Va Va Voom! With the MPO

Va va voom! with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra at Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS on the 12th of January 2014, featured music "from Vienna to Broadway". On offer were Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld Overture, La Belle Hellene: Invocation a Venus' (Act 2, No.11), La Perichole: Ah! Quel diner je viens de faire' (Act 1, Scene 8b) and Gaite parisienne; Messager's Fortunio: 'Si vous croyez' and L'Amour masque: 'J'ai deux amants'; Thomas' Mignon Overture; Lehar's Das Land des Lachelns Overture, Die lustigen Witwe: 'Vilja-Lied', Ballsirenen, Walzer uber Themen lustigen Witwe, and Giuditta: 'Meine Lippen sie kussen so heiss; Strauss' Lob der Frauen, Polka francaise, Op.315; Romberg's The New Moon: 'One Kiss'; Gershwin's Girl Crazy Overture; Bernstein's West Side Story: 'I Feel Pretty' and Loewe's My Fair Lady: 'I Could Have Danced All Night'.

The program was full of  "Frivolity, sentiment, romance, glamour, luscious tunes and lots of waltzes" and "takes us to the very heart of operetta-land ... to Paris, then to Vienna, and then across the ocean to the Broadway musical".

This is the third consecutive year that Christian Schulz was conducting the new year MPO performance but I thought this year he was not so much in his element. There was so much less involvement of the audience unlike last year. He also made very few witty remarks, though his conducting, I guess was flawless. Attractive Soprano Kimy McLaren in her lovely red gown sang beautifully though. Her rendition of 'I feel pretty' and 'I could have danced all night' had me humming/lip sync-ing with her because they are such familiar songs.


I noticed that not many of the most expensive (RM250) seats were taken at this afternoon performance, but maybe it was full house the night before. This time around I attended the performance alone because everyone else had their own thing they wanted to do then. I must admit there was an instant I almost nodded off! I blame Christian Schulz not making me stamp my feet and clap my hands more. Naah, not really, it must be the previous late, late night.

Note: 1. The MPO's inaugural performance was in 1998.
2. All pictures are have been rephoto-ed from the programme book.
3. Ref: Programme Notes by Robert Markow.