MOSTLY GERSHWIN
Singapore Chinese Orchestra / YEH TSUNG
SCO DVD 2017 / ***1/2
This
is a live recording of a July 2013 concert held at Esplanade Concert Hall, part
of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and its Music Director Yeh Tsung's vision of
crossing over to reach a wider audience by performing non-Chinese music on
traditional Chinese instruments. The choice of George Gershwin, early
American jazz and Afro-American spirituals was a interesting one that worked
surprisingly well, contributing to a highly enjoyable event.
The
casting of African-American soloists was also inspired. Veteran pianist Leon
Bates gave a brash, no-holds-barred account of Rhapsody in Blue and Fascinatin'
Rhythm (solo, as an encore) including his own showy extemporisations. He
also shined in I Got Rhythm Variations, complete with its curious
Chinoiserie variation.
Stealing the show was soprano Kimberly Eileen Jones in a
medley of American spirituals, and she was joined by tenor Lawrence
Mitchell-Matthews and choir in a suite of vocal highlights from Porgy and
Bess which rocked the house.
It
was thus unfortunate that the visual recording was not up to high definition
standards, exacerbated by the constant flitting from one viewpoint to another
without much thought or conception. Here the video producers have much to learn
from top European and American houses. What could have been a concert
spectacular was lost, and this should have been released as a purely audio CD
recording instead.
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