Mid afternoon on Thursday, I was beginning to ponder how I could spend my weekend. Perhaps I could make some ice cream. Oh how things had changed by Friday evening. By mid-afternoon we had been called to a tender interview on Tuesday morning - a little harsh from the timing perspective. But then, as the Dodgess would say, "What to do?". Soon after my Saturday morning was consumed with the compilation of the presentation with our client.
So I stayed late on Thursday, so that we could spend our Friday afternoon reviewing them before Saturday. Except that I spent Saturday afternoon poking my nose around another potential project instead. This one has a whole 4 weeks until its completion. So now I think that I will spend my Saturday morning putting them together, my Saturday afternoon changing them, and then Sunday looking through this new job.
In other work news, well, I have somehow ended up as AECOM Singapore's Quality Manager. Not sure this was entirely my intention - but we will see where it goes. My work in Vietnam, which has been more or less on hold since my manic 3 trips there in 5 weeks in June, has resurfaced, so I guess that I will be back in Vietnam in November.
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Perhaps I notice them because the Singapore Grand Prix was but 3 weeks ago, but I have to say that our new neighbourhood certainly has its fair share of 'super' cars. For example, this morning I was passed by a Porshe, on my way to get on the bus. Then by a Masaratti Quattro Porta. And then a not too unsubtle Lambourghini sailed passed. All within 3 minutes. Of course that doesn't take into account the Ferrari that sits at the end of the row of houses opposite mine.
Ah well - we don't really live on Singapore's millionaires row, not really even the number 2 place. But such cars are the consequence of living in a neighbourhood with so many traditional houses. (Incidentally, that's not we have at all - we have a 3 bed flat)
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Anyway, it's Friday night, getting quite late, and I need to go and eat. So until I next find the time......
Friday, October 14, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
A tale of two concerts
So this week, with work not ridiculous, and life mostly under control (thanks in part to a hired cleaner) I have been to two concerts memorable for completely different reasons.
The Vienna Boys' Choir is, in fact, four boys' choirs, which for a couple of months a year are distributed onto different corners of the world to sing, and one of these choirs, made their way to Singapore.
The choir is mightily impressive - the boys have learned, by heart, their whole programme, which ranges from Motets, to modern music, and even Michael Jackson. They stand in two neatly organised rows, either side of a piano, and all face their music director. Every so often, one of them will turn around and quietly and efficiently turn the pianist's page.
The pieces that came off best were the more fun ones, which the boys enjoyed. Tritsh Tratsh Polka, a vituousic arrangement of Strauss' original was brilliant, and an Alphabet Polka, again a Strauss arrangement was memorable both for its music, and the choristers holding up the letters that they sang one by one, through the alphabet. The whole thing was rendered humerous by an upside down E.
It didn't all work - a modern piece called ottos mops, was as strange as it sounds. The small choir of 23 also didn't always manage to fill the vast Esplanade Concert Hall. O Fortuna worked less for the power that it is usually known for, but more because of the added percussion - choristers tapping or stamping. And, the first half of each half was somewhat flat. Perhaps it was the hall - hardly the most intimate of concert halls with some a small group. An emcee would have helped keep the audience involved - most works were a few minutes - somewhat fragmented, and perhaps meant that the first attempts to get the audience involved towards the end of the second half, would have been slightly less cringe inducing.
Nonetheless, the music was memorable, and the ability of the choristors was great, and by the end, they did get the audience involved, and happy - and responded with a whole suite of encores.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The other concert was always going to be a more challenging listen. Entitled 'The Birds' the first half of the concert was dedicated to music about our feathered friends. I can't really tell you about the first piece, a second performance of 'Bird Songs' by Robert Casteels. The reason isn't that yours truly was late, but they didn't sell tickets on the door. The result was that 20 or so people stood outside for the first piece, only to be let in free after the opener - to sit in a hall that was perhaps 1/3 full.
I had just about forgiven the organisers this by the end of the first half. A small song by Ravel was pretty, but somewhat unremarkable, Messiaen's Le Merle Noir, a virtuosic flute and piano piece gave me a new admiration for both the instrument and composer. Somewhat surprisingly for a concert about birds, Lark Ascending was absent, but Vaughan Williams was present, by way of Flos Campi - perhaps not his most inventive, but lovingly played nonetheless. The highlight of the half was a sixteenth century song by Janequin, probably 200 years before its time, and a joyous discovery.
I may be wrong, but I doubt the two world premieres of the second half will be noted in concert reviews of the future as being ahead of their time. I doubt they will even feature. Both were electromusic experiences, making use of the iPad. The first a portrait of financial meltdown, with some random commentary on the crisis, spoken over a computer. Ok - I get that the composer wants to be topical - Financial crisis, tick, iPad, tick. But the electromusical aspects were dreadful. Really pointless. Fighting against the tide was a string quartet, which did actually have a little bit of musical interest. The composition was a joint effort between Casteels, and Seah Huan Yuh - my guess is Casteels did the string quartet.
Ok. So this was not a great start to the second half. The end was probably the most cringe-worthy quarter hour of music I've sat through. I have, on occasion been embarassed on stage. Once or twice perhaps in the audience too. But if I'd been on stage for this, I think that I'd want my name removed from the programme so bad was the final piece, also by Seah and Casteels.
In fact, it was more like 20 mins of music. As the orchestra processed on they were already playing - or rather plucking an f... something they presumably did to distract from the setting up of the iPads. But that went wrong - so they faffed around endlessly trying to sort out the leads. It was painful. Sadly they got the computers set up - pity. It meant that we had to listen to the rest of the piece. A 'concertante' for iPad and harp, the poor harpist called the string players to come an improvise on the iPad. The iPad sounded like breaking glass - perhaps it was a recording of a rehearsal when the orchestra could have slung the iPads around the room? No - definitely not. We were told at the start that this was the first run-through. Why, then, deprive me of my wife for 3 evenings of rehearsals? The music went nowhere, just veered from cringeworthy to bury your head in shame. Ok - so the players moved around the stage, but it had no relevance to the music - it was just faff. For an example of how to move around the stage properly, look at the Vienna Boys' Choir who processed on singing some Lechner, and then only moved around to add to the music.
Fail. Epic. Fail.
Of course, these two pieces are a great sadness, that such music can make it to the public ear. If I did an engineering report with a similar quality, it would get nowhere near a client! The sadness is the first half was worth it, it would probably have been even better if they had let me listen to the whole of it.
The Vienna Boys' Choir is, in fact, four boys' choirs, which for a couple of months a year are distributed onto different corners of the world to sing, and one of these choirs, made their way to Singapore.
The choir is mightily impressive - the boys have learned, by heart, their whole programme, which ranges from Motets, to modern music, and even Michael Jackson. They stand in two neatly organised rows, either side of a piano, and all face their music director. Every so often, one of them will turn around and quietly and efficiently turn the pianist's page.
The pieces that came off best were the more fun ones, which the boys enjoyed. Tritsh Tratsh Polka, a vituousic arrangement of Strauss' original was brilliant, and an Alphabet Polka, again a Strauss arrangement was memorable both for its music, and the choristers holding up the letters that they sang one by one, through the alphabet. The whole thing was rendered humerous by an upside down E.
It didn't all work - a modern piece called ottos mops, was as strange as it sounds. The small choir of 23 also didn't always manage to fill the vast Esplanade Concert Hall. O Fortuna worked less for the power that it is usually known for, but more because of the added percussion - choristers tapping or stamping. And, the first half of each half was somewhat flat. Perhaps it was the hall - hardly the most intimate of concert halls with some a small group. An emcee would have helped keep the audience involved - most works were a few minutes - somewhat fragmented, and perhaps meant that the first attempts to get the audience involved towards the end of the second half, would have been slightly less cringe inducing.
Nonetheless, the music was memorable, and the ability of the choristors was great, and by the end, they did get the audience involved, and happy - and responded with a whole suite of encores.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The other concert was always going to be a more challenging listen. Entitled 'The Birds' the first half of the concert was dedicated to music about our feathered friends. I can't really tell you about the first piece, a second performance of 'Bird Songs' by Robert Casteels. The reason isn't that yours truly was late, but they didn't sell tickets on the door. The result was that 20 or so people stood outside for the first piece, only to be let in free after the opener - to sit in a hall that was perhaps 1/3 full.
I had just about forgiven the organisers this by the end of the first half. A small song by Ravel was pretty, but somewhat unremarkable, Messiaen's Le Merle Noir, a virtuosic flute and piano piece gave me a new admiration for both the instrument and composer. Somewhat surprisingly for a concert about birds, Lark Ascending was absent, but Vaughan Williams was present, by way of Flos Campi - perhaps not his most inventive, but lovingly played nonetheless. The highlight of the half was a sixteenth century song by Janequin, probably 200 years before its time, and a joyous discovery.
I may be wrong, but I doubt the two world premieres of the second half will be noted in concert reviews of the future as being ahead of their time. I doubt they will even feature. Both were electromusic experiences, making use of the iPad. The first a portrait of financial meltdown, with some random commentary on the crisis, spoken over a computer. Ok - I get that the composer wants to be topical - Financial crisis, tick, iPad, tick. But the electromusical aspects were dreadful. Really pointless. Fighting against the tide was a string quartet, which did actually have a little bit of musical interest. The composition was a joint effort between Casteels, and Seah Huan Yuh - my guess is Casteels did the string quartet.
Ok. So this was not a great start to the second half. The end was probably the most cringe-worthy quarter hour of music I've sat through. I have, on occasion been embarassed on stage. Once or twice perhaps in the audience too. But if I'd been on stage for this, I think that I'd want my name removed from the programme so bad was the final piece, also by Seah and Casteels.
In fact, it was more like 20 mins of music. As the orchestra processed on they were already playing - or rather plucking an f... something they presumably did to distract from the setting up of the iPads. But that went wrong - so they faffed around endlessly trying to sort out the leads. It was painful. Sadly they got the computers set up - pity. It meant that we had to listen to the rest of the piece. A 'concertante' for iPad and harp, the poor harpist called the string players to come an improvise on the iPad. The iPad sounded like breaking glass - perhaps it was a recording of a rehearsal when the orchestra could have slung the iPads around the room? No - definitely not. We were told at the start that this was the first run-through. Why, then, deprive me of my wife for 3 evenings of rehearsals? The music went nowhere, just veered from cringeworthy to bury your head in shame. Ok - so the players moved around the stage, but it had no relevance to the music - it was just faff. For an example of how to move around the stage properly, look at the Vienna Boys' Choir who processed on singing some Lechner, and then only moved around to add to the music.
Fail. Epic. Fail.
Of course, these two pieces are a great sadness, that such music can make it to the public ear. If I did an engineering report with a similar quality, it would get nowhere near a client! The sadness is the first half was worth it, it would probably have been even better if they had let me listen to the whole of it.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
A (very) musical family
I guess that most families have an occupation that most of the family go into. For example, my uncle Jim is an architect, as is his eldest son, and his brother and wife (ok, the last two stretch the point in being landscape architects - but close enough).
And those of you who have suffered my company for long enough to learn about my family will know that I am unique in not being an academic (ok - so my elder brother isn't actually employed in a university, but he does have a PhD from Cambridge). Mind you, with an alphabet soup expanding to MEng (Hons) CEng MICE MIEAust, I don't feel all that left out when it comes to letters after my name.
Another such family would be the Lim family, whose Generation Y has returned (with one exception) from various music degrees in various corners of the world. The Dodgess and I are unaware of a GYL who hasn't followed in the evergreen Lim Yau's (father to two of GYL) in becoming a professional musician. Even their spouses or boy/girl friends are musicians. And they are all distinctly on the over-achieving side.
Lim Chun, for example, is a violist. His CV includes the viola solo for Strauss' Don Quixote - the cellist - a Yo Yo Ma - you may have heard of him. Lim Yan is a pianist whose ability is enough to play all the Beethoven concertos, spread over 3 concerts in 3 days (I'll let you know how it goes next year). Veda Lin was appointed Principal Oboe of an orchestra in Madeira, Sub-Principal for one in Kuala Lumpur, and a guest of one in Germany. As I said, on the over-achieving side.
GYL decided to put on a reunion concert last month - it was so popular they sold the Esplanade Recital Studio out twice. And they followed up with a Mozart Recital last night.
The fact I preferred the reunion is more a reflection of the quality of that night, and that there was more variety of music. Lim Yan and his wife fought over a piano in Poulenc's Sonata for Four Hands - probably one of the (deliberately) funniest performances ever. At the Mozart they played another 4 hand sonata, and whilst the music was good, I was more taken with the contrast between the couple's styles - she was very prim and proper, a perfect posture, with her back a text book S, and not a hair out of place. He was kind of slumped over the piano, and is the kind of gent who buy black trainers to avoid the awkward situation of having forgotten his black shoes for a concert.
Similarly Veda Lin's oboe playing. In the reunion there was a startling piece of Jazz (introduced in the programme as a 'rare opportunity for oboeists to feel extra cool'). A revelatory piece in every way. In the Mozart, whilst the playing was as dignified controlled as ever, it was somehow restrained.
And the Mozart didn't have the contrast - the Reunion also featured some Bach, with programme notes that are perhaps only trumped by the Dodgess' own notes in their love of musicology. The Mozart had two pieces by Beethoven, but whilst a nice performance, it wasn't played with quite the same smile as Beethoven's Eyeglass Duet in the Reunion.
I have at times heard it said by families who do things together that the remarkable thing is not so much the quality, but the fact that they still do things together at all. With the GYL, the same is true - with such quality, their talents are in demand all around the world. Yet they choose to do things together here in Singapore; they choose to play in their father's (or uncle's) orchestra, put on concerts such as last night's Mozart and last month's reunion, and in doing so, vastly improve the musical life of the likes of me!
And those of you who have suffered my company for long enough to learn about my family will know that I am unique in not being an academic (ok - so my elder brother isn't actually employed in a university, but he does have a PhD from Cambridge). Mind you, with an alphabet soup expanding to MEng (Hons) CEng MICE MIEAust, I don't feel all that left out when it comes to letters after my name.
Another such family would be the Lim family, whose Generation Y has returned (with one exception) from various music degrees in various corners of the world. The Dodgess and I are unaware of a GYL who hasn't followed in the evergreen Lim Yau's (father to two of GYL) in becoming a professional musician. Even their spouses or boy/girl friends are musicians. And they are all distinctly on the over-achieving side.
Lim Chun, for example, is a violist. His CV includes the viola solo for Strauss' Don Quixote - the cellist - a Yo Yo Ma - you may have heard of him. Lim Yan is a pianist whose ability is enough to play all the Beethoven concertos, spread over 3 concerts in 3 days (I'll let you know how it goes next year). Veda Lin was appointed Principal Oboe of an orchestra in Madeira, Sub-Principal for one in Kuala Lumpur, and a guest of one in Germany. As I said, on the over-achieving side.
GYL decided to put on a reunion concert last month - it was so popular they sold the Esplanade Recital Studio out twice. And they followed up with a Mozart Recital last night.
The fact I preferred the reunion is more a reflection of the quality of that night, and that there was more variety of music. Lim Yan and his wife fought over a piano in Poulenc's Sonata for Four Hands - probably one of the (deliberately) funniest performances ever. At the Mozart they played another 4 hand sonata, and whilst the music was good, I was more taken with the contrast between the couple's styles - she was very prim and proper, a perfect posture, with her back a text book S, and not a hair out of place. He was kind of slumped over the piano, and is the kind of gent who buy black trainers to avoid the awkward situation of having forgotten his black shoes for a concert.
Similarly Veda Lin's oboe playing. In the reunion there was a startling piece of Jazz (introduced in the programme as a 'rare opportunity for oboeists to feel extra cool'). A revelatory piece in every way. In the Mozart, whilst the playing was as dignified controlled as ever, it was somehow restrained.
And the Mozart didn't have the contrast - the Reunion also featured some Bach, with programme notes that are perhaps only trumped by the Dodgess' own notes in their love of musicology. The Mozart had two pieces by Beethoven, but whilst a nice performance, it wasn't played with quite the same smile as Beethoven's Eyeglass Duet in the Reunion.
I have at times heard it said by families who do things together that the remarkable thing is not so much the quality, but the fact that they still do things together at all. With the GYL, the same is true - with such quality, their talents are in demand all around the world. Yet they choose to do things together here in Singapore; they choose to play in their father's (or uncle's) orchestra, put on concerts such as last night's Mozart and last month's reunion, and in doing so, vastly improve the musical life of the likes of me!
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