Thursday, August 12, 2004

Kasetsart University Wind Symphony

I'm still so busy.

I just got home from the Kasetsart University Wind Symphony. It was rather disappointing to an extent whereby for the first time in my life I left a concert during the interval. It has been so long since I've last attended a band concert and I had gone to the concert with anticipation of a much better concert only to be disappointed.

To be fair, the players were all very good individually. All the solos were played nicely with expressions. My only problem is with the conductor. He's at the reins of fine band of which he doesn't know how to control. Had you ever seen those contests where a jockey rides a horse and guides it to jump over various obstacles? The conductor was like someone who cannot control the horse. There was just no musicality and no soul in the music.

Well, if you know me well enough, you would probably know I have extremely high standards when I attend a concert these days. Still, I believe that I give reasonable judgment to the music that I listen to.

Perhaps the only good part I enjoyed was the beginning of third movement of the Barnes Symphony. I think it sounded good because it was solo lines all the way until the whole band comes in. That was the point when the music just fell flat on its face. The fourth movement started off well until I got irritated by the out-of-tune timpani. Anyway, it's just me. I have a problem with the timpanist throughout the whole symphony right from the opening motif. Generally, the timpani were not well tuned and I disagreed with a lot of his articulations and mallet choice.

Why was there no double reeds player at all? There was just something missing from the band sound. The double reed sound. The solos just all don't seem to sound nice with all the missing bassoon solis, mournful cor anglais solos and so on.

It's just too bad that the Barnes Third Symphony is one of my favourite band pieces. Thus, I have a lot of comments to make about it. I can go into further details but I think I shall not bore Reader any further.

The audience was very irritating. When will Singaporeans ever learn NOT TO APPLAUSE IN BETWEEN MOVEMENTS? It was so irritating. I was a bit amused by the applause between the first and second movements. The applause between the second and third movements was a bit irritating. The applause between the third and fourth movement totally ruined the music! BAH! Wait, someone asked how did applause affect the music when it was in between movements?

Silence is part of the music what! What do you think rests are for? They are there for an effect. Similarly, a period of silence after a long emotional movement is there to allow the feeling to sink in even after the music has fade away. It's a moment of reflection before the excitement of the finale. Tsk.

Fine, the majority of the audiences are kids. But still, a kid can recognize whether or not a piece of music is finished or not right? Just look at the conductor. Clap when he/she turns around to bow. What's so difficult about that?

I shall look forward to the AYO's Mahler 1 on Saturday. Hopefully it will be a better experience!

fjozn at 12:54 AM