Korngold’s gem of a symphony receives rapturous Singapore premiere

Piano players of a certain age will remember with dread going through Carl Czerny’s finger-twisting and mind-numbing piano studies. When viewed through the orchestrated lens of Danish composer Knudåge Riisager (1897-1974), they do not evoke post-traumatic stress, instead sound positively inviting. Such was the performance of a ballet suite of four such etudes, a divertissement which included a warming up exercise, graceful waltz, sarabande-like slow movement and a lively closing mazurka with a crescendo rising to a big bang. 

This was the pleasing prelude to the Singapore Symphony’s latest concert, led by Swiss guest conductor Stefan Blunier, substituting for Bertrand de Billy at short notice. The evening’s main draw was George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F with French pianist Lise de la Salle as the glittering soloist. Attired with a silvery-tinselled top to match the keyboard fireworks, she simply dazzled. Instead of barnstorming from start to finish, hers was a nuanced performance, beginning with an understated solo entry. Unafraid to sex up bluesy passages, momentum was gradually built before going for the jugular. Gershwin’s brassy orchestration could have overwhelmed but de la Salle more than held her own with each thrust and blow. This clearly palpable chemistry garnered premature applause at the first movement’s conclusion, and who could blame those listeners? 

In the slow movement, she found more than a match in David Smith’s gorgeous trumpet solo in a full on love-in for the moody blues. As with Rhapsody in Blue, this concerto is fully written out with no avenue for improvisation, but it was the simulation of jazz and swing that truly mattered. In the central movement’s playful central section and the Latino-flavoured finale, all these possibilities including delicious moments of rubato for ear-catching effect were fully realised. And who would have guessed Gershwin’s mastery of cyclical form with a triumphant return of the opening movement’s big brassy theme at the concerto’s close? The plaudits for both soloist and orchestra were tumultuous, and for contrast, de la Salle’s encore of the Bach-Busoni Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, wallowing in rich harmonies, calmed nerves and soothed the soul. 

The Hollywood connection, a coup of inspired programming, continued into the Singapore premiere of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Mahlerian Symphony in F sharp major, with four movements playing for about 50 minutes. What does it take for composers of movie music to be taken seriously? Here is Exhibit A, a masterful work that fully embraces the symphonic form like no other. Just because it did not conform to the atonal or serialist utopia of the 1950s (when it was completed) was no reason for its neglect. The dense orchestration and chromaticism, evident in its opening and exposition for an unremittingly tonal work, should have been cause for celebration. The symphony is dead? Think again. 

And what about the Scherzo’s lyrical second subject, with sensations one might have encountered in John Williams’ score for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial or the Star Wars movies? That film music of today owes a massive debt to Korngold becomes obvious. The Straussian (Richard not Johann) Adagio was further evidence of the symphony’s greatness as conductor Blunier’s direction brought its brooding subject to full bloom. The finale’s light-hearted nature – driven to a stirring conclusion – should not be held against it, after all Brahms, Mahler and Shostakovich had done the same. If listeners can condone and even bask in longueurs from Bruckner, Strauss and Schoenberg, Korngold surely deserves his due. The Singapore audience concurred, rewarding this landmark performance with the long and loud ovation it richly deserved.