By Samantha Lee
Mozart is definitely no stranger to anyone in or out of the classical music scene. A prolific and influential musician of his time, Mozart started composing at the tender age of five – a musical prodigy indeed. Before he went on to piano and opera, he was at first a violinist. At seventeen, he composed his first two violin concertos and in 1775, he went on to compose another three. Ever since then, he moved on from violin and left for Vienna where he worked on operas, symphonies, piano concertos and sonata, etc.
Under the lead of renowned Taiwanese-American violist, Cho-Liang Lin, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) put up an exciting all-Mozart concert at the Victoria Concert Hall last Saturday, with pieces played that afternoon featuring Violin Concerto No.1, 2, 3 and Rondo in C Major.
Throughout the performance, the soloist took centre stage while the rest of the orchestra fanned out around him. Without a conductor though, the various instrumentalists played in perfect unison. What is also worth mentioning was that the soloist had incredible control over the violin. Many times, the crowd sat in absolute trance as he played notes from his violin with such precision and emotions.
Prior to the end of the performance which would have drawn the afternoon to a close, the undying applause from the audience earned them an encore – a small portion of another Mozart’s composition, which was so gracefully delivered that it nearly brought tears to our eyes. Overall, the performance put up by Cho-Liang Lin and the SSO have definitely captured the essence of Mozart’s work, for it made possible emotions so deeply felt that the audience, that they simply hoped to hear so much more again and again.
