautiful sound is lost among the other instruments and in the large spaces concert halls usually are. So, it was certainly great to be able to sit in this small venue of nearly-30 capacity to be able to hear all the nuances and glory of the instrument. Jasper certainly provided much of the beautiful sound from his playing. The tone was sweet, his technique was sure, and interpretation generally idiomatic.

In terms of skills, Jasper, barely 20, really had to show it all in the very demanding Prokofiev. The virtuosic writing in the last movement was exciting and Jasper really brought it home with the much of the runs and I did notice how very secure the low notes were in those runs. He certainly showed he could bring on the power in the sound of the instrument in especially that movement - amazing! The second movement had some short scalic runs that didn't work though. It did sound like he blew straight into the flute for those. But the Prokofiev was really demanding and the slower passages needed a more matured reading.

I love the Chaminade piece. Jasper brought out the song element really well. Both piano and flute worked exquisitely together to bring out all the beautiful things in the piece. The coloratura was delicious and very clean, and the cadenzas just right. Of all the pieces, I feel this was musically and technically the most successful!

Alright, the bad news before I get to the duets. The piece I felt didn't work was the Telemann. There is always the danger of playing baroque with 'late romantic' leanings in especially rubatos and dramatic phrasing. Yes, there were some questionable rubatos. The pace needed to be more consistent and the tone more intense especially in the slow movements. There appeared to have been some less graceful breathing, probably due to nerves.

Now in constrast, the Khulau duet was such a delight. The pair gave a very tight performance - and I mean very tight! They were matching each other well, taking turns in the music to accompany and then play the main themes as the composer weaved the material in many clever ways. Jasper, especially showed his skills and understanding of the contrast in playing accompaniment and and playing solo lines within the same piece. Here, I am witnessing good music making.

I should make mention of the accompanist before I get to the 'Rigoletto'. Loh Wan Shan was competent pianist in term of music making - the intentions were clear and provided a great musical canvas for Jasper to weave his music on. There were some really exquisite piano work in the 3rd movement of Prokofiev. However, I did wish care was taken not to overpower the flute in the dramatic sections of the finale. There was also the danger of overpowering in the 'Rigoletto', though not as much as the Prokofiev.

Now the 'Rigoletto' - what a joy. Aside from Liszt's Rigoletto paraphrase, I was now delighted to add to my treasure this double flute paraphrase of a few of the main themes from the opera. The piece started with the 'La rà, la rà, la la,' theme of Rigoletto in despair. This was where I wish there were lots of rubato! It was too straightforward and didn't imitate Rigoletto's anguish enough for me. However, the crowning glory were the several variations of 'caro nome'. There were surprising twists and turns in the writing and also a waltz variation. The flutes gave full justice to the score as a finale to the concert.

Solo flute and piano duly gave an encore in the form of Tambourin by Francois Joseph Gossec. A great finish to a night of beautiful flute sounds!
I do wish Jasper the best in his study of the instrument. With more years of music making, the maturity in interpretation should come and I look forward to hearing him again and again.

First Ever Audio Interview with Martin Ng

So we at The Mad Scene has been doing interviews in writing for like the four years we've been around, so I guess its time enough to try something new. Hence allow us to introduce our new audio interview format! Joining me for the first time is Martin Ng, last seen in Salome and soon to be seen again this coming Saturday as part of the Lieder Festival.

What happened was that we decided to meet up for dinner at Orchard Road, and after our meal we got to doing some Q-and-As and taped it down (so please excuse the surrounding ambiant noise). Its only natural to pick Martin for this experiment, being such a close friend and all. But then this being the first attempt for both interviewer and interviewee, there are bound to be some hickups which might just be as interesting as what's intentionally communicated; hopefully things will become more polished with experience. Please feel free to offer any comments. So eh, enjoy!


Martin Ng Interview
Edit

The second installment of the Singapore Lieder Festival runs from 2 to 4 September 2011. Check out the Events Page for more information.

Singapore Lieder Festival - 19 to 21 Aug 2011 in Review

Our reviewer Christopher shares his opinion on the recent Lieder Festival (Schubert Complete Song Cycles):

The art song genre is often neglected in Singapore; while we have no shortage of  performances of symphonies, operas and instrumental recitals, song recital is still rare. Kudos to the Sing Song Club and The Arts House for taking on the task of organising the first ever Singapore Lieder Festival, both to offer a performing platform for the young (and not so young) vocalists as well as to expose the audience to this genre of music. This year's festival comes in two installments: the first on Franz Schubert Complete Song Cycles (19 to 21 August) and the second on Robert Schumann Song Cycles of 1840 (from 2 to 4 September).

The first installation featured Franz Schubert's Die Schoene Mullerin (19 Aug), Schwanengesang (20 Aug) and Winterreise (21 Aug), performed by Peter Ong, Daniel Fong and Adrian Poon respectively. All three vocalists are well prepared and well rehearsed. Both Peter and Daniel possess a large voice with a darker hue, while Adrian had a sweet lyrical voice. All three singers are able to grasp the content of the pieces, and bring out the lines and diction well and clear. One can also sense a certain enthusiam (or anxiety) and perhaps inadequate breathing spaces were allowed in between individual songs, this is particularly obvious in Winterreise, when that space is very important to colour the depressed mood.

All three soloists sang with scores, this had been an acceptable performance practice. However, Peter Ong seems to be over-reliant on the scores, what a pity, he could have had more interaction with the audience. Comparatively, Daniel and Adrian only refer to their scores sparingly, taking advantage of the small hall to allow more eye exchanges with the audience.

One could not say that the soloists are perfect in their vocal techniques; however, their conviction in their interpretation  largely overcame their technical deficiencies. Ultimately, German lieders are more than mere singing, they are tone pictures that convey a certain atmosphere, a certain mood. One can sense the amount of preparation in their earnest attempt to interpret the songs (sometimes perhaps too much details was focused on such that the big overall picture was lost).

Throughout all three nights, Shane Thio give his usual supportive accompaniment and complimented the performers well.

The Arts House Living Room is a perfect venue for song recital. It is intimate, and not overbearing as it would be in a larger concert hall. Acoustics are warm and complimentary for setting lieder performances. One would certainly like to have more of such perfomances in the future.

Xu Shu-Ming Vocal Recital in Review

Concert Review Of Soprano Recital By Xu Shuming

Reviewed By: Xiao Chunyuan

Performed at Singapore Conference Hall on 14th August 2011, this recital showcased various genres of music such as Chinese, German, French and English art songs and three operatic arias. From what I understood, the soloist, Miss Xu Shu-Ming was born of China and studied under various teachers such as Miss Stella Zhou Ming Lun, Madam Nancy Yuen and Mr Lim Shieh Yih, just to name a few and this concert was to help her support her studies in the USA. She is currently a vocal student from the Department Of Vocal Studies at Longy Conservatory Of Music at Boston, United States.

Frankly speaking, I heard her singing during another concert which was organised by Hsinghai Arts Association. She was invited by the organisation as a soloist. I did not really enjoy that previous performance so when I heard that she was giving a solo recital, I decided to hear her because I wanted to see if she had made any improvements this past year.

Upon looking at the program booklet, the list of songs did not match the ones that was printed on the ticket. Some pieces were changed at the last minute. The accompanist was Mr Su Heng, one of the best accompanists in Singapore Chinese art scenes. I must say the host for the concert was very horrible, speaking in Chinese-style English and did anybody hear of the word 'Interval' being called 'Internal'? Here’s the evidence:

As a vocalist, Miss Xu was introduced to the audience as a singer with a voice that encompasses three octaves. Three octaves! To me, to have this wide a vocal range is a rare jewel if you are a singer with good singing voice. But that is not the case for Miss Xu. On the singing, her voice is small and very weak. This can be seen when she tells the audience what she was singing as her encore, cannot be heard at all! Performance wise, I must say the whole first half of the programme was very horribly done. I couldn't understand a word of what she was singing, whether it is English, Italian or Chinese. The operatic aria Signore Ascolta, taken from the opera Turandot by Puccini, was sung half in Italian and Chinese. This meant the singer both did not know the words, and worse still, did not respect both the composer and the librettist, and for that I did not applause during the first half. Besides the performance, the host is also one horrible fellow. Do not know how to speak, and still claims he done hosting before. The second half was slightly better, although I still did not understand her singing of the Western pieces and underwhelmed by her lack of vocal power.

In summary, I must say I was very disappointed with the performance and I hope that the next time I hear her again, it will not be so horrible!

Taiwan NSO's Elektra

This was sent to me only a moment ago and seems a good fit to our on-going  Strauss themed discussions: an excerpt of Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra's performance of Richard Strauss's Elektra that I attended earlier this year, with Australian Claire Primrose in the title role:

À TOUT LE MONDE - An Interview with Jasper Goh

This interview of flautist Jasper Goh's concert by Hawk Liu came to me at a really busy time and I simply forgot to publish it. My apologies to Jasper and Hawk for the oversight.

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Our contributor Hawk Liu interviews Jasper Goh, a young flutist who was part of the LANXESS Singapore National Youth Orchestra concert reported here not too long ago. Here is a closer look at one of our rising young musicians:

À TOUT LE MONDE
A Solo Concert by Jasper Goh (flute)
27 June 2011, 8pm
1 Commonwealth Avenue, One Commonwealth Building #03-01

Programme

Fantasia No. 2 for Solo Flute – Georg Philipp Telemann
Flute Sonata in D, Op.94 – Sergei Prokofiev
-Intermission-
Concertino for Flute and Piano, Op.107 – Cecile Chaminade
Duet No. 3, op.10 for Two Flutes – Friedrich Kuhlau
Rigoletto Fantasy for Two Flutes and Piano, Op.38 – Franz Doppler

The concert is sold out.

An Interview with Jasper
(By Hawk Liu)

I met Jasper while reporting on a bloggers' session that explains some myths of classical music.

Jasper Goh started learning the flute at the age of 13, and subsequently auditioned for a Summer Festival in North Dakota when he was 15, where he received tutelage from renowned flutists Laurel Ridd and Deborah Harris. Subsequently, he auditioned for the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and was awarded a scholarship to study under Brokmiller Evgueni (Associate Principal Flute, Singapore Symphony Orchestra), Wang Tong, and currently Roberto Alvarez (Associate Principal Piccolo, Singapore Symphony Orchestra). Jasper has also participated in various master classes by Andrea Griminelli, Hiroshi Matsushima, Anders Norrell, Michael Hasel (Associate Principal Flute of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra), Paul Edmund Davies (Former Principal Flute of the London Symphony Orchestra), as well as Mihi Kim. Jasper was named the Winner of the Open Division Category in the Flute Competition organized in conjunction with the Flute Festival 2010.

These were my questions for Jasper:

The Mad Scene: How did you get interested in music?

Jasper: When I was in Primary School, I joined the Maths Club as my CCA, but for some reason I was really attracted to the recorder. I managed to play the chromatic scale of two octaves on the recorder, whereas the other kids were struggling with a simple three-note melody. This inspired me to continue reading music and try to play everything on the recorder. It also helped that my brother was from the symphonic band in ACS(I) as a clarinettist, but he also taught himself the flute.

The Mad Scene: How did you come to choose the flute as your instrument?

Jasper: My brother told me to pick up the flute as it was more expressive and had more repertoire compared to other instruments in the band. I followed his advice when I joined the band in Maris Stella High School. However, for almost an entire year I couldn't really produce a real sound on the flute. This was rather demoralizing and I was almost transferred to the euphonium section. However, the second year was a good year for me and I improved really quickly and managed to get a scholarship to study in a summer music camp at North Dakota, sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Subsequently, I passed the audition for the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and attained a Distinction in my Grade 8 in Flute Performance, Trinity.

The Mad Scene: What do you hope your musical journey will be in the future?

Jasper: Upon completion of the National Service two years later, I hope to pursue music education in France, to achieve my aim into being a professional musician. I hope to become an orchestral musician, occasionally holding solo recitals such as the one that I will be having on 27th of June.

The Mad Scene: Which composers do you like? Why?

Jasper: I like many composers - ranging from Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Ravel, Mozart and Prokofiev. There are too many to name, but the primary reasons why I am drawn to these composers, other than Mozart, is because of their orchestral works. Although Mozart didn't like the flute at the time he wrote the two flute concerti, I still like both his flute concerti as well as all the flute quartets which he composed.

THANK YOU

SLO Salome Review

You've  read all our pre-performance features, you've seen the pictures and read my immediate post-performance thoughts; now Hawk Liu shares his opinion on how the evening went yesterday:

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R Strauss - Salome
Esplanade Theatre, Singapore
19 August 2011

Salome - Janice Watson
King Herod - Hubert Francis
Herodias - Bernadette Cullen
Jokanaan - Dawid Kimberg
Narraboth - Kota Murakami
Page - Anna Koor
First Jew - Melvin Tan
Second Jew - Raymond Lee Pei Khoon
Third Jew - Ruben Aldea
Fourth Jew - Antoine Garth
Fifth Jew - Brent Allcock
First Nazarene - Martin Ng
Second Nazarene - Reuben Lai
First Soldier - William Lim
Second Soldier - Huang Rong Hai
A Cappadocian - Martin Ng
A Slave Girl - Su Yi Wen

Director - Andrew Sinclair
Conductor - Peter Selwyn
Assistant Conductor - Timothy Carey
Set Designer - Justin Hill
Costume Designer - Phylia Poh
Lighting Designer - Lim Yu-Beng
Choreographer - Gani Karim

Review - by Hawk Liu

I like operas that jump straight into the action without a 'formal' overture and Salome is one of those. The music elements take one straight into the mood of the piece. The stage is quite bare except for the huge entrance to Joknaan's dungeon at stage right and a stark, giant palace entrance at stage left. The singers made very good use of the stage and all stage business was interesting to watch.

All the leads were vocally wonderful. Even every one of the smaller roles was in good voice. Salome had an even voice from top to bottom and enough stamina to spare for the whole opera and another one after that. It's a difficult role, demanding full acting abilities throughout. I did believe her when she repeatedly demanded Jokanaan's head on a platter. Herod was a delight to watch as it was quite a bit of an acting role and his diction was excellent, though that did interfere with a few high notes. Herodias was a solid mezzo throughout and did play her play well. Jokanaan had a reliable solid tone too. The thing that bothered me about Jokanaan was his appearance. I was too conscious of his wig, his make up and his costume as being less than real compared to the rest. All the other roles were taken well. The difficult mob scenes were strong and the first Jew (Melvin) did stand out in the aspect of acting.

A highlight was the dance of the 7 veils where six well defined, muscled, bare-chested male dancers came on and showed us how R Strauss' sexy music could be very sexy....anyway, my eyes were glued to my binoculars for a while and I didn't fall asleep....

The orchestra did a great job with the score. All the nuances were there and the music certainly true to the R Straussian style. However, there were quite a few moments where I truly, truly wish they would swell in volume WITH the singers and not OVER the singers.

The overall production was true to the spirit of the opera and one does go off feeling the music of Strauss in this idiomatic work. I am not quite sure if the head of Jokanaan shocked me as I expected it to, maybe if Salome were to make a bigger deal of reality of the blood being everywhere on her, it might make it more real for the audience.Nonetheless it was a really enjoyable performance, one that I would recommend readers to watch.