Review - Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and Sascha Goetzel, 2017 Hong Kong Arts Festival, 15 Feb 2017 & 16 Feb 2017

15 February 2017:
Capriccio a la Turque (Tüzün)
Violin Concerto (Macmillan)
Encore: Il carnevale di Venezia (Paganini)
Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov)
Encore: Köçekçe (Erkin)

16 February 2017:
Ogelala (Schulhoff)
Piano Concert No. 1 (Saygun)
Islamey (Balakirev)
Belkis, Queen of Sheba (Respighi)
Encore: Köçekçe (Erkin)

Vadim Repin (violin)
Gülsin Onay (piano)
Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra
Sascha Goetzel (conductor)

Despite this year Arts Festival began with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, strangely it was the Bavarian State Ballet marked the opening an evening later. Even so, the orchestra was impressive than anticipated. Technically sections of the orchestra were balanced with a unique colour in the playing style despite some questionable interpretations. The programme also reflected the orchestra versatility in romantic and contemporary works. The will to engage experimental music made a progressive appearance. Yet the intellectual exercise still reached a fine balance with the oriental outlook to recall its diverse cultural legacies. Exuberant rhythmic movement also made a festive start of the festival with diverse repertoire than the usual staple diets.

Tüzün's Capriccio a la Turque carried a contemporary oriental impression and structurally complex. The opening tutti was rhythmically energetic and muscular in texture but not too dense. A sedate state followed with a fusion of blues and dissonant music. String's tremolo produced a rocking and dreamy state before concluding in a vigorous and wild dance. Though a more transparent tone colour would have elevate the brilliancy than culminating a heavy taste.

Macmillan's Violin Concerto was a bold choice to perform but the orchestra not always able to shape the music meaningfully. At first, Vadim Repin's playing sounded timid by positioning rather into the first desk circle. The soloist role seems a supportive one than leading. Ongoing rhythmic passages hurried along but structurally misty. The climatic point by horns would need more ritardando to build up the intension. There seems a homage to Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring in the following tribal dance passage. In turn, the glockenspiel, piano and woodwinds gave a surreal bell tolling moment. The coda was abrupt and enigmatic during the tutti ascend. Refined solo violin playing even in dissonance at the dreamy and surreal beginning of the second movement. Though one felt that the orchestra was playing the notes than phrasing the music.

An enigmatic transition from a sorrow and moody lament by lower brass into a folk like section, which played by various percussion and harmonics on the solo violin. After the fanfare from brass it developed into a grotesque outlook but Elgarian sentiments the same time. The folk like theme returned on the piccolo led to a flickering and inconclusive end. A violent start to the third movement with strong rhythmic momentum and aggressive climbs. The solo violin part was more prominent than the accompanying role before. A tribal dance section followed that recalling the music of Leonard Bernstein. The violin solo part was heavy on scales and employed percussive effects with bow on the strings. More so in the cadenza display of virtuosity with repeated double stopping on arpeggios. Though the orchestra would need a broader tempo so the devastation would carry more the crushing impact than hurrying through.

For the second half, the symphonic suite Scheherazade made a more familiar appearance in terms of repertoire but with a twist. Two traditional instruments, oud and qanun, played between movements and added percussions to encapsulate the oriental impression. Though Goetzel's execution of tempo changes and allowance of rubato in instrumental solos were not always convincing. The opening tutti progression was broad and even feeling slow, despite sublime and legato violin solo by the orchestra leader Pelin Halkacı Akın. Tutti strings were polished in their playing but at first felt short from producing a rich tone. The outpour of emotions in full as gearing towards the climax. Magnificent brass playing in a radiant tone with confidence. Alike a lute, the Oud rendered middle eastern tunes and set the scene for the second part. Solo parts took time in their playing but often overdone by elongating the tempo. The violin solo was more musically shaped and secured in tuning, whereas the bassoonist approached with a broad tempo and meditative in mind. Oboe solo was noble in style but too relax than driving the music forward. The extra use of traditional percussion enhanced the middle eastern characters and gave a unique colour to the music. The employed rubato in the clarinet's solo was not very musical later in the violent and war like calls. Only the heroic majesty tutti was more dramatically delivered in sustaining the galloping momentum.

The qanun interlude followed was surreal in style compared to the sweet and passionate string tutti that later began the third movement. Majestic cellos' playing in because but rather steady with tempo. The violin solo continued to be sublime and the phrasing carried a level of depth. Different solos tried hard to draw out the sentiments and beauty alike an operatic dialogues within parts. The intention seems more inward looking at the music but ignoring the dance like rhythmic movement. Oud and qanun played a duet in the final interlude before the last movement. It was more positive looking at first before fading away. Violin solo was slightly underweight in first entry and dragged the tempo along. Later the ebb and flow of emotions had the thinking of a sophisticated dance in mind. The accelerando at the passionate and explosive gallop was dramatically captured by the orchestra. Nevertheless, coordination between parts were messy sometimes and the music did not flow naturally towards the conclusion. One did not find the interpretation as a whole always convincing, but the orchestra had successfully to interpret the work with distinctive characters.

First half of the second evening consisted of two works by Turkish composers that composed in the first half of the twentieth century. Schulhoff's Ogelala was highly dramatic and texturally dense as a ballet piece. It began with a moody and dissonant march then built up to a violent climax. Bombastic percussions created a gripping intensity followed by a melancholic flute solo. A majestic march formed the mid section with an exotic colour before returning to the war like conclusion. Strong rhythmic movement and energetic percussion units evoked a wild tribal dance but came to an abrupt end in a grotesque form.

Saygun's first piano concerto carried influences by Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Bartok, but also mysterious and surreal in outlook. The gallop that began the first movement was answered by a chromatic piano introduction in dreamy state. Woodwinds' transition was aimless at first and abstract. The music went increasingly violent with piercing cries from winds to evoke a horror scene. Thick orchestral texture during the ebb and flow of dynamics by crushing tutti blows. A moody and mysterious piano cadenza even had some hint of Rachmaninov's romanticism. Wild cries from the orchestra made a grotesque conclusion but far from producing a devastating impact. The second movement was in an abstract form played by two flutes and bassoons. Onay tried to maintain a level of warmth and weight in her playing even the piano solo was supposedly bleak in colour. The rest was between a dreamy lullaby state and a sorrowful dissonant sound world. Towards the end it turned into a meditative state and remained abstract, only the energetic attaca gave a more positive looking in the final movement. Harmonically complex in the piano part when pentatonic and chromatic sequences intertwined. The coda was marked by a wild orchestral gallop in crescendo for a reassuring end.

Works in the second half again carried strong rhythmic movements and a study of orientalism. Balakirev's Islamey began in an energetic dance followed by a lush romantic theme from the cellos, though could employ less rubato to drive the music forward. A beautiful orient dance passage gave a calm moment before the return of energetic dance section. The orchestra paced well in building the accelerando and made a brilliant end of the fantasia like conclusion. An exotic and heavily orient influenced flute introduction made an enchanting introduction of Respighi's Queen of Sheba. A majestic march theme, played by the brass along with bells, was answered by an emotional cello solo. The strings played in a rich bodied tone before fading away. Third movement was muscular and war like in style with an orient theme led by the clarinet. In turn, the last movement was more gentle and sedate at first to evoke a pictorial dawn at the dessert. The subtleness was then replaced by an erotic tribal dance that muscular in body. Vigorous percussions and magnificent brass playing delivered a triumphant finale by the sheer sound impact. Despite Erkin's Köçekçe was colourful in scoring, one would have prefer an encore for a light affair than another bombastic and dance heavy featured work.