The Siam Sinfonietta, Bangkok's orchestra of musicians aged from 11 to 25 years old, won an international youth music festival in Vienna last year and another in Los Angeles earlier this year. They returned last weekend from a hugely successful German tour having won once again _ this time, the hearts of their German audiences. In each of their concerts, at historic venues in Berlin, Munich and Dresden, they received standing ovations and seemingly never-ending applause.
The orchestra in Munich.
Their opening concert, broadcast by the Deutsche Welle radio, was in the historic and acoustically excellent Berlin Konzerthaus to a discerning audience of 1,600 people used to performances of the highest standard. It was a triumph.
The well-chosen programme started with three charming and mellifluous love songs by the His Majesty the King, influenced by American popular and film music of the 1940s and 1950s, when they were composed. The outstanding young Thai conductor Trisdee na Patalung drew a glorious sound from the orchestra, with particularly fine individual contributions from Pasatorn Stieniti (harp), Ratchanon Intarasathit (clarinet) and Somchai Tongboon (oboe), and the Sinfonietta's leader, Chot Buasuwan.
Next were six sections from the ballet/opera Suriyothai, by the orchestra's founder and director Somtow Sucharitkul. Trisdee conducted the exacting music brilliantly, keeping the orchestra on course through the often technically difficult rhythmic structure. Suriyothai, which has its world premiere on Aug 23 at the Thailand Cultural Centre, like the King's songs, shows a fusion of Eastern and Western influences. The story of Queen Suriyothai, who sacrifices her life to save her country, is a decidedly Thai story, of course, but Ayutthaya was a cosmopolitan metropolis in the 16th century, so Somtow's music includes pastiches of European music of the time. In the witty chaconne and sarabande, the elegant dances of the French merchants are interrupted and undermined by outbreaks of Thai music.
Both the fourth and sixth pieces, The Wrath Of Tabengshaveti and the concluding Burmese March, are explosive pieces, and the percussion section, especially bass drum, timpani and tam-tam, were terrific, even terrifying. The fifth piece was The Deserted City, an evocation of Ayutthaya at dawn, empty of life, except for the Queen, contemplating the choices and tasks which lie ahead of her. It is haunting and ethereal, with the solo violin exquisitely played by Tanayut Jansirivorkul. The Suite was met with huge enthusiasm at all the concerts, with the audiences cheering Trisdee and the orchestra, and repeatedly calling the composer, Somtow, back to the platform.
After the interval it was Somtow who conducted the final and longest work on the programme, Gustav Mahler's First Symphony, and he chose to do so in a rarely performed version. Mahler shows, in his First Symphony, all the characteristics and idiosyncrasies that make him so distinctive a composer. So it was perhaps not surprising that the first symphony was initially a failure. What was surprising was that the second movement, the adagio Blumine, was blamed for the failure, and was cut from the symphony by Mahler after the first three performances. Somtow reintroduced this recently rediscovered movement for the Sinfonietta's performances. Blumine is, in fact, sublime, with a glorious melody, first stated by solo trumpet, beautifully played by Wannachat Sripan.
Somtow, who has now conducted all but one of Mahler's symphonies in Bangkok in the last few years, is a remarkable interpreter of Mahler's works. The same rhythmic flexibility that was evident in the Suriyothai Suite was again in evidence in the Mahler. Somtow drew from his young orchestra a deeply moving and quite extraordinary performance. The strings kept their tuning and intonation throughout the hour-long work and produced a remarkable richness of sound. An orchestra needs such a strong foundation, starting with the double basses, unusually and gloriously prominent in this work, as when, for example, they introduce, softly, the Frere Jacques theme of the fourth movement.
Indeed, all sections were wonderful, and the strong French horn section _ perhaps the trickiest of all the orchestral instruments to play _ led the way in the blazing finale, obeying Mahler's specific instructions to stand up, so their sound can be even more prominent. Ecstatic applause, a standing ovation, and endless curtain calls.
The Sinfonietta also performed, again to a sold-out audience of 1,300 (an extra 200 crammed in with extra seating) in the Princeregententheater, Munich, with an equally rapturous standing ovation, and to an exclusive invited audience of 400 at the historic Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski in Dresden _ another triumph, another standing ovation. They finished their tour with playing to another huge audience at a picnic concert in Preussen Park in Berlin.
The Siam Sinfonietta's amazing achievements as cultural representatives of their country deserve to be far better known and celebrated in Thailand. Thais should be very proud of these wonderfully talented youngsters, their brilliant youthful impresario Trisdee na Patalung, and their indefatigable founder and conductor Somtow Sucharitkul.
Michael Proudfoot is a philosophy professor and former member of the board of governors of Eton College.
Somtow, left, and Trisdee take a bow in Dresden.
