The Rite of Mountains: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra (Wenjing)
Don Juan (Richard Strauss)
Symphony No 5 (Nielsen)
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Li Biao (percussion)
Fabio Luisi (conductor)
Under the direction of Fabio Luisi, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra gave an explosive start to their sole performance this time in Hong Kong. It made a crushing full sound that realised the stormy scenes in Wagner's The Flying Dutchman. The brass sustained a bright tone throughout whereas the woodwind managed to hold back for the soft and sweet passages. Though Luisi sometimes indicated randomly and his conducting did not help to coordinate the sectional solos. The crescendo was also suddenly progressed in such hurry that the rubato followed felt odd. The resolve from the triumphant climax too felt too slow after the bombastic built up.The orchestra's big noise continued into the first movement of Wenjing's The Rite of Mountains, a percussion concerto that commemorated the devastating Sichuan earthquake of 2008. Despite a depiction of the crushing noise when the ground was broken up, whether to do with Luisi's robotic conducting, I felt the clashing chords rather heavy footed and tiring to hear after several bombardments. Interestingly it also made the impression of a roaring crowd being definite than the screaming in horror. Even so, the marimba part was gentle and more flowing. Solo violin and woodwind interchanged to decorate above. In contrast, soft gongs began the second movement quietly. Clarinet played only with mouth piece that imitated the sound of an ocarina and pizzicato on untuned string instruments. It seems to suggest a village festival in the countryside. Tempo gained momentum from a walking pace before an outburst of wild noise. The end again recalled the opening surreal sound effects and faded away. A taiko introduction on the bass drum marked the opening of the third movement. There were violent moments with drums played in furore and the orchestral part turned into a wild tribal dance alike the Rite of Spring. It developed into a nightmarish climax before the drum gave a virtuosic cadenza. An impressive conclusion with the orchestra timpanist and Li Biao played together in fiendish rhythmic tempo.
Interestingly I thought Luisi's rather impatient tempo on romantic repertoire worked rather well in Strauss's symphonic poem 'Don Juan'. The orchestra did not linger on the fantasia like passages and kept the music very lively. The lyrical response was romantically expressive and flowed smoothly. In contrast, the triumphant climax was in exuberant mode with great momentum to sustain forwardness in the playing. It was followed by a lovely oboe solo moment that was tender and beautifully rendered. At the recapitulation of the heroic theme the musical intensity and brilliancy maintained. Probably because it had been so positive throughout that the tragic ending seems lacked the poignancy.
I had mixed feeling by Nielsen's fifth symphony that it had many sonic glorious moments, yet harmonically restrained from making emotions and repetitive on rhythmic patterns. The extensive first movement began an extended description of landscape but not as vivid as Sibelius. Then there were the marches that suggested a military scene, but not as bleak as or carried a political message as in Shostakovich nor Prokofiev. There was no big gesture on creating an emotional charge but a blazing sonic outburst with brass fanfare. A rich and vigorous tutti began the second movement but rhythmically spacious with repetition from the winds. The fugue developed in a peculiar way that the gallop gradually became a wild climax. The strings reset the fugue on higher notes but this time it finally felt more tormented. An abrupt transition set for the ultimate glorious end in blazing sound.
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