SINGAPORE TOWN, MOSCOW STATE SOLOISTS AND MEN IN WHITE

Every time I go to the Esplanade for a concert, “Singapore Town” invariably plays in my mind.

Excerpt from “Singapore Town”

You could take a little trip around Singapore town
In Singapore city busTo see Collyer Quay and Raffles Place
The Esplanade and all of us

Because in Singapore, Singapore
Their hearts are big and wide you'll find
Because in Singapore, Singapore
You'll find happiness (cha, cha, cha)
For everyone

It is such a simple, happy little tune that my mood is almost always invariably lifted whenever it plays in my head. And makes me feel exceptionally nationalistic. It is easy to feel nationalistic and proud when I am at the Esplanade for some reason.

This weekend, I was at the Esplanade for a performance by the Moscow Soloists with the Moscow State Chamber Choir, with director and viola soloist Yuri Bashmet.

The moment I sat down in the concert hall and cracked open the program, I knew I had made a major mistake.

Three performances had been programmed for the Moscow State Chamber Choir and the Moscow Soloists. The first evening was a full choral performance by the Moscow State Chamber Choir, the second, a joint concert by both the choir and soloist and the last, a full instrumental performance by the Moscow Soloist. I had opted for the one-show-see-all, best-of-both-worlds, sampling plate approach and chosen to attend the second evening’s program. It so happened that the programming for the second evening was, in my opinion, the worst of the three days, and instead of the best of both worlds, I kind of ended with a poor compromise. On hindsight, I should have chosen to go for the first and third program instead of the joint one, if I had wanted to hear the two groups perform in all their glory. But we all know what they say about hindsight.

To be fair, it was hardly a badly executed performance at all. It was just that the programming did not suit my taste and objectives at all.

The Moscow Soloists had the show to themselves for the entire first half. My heart sank to my feet when I spied the first piece, “Concerto in D for Strings” by Igor Stravinsky. Friends who know me well know that I literally run at the mere mention of Stravinsky, after a disastrous run-in with “The Rite of Spring” years ago. I do not wonder that the initial audience was horrified at the work, because that was precisely my reaction even hundreds of years later. I only found it amazing that Stravinsky managed to achieve or maintain any kind of fame at all after that piece debuted, and William Hung’s record feat kind of made sense after that.

Thankfully though, the “Concerto in D for Strings” is a comparatively milder piece and brings to mind initially of a lazy summer afternoon by the lake initially. I found it rather enjoyable, but nothing spectacular. However, I was frankly just grateful enough to avoid shades of “The Rite of Spring” .

The “Adagio in B Minor for Viola and Strings” from Op. 115 by Brahms was next, with Yuri Bashmet himself performing the viola solo. The music is passionate and lyrical and the viola solo was nicely done, but it did not raise any goose-pimples moments for me.

The last piece before the intermission was a set of three film scores arranged for strings, by composer Toru Takemitsu, comprising “Music of Training and Rest”, from the film Jose Torres, “Funeral Music” from Black Rain, and “Waltz” from Face of Arthur. It was a rather short piece, and rather interesting and well executed. But I always find film music, when performed by itself away from the context of the film, lack a certain depth and relevance and makes it rather forgettable. I confess now that while I enjoyed the music at the time of playing, I have totally forgotten what it sounds like now.

I have never been a huge fan of strings, especially in chamber settings. I had fully expected the entire concert to be joint performances by the Moscow State Choir and the Soloists. Listening to only the string ensemble, combined with the low key programming, the first half of the show passed in a rather yawn inducing manner for me.

There was finally some singing after the intermission. The first piece was a Mozart (Exsultate, Jubilate, K. 165) soprano aria. As a general rule, I do not really like soprano voices, as I find them grating on the ears. But the soprano soloist who performed that night had a very mellow voice, and her control was superb and effortless. I did feel that the orchestra overpowered her at points but in general, it was very well done.

Incidentally, I did not realize that a wind quartet had been included in the instrumentation until the end of the piece, which caused me moments of bewilderedness as I tried desperately to identify the obviously non-string sounds.

The last piece of the concert was what I had been waiting for, Schubert’s “Mass No. 2 in G Major for Mixed Chorus and Strings, D.167”. The Mass No. 2 is one of Schubert’s most congenial choral works and it certainly sounded that way. The choir performed the work most exuberantly and warmly and I was all but drowning in the sea of beautiful voices. There is a lovely trio in the fifth movement of the work, and the soloists were fantastic. The soprano was somewhat brighter sounding than the one who sang the Mozart, and balanced very nicely with the bass, who had superb projection. It was a pity that the tenor voice was quite drowned out by the other two, though he had a lovely voice and wonderful control, when I could hear him, that is. But over all, this was the best work of the night by far, and I believe that I was not the only one in the audience to think so.

I was actually kind of disgusted that the both encore pieces featured only the Moscow Soloists and Yuri Bashmet, and not the choir. It was after all supposed to be a joint concert, and I had wanted one more chance to hear the singing. I didn’t even manage to purchase any CD recordings of the choir, though I understood that they were being sold on the first night. Argh!

Incidentally, EP attended the first evening’s performance and JW, being more instrumentally inclined, attended the last. EP was mostly raves about the first performance, although he did mention that the overly passionate interpretation of some of the classical works were perhaps not too suitable. However, the choir excelled at their native Russian folk-inspired music, which is not surprising really. I just wished I had made a better choice now.

My gripe of the day? That the organizers should really publish the program before ticket sales, so that we, the audience, are able to make better selections more suited to our personal preferences.

On a side note, PM Lee and his wife was sitting a few rows in front of me during the concert. That was probably the closest encounter I would ever have to such august personage. The reactions of the people sitting close to them were quite amusing to watch.

I overheard the lady sitting beside me commenting “Look, his bodyguard is there.” I quickly looked around, hoping for glimpses of suave men in black with dark glasses and ear pieces, one hand on their weapons in their suit jackets…..and I looked and looked, but didn’t see any. What bodyguards? Then I spotted the PM’s security detail. One of them was sitting right behind him, while another two were standing by the entry ways….and I guess I could be forgiven for overlooking their presence. They were dressed in plain white short sleeve, island style cut shirt, tucked out with black pants, no sun glasses. They remind me of those bus driver uncles before the bus company spiffied up the drivers’ uniforms. They look more like the house ushers than the ushers themselves. One would have thought that with all the risk these guys are taking, the government would at least spring for a good Brook Brothers suit and Raybans for them. At least give some class to the PM entourage….

Oh, and they were giving out free bottles of Coke Lite. At least it was diet soda….

Between the celebrity sighting and the Coke Lite, the evening was not a total loss after all. But I just wished that my $36.75 had been better spent….