Violin Concerto (Sibelius)
Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter" (Mozart)
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Joshua Bell (violin)
Jaap van Zweden (conductor)
Like the season opening performance before, a festive symphonic overture is programmed for an uplifting start. Though the orchestra was too energetic throughout Brahm's Academic Festival Overture, and as a whole it felt lacking character and essence. Jaap probably felt the swift tempo would keep the momentum going than dragging along. Yet already restless than being mysterious at the tip toe like beginning. By reaching the first triumphant climax then the orchestra was more stable and let the music sang. Despite displaying the tonal contrast, it galloped in hurry and occasionally lost in details.
The first violin began Sibelius's Violin Concerto with a spellbinding pianissimo and set the stage for the solo violin. Bell's playing produced a sweet rich tone with clarity, but his bowing did not always have the smoothness to sustain the long line and sometimes felt abrupt. He approached from a sentimental perspective by employing a lot of vibrato. His playing was passionate and expressive on the ebbs and flows of emotions, rather than holding back the sentiments in stillness. Despite a challenging part to play, tuning on the double stops were noticeably a hit and miss Whereas the orchestra strings seems holding back their response to avoid being overpowering. Interestingly, I thought there was a brief moment alike the motive of Siegfried's assassination from Wagner's Götterdämmerung towards the end of the first movement.
Bell began the second movement beautifully on the lush expressive violin part, yet the horns' accompaniment did not sound convincing. Occasionally I felt Bell put too much weight on the bow that it felt too rich and sticky than allowing his playing to flow more. The orchestra achieved more charity and locating its voice in the tragic response. Yet the syncopated section not really able to build up the climax despite effective dynamic contrast.
A busy start into the third movement for the solo violin part, but Bell was driving the tempo so much that his phrasing not quite grasping the shape of the polonaise dance. Tuning was very good with the harmonics and not so with the arpeggio climbs to the high positions. As a whole I felt mixed by Bell's playing, but after learning from friend's past experience, Bell could have been experimenting different approaches than giving a straightforward interpretation.
I had not been impressed by Jaap's Mozart in the past but what he achieved from the orchestra on the "Jupiter" symphony changed my mind completely. Finally a more relaxing tempo was adopted for the first movement and the playing was very polished. Perhaps the violins could employ more accents in the down bow to give more rhythmic excitement than only sustaining the elegant impression. Contrast in tone colours at counterpoints was effective with beautiful tone at the majestic recapitulation. A flowing elegant impression was made at the beginning of the second movement. The sadness and solemnity at the tragic transition seems a reference to earlier piano concertos by Mozart. Later the landscape became smooth with a sweet and clean tone, while being sedate and slightly sentimental. The third movement became an elegant and majestic dance in thicker texture than the movement before. The orchestra was very responsive and immediate with the gallops in the last movement that kept the momentum forward. The brilliancy of Italian opera fanfare like section was effectively realised. The bright tone gave the dance like movement a flamboyant touch. The final gallop was energetic with the sheer rhythmic excitement that gave more audio satisfaction than the first half.(Photo credit: Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra)
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