Paying a musical tribute to lost classics

TWO home-grown orchestras will soon pay tribute to a pair of class acts.

The Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra (BHSO) will honour pioneering Singapore composer Leong Yoon Pin with a performance of his lost classic next month; the Philharmonic Winds' show on Monday will be a chamber concert that incorporates a reading of Roald Dahl poems.

BHSO's performance, fittingly titled Tribute, will feature works by Sibelius, Grieg and Richard Strauss, but the highlight will be Leong's Symphony No 2, which hasn't been played in its entirety since 1979.

Adrian Tan, music director and conductor of BHSO, said that he hoped to introduce the piece to a new generation of listeners. "The significance of Mr Leong's contributions to Singapore's classical music is immeasurable, so we felt that he must be at the centre of our celebration of SG50, which is one of the important facets of our 2015 season."

The late Leong, a Cultural Medallion winner, was a prolific composer who composed for symphony orchestras, symphonic bands and choirs. His choral works remain popular till this day, but when BHSO tried to obtain a manuscript of the score for Symphony No 2, all that could be found was an incomplete one.

The lack of a recording also made things challenging, though Tan said the members of the Metro Philharmonic Society, founded and led by Leong for many years, and composer-arranger Mohd Rasull eventually helped to fill in the gaps.

The Philharmonic Winds also turned to external sources for inspiration, finding it in Dutch oboist and educator Joost Flach, who will conduct the show, Soiree Musicale, next week.

The performance marks the debut of its newly formed Philharmonic Chamber Winds, which Flach suggested putting together.

Like BHSO's Tribute, Soiree Musicale will feature a work by a local composer - Four Taiwanese Aboriginal Songs by Zechariah Goh Toh Chai; this was conceived as a suite for solo piano, but subsequently rearranged for a woodwind quintet.

The Soiree Musicale programme also includes Martin Butler's Dirty Beasts, and features three Roald Dahl poems - The Pig, The Tummy Beast and The Crocodile - narrated by actor William Ledbetter.

Philharmonic Winds president Adrian Cheong said: "We are always on the lookout for good music and pieces that would allow us to collaborate with other artists, especially those from other art forms. We've had a few rehearsals on Dirty Beasts and I'm confident the audience will love it."

The Philharmonic Winds presents Soiree Musical takes place at Esplanade Recital Studio at 8pm on March 23. For tickets at S$12, please send an e-mail to info@philharmonicwinds.org. Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra's Tribute takes place at the SOTA Concert Hall at 5pm on April 12. Check www.bhso.org for more information