Mozart and Haydn get top billing in Singapore’s Victoria Concert Hall

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra performs concerts in two iconic venues: Esplanade Concert Hall for orchestral blockbusters such as Mahler and Bruckner, and Victoria Concert Hall for chamber-sized works. The latter, a historical Edwardian edifice and former town-hall completed in 1905, underwent multiple renovations and has now become the orchestra’s de facto home for Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. 

Seating 673 persons, it is capacious yet intimate, and there is no space too far away from the action. It was thus no surprise to have Rossini’s Overture to Semiramide come full flush in the face. Its opening bars were unusually urgent, heralding a quartet of French horns for the chorale-like first theme. Excellent intonation and ensemble from the foursome set the tone for the rest of the work. With each trademarked Rossinian crescendo whipped up to successive highs, the orchestra responded well to Swiss guest conductor Mario Venzago’s taut control. 

The ensemble also provided sensitive partnership to young British clarinettist Julian Bliss in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major. Its ritornello opening was taken at a goodly pace, plain Allegro and without gilded adjectives. Bliss, only in his early mid-thirties, has the composure and wit of an old soul, allied with an articulate and nimble technique. Creamy and mellow was his timbre, as Mozart’s singing lines flowed with fluency and clarity. 

The familiar Adagio, with its lingering seamless melody, looked forward to the operatic voice of bel canto. Bliss held its narrative with gentle suppleness, allowing the music to breathe in a manner that felt most natural. Breathtaking in a different way were the Rondo’s dance-like moves, and when virtuosity was called, he obliged as a matter of course. The approving audience yearned for some encore, and was left somewhat disappointed when Bliss emerged from the wing to take his bows sans clarinet. 

One could be forgiven for getting Joseph Haydn’s 104 symphonies confused, so the nicknames appended to many of them have been a helpful aide-memoire. The Symphony no.100 in G major has the moniker “Military” for obvious reasons, which are not initially apparent. After a slow introduction, high woodwinds (flute and two oboes), mimicking the piping of fifes, provide the first hints. The ceremonial posture of the first movement’s sonata form was well brought out by Venzago and his charges. 

There is no true slow movement, with the Allegretto’s martial strains setting the pace for the battery of percussion – triangles, cymbals, bass drum and timpani – to enter. This was the Turkish influence that was once all the rage in Viennese circles (Mozart and Beethoven fell for it too), while the solo trumpet’s call near its close would have been echoed by Mendelssohn and Mahler decades later. One wondered whether the nickname “Janissary” might have been appropriate as well. 

After a vigorous Menuet contrasted with a graceful Trio, the quicksilver Presto finale showcased slick and athletic playing with strings taking the lead. Haydn keeps one guessing if and when the Janissary band will return. And it did so with a vengeance, which was well worth the wait. There was a time when Mozart and Haydn symphonies were performed as an after-thought, but judging by this and recent performances at the Vic, these have become the very thought itself.