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Straits Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Chloe Chua and SSO's latest album hits No. 1 on Apple Music's classical music charts
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox This is the second time an album by Chloe Chua and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra has topped Apple Music's classical music chart. SINGAPORE – Singaporean violinist Chloe Chua's new album Mozart: Violin Concertos has reached the No. 1 spot on Apple Music's global Classical Top 100 charts. The album, recorded with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) under the baton of Hans Graf, also reached No. 5 on the United Kingdom's Official Specialist Classical Chart. The album was released on July 18. This is the second time Chua and the SSO have snagged the top spot. The first was in August 2024, with their recording of Butterfly Lovers Concerto & Paganini, which was released on July 26, 2024. The SSO has been steadily clocking new achievements with recordings and tours post-pandemic. In 2023, its recording of film composer Bernard Herrmann's Suite From Wuthering Heights: Echoes For Strings debuted at No. 5 on the UK's classical music chart , the first time it cracked the Official Specialist Classical Chart's coveted top five spots. Chua and the SSO bettered that achievement when Butterfly Lovers reached No. 4. The orchestra also went on a sold-out three-city tour in Australia in February. Singapore Symphony Group chief executive officer Kenneth Kwok says: 'This achievement is further proof that our national orchestra and Singapore classical music talents are gaining global attention, and able to compete on the international stage. 'We are especially proud of this recognition in a field that is dominated by orchestras with a much longer tradition and history. When we made the BBC Music Magazine's world's top orchestras list in 2022, we were one of the two youngest and only two Asian orchestras.' Mozart: Violin Concertos teams Chua with Chinese violinist Ziyu He, a fellow alumnus of the Yehudi Menuhin Competition. The recording includes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Rondos, K. 269 and K. 373, as well as the Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364. In a four-starred review of the recording, British newspaper The Guardian noted that Chua holds attention with her 'notably mature' interpretations, which are 'balanced, considered and never trying too hard'. The review added: 'Everything Chua plays has a clean, focused tone, an unfailingly elegant turn of phrase and a quiet wit.' Chua will be performing Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the SSO at the Esplanade Concert Hall on Aug 21 and 22. Tickets are sold out, but additional seats in the choir gallery have been released.
The Guardian
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Chloe Chua: Mozart Violin Concertos album review – teenage prodigy's interpretations are balanced and mature
As Chloe Chua points out in her notes, Mozart's Violin Concertos were written by a teenager – so why shouldn't a teenage violinist do them justice? Chua – joint winner of the junior Menuhin Competition in 2018, aged 11 – was 15 and 16 when she made these recordings. The framework is conventional – there are no great surprises in the tempos, and she is backed by the modern instruments of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, who give an energised but refined performance conducted by Hans Graf. So far, so traditional. And yet Chua consistently holds the attention with interpretations that are notably mature: balanced, considered and never trying too hard. The faster movements having a gentle momentum, the slow ones plenty of space; everything Chua plays has a clean, focused tone, an unfailingly elegant turn of phrase and a quiet wit. As well as the five concertos we also get three stand-alone movements, two rondos and an adagio – and, most rewardingly, the Sinfonia Concertante, for which Chua is joined by the violist Ziyu He, another Menuhin Competition winner, his mellow-toned lines dovetailing perfectly with hers. Granted, these performances may not stand out dramatically in a very crowded field, but they are certainly worth your time. This article includes content hosted on We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify
