Hannu Lintu Makes Radiant SSO Debut with Music “not of this earth” | The Flying Inkpot
HAYDN Missa in angustiis – Nelson Mass
MAHLER Symphony No. 4 in G major
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Singapore Symphony Chorus
Singapore Symphony Youth Choir
Hannu Lintu, conductor
Eudenice Palaruan, Choral Director
Wong Lai Foon, Choirmaster
Hera Hyesang Park, soprano
Virgine Verrez, mezzo-soprano
Elgan Llŷr Thomas, tenor
Edward Grint, bass baritone
14 Nov 2025, Fri, 7.30pm
Esplanade Concert Hall, Esplanade Theatres by the Bay
Review by Derek Lim
Ever been to a concert where the first thing you want to do is put on a recording of the work that was performed, just to wash your ears out? Tonight was the reverse – on the trip home, I didn’t put any music on, so that I could keep the echo of its last notes in my mind’s ear.
To say that Hannu Lintu’s highly anticipated first performance with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra as its Music Director-designate was a resounding success might be underselling it. Opening with Haydn’s ‘Nelson’ mass ‘Missa in angustiis’, which he conducted without a baton, Lintu’s interpretation veered Classical with a touch of drama. The clearly well-prepared combined Singapore Symphony Chorus and Singapore Symphony Youth Choir sang with commitment, beautifully unified entries and lots of careful attention to dynamics, resulting in a performance with a burnished sound that was at a higher level than I’ve recently heard.
The quartet of soloists were equal to the challenge of Haydn’s vocal writing, with the Korean lyric soprano’s dramatic, almost declamatory contributions and the French mezzo’s expressive, chocolatey voice standing out in their contributions. The tenor had a lovely squillo but was rather underutilised for Haydn’s writing, while the bass was expressive but often overshadowed by the ladies. Lintu’s emphatic conducting resulted in lots of power in the combined forces – the closing passages of the Credo, for example, landed with great impact.
Even more impressive was Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, where Lintu gave a glimpse into the heights that may be to come. Again taking a Classical view of the work, he conducted with a baton here, with an athletic and energetic, yet not over-the-top style, evoking a view of the symphony that maintained a child-like innocence from start to end.
Lintu brought out a transparent chamber-like texture that was frequently – and especially in the strings – beautifully luminous. While not shying away from the little details, including lots of string portamento, his overall view of the first movement (and the work in general) was long-breathed and not episodic in the way some Mahlerians might make it.
Characterisation and transitions are key to Mahler, and these were masterfully achieved – the first movement felt congenial, gemütlich, and it was wonderful how the sudden mood changes were achieved in keeping with Mahler’s child-like vision. For example, the bone-chilling trumpet tattoo, which resurfaces at the start of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, felt so much more unexpected and impactful for Lintu’s not underlining the passages leading up to it. Perhaps more remarkable was how he was able to return to the same child-like happiness by the movement’s last, crisp chords, as if the child hero emerged unscathed by the music’s earlier horrors – even as Lintu held back on a swagger that would have made the victory more complete.
One thing fun about Mahler symphonies is how he writes concertante parts for his orchestral musicians, and in the Scherzo of the Fourth, he lets the concertmaster have a go at it with a violin tuned scordatura for an otherworldly sound. Co-Principal Guest Concertmaster Kevin Lin took centre-stage, embodying Death playing the fiddle (Freund Hein spielt auf). Characterfully played, though firmly staying away from the grotesque, his contributions were sparkling and witty and a perfect foil for the lovely horn solos later. A litmus test is the soaring B-major episode and here this was simply gorgeously played, with again loads of portamento, yet not over-milked.
The Adagio is the symphony’s emotional core, and Lintu hit the heart of it with a moderately-paced rendition that was commandingly gradated – the somewhat numb beauty of the opening slowly warming up as the movement progressed. As the music develops, it descends into tragedy, and the cor anglais solo that leads into that emotional turmoil was superbly played. At some points there was a frustrating lack of bloom from the strings, but this may have been more to do with the hall’s acoustics. No matter – elsewhere, Lintu’s chamber music approach made sure that there was plenty of orchestral colour to enjoy.
Unusually for not having emphasized individual passages before, he made sure that the glorious climactic passage, where the horns triumphantly sound the theme of the last movement and give a glimpse of heaven, was doubly and triply underlined, with timpanist Christian Schiøler’s double-mallet strokes coming off like cannon-shots. The coda leading attacca into the final Wunderhorn movement, ‘Das himmlische Leben’ (The heavenly life) had a quiet incandescence.
Soprano Hera Hysang Park’s straightforward interpretation of the text gelled nicely against Lintu’s brisk tempi. Never arch or too knowing, she struck the perfect balance between expression and innocence, her face lit with quiet joy. The words, from ‘Des Knabens Wunderhorn’, are of a child’s view of heaven, yet in Mahler’s life, death was never too far away, and one wonders if the protagonist of this song has indeed already passed, or if it is instead a fantasized version of heaven. Philosophical questions aside, the radiance of the stanza beginning ‘Kein Musik ist ja nicht of Erde’ left my cheeks wet, and as the final notes of the harp tolled in its last moments, I felt transported, as if this music was truly not of this earth. Twelve full seconds of pregnant silence lapsed before the audience erupted into applause – appreciation to the musicians as well as a warm welcome to the SSO’s next Music Director.
A thoroughly engaging evening, and an auspicious glimpse into what is to come.
