Post-NEVER Concert

Sigh, I suppose I'll simply have to be resigned to the fact that no one will really blog here. Who knows? Maybe no one is actually READING this, and I'm blogging into a virtual-void of cyber-nothingness... Anyway, I shall still dutifully keep a regular journal-record of our ensemble's activities! I'll pass it on to a J1 who is not allergic to computers when J2 CCA activities cease.

Yes, I want to blog about our recent combined concert with the piano ensembles of NJC, VJC and RJC. To all performers who may be reading this, GREAT JOB! And may all of us continue to scale and attain new heights of musicality!

I have the emcee script here:
(It should give you a good picture of what went on last night.)

(From Backstage before performance)
Y: We kindly request that you turn off all handphones and beeping devices before the concert commences. Thank you for your cooperation.

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C: Ladies and Gentlemen, a very good evening to all.

Y: Welcome to NEVER, a collaborative effort and joint concert by National, Victoria and Raffles Junior Colleges’ Piano Ensembles

C: I am C from VJC

Y: I am Y from RJC and we shall be your hosts for tonight.

C: Before the performances begin, let us briefly tell you about the 3 piano ensembles. Victoria Junior College was the first college in Singapore to set up a piano ensemble in 2003. This was followed by Raffles Junior College in 2004, and National Junior college in 2006.

Y: This collaborative effort between piano ensembles of different JCs is not the first. A joint piano ensemble competition, Vivace, was previously organized by VJC and RJC two years ago.

C: Tonight, you can expect an exciting and exotic repertoire of piano duos and duets spanning mostly the Romantic and Contemporary eras.

Y: That said, let us now whet your appetite by beginning the evening with Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 2, performed by Angela and Huei Li from NJC.

C: The Russian Composer composed this work in Italy in early 1901. Sit back, relax and enjoy!

--------Rachmaninoff: Suite No. 2---------

C: Thank you Angela and Huei Li! And now, let us move on to the Brazilian composer, Villa-Lobos.

Y: Heitor Villa Lobos composed the Bachianas Brasileiras, a series of 9 suites written for various combinations of instruments and voices between 1930 and 1945. Each represents a fusion between the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Brazilian folk tunes.

C: Tonight, you will be listening to the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, which will be played by Cheng Long and Huang Kai from RJC.

Y: Following that, we will be featuring Dolly Op. 56 “Berceuse” by French composer Gabriel Faure, performed by Anqing from RJC and Michelle from NJC.

C: The Dolly Suite is a set of 6 short character pieces for piano duet. Faure dedicated them to his lover, with whom he shared a brief relationship. “Berceuse” is a peaceful nursery song, which displays charm and harmonic transparency, while maintaining a somewhat child-like naïveté.

Y: Once again, Bachianas Brasileiras No.5 by Villa-Lobos and Faure’s Dolly Suite Op. 56, “Berceuse”

--------Villas-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 --------
--------Faure: Dolly Op. 56: “Berceuse”---------

C: And now, we have a series of sprightly dances for you. Firstly, the Norweigian Dances composed by Edward Grieg, performed by Shirong and Jun Ting from Raffles Junior College.

Y: These dances are filled with achingly beautiful tunes set to supple chromatic harmonies. The joyously festive tunes ride above the cheerful rhythms and an occasional frightening tune with skittering harmonies. Following that will be Brahm’s Hungarian Dance No. 1, brought to you by Xin Wei and Hui Qi from RJC as well.

C: Brahms was first exposed to Hungarian Gypsy music in as early as 1850. He wrote 4 volumes of 21 Hungarian Dances that were completed by 1868. This first dance in G minor, spiked with a hint of folk-flavour, is taken from the first volume.

Y: Enjoy the dances!

------- Grieg: Norweigian Dances ---------
--------Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 1---------

Y: After that performance of joyous and festive dance music, let us listen to some French impressionistic music from the early twentieth century. Yan Qin and Xin Yu from NJC will perform Debussy’s Petite Suite.

C: The simple lyricism of the Petite Suite is designed to entertain and delight. Cortège reminds the listener of a festival parade, a marching band processing past in an exhilarating rush of musical pageantry. This is followed by a Minuet of sheer musical beauty and magic.

--------Debussy: Petite Suite ---------

Y: Thank you, Yan Qin and Xin Yu. Next, we will have a Concerto for 2 pianos composed by Grace Ho, a member of the Raffles Piano Ensemble. This will be performed by Grace and Clarissa, from VJC.

C: Grace explains that part of her inspiration for the Concerto came from Rachmaninoff. The other part of it sprung out of her sheer imagination!

--------Grace Ho: Concerto for 2 Pianos---------

C: We shall now revert to Impressionistic music once again, with a solo performance by Nicolson Ng from RJC, presenting Debussy, The Isle of Joy.

Y: The piece was inspired by Jean Antoine Watteau’s painting of an island off the coast of Greece. Debussy’s interpretation pushes beyond Watteau’s work to create an animated, bubbly mood, full of revelry and joy. After Debussy, Barnabas and Zhong Kun from VJC will bring you Saint Saens’ “The Carnival of Animals”

C: Camille Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals is a set of character pieces, each meant to describe a particular animal, usually by mimicking the sounds it makes or by characterizing the way it moves or carries itself.

Y: “The Swan” is warm and expressive, evoking the gliding grace of the contemplative swimming bird.

C: The “Finale”, however, is a merry closing, recapitulating snippets from many of the previous movements with suggestions of the lion, fossils, wild asses, hens and cocks, kangaroos and cuckoos.

--------Debussy: The Isle of Joy---------
--------Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals---------

C: That was a grand and splendid close to the first half of our concert. We will now be having an intermission and the concert will resume in 15 minutes time. Thank you.

--------INTERMISSION---------

Y: Welcome back! To kick-start the second half of the concert tonight, we will be having a relay performance by the VJC piano ensemble. They will be bringing you Bizet’s Jeux d’enfants, Nos. 7-12.

C: Jeux d’enfants when literally translated from French, means “Play of the Child.” This piano duet is more about children than for children to play. It’s a suite of dozen miniatures, each a minute or two long, evoking the simple games and interests of very young children.

Y: Yes, so let us welcome Man Ying, Xin Ying, Barnabas, Clarissa, Darren, Weishan, Timothy, Terence from VJC piano ensemble.

--------Bizet: Jeux d’enfants: 7-12---------

Y: The next segment of the concert will feature exciting works spanning across a time period from the Classical to Contemporary Era.

C: Firstly, Mu Feng from NJC and Sharon from RJC will present the first movement of Mozart’s Sonata in D, K381.

Y: This is followed by a contemporary song in jazz style by American Composer George Gershwin “I Got Rhythm”, brought to you by Manying and Clarissa from VJC.

C: It was composed in 1930 with the lyrics by Ira Gershwin, the older brother of the composer himself. “I Got Rhythm” is a song number in their musical “Girl Crazy” and it has been sung by many jazz singers.

Y: After that, Shin Bin and Tania from RJC will be presenting “The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” and “Russian Dance” from the “Nutcracker Suite” by Tchaikovsky, both popular and familiar classical works! So, do relax and enjoy!

--------Mozart: Sonata in D---------
--------Gershwin: I Got Rhythm---------
--------Tchaikovsky: “Nutcracker Suite” and “Russian Nights”---------

Y: Now we will have Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream played by Schezn and Angela from NJC

C: This is probably the most well-known of all works by Mendelssohn written for Shakespearean Comedy. The Scherzo appropriately introduces the fairy-world of Act Two with rapid, running passages. This is contrast to the Nocturne, which evokes a dreamy feel.

--------Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream ---------

C: Thank you Schezn and Angela! And now, we shall have the ever-popular work by Grieg - the Peer Gynt Suite, In the Hall of the Mountain King, played by Anqing from RJC and Michelle from NJC.

Y: A fantasy story written in verse, Peer Gynt tells of his adventure when he sneaks into the Mountain King’s castle. The piece describes how Peer attempts to escape from the King and his trolls after having insulted a princess. And finally, to round off the night, we will have Milhaud’s Scaramouche, another colourful piece with an amusing character.

C: Scaramouche is one of the iconic characters in the Punch and Judy puppet shows. During the performances, Punch frequently strikes Scaramouche, causing his head to fall off his shoulders.

Y: This work is a suite for Saxophone and Cabaret Orchestra that was later transcribed for 2 pianos.

--------Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite, In the Hall of the Mountain King ---------
--------Milhaud: Scaramouche ---------

Y: We have now come to the end of the concert. All the piano ensemble members would like to acknowledge and thank the following teachers for their care and invaluable guidance throughout our preparations and rehearsals. They are: Mr Gooi Tah Choe, Ms June Tan, Mrs Audrey Soh and Mr Seow Aik Keong.

C: We greatly appreciate your support of this concert and we hope that you have enjoyed the delightful range of music in different styles and character that were showcased.

C and Y: Goodnight and may the MUSIC be with you…


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For evaluative comments about the performance, you may look at Ivana's poem! It's artfully and thoughtfully crafted:

Kudos for a wonderful concert today
The players were much in their prime
There are too many nice things to say
The performance was simply sublime

Cheng Long and Huang Kai began to enthrall
With a Cantilena, its melody still small
The bass gently creeping, the voice sadly singing
An aria which sweet mem'ries recall.

And next came a suite played by dearest An Qing
Who then rendered a chant so menacing
She crept and she growled while the trolls at Peer scowled
And frazzled the wits out of the Mountain King

Our newest, young fledglings, they too played Grieg
Shirong and Jun Ting in their Norwegian jig,
Did merrily skip, and gambol, and leap
In two lively dances – a quick whirligig!

Then came Brahms' premier Hungarian dance
It shimmered and glittered in eventide trance
Hui Qi and Xin Wei both did greatly convey
All of its passion and fiery romance.

To Grace and her pseudo Rachmaninoff
The audience, breaths bated, not even a cough
All awed by her fingers, those virtuosic singers
And then! The applause and the cheers and hats off.

When Nicolson came on the stage all was still
In anticipation of the imminent thrill
From the piece which revealed an Elysian field
A utopia rapturous and fully tranquil.

Lastly – the duo in light blue and pink
Charmed the dear audience in less than a wink
With sugar plum fairies and Russian folk parries
Their music was assiduously in sync

Let's not forget the emcee for tonight
She who spent most of the time in spotlight
To keep us awake for our enjoyment's sake
Thank you for making the evening just right!

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Pictures will come in later.... Anybody cares to share?

-YeoYY-