Let's read the critic...

Allright, here is the critic for NAFA Music Department's performance on "The 9th" on 9th of April.

Life! - Life Music
11 April 2008
Straits Times
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

IMPERFECT, BUT FULL OF HEART
concert

NANYANG ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS 70TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT Victoria Concert Hall Wednesday

Every performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is an occasion to treasure, even if it is performed by a body of students, most of whom are playing it for the first time.

Never mind the opening jitters, the miscues, intonation lapses, or uneven ensemble, it was a matter of time that the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) Orchestra settled down to the business end of music-making.

Its German-born music director Volker Hartung lent a healthy dose of Teutonic grandeur to the proceedings, yielding a reading that ran just under 80 minutes, and one that had many moments to savour.

While the opening movement was weighed down by its epic scale, precision ruled in the Scherzo with a very fine solo from oboist Jeremy Wong.

The sublime slow movement, the most difficult to pull off, was taken at a plodding pace.

When one expected the music to flow seamlessly, its 17 minutes almost seemed an eternity. However, all this was dispelled with the choral finale.

The first appearance of the Ode To Joy theme, gratefully sung by the double basses, was marvellously shaped and the mood for celebration was set.

The vocal soloists had a mixed evening. Bass Ralph McDonald sounded surprisingly lightweight in his imposing opening solo, whereas tenor Lim Shieh Yih was resolute, even heroic. Alto Zhou Qian blended well within the quartet without being obtrusive, and soprano Nancy Yuen hit her glory note with assuredness, only to go flat thereafter.

The crowning glory was, however, the Nafa Chorus, which ran the gauntlet with gusto, especially in the highly taxing choral fugue and the final apotheosis.

They have been well coached by chorus master Zechariah Goh Toh Chai.

Despite the imperfections of execution, here was a very commendable performance that was full of heart, one that raised many a goosebump.

Earlier in the evening, the Nafa Gamelan Ensemble hammered out their version of Ode To Joy in the foyer, and the 27-member Nafa Chinese Ensemble performed four celebratory Chinese showpieces.

Where on this planet could one find such diversity of musical genres and forms?

Only in Singapore, only at Nafa.