Bolivian Baroque

It was meant as a treat for Jon & I. I booked tickets to Bolivian Baroque: Music from the Missions of Chiquitos and Moxos Indians concert in Singapore at the Esplanade Concert Hall. It was performed by Britain's period classical group Florilegium and several Bolivian Soloists.

I had heard on the radio that the music was as stirring as some of the 'greats' in the classicial music world, so was interested to go and listen to them. It was a one night only show, and I was surprised to see that the ticket sales were so poor. When we got there we were told by the ushers that they were 'dressing down' the house, so we got a ticket upgrade! Great for us! And the first time I've experienced such a thing in Singapore. I remember in London we regularly got pushed up whenever there were empty seats in front. But it really was very empty. The attendees filled up mainly the stall and a few of the circle 1 seats. Which is also okay for us, cos it made the performance more intimate, but I wondered how the performers felt.

Anyway, the music was spritely and as they played I had scenes of ladies and gentlemen in their elaborate costumes dancing in a castle somewhere in England in the 17th Century. I particularly enjoyed their pastoral pieces (can't rem the title right now, will go dig it up), and absolutely loved their encore piece which was a rendition of a traditional Bolivian song. That tune stuck in my head of most of the night after the concert.

Besides the music, I loved watching the musicians perform. The other concerts I've been to usually had a conductor directing the orchestra. But this was a small group with no conductor. Instead, through nods of their heads, or just looking at each other's eyes they'd coordinate and play together. They were animated too! Almost like watching a dance (but of course much less feet movement). It was music and passion mixed into one. There has to be passion for them to decide to devote their life to the study of period music. The violinists (Bojan Cicic and Jennifer Morsches) in particular were wonderful to watch. They really had chemistry on stage. And Ashley Solomon (the Director of Florilegium) truly brought the recorder to life! I remember playing the recorder in primary school, and I could never make it sound like that! He was such a beautiful flute player too, handling the instrument with a light and expert touch.

The Bolivian singers were varied in their styles, but complemented one another well. The complexity of some of the vocal arrangements made the singers very much a part of the orchestra. It's was really a case of their voices being an instrument.

I'm glad we went and had a sneak peak into the world of Bolivian baroque music that was lost to the world for such a long time, and has now be resurrected for the enjoyment of all!