We are delighted to share that the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s album of concert works by John Williams, Bernard Herrmann and Hugo Friedhofer has been reviewed in the Spanish magazine Scherzo.
Critic Miguel Ángel Ordóñez describes the album as an invitation to rediscover a lesser-known side of three celebrated film composers, through “a program of remarkable coherence.” He notes that their concert music is not a mere appendage to their careers but the space where each could develop a freer language, unconstrained by the demands of the screen.
Ordóñez highlights the unique instrumental conception of Williams’s Flute Concerto, in which the solo flute takes all the wind parts and the writing favours colour and suggestion over virtuosity. He finds a very different Herrmann in Souvenirs de Voyage, a lyrical evocation of British landscapes and an idealised Venice, whose sonic spectrum is expanded by Hans Sørensen’s new orchestration. He closes with Friedhofer’s Wind Quintet, praised for its balance and restrained lyricism.
The album features flautist Jin Ta, clarinettist Ma Yue and oboist Rachel Walker, with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Darrell Ang and Joshua Tan.
Read the full review in Scherzo.
