Evening out with a composer

This evening, I met up with Emily to attend a preview concert performed by Arts Sphere, a Chinese orchestral ensemble. Emily's composition, Funereal Reflections, was premiered at the concert.

It has been a while ever since I have attended a performance put up by a Chinese orchestral group. It somehow triggered a sense of nostalgia in me. Furthermore, the very auditorium where the concert was held was also the place where I had used to rehearse many years ago, when I was still fairly involved in playing in a Chinese orchestra.

This evening concert showcased five different works. These works have Chinese names, but for the fact that I don't have easy access to a Chinese wordprocessor, I shall refer to these works using the English translation.

I quite like Chin Yen Choong's rendition's of the gaohu in Double Agony. It somehow has a Cantonese music feel to it, and this work is supposedly a piece of Cantonese music.

Emily Koh's Funereal Reflections added a new musical experience to the entire concert. Somehow, it was the work among the five works played in the concert that had attracted the most attention from me as an audience. According to the programme notes, "Funereal Reflections aims to portray the vast spectra of these emotions when Death comes knocking at the door."

I personally like the choice of instrumentation used in Funereal Reflections. I am not a critic, I don't know why I did, but I like it. The lively, jerky middle section gave an interesting contrast to the generally more melancholic outer sections. After the concert, I even had the pleasure to hear from the composer herself on her perspectives on Death.

Congratulations to Arts Sphere Chinese Ensemble for putting up a generally successful concert.

After the concert, we stayed around for a while. Afterwhich, Emily and I headed for dinner. The initial plan was to have dinner at Miss Clarity Cafe, but it is closed on Sundays. As such, we ended up having dinner at Sofra, the Turkish restaurant.

The service at Sofra was good and thoughtful. The waiters were generally quite attentive. They were attentive enough to realise that Emily and I would be sharing the food, and they got extra plates and utensils for us without us having to remind them more than once. Sofra is a place with friendly service and spacious dining space.

Ambience wise, I am biased. I would prefer a more intimate setting to Sofra's grand-looking setting. The food is acceptable, albeit I think more care and thought could be used in preparing the mutton for the kebab dish that we have had. I felt the mutton was lacking in its texture and taste. The pide was fine. The Turkish Rice Pudding is a nice treat. Emily seemed to like it.

After the dinner, Emily brought me to CD shop at Shaw Towers. I got myself a CD recording of Mozart's Requiem recommended by Emily. There are some great bargains at this CD shop especially for classical music lovers.

Then we headed to Suntec City Mall before we parted for the night.

Congratulations to Emily for the successful realisation of Funereal Reflections.

For my readers who are keen to listen to Emily's compositions, I hope I would be able to get hold of a recording of Funereal Reflections to share them with you at a later date. If you are in Singapore and would like to listen to another work by Emily, please check out Emily's Official Webhome for the updates: http://www.emilykoh.blogspot.com

The next work composed by Emily that will be performed is:
Quartet 25
Performed by Luis Teo (oboe), Chen Zhangyi (violin),
Derrick Lim (multi-percussion) and Jane Foo (piano)
12 August 2007, Sunday
7.30pm
Esplanade Recital Studio, Singapore

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Also read Emily's related post here.

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Dictionary:
Funereal