#81 analyse this: cinta beralih arah (aishah)

Aishah is one of the quintessential singers of 90's Malaysian music scene: a mezzo-soprano with a particularly striking timbre and above all, technique to modulate her basic sound to respond to the song and the lyrics. I won't go into how she started out and everything, but I do suspect an early collaboration with the music producer Paul Moss had an effect on her musicianship.

We'll see how she went through (ha!) this song, Cinta beralih arah, which translated means "A love which changes its direction". To what? To Godly love, which is depicted as always in these 'redemption' songs as the higher, more pure love.

She opens the song with a very haunting mezzavoce. She justifies it by the thin instrumentation and the lyrics (Sendiri dalam sepi malam ke pagi - she's sleepless, but it was a quite and serene sleeplessness, not the madness of Lucia). Even when the instrumentation gets thicker with the bass entrance she maintained the mezzavoce but she crescendoes within two phrases as she's angry with her lover, who sees her "jewels and diamonds" as pieces of glass. Here she demonstrates an interesting quality when she opens up her timbre: instead of spreading it narrows, it buzzes more (Marilyn Horne would've called it 'more oboe-like'). And I do know that Aishah and her producers/composers are very aware of this peculiarity of her voice about and above D - most of her songs climaxes just above this point, and above it the notes are more decorative than functional.

What I'm going for is an idea of personal passagio - which remains a personal contention for every classical singers but should not have been an issue for a pop singer. It is an issue of knowing where the voice is more and most attractive, and most functional for a song. In this sense I consider Aishah to be better than most her contemporaries. Is she naturally better, or did she learn through mistakes? Make no point, nobody cared at that point in her career, only that she knows it and her songs always show the best part of her.

Rant over. If you notice, the similar phrases are sung full voice the second time. Why? Even though the voice is produced (er, manipulated) to be in equal mix with the instruments, the instrumentation below the phrases in the reiteration is thicker, with bass moving about and the middle voices more robust. Now I do realise that live, a pop singer may instinctively increase the timbre when accompanied by a full combo. But most of these songs are sung to a playback (which accounts for the manner it is produced), so Aishah either had the instinct to make sure her voice was heard even against a playback, or had access to the master score and saw all those bass figures and harmonies; or was she told to do so by a smart producer? But again as above, nobody cares as she sounds so wonderful and so good that you'd like to imagine it to be effortless (which is not, half the time!).

I do notice little details in the chorus, but most it sung full voice. I do love when she sings about keyakinan diri (or as I would call it 'confidence!') in steady full voice at the end of the chorus when the nature of the music and the instinct would've called for a decrescendo.

Now I would have loved a vocal coda, a few words of serenity in her love to God (goodbye, foolish lover!) but as it was, the song ends with an extended instrumental one. One could not have everything. Still, this song is the second track listed in Aishah's Memori Hit album. That must accounts for something.  

#71 "seroja": views, choices in performance practice and arrangement for wind orchestra

For the last week, I have been contemplating a very famous Malay song, "Seroja" as the theme for my next composition. As pure melodic material, "Seroja" is a strange subject. The title alludes to the flower lotus (teratai), which as you may realise is the symbol of purity for many Eastern cultures. In many images Indian goddesses sit on lotuses perched on top of 'sea of chaos', for example. The allusion to purity perhaps come from the fact that lotuses grow best in swampy areas, so their surroundings may be downright filthy, but their fulsome flowers remain clean and beautiful, in dissonance with its milieu.

The song interests me for many reasons. The song was composed by Hussein Bawafie sometime in the 60's. It has a beautiful coloratura line, it is a test of legato and phrasing, of the management of one's instruments in all its ranges, of creativity and personality in decorating the line. The lyric is pedagogic: the singer is berating a younger sibling for cherishing beauty over substance (rupa yang elok jangan dimanja), for wasting time over love, for not trying to gain wisdom from life experience (memetik bunga) - at least that is how I see it. It is a powerful song, a beautiful song. One may comment that for a song with a stern voice it sure has a lot of coloratura, but I see it as a means of softening the blow, the satin glove of the iron fist, a way to kiss the booboo, if you will.

The original version was sung by S. Effendy. Even in its original version the song was composed with a chorus in mind. The echo effect of the verse is very powerful, reminiscent of religious chants. Mr. Effendy has a beautiful baritone sound, however the extreme of his range (F#, to be exact), is precarious. He handles the transition beautifully though, with a glorious double effect decrescendo-portamento.


Another famous version was sung by Sharifah Aini. She has an easier facility of the coloratura line, and her husky lower reaches contrasted nicely with the power and beauty commanded by her upper reaches (reaching a full-throated F5). You can hear why Miss Sharifah was prized as the most important female Malay singer for at least twenty-five years - the liquid honey one associates with her high-middle voice - the one which granted her the ultimate vocal throne from Saloma - is in strong evidence here.


The most famous version is perhaps Jamal Abdillah's. The verse is throaty in his voice, more to the character of his timbre rather than a choice. He manages the coloratura of the first verse by hollowing his voice, and it is both harrowing and fascinating to listen to. He also made some confusing phrasing choices. No matter, he is a tenor, and he showed his mettle in the third verse, where he opens up a silvery thrusting instrument gloriously to A4 - even the coloratura is better at this range. The wear and tear in his voice show, but it is still a very powerful instrument nonetheless.


I have listened to Mawi's version. It is a strong voice, but at that moment in his career incapable of much delicacy. I do not mean he cannot sing the line, but it is very much the sonic equivalent of bull in a china shop. Contrast for example with Jamal Abdillah (easiest as they are the same voice type) who is still capable of executing the line while maintaining the thrust in his upper voice. Even Mr. Effendy was capable of some vocal effects, but in this department Miss Sharifah wins, hands down.


This duet version sounds wrong on two counts. I have maintained for a long time that while Siti Nurhaliza manages some glorious feats with her voice, her timbre remains anomalous for Malay literature. Hers is a soubrette voice, a girl's voice, a virginal voice. Contrast this for example with Sharifah Aini, who is capable of knowing coquetry and saturnine sobriety - with the same timbre. The second is the fact that she meanders all over her range in her decorations. She knows her strongest suit is her highest range (as has been shown beautifully in the first verse), and she insists on plumbing for depths that are simply not there. Mawi still sounds like a bull in a china shop, and is already showing strain in his upper register.

With these performance practices in mind, I set to composing the Harmoniepartitur. I have already pictured the song as a Bellini cantilena, so I set out to arrange it in that style. The introduction came easy to me:

An oboe solo was planned to evoke the reed instruments of the nobat. The main thematic material was given to clarinets. In later metamorphoses it was transferred to other instruments: trumpets, trombones, euphoniums; but the thematic re-capitulation was always given to the clarinets. I think the mellow refulgence of a well-played clarinet best represent the Malay ideal of the lenggok or the gemalai, the graceful turns and twirls one can see in Malay dances and silat. 

The second section is a waltz. I wanted the material to go to surprising places, and a transplanted waltz sounded ideal. There was a recapitulation, then progression into Allegro, in which the material travelled via Db major to many places, before re-settling in F minor. There are several tags, or 'codettes' as I call them, comprising of two-measures equivalent of  I-VImaj7. The music closes with another oboe solo before a final codette.

The instrumentation is very basic: flutes (with piccolo), clarinets, the saxophone quartet, French horns, trumpets, the lower brasses and percussion, with glockenspiel and tubular bells in the coda. The tubular bells were in fact inspired by Kitaro's land theme from Heaven and Earth. 

I loved the experience. However the arrangement process itself was quite harrowing. I have left the medium for three years, and it took me a few days to get my sea legs again. But it is quite finished as of today, and I hope for the best for this material, which is near and dear to me.

Seroja (wind orchestra) - © fUGA arts limited 2012

#62 the enchanted island audio stream review

Daniels vs DiDonato (hint: TEAM SYCORAX!!)

Happy New Year!

First off, the two main characters: Prospero and Sycorax. David Daniels had long been a very important counter--tenor, if not in Europe then in the Americas, so I was prepared to give a leeway. His tone was still gorgeous as long as it remained within his mid-high register; everywhere else and it's a hit-or-miss situation. His coloratura is laboured, and some of his figures were 'spattered'. He attempted large leaps (à la Horne) but these largely failed. His diction is still exemplary among counter-tenors though, and I think his is the only counter-tenor who is able to make his nuances heard at the Met without over-stretching himself.

On the other hand Joyce DiDonato is a pleasure to hear to. Her voice had gained in edge and overdrive which she used effectively in her coloratura, suggesting 'rage' and 'vengeance'. Her diction was the best, followed very closely by Danielle's Ariel, and this considering aria, scene and recitative works. Her over-driven chest voice sounded rather un-Orthodox, even extreme at times, but it was all to serve the drama. THE DRAMA!!



Danielle De Niese' Ariel was at times pleasant to hear. Like the current Daniels, hers is an instrument best enjoyed within certain limits: not too high, not too low, not too fast. When going too high the instrument break out into the infamous 'glare' now well-known to her audiences. When too fast her coloratura becomes smudged and almost illiterate, however that's happily a rare occasion in this outing. Dani's recitative works was also very impressive, she certainly knew how to play with the accents and the rhythm of the speech.

Luca Pisaroni presented a dilemma: a fascinating, rich instrument incapable of movement. His cantabile is wonderful but his passage-work is frankly a mess.

Lisette Oropesa's Miranda was interesting, but lacking in style. Even Dani was at least entrenched in the Handelian mode. I suspect Oropesa may do better in bel canto setting, probably as La sonnambula's Lisa.

Layla Claire's instrument sounds similar to Danielle's, which sometimes confused me because her line is much cleaner! She had a genuine trill, albeit for two seconds only (the best trill of the night belongs to Joyce, in a passage-work no less!).

Anthony Roth Costanzo's Ferdinand suffered from the dread wooble. What is happening with today's counter-tenors? Maybe it's the 'prima' nerves, but it's sad because it's a very beautiful instrument.

The lovers' quartet (tenor Paul Appleby as Demetrius, soprano Layla Claire as Helena, baritone Elliot Madore as Lysander, and especially mezzo Elizabeth DeShong as Hermia) was amusingly enchanting. Their entrance quartet was wonderful, though later another quartet suffers from 'over-Romanticism' i.e. too much vibrato for Baroque voicing. Elizabeth DeShong's Hermia was especially impressive: she was given Dejanira's mad scene from Handel's Hercules, and there she was singing, with Joyce DiDonato, the premier exponent of Dejanira, in the wings, and she kicked the ball out of the park! Mr. Madore's baritone was gorgeous, and his passage-work while maintaining the theme of 'male singers can't do runs' was cleaner than Pisaroni. I cannot be cruel to someone named Appleby, but I don't need to because Mr. Appleby was amazing! His messa di voce was quite wondrous.

And Domingo. I had a suspicion there's a clause somewhere in his contract saying "No A's or above". His was the richest timbre of the cast, I'd give him that, and what he lacked in style he certainly made up with tons and tons of morbidezza and sheer balls.

William Christie's conducting, more at home in Baroque music, was wonderful, keeping up to pace in the virtuosic parts while maintaining an airy souciance at slower and mid-tempo sections. I had a theory that the Met plays better Baroque when the tempo is slower, because at allegro or faster the runs and figures sounded robotic and bloodless. It's really hard to explain but I think it's because at slower tempi when the strings are allowed to sing, the orchestra really comes to its own. The chorus was magnificent, tons better than the Bolena run definitely. The ballet-masque music, adapted from Rameau, was wonderful, especially the strings and the bassoons - just delicious. Generally the music is better when it's adapted from Handel, as compared to perhaps Vivaldi. Rameau's genius was his ballet pieces just sounded good no matter if the orchestra is not really a ballet-oriented orchestra.

The English libretto was quite good, though at times I do wish they'd stick with the Shakespearean mentality instead of giving quasi-street parlance vibes. Case in point: Prospero's "To save my girl from heartbreak", can't they substitute "girl" with "daughter", just divide the beat into a dotted eighth and a sixteenth. Ah well.

All in all, 4.25 out of 5. A well-deserved turn for Baroque music at the greatest opera house of the world, at last.

#54 anna bolena review

This is my opinion about the Met's opening night/premiere of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, which at the time of writing just wrapped up. Disclaimer: This is audio impression only.

Anna Netrebko (Regina Anna Bolena): Super! However her singing is a bit uneven. A lot of phrasing was cut right when you expect the phrase to flow on smoothly. Her pianissimo high Cs and Bs were lovely. Her trio with Percy and the King(?) was really good. Take on final scene: love love love the "Al dolce guidami", a few good, real trills earlier on then fake-d trills (up untill Coppia). Hate the "Cielo a miei lunghi spasimi", a lot of phrases got murdered, but good high note (a D in alt I think). "Coppia iniqua" was smashing (fake trills notwithstanding)! Overall a success IMHO.

Ekaterina Gubanova (Donna Giovanna Seymour): She's WILDLY uneven. Some singing was extremely beautiful, some like a student trying to figure out how to sing Fs and Gs. But the consensus is the voice was too weighty for Seymour. The best singing was in her final aria, "Ah pensate che rivolti". Her scenes with the King fell flat, her and Ildar's voices just don't mix well. I was thinking how would Garanca (supposedly the Seymour for this production, but had to skip due to pregnancy) have sung each phrase everytime Gubanova sang.

Tamara Mumford (Smeton): I like her. I like her Smeton very much. Her voice had that fast, tight vibrato which I always adore. Her arias (as such that they were) were well-sung, and the caught-red-handed scene (at the end of act I) was nice. I wished she had traded parts with Gubanova! - there, I said it.

Stephen Costello (Don Riccardo Percy): Oh Costello. The biggest disappointment, for sure. The voice was attractive enough, but sounded suspiciously not warmed up. His pianissimo high notes sounded like falsetto, not a good voix-mixte that's for sure. I wonder if it travelled in the house. Near the end he sounded just plain tired. And he lunged all over the place for his high notes, and in the second act also for the notes which are not exactly the apex (i.e. the hardest to reach) of his phrases. It sounded a bit like groaning springs, sometimes - Il Scoopendo, indeed. His "Vivi tu" was fine, but the cabaletta was deeply disappointing. Sad.

Ildar Abdrazakov (Re Enrico VIII): It's hard to judge Ildar because today is his birthday!! He sounded good, but his bottom notes just mysteriously disappeared. I mean, he's a bass right? Needs to improve his coloratura though - his runs and figures sounded throaty and almost-a-trainwreck-but-not-quite-yet.

Marco Armiliato, Met orchestra and chorus: Nice, but some section lacking in impetus. Marco needs to man up and drive the tempo more, especially when Netrebko begins dragging. But overall, good playing. The English horn solo for "Al dolce guidami" is really good. Chorus: not as good. Off night? Un-sync entrances, tremors (especially the ladies).


Overall impression: 3.5 out of 5, not an ideal performance but a pretty good justification for Anna Bolena's first ever performance at the Met. Shame about Costello (probably nerves), but the opera *is* about Anna. Ah well.