It now seems like a long time ago when Lang Lang first performed Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 31 October 1997, nearly five years excatly to the day.

Before They Were Stars Lang Lang is one of several rising stars who, in their earlier days of youthful obscurity, have performed with the local orchestra. More seasoned concertgoers may remember these pre-fame names who performed in Singapore: Nigel Kennedy - May 1985 Mischa Maisky - May 1986 Alexander Markov - June 1986 Truls Mørk - October 1987 Vanessa-Mae Nicholson - March 1991 In fact, Ms Nicholson was part of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra's tour to England in May and June 1991. If you look at the picture on page 17 of her Classical Collection Part I sleeve booklet, she is unmistakably performing with the SSO, with the orchestra's Conductor Emeritus Choo Hoey on the podium and former concertmaster Pavel Prantl.

On his second visit - April 1999 - the Inkpot was there, and predicted then that "(Lang Lang) possesses much skill which should see him reach greatness in the future."

With 20/20 hindsight, our prediction seems a bit of an understatement when you consider how much "greatness" he has achieved since: exclusive Steinway artist, exclusive Telarc artist, and as the latest in a string of world tours with big-name orchestras, being part of the New York Philharmonic's 2002 Asian Tour to Esplanade. He was up in Kuala Lumpur with St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under Temirkanov only last September, and was part of the Philadephia Orchestra Asian tour even earlier in June 2001.

Singaporeans are also not new to the New York Philharmonic - this is their fourth visit to date, most recently being June 1998 (and yes, the Inkpot was there, too.) Each time, it has been led by a different conductor: Zubin Mehta in 1991, Kurt Masur in 1998 and now Lorin Maazel in 2002. Of course, Masur and his new band, the London Philharmonic, have already made their mark at Esplanade two weeks ago with a mighty Bruckner. Was this a pre-emptive strike by the 75-year-old Masur, who was ousted from the NYPO on account of old age, and then replaced by the then 72-year-old Maazel? If it was, it was certainly a clever move.

But it was disappointing to get a fairly unimaginative programme (that is, familiar and easy to play), looking at the items the NYPO was bringing with them this trip:

• Barber School for Scandal Overture
• Beethoven Leonore Overture No.3
• Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain
• Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2
• Hindemith Mathis der Maler Symphony
• Debussy La Mer
• Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5
• Sibelius Symphony No.2

I'd have gladly swapped the Mussorgsky for Barber, and Tchaikovsky for Sibelius, or even a chance to choose if they had offered different programmes - but curiously enough, both evenings offered the same thing. My only guess is that too many tickets were taken up by the main sponsors for the first night, and they had to throw on a second night with an identical programme, so that more of the public could have had a chance to watch Lang Lang at work.

True to form, the soloist didn't disappoint, with a super-heated, electrifying interpretation of Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto. As exuberant virtuoso, Lang Lang's irrepressibly fertile imagination was demonstrated in a tour-de-force of superhuman agility and technical ability, more telling in its ferocity than in pointing the music's poetic elements. If performance is about per aspera ad astra, I'd say that we've only managed to get halfway there.

Had showmanship been Rachmaninov's only intention, I would wrap up my comments here and pass Lang Lang with flying colours - but there is more to the music than just sheer virtuosity. Amazing as he is, much of the composer's musical insights didn't really come through, and consequently, the fireworks lost much of their meaning. Also, and was maybe because of the acoustics of the hall, the sound of the piano was very thin, almost emaciated, against the sonorous fabric of the orchestra. I don't really know.

On the other hand, the orchestra was quite something else, (even) playing in the final concert of their tour. In the luminous ambience of Esplanade's Concert Hall, Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain was transformed into a garish over-dramatization of how much fun evil gets up to. With rich, creamy brass and refined woodwinds, alongside Maazel's vivid imagination, I could almost think that this is something worthy of capturing on record for posterity.

Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony came across, after the break, with two bags full of fervour and dark, Slavonic intensity. Maazel's ideas of tempo and temperament were right on the mark: strongly projected, although one senses also that his invisible, telepathic reins over his musicians were very tight and rigid. That's not to say that it was bad, but like the Rachmaninov, (to borrow a footballing cliché) there was a tendency to go for power than for placement.

There were moments of illumination, such as the clarinet duet giving the theme at the beginning, the brass punctuation marks, and a stupendously bombastic conclusion. Maazel was more persuasive in the inner movements, with a poignant Adagio (aided, in no small part, by the famous horn solo, lusciously done with nary a wobble, nor even a vibrato) followed by a light and elegant waltz - whereas the bookends, with their powerful climaxes, coming across as rather congested and unremitting. Between the two Philharmonics which appeared at Esplanade, I'm forced to find in favour of Masur's sublimal Bruckner, that one which had audiences leaving the hall faces all aglow.

Still, there were enough bravos hurled onto the stage by a standing ovation, and right on cue, Maazel and the Philharmonic served up a pair of encores. (Lang Lang had earlier already tossed off a showy Tan Dun oeuvre.) Fun? Sure. Unimaginative? Definitely. The first was identical to the one which Dutoit and the NHK performed earlier this year, Bizet's Farandole from L'Arlesienne, followed by the more popular Brahms's Fifth Hungarian Dance.

Oh, and the lavish (and complimentary - thanks Citigroup !) programme book was an absolute delight. It was a relief to see composers' names finally spelt properly: if you want to spell "Rachmaninoff" with two "ff's", at least keep the Americanism consistent and do "Musorgsky" with one "s". (British-style is "Rachmaninov" and "Mussorgsky".) Maybe Esplanade was trying to bridge the Anglo-American differences by doing one of each in its programme listings.

Really, local groups could learn a thing or two here about what "world-class" really entails: every step of detail all the way from the podium right down to the printed material, and not just a bunch of words in a mission statement. (Although we had a good guffaw with the Arts Management Associates advert page, congratulating itself on presenting, among others, the "Academy of St. Martin's in the Field [sic]". The "a" in Plácido Domingo also needed an acute, but we'll forgive that since most people, ourselves sometimes, also miss it.)

William Beh, admittedly, does watch Saturday night soccer, and grew up on sportswriters' clichés.

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9.11.2002 © William Beh

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