Patrician performances distinguish Singapore's belated Rachmaninov anniversary nod

The year 2023 marked the 150th anniversary of Russian pianist-composer Sergei Rachmaninov’s birth. Other than a single performance of the Symphonic Dances last August, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under music director Hans Graf seemed to have deferred a definitive celebration until this month, with performances of the symphonies and piano concertos (the Second and Third in both cases). This was a case of better late than never. 

Veteran American pianist Garrick Ohlsson helmed the solo part in the Piano Concerto no. 2 in C minor. Close to 39 minutes, this had to be one of the most expansive performances encountered. The opening chords tolled lugubriously and, with the orchestra’s entry also concurring, the big melody played as a doleful dirge. As both pianist and orchestra were on the same page, it took some time for the first movement to be set alight. The kindling was Ohlsson’s fastidious and detailed fingerwork, still nimble for his 75 years, and his ability to sonorously project. The piano’s tinny treble abetted on that count, but detracted on the warmth quotient. 

The Adagio sostenuto central movement saw Ohlsson accompany several excellent woodwind solos, including Evgueni Brokmiller’s flute and Li Xin’s clarinet, the latter bestowed with the plummest of melodies. Weighted down by the cautious pacing, it was a slow boil that threatened to sputter out but thankfully never did, instead rising to a rapturous climax with lush string playing as the final payback. The finale’s scherzando aspects were well realised, with any doubt about Ohlsson’s ability to negotiate fast and tricky passages being unequivocally quashed. The big tune at the centre soared but without hint of sentimentality (an accusation regularly levelled at Rachmaninov), and the closing cadenza was taken deliberately, capping the arpeggiated salvo with one brilliant rolled chord. That moment summed up this patrician performance, with one’s patience being rewarded with an unexpected but worthy coup de grâce. 

Prolonged applause yielded two encores: the first two Waltzes from Chopin’s Op.64, the C sharp minor lavished with rubato galore and the D flat major (“You have to guess what this is” was Ohlsson's quip) with more surprises up his sleeves. 

The performance of Rachmaninov’s Symphony no. 2 in E minor was similarly broad, spanning close to an hour in duration. The first movement’s introduction mirrored the concerto’s lugubriousness, but the Allegro moderato that followed compensated with a lively verve, sufficent indication this was not going to be a geriatric reading. It however skimped on the regular portamenti that coloured performances under previous music director, Lan Shui, thus the cloying and more sentimental aspects of the music were all but eschewed. 

The Scherzo-like second movement was volatile and exciting, essentially the Dies irae chant sped up to be almost unrecognisable, with dance-like elements thrown in. The tumultuous central fugato was a reliving of a similar segment from Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique, but Rachmaninov was not to be denied his moment. In the Adagio, the symphony’s throbbing heart, Ma Yue’s clarinet solo was plain-spoken with clarity as its main virtue. Here, the music’s dreamy longueurs were well fleshed out under Graf’s guiding hands, before the rollicking finale’s tarantella rhythm brought the symphony to a clangorous close.