Looking Back: Confucius - A Secular Cantata

Call it a difficult labour but successful delivery, if you will.

Confucius: A Secular Cantata, the 100-minute musical pageant conceived by journalist Chong Wing Hong and composer Phoon Yew Tien, which opened at the Victoria Concert Hall last night, suffered the conspicuous absence of Phoon himself.

The composer had gone ahead with his planned no-show following a public disagreement with the National Arts Council over the selection of artists for the performance.

But no matter. The composer's wife herself graced the event, as did a regular SAP-school crowd and a host of other VIPs: Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong; Ambassador-At-Large Tommy Koh; and chairman of the Lee Foundation Lee Seng Gee.

What they did catch was an evening of extravagant music-making from the 70-strong Singapore Chinese Orchestra, three combined choirs and eight soloists, who pit their skills together to present a two-act whistle-stop tour of the life and times of the Chinese sage, Confucius.

The opening crash of a Chinese gong foretold the next 10 movements of the work to come. Whether this gesture was the ultimate and deserving symbol of Asian musical culture, or a pompous cliché used one too many times in cheap period dramas, it demonstrated that the Confucius Cantata was no insignificant work.

The didactic nature of its subject matter was set aptly to the large forces and a lush score that glinted with streaks of surprisingly-hummable tunes, even as Chong's text was deliberately made accessible to audiences with a basic understanding of Mandarin.

Phoon's penchant for tweaking a simple melody by shifting it out-of-phase now and then, via enharmonic changes, was shown off to its idiosyncratic best.

There were also moments of transparent beauty when the mellow colours of the Chinese instruments were interwoven beautifully with one another, like different-coloured strands of embroidery streaking across square pieces of satin brocade.

Pity, though, that this vignette approach towards stringing the whole work together sometimes came across as too much of a start-stop, linear-narrative operation.

While there was internal logic to each melodic line, the accumulation of them all and their repetitive nature sometimes taxed the listener a tad too much.

That was the one dampener that clouded an evening of otherwise grand musical pageantry.

Conductor Xia Fei Yun was his usual sincere and industrious self; the orchestra was hardworking to the core; and the combined choir, prepared by Nelson Kwei, was blended to a delicious cake-icing creaminess.

Phoon's baby indeed, was alive and healthy: For all the labour pains, the composer himself would have been glad of the birth.

There will be another performance of Confucius: A Secular Cantata by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra tonight at 8 at the Victoria Concert Hall.

SO HOW? Exit poll by CHERYL TSAO at Confucius - A Secular Cantata

"I liked it very much. We actually brought our children here. One fell asleep, but the other seemed to have enjoyed it very much. It was quite amazing, very powerful. We were watching out for the er hu, because our son plays it. His teacher was actually in the performance. I think it was very much a success."
L. T. Wong, 40, doctor

"On the whole, it was very good. I thought the choir was wonderful, the orchestra was very powerful, and the composing was good. It was a little long though. I might be a bit biased, because I am the teacher of the composer. But I am proud of what he has accomplished."
Leong Yoon Pin, 69, composer

"I think we are more accustomed to Western music. This was a good change, and a very original experience. I'd like to come to performances like this again, if I have the chance to. I thought the harmony between the choir and the orchestra was really superb."
John Chin, in his 70s, retired

"I think it was fantastic. Very well composed, and I especially loved the power and smoothness of the soprano voices. I thought the youngest members of the choir had voices which were undeveloped. I play the er hu myself, and I thought the orchestra was wonderful."
Wong Sang, 47, managing director, Artist Management Concept

"Basically, I liked it. But it was the first time I listened to the songs, and I felt I couldn't really appreciate the music enough. It was well performed, but I think I will need to listen to it a few more times before I can decide what I really feel about it."
Bernard Lee, 52, bank officer


(Article reproduced from "The Straits Times":http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/ - 10 June 2001, by Tan Shzr Ee)