(21 Nov 08) Tang Quartet performs Singaporean New Music @ Republic Polytechnic Cultural Centre

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Ravel, String Quartet in F

Tan Dun, Eight Colours

Phoon Yew Tien, Scenic Jiangnan

Ho Chee Kong, Echoes of Fall

Goh Toh Chai, Vasantham

Jimi Hendrix, Purple Haze

Tonight’s concert was a mix of pieces ranging from modal Ravel, avant garde Tan Dun, musical arrangements, to a transcription of a rock song by Jimi Hendrix. The opening piece (Ravel) set the bar for ensemble finesse and technical skill, although there were some technical glitches in the second movement when the tempo slowed. It is a pity that Ng Yu-ying (violin 1) still has yet to be presented with the opportunity to play on a superior instrument. His was adequate – a little shrill and tight at times, and one could sense that the artistic ability far exceeded the capability of the instrument. On the issue of the programming, Ravel stuck out like a sore thumb. One could constantly imagine a more colourful orchestral version as the piece is being performed. Ravel is also perhaps a little over-played. For a recital of 20^th century music, some of the early works from the Second Viennese School could have presented interesting perspectives.

Tan Dun’s Eight Colours made use of a large range of extended techniques, expanding the sound palette to include slapping, tapping, irregular vibrato, and glissando, all of which add up to a completely different sound world from the 19^th century. The quartet exhibited the interpretive and technical skills needed to explicate the epigrammatic fragments that comprise the piece.

Ho Chee Kong’s Echoes of Fall incorporated skillful use of the gambus, adding a new dimension to the string quartet. The piece centers on the meditative gambus solos, from which the string texture grows in an organic fashion, underpinned by a modal-flavoured centricity. One of the more striking features was the long gambus solo in the middle of the piece that held everyone spell-bound. This was soulfully performed.

Like Ho’s piece, the rest of the evening was relatively easy from a technical point of view for the performers. Phoon Yew Tien’s and Goh Toh Chai’s arrangements suffered very occasionally from lack of rehearsal time. Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze gave the musicians an opportunity to venture out of the refined, balanced and highly crafted world of classical sound, bringing a crude strength to the tone that bulged and slid in a wanton fashion into the world of rock. One could almost smell the Sixties in this unlikely and highly entertaining piece, executed with panache.