OVERALL NOISE RATING: 3 (For unknown reasons, more than the usual proportion of people getting up and out of their seats... and please don't leave before you are sure the concert is over.)

The Noise Rating Index is a partially-objective measurement of pager and handphone blasts, 9pm and 10pm watch beeps, coughing-during-the-pianissimo-bits, intra-audience conversation and other mind-bogglingly inept noises emitted in the concert hall during actual performance of music. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 5, in increasing annoyance.

This review is kindly sponsored by Mr Charles Lim. Thank you.

It is a bit uncanny, to say the least - I could almost imagine someone up there, waving his arms about.

Now, there is a lot of hype about why and how this orchestra can play together without a conductor. Some even attribute it to remote ideas such as American democracy and the need for all players to have their equal say. I say that sounds more like Chinese Communism. American civilsation would all the more celebrate meritocracy and mandated power/rule.

In any case, I categorically state my belief that any orchestra can benefit from visionary leadership. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is surely no average orchestra - judging from what they played here. The question - good though they are, are they missing out on something more altogether?

Before readers accuse me of being a skeptic (after all, this orchestra has survived/blossomed for 26 years without a conductor), I hasten to add that being conductorless is indeed their greatest selling point. That sense of novelty, coupled with their renown qualities of precision, clarity and vibrancy surely make them stand out from the crowd.

Further, I read with envy the many admirable habits that they've perfected to become conductorless. Being able to sense time reflexively, be attuned to each other's subtle body language and to rely on a system of complex cues from front to back of the orchestra surely has sharpened their musicality, individually and as a whole.

On the other hand, if the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra feels that playing under another's authority demeans them or makes them less of a musician - I'm sorry, that sounds more like pride to me. Are they saying there isn't a music director good enough to lead them? Surely if they want to, the conductor can be seen as part of a vital music-making group.

The Overture, Scherzo and Finale, op.52 by Schumann (left) was played with much charm. This work was inspired in the year of brilliant outburst 1841, Schumann's 'Year of the Symphony' - the composition took just five days. The OCO captured its spirit, but was bogged down by messy ensemble work, most obvious in the Overture. However, they got progressively better and the touted transparency of the orchestra became evident towards the end. The viola attack was heard with amazing clarity in the Scherzo and individual parts raced in harmony towards an exciting finale.

Eric Wyrick's account of Saint-Saën's exciting and virtuosic Introduction and Rondo Capriccio was understated. Though not note-perfect and a little off in intonation at the higher positions, Wyrick's playing was consistently efficient. This is after all a very difficult work and he chose to perform at a very exciting tempo. But perhaps, by being too efficient and concentrating too hard on the technique, Wyrick seems to sacrifice his enjoyment of the music and the result was a tad on the sterile side. The OCO displayed its amazing ability to accompany soloists without any direction from the soloist.

The Holberg Suite made a splendid close to the first half. This relatively less-known work was Grieg's tribute to the great literary figure Ludwig Holberg (1684-1754) of Scandinavia. Holberg was credited with establishing both Norwegian and Danish literature and Grieg's original work on the piano was intended to commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of the writer.

This string orchestral version finds much favour with me. A tendency to go flat was heard in the Gavotte and this may be due to the imbalance in the orchestra - the violin section was consistently underplaying throughout the night.

But other than that, the OCO's performance was rich and assured, perfectly in proportion and indeed, I found the leader in this segment most agreeable. Playing with beautiful grace and enhanced movement, he directed from his chair a very beautiful Sarabande filled with suspended lyricism and meltingly sweet emotion.

The performance of Barber's Adagio for Strings was a piece of well-calculated balance and though never quite achieving the immense proportion required to move - it is such a piece of melancholy music - the OCO managed a smaller intensity.

This magnificent piece of musical tapestry is often heard at funerals and similar solemn occasions. Because of the great beauty of Barber's scoring, I was concentrating very hard on the music, teasing apart the individual layers of sound, as it were - and both my companion and myself heard a wrong note coming from the cello. Though the musician could not have better disguised it, I could not help feeling that I was somehow awoken from a musical spell/trance... Nevertheless, the entire audience was clearly silent and the last strains of the great music was allowed to die into silence (which in the VCH, means the air-conditioning).

The OCO variously conjured up romanticised Mozart among the authentic, enterprising and effervescent Mozart. The opening of the "Prague Symphony" was too slow and fragmented; the subsequent section launched into some rather metronomic playing. I found the plastic skin of the timpani too resonant and overpowering the orchestra too frequently. It was very distracting. Though all cues are heard with precision, they did not quite fall in place where they needed to. However, in this mixed tableaux of style were bits of very spirited and lovely playing which made me sit up in a bottom heavy programme.

It was already clear to me that what I was seeing was not what I was hearing. There was always much to see in this orchestra: the OCO members are always moving, emoting and cue-ing. I do not think it was due to the acoustics that I could not feel the splendour of this orchestra...

I had expected a lot more from the OCO especially after all the hype and I am not surprised that the mixed performance did not answer my doubts about their uniqueness. If recordings are a judge of their abilities - their CD of Vivaldi's Four Seasons (DG 439 933-2) speak extremely well of them (but of course recordings are not concerts). Judging from this night's concert alone, the orchestra brings doubts to the unanimous first-class accolades it has received, as far as 'live' performance is concerned. Certainly, they aren't perfect, all the time.

Whatever the case, for some reason, the night's very uneven performance finally sort of loosened up at the end, and the entire orchestra was heard playing with bubbling energy and panache. The three encore pieces were brillantly performed.

Excellent, exuberant and Bravissimo! I have not heard a better Barber of Seville Overture in my life! It is such a pity that the local audience could not decide whether to leave or stay. Some were already out of the hall after the first encore - part of the reason being OCO's habit to walk out with their instruments in between curtain calls.

By the time the Rossini was offered, the concert hall was as messy as a market, people were standing and only half was left in the auditorium. Nevertheless, the OCO turned out such a fine performance that those who really cared and knew gave them a standing ovation.

Ng Yeuk Fan wonders why there are 26 members in the 26-year-old Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

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346: 14.11.98

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