Prom 61 - 2.08.14: Singapore SO, Haefliger / Lan Shui

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Tuesday, 2 September
7.30 p.m. – c. 9.50 p.m.
Royal Albert Hall

Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila - overture
Zhou Long: Postures (European premiere)

Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor

Andreas Haefliger, piano
Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Proms debut ensemble)
Lan Shui, conductor (Proms debut artist)

Continuing the World Orchestras strand this year, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra makes its Proms debut under Music Director Lan Shui, bringing with it the European premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning Chinese composer Zhou Long's Piano Concerto - a fusion of Western forms and Eastern memories.

The concert opens with the overture to Glinka's fairy-tale opera Ruslan and Lyudmila, which weaves three melodies together with intricate skill. We end with Rachmaninov's Second Symphony, in which the composer overcame his early artistic doubts to produce an expansive work with a brilliant, vivacious scherzo and one of his very loveliest slow movements.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The "World Orchestras strand", eh?

The B-team representatives have been good so far.

The Singapore SO interests me because they allegedly recorded a tone poem by Strauss - the one of which I'm collecting and reviewing every recording - but this one has eluded me so far.

[teamsaint]

a quick bump for this one.
Its today.

And just to say, what a great job EA does on this Proms forum.

Much appreciated.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

a quick bump for this one.
Its today.

And just to say, what a great job EA does on this Proms forum.

Much appreciated.

To be fair, Bluestateprommer did most of the donkeywork.

[teamsaint]

To be fair, Bluestateprommer did most of the donkeywork.

Thanks to BSP also then.

[EdgeleyRob]

Thanks to EA and BSP from me too.

I only managed to listen to the second half.
Magnificent performance of Rachmaninov 2 I thought,but then I'm no music critic.
The big tunes were,well,reeeaaaally big.
Judging by the encore I reckon the Singapore SO would make a good fist of Walton 1 & 2.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks to EA and BSP from me too.

[gedsmk]

Yes, great thanks to all involved behind the scenes. This forum has been a great place for informed critique as well as instant reactions. always interesting too!

[PJPJ]

I can't make out the title of the Berio piece played as an encore.... sounds like "Bus Italia" - help, please!

Wasserklavier?

http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_prom_review.php?id=12227

[pureimagination]

"The B-team representatives have been good so far." from post 2 of this thread. If they've been good why the unnecessary back-handed compliment? This also relates to the thread for Prom 67. I welcome the worldly spread of the orchestras at the Proms. For many people the Proms brought them their first hearing of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. Just one example of many.

The Rachmaninov sounded "magnificent" to me too EdgeleyRob. Some great tunes -but what do we know?

[Blotto]

"The B-team representatives have been good so far." from post 2 of this thread. If they've been good why the unnecessary back-handed compliment?

It is still a compliment, though, even if the flattery is reserved. As a parallel, the Iceland SO aren't a first-rate orchestra but they gave a good and enjoyable evening's music (excepting the Schumann concerto). They aren't an orchestra that even an ignoramus like me would recommend without some reservation but their concert programme gave both interest and pleasure. Another orchestra, however, might have excited as well as entertained.

[pureimagination]

It is still a compliment, though, even if the flattery is reserved. As a parallel, the Iceland SO aren't a first-rate orchestra but they gave a good and enjoyable evening's music (excepting the Schumann concerto). They aren't an orchestra that even an ignoramus like me would recommend without some reservation but their concert programme gave both interest and pleasure. Another orchestra, however, might have excited rather than entertained.

Can't disagree with you there, Blotto [not the "ignoramus like me" bit!]

[Lento]

Hilary Finch didn't rate it in the Times: thought the expression was forced in the Rach, and not keen on the new piece. Telegraph crit more favourable: didn't hear it myself.

[pureimagination]

Critics views are just their opinions and though I read what they say it never changes my mind. I hate to be told what I should think/feel about a piece of music or a performer. Let the music speak for itself.

[bluestateprommer]

Sorry that this Prom didn't get a lot of attention here, especially now that there's barely a few days left to catch it. But if you haven't yet, I would strongly advise you to do so. In general, the Singapore SO brings a lean and clean orchestral sound to the table, yet I found it very tight, well-blended and impressive, miles ahead of the China PO (to use a whipping boy of the moment). Really crack orchestral playing, and I cannot strongly recommend giving this a shot, while there's still time.

Regarding the offerings; once done with a spic-and-span Ruslan and Lyudmila, the Zhou Long de facto piano concerto Postures was actually pretty good, clean fun, probably the single most entertaining contemporary work presented at this summer's Proms. Maybe it's a bit long for some of its material, but I rather liked that ZL (to put his family name initial first) was willing to take some of the 'cliches' of Chinese music, like the Peking opera style in the finale, and just run with them. It was interesting to hear that ZL has a professorship in, of all places, Kansas City, Missouri. One wonders if the local orchestra there would dare to program his work.

Thanks to EA and BSP from me too.

I only managed to listen to the second half.
Magnificent performance of Rachmaninov 2 I thought,but then I'm no music critic.
The big tunes were,well,reeeaaaally big.
Judging by the encore I reckon the Singapore SO would make a good fist of Walton 1 & 2.

To ER, a very belated 'you're welcome' ;) . Getting lon to the 2nd half, I really liked the fact that the orchestra's sound helped to prevent the big tunes in the Rachmaninov from turning into OTT, hyper-romantic treacle. Throughout, there was really spot-on ensemble, with maybe a few fractional slips at most; just marvelously, marvelously played.

Likewise, as ER noted, the Singapore SO really went to town with the Walton encore, the 2nd go-around this summer for his March for A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. I'm curious to know who announced the encore from the stage, as it seemed pretty evident that it wasn't the conductor, Lan Shui. The quick snippet of him talking indicated that he's passable with English, though not tremendously fluent (he's from China rather than Singapore). The announcer, presumably a musician in the orchestra, had a much stronger command of English. Enlightenment would be mildly welcome.

Again, I really strongly urge anyone who missed this Prom earlier to give it a go on iPlayer, while there's still time.