I went to the concert after work.   Every time I go to concert, I end up with eating Mashroom Swiss at Burger King located right between my office and Victoria Concert Hall.  I don't hate humbergers, but I would like to have a decent dinner before I go to a concert once in a while.   Yes, I have to leave the office 5 pm sharp.

Anne Akiko Meyers is a half Japanese - half American violinist.  She is not so called a super-star, but you cannot go to her concert at S$16.00 in Japan.  This was the first time I went to her live concert.  Probably this is her first visit to Singapore.

She was smaller and slimer than I thought she would be, but her performance was very powerful.  Mendelssohn's violin concerto Meyers performed was not only powerful but also colourful.

Strings of Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra had better sound than our Singapore Symphonic Orchestra (SSO).  Winds are about the same level.

There are growing number of excellent Asian violinists and pianists but not so many great musicians who play the wind instruments.  We need a lot of them to have good orchetras in Asia.

We left the concert hall at the inter-mission as I was quite satisfied with Meyers' performance.  I only paid S$16, our children were at home and  I did not feel like listening to Shotakovich's No. 5 performed by an orchestra with so so winds.  

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Year 1999 is the 2oth anniversary of our SSO.  We had well known guest performers like Yo Yo Ma and Anne-Sophie Mutter. （Please read my wife's page for Yo Yo Ma）.

When we have guest performers, our guest performs before the inter-mission.   It have been like that for years,  but this time SSO plays Webern's small pieces and Adagio from Mahler's No. 10 in the first half.  Mutter played Beethoven's concerto in D major in the second half.  Does SSO's management feared that the audience just leave after they enjoyed Mutter?  Well, maybe.

I listen to any kind of classic music, from baroque to modern music like the one Messiaen composed.  So Webern was quite interesting, but my second daughter, Eriko, did not seem to be enjoying these pieces.  She might have enjoyed her elder sister's concert at school that night.

Conducter Lan Shui tried very hard to encourage the audience to enjoy Webern and Mahler.  Actually he explained a lot how does the specific part of music means.   This was a nice try, but I am afraid that it would take some time before SSO plays modern music with colourful sound.

Mutter's performance was superb. A romantic piece composed by Beethoven was played with excellent technique, and a lot of dazzling colours.  No wonder, she was blessed by von Karajan from a childhood.

I arrived at home at around 11 pm with a worn out girl.  Poor Eriko, she was so tired.  She had track and field competition that morning.