Review - Joyce DiDonato in War & Peace, Hong Kong City Hall, 16 January 2019

Scenes of horror, scenes of woe from Jephtha (Handel)
Prendi quel ferro, o barbaro! from Andromaca (Leo)
Sinfonia from Rappresentaione di anima e di corpo (Cavalieri)
Chaconne (Purcell)
When I am laid in earth from Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)
Pensieri, voi mi tormentate from Agrippina (Handel)
Tristis est anima mea (Gesualdo)
Lascia ch'io pianga from Rinaldo (Handel)
They tell us that your mighty powers from The Indian Queen (Purcell)
Crystal streams in murmurs flowing from Susanna (Handel)
Da Pacem Domine (Part)
Augelletti, che cantate from Rinaldo (Handel)
Dopo Notte from Ariodante (Handel)
Encore:
Par che di giubilo from Attilio Regolo (Niccolo)
Morgen (Richard Strauss)

Il pomo d'oro
Maxim Emelyanychev (director)
Joyce DiDonato (mezzo-soprano)
Manuel Palazzo (dancer)

This recital was my fourth experience of live performances by Joyce DiDonato, and especially personal in terms of programming and presentation. It served as a personal reflection of her anxiety by the recent and current progression of world politics and social agenda. A liberal agenda is in the air protesting Donald Trump for his disrespect to woman's rights and retreat from international corporation. Nevertheless Joyce is optimistic by the future and believes through cultural exchange peace can always be found and share joy together.

The design of this recital is an anthology of varied works by different representing composers, particularly from the Baroque period, to construct an opera of operas in the context of the principle theme 'war and peace'. A raging introduction was given through a doom telling prophecy from Handel's oratorio 'Jephtha' and suicidal madness from the lesser known opera Andromaca by Leo. Dido's lament and Agrippina's curse displayed the revengeful character in torment. A display of twisted humanity and abnormality turned norm during war, betrayal and slaughter. Lascia ch'io pianga from Handel's Rinaldo concluded the first half on a subtle sentiment.

The second half instead focused on music painting and tranquility from Handel's oratorio Susanna, and again the opera Rinaldo where a singer enjoyed a duet with the recorder imitating bird singing. The two athletic arias from Handel's Ariodante and Niccolo's Attlio Regolo were left towards the end for a technical brilliancy fireworks. The evening ended on a moving and forward looking note with the ethereal 'Morgen' by Richard Strauss.

In conjunction with the Baroque spirits, the inclusion of a dancer on stage, special lighting effects and imaginative video display, tasteful gowns designed by Vivienne Westwood added the flamboyant dramatic effects that very much celebrated. Though it took some time for Joyce and the ensemble to synchronise in the first half. Maxim Emelyanychev attempted to display his multi talents both directing from the keyboard and even playing the cornett, but some weird continuo moment especially in Lascia ch'io pianga that disturbed the pure and still impression that the singing aimed for. 

Joyce's vocal condition was also not in the best form as the tuning went noticeably flat in Dido's lament, and lacked some energy in sustaining the runnings during the athletic arias. Though her sheer emotions, vocal richness and stage presence rectified the shortfall. I also felt the recital as a whole was beautifully rendered and a lot of thoughts put into the presentation format. Most importantly the message and courage she made through this project showed an established artist can bring hope to the masses in this ever more divided world.

(Photo credit: Premiere Performances of Hong Kong)

Review - Purcell and Handel, La Nuova Musica and David Bates, La Seine Musicale, 29 September 2018

Purcell: airs and dances from King Arthur, Fairy Queen, The Tempest
Handel: arias and dances from Il Pastor Fido, Terpsicore, Alcina

La Nuova Musica
Anna Dennis (soprano)
David Bates (director)

La Seine Musicale adds another new performing art complex to Paris after the Philharmonie. It locates on an island on the river Seine at the outskirt of Paris. The building design as a whole is spacious, tastefully decorated and comfortable. Good balance in terms of the hall acoustic and the right size for capacity. Instead of symphonic concerts, it focuses on Baroque performances and this concert by the La Nuova Musica makes a good introduction.

Despite signs of illness, Anna Dennis gave a tender and elegant rendition of 'fairest isle' from Purcell's King Arthur. The legato maintained and displayed a variety of vocal colours later in 'If love's a sweet passion' from the Fairy Queen. She gave an emotional account of 'The Plaint' also from the Fairy Queen, which recalled the same sentiments expressed in Dido's lament.

The dances were generally jolly, flamboyant and in a quick gallop. It began with an oboe driven dance swinging along followed by a majestic pastoral dance in the second movement. The third was a dialogue between violin and oboes whereas the final movement was a virtuosic display for the solo violin.

Though I thought the harpsichord could be added to give more contrast and support to the ensemble. Dennis sustained a bell like tone in her singing and being dramatic with the running to the top notes. It concluded with an emotional aria, Ah mio cor, from Handel's Alcina after a gallop to realise the torment.

Review - Bach and beyond, Case Scaglione, Caroline Goulding, Colleen Lee, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, 25 June 2016

Poème symphonique (Ligeti)
Concerto No. 5 in f minor, BWV 1056 (Bach)
Fratre (Pärt)
Chaconne in g minor (Purcell)
Violin Concerto (Ligeti)
Ricercar from Music Offering (Bach, arr. Webern)

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Colleen Lee (Pianist)

Caroline Goulding (Violinist)

Case Scaglione (Conductor)

My recent concert going experience had been dominated by late romantic repertoire, and this interesting programme made a welcoming change, particularly my first encounter of Ligeti's Violin Concerto. Before the actual concert, one hundred metronomes were assembled at the foyer to perform Poème symphonique by Ligeti. The ticking sound was the focus but spectators' reactions added another layer of audio and visual experience. Inevitably everyone performed the digital ritual with their smartphones to take photos or make video recording of the spectacle. Then all eyes and ears eagerly awaited which metronome would last the longest. The speculation became like a sporting competition with yelling and cheering when the result was revealed. Probably not the composer would have in mind, but the atmosphere and provoked reaction gave the mechanical performance a human touch and fascination.

I felt the concert programme itself was not an emphasis on comparing tonal and atonal music, but demonstrating how contemporary progressiveness took one step more on Baroque format to extend the sound boundary. Perhaps that was why the performing style of Bach and Purcell in this concert did not adopt the historically informed practice, which would have focused more on strong articulation, the dancing rhythmic motion and ornamentation. Instead Scaglione relax and precise conducting style generated a silky and transparent texture from the ensemble playing. Steady in tempo but not broad neither sluggish and still in shape. Colleen Lee produced exquisite playing in the more sedate second movement of Bach's fifth keyboard concerto with the right touch and a sense of naturalism. Though the hall acoustics felt slightly too big for such intimate chamber piece even from where I sat towards the front of the balcony.

In following, harmonic cleverly structured Fratre by Arvo Pärt was given a more vertical and objective reading. Not sure if the strings were on purpose to be choppy with the bowing but felt it needed more legato. The hymn like theme at the interval of a tenth would need to sing more than being rigid. As the music developed the emotion and thicker in texture, then only the ensemble began to move in direction with phrasing and contrast in dynamics with more bow hairs on strings. Same happened in the Purcell that the strings' playing were rather sluggish even the conductor indicated the phrasing, despite responsive to the dynamic contrast. The dotted rhythmic was not too exaggeratedly articulate to maintain the smooth and silky impression.

It was not difficult to detect a lot of efforts and coordinations had been inputted to prepare this superlative execution of Ligeti's violin concerto. The expanded orchestra with a large percussion section, curious instruments including alto flute and ocarina, and solo strings tuned to different pitches made an audio feast for the unique sound effects and music colour, as well as visual. More importantly, the orchestra finally had the road map in mind, knowing the corners and delivered confident playing. Caroline Goulding gave a fearless account by pulling out special effects on the solo violin and hold nothing back, particularly in the fiery and dramatic cadenza of last movement with dissonant double stopping and gradually returned to glissando in its simplest form.

Those not necessary into the experimental landscape of Ligeti would be surprised by Webern's clever arrangement of Bach's Ricercar. The tonal colour and body of sound might be familiar but themes were connection only than a dominant feature. The augmented full orchestra was a sight but the produced sound did not reflect the size. The melodic focus is not the attraction, but cloudy timbre and lean texture instead. The randomness of motives were not totally aimless and created a curiosity of the colour. Like Ligeti, both pieces referenced a recogisable theme including folk tunes, but being intelligently presented in different forms, or even became a response in parallel to the dissonant subject. After all, I enjoyed the intellectual deception and the adventure into an unfamiliar sound world. More please in future concert seasons!

The performance of Poème symphonique