Back Home to the Musical City of Singapore

After what has been the best part of six weeks on the road, it is an indulgent luxury to get back to find there are no painful bills waiting to be paid – or at least none that are overdue with threats attached.  That can happen in Singapore because for some reason while almost everything works really well there are a few exceptions.  One of those is snail mail.  Perhaps no one cares any more.  Still on those occasions, thankfully rare, when a bill is sent from London, it can take anything up to 10 business days to get here : occasionally even longer.

No sooner touched down than I find myself at the Esplanade to see the Singapore Symphony Orchestra who were back to their best.  The biggest problem with Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra is that the most enjoyable moments all come in the first three minutes and the remaining twenty-seven are a bit of a let-down.  They seem to have the score back to front.  Perhaps some orchestra one day should try to play it in reverse.

You could almost say the same about Holst’s the Planets since Mars is the most rambunctious and full on, as you would expect from the Bringer of War.  Yet that is unfair to the other planets, all of which come with their own charms.  This piece is a triumph.  All sections of the orchestra get a full workout including some instruments that rarely get a look in.  

I suspect if you ask seven different people which planet they prefer you would get seven different answers.  For me it is a toss-up between Jupiter and Saturn even though they are very different.  Uranus also has wonderful moments.  Actually they are all great except perhaps Neptune the last one in the series which for me is the weakest.  What is it about composers who want to end low?  Have they not heard about crescendos?

One highlight of my week, albeit brief, was getting a chance to catch up with the Lord Mayor of London, Alan Yarrow, to whom I am related : specifically his father and my mother were first cousins and also very close friends.  Alan is the perfect man for this position.  He is charming and gregarious without being insincere.  He also understands the city and financial markets as well as anyone, around and has a long and distinguished history of genuine involvement in charitable activities.  The only blot on his resume is that he went to Harrow; but then he did not have a choice.  One branch of the family went to Harrow, while the other went to Eton.  Just as Alan is the perfect ambassador, his wife, Gilly, complements him in every way.  She is outstanding at mingling in a reception while making everyone she talks to feel comfortable.  They are a great pair.  

Their visit to this corner of the world was particularly well received in part because of the long history they both have here; they have lived in Sri Lanka and Singapore, and in Alan’s case, he was born in Johor Bahru; so a lot of links and a great deal of history.  We think the first family member landed in Singapore in 1836.  You will still find quite a few Yarrow legacies around Malaysia and Singapore, along with Griffith- Jones and Guthrie, the other strands of the family.  My great aunt was a particularly prominent pioneer in education in both countries setting up the Tanglin School, and also opening a school in the Cameron Highlands.

The reception was at the British High Commission, a wonderful piece of old style colonial architecture.  Sadly there are far too few of these buildings left standing in Singapore.  Perhaps they are not practical, but I fear the real problem is the relative value of a block of new apartments compared to one old house.  While not as comfortable as a modern residence, the BHC does have charm and character that mark it out from many other official residences.  

Sorry to criticise the home country but they need to do something about the quality of wine served on these occasions.  This is the second event I have attended there.  It is a sad state of affairs when someone who prefers a glass of wine under most circumstances finds beer a better bet.  The eats were fine but the wine was not up to snuff.  There is plenty of perfectly decent wine available at reasonable prices (of course no wine in Singapore is cheap), so no excuse for serving rubbish, especially when you are trying to generate goodwill and promote bilateral trade and investment.  You do not want to give the impression that either your guests are not important enough to merit a good glass, or that Britain is too cheap or perhaps worse too budget constrained, to provide one.  You want to put people in a receptive frame of mind so they depart full of goodwill towards the hosts.  A small saving here is definitely penny wise and pound foolish, and a false economy.