addy says we should have bought tickets to both nights of yo-yo ma and the silk road ensemble, another (for me) of kenneth's musical legacies. i loved every moment of it, though one piece that didn't quite work was the "journey to the south" - i love the concept of digitalised narrative paintings brought to life with music, documentary-style, but the frequent and long explanatory narration isn't really appropriate for performance in singapore, i think. our familiarity with the material was taxed by the overlong explanations, which in turn made the english telling even more awkward and tiresome. but it was a entrancing concert, and as i watched them i again thought what i had first thought watching the budapest festival orchestra: that orchestras ought to be this way: with the bfo, every player played like a soloist, with relish and confidence and personal joy, and much as i am a supporter of the sso - i wish they didn't play as if they were merely at their jobs, producing competent, unfaultable sound, and leaving it at that. a national orchestra playing in its own home country in a splendid hall like the esplanade - surely they can show us more heart!