Review - Charles Dutoit, Nikolai Lugansky & Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, 18 November 2017

Roman Carnival Overture (Berlioz)
Piano Concerto no. 3 (Rachmaninov)
Encore: Prelude op. 23 no. 7 (Rachmaninov)
The Song of the Nightingale (Stravinsky)
Daphnis and Chloe Suite no. 2 (Ravel)

Nikolai Lugansky (piano)
Charles Dutoit (conductor)
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Despite an attractive programme with a reputable conductor and pianist, the performance was far from a success and even some shockingly disastrous moments. Though the problem was not apparent at first in the festive and lively Roman Carnival overture, which Kwan Sheung-fung played the cor anglais solo beautifully after an electrifying introduction by the strings. Yet Dutoit's conducting was rather square and not indicating the line, and let the orchestra to phrase the line on its own. Soon the playing lost focus and rather vertically looking. The strings produced a warm tone and Italianate in style, but too polite overall than carrying the dramatic urgency in mind. They were also sluggish and lacked the bite on the attacks until the winds gave a crushing entry at the time change. The brass fanfare added the wildness and intensity to the tone colour, which lacked before at the presto ending by merely being full and broad.

Compare to other works on the programme, Rachmaninov's third piano concerto is more symphonic and arguably the more familiar to the audience. A flowing start but already signs of untidiness among the orchestral playing. Lugansky preferred a rather swift tempo in the tranquil theme but Dutoit's indication on the pulse was rather random with his right hand, which seems confused the orchestra. Despite the piano solo was majestic, the thick descending passage did not stay together with the winds. Lugansky also placed a lot of weight in his left hand playing and rather cloudy on the pedal that produced a dense tone. The phrasing felt rather out of shape at the rhythmic tricky part and also some wrong notes on the piano playing. Yet the duet between the flute and oboe were played beautifully with a bell like tone. The recapitulation was relaxing and played at a soft dynamic but odd when Dutoit suddenly speed up the tempo to reach the coda.

The orchestral playing of the second movement introduction was uncertain, which Dutoit was unclear in his conducting and even at times followed the players' tempo. Lugansky's left hand was heavy on the touch again and created a dense colour on the sentimental theme that lacked contrast. Then the pianist and orchestra were dangerously out of synchronisation for few bars when Dutoit seems at lost. Despite Lugansky tried to hide the disaster by being very expressive on his part and possibly improvised, the music was structurally out of shape and randomly developed. Although a virtuosic and muscular start to the third movement on the piano, the orchestra was still lost and confused by Dutoit's conducting. Strangely enough everything got back together in the dream like section, but the concentration and focus were lost already with the slow tempo. Heavy handed playing at the heroic and exuberant passage, but tempo suddenly gone slow by half, and it was a surprise that everything finished together in the end. One was also amazed by the rather enthusiastic reception to such chaotic performance.

Luckily everything was back on track in the second half that Dutoit's conducting seems more in place even the orchestra was leading the direction. Percussions and winds made an explosive entry to Stravinsky's rather colourful score of the song of the Nightingale. The harmonic language imitated festive Chinese instruments but fragmented. Megan Sterling's flute solo carried the rhythmic energy by being crisp in her playing, but the music became abstract and moody as the dialogues of night music dominated. It sprang back to the excitement half way onward with the winds' energetic playing and kept the rhythmic momentum forward. Emperor's nightmarish vision was realised by the sudden cry on the strings and shapeless dances on the woodwind part. At coda it became even more mysterious with a grotesque slow march on the strings, but jazzy blue solo on the trumpet that sounded certain among the cloudy music that being built upon.

The soft blurry impression continued into the dreamy opening of Ravel's second ballet suite of Daphnis and Chloe. The calm image of ocean with ripples was tenderly realised, and one felt the vastness of sound when the strings built up the sunrise climax. Megan Sterling again gave a confident lead between the lyric expressive part and the energetic rhythmic driven section. The impressionistic sound landscape was played in a broad sense as waves but cloudy. All was clear up when the winds played the gallop wildly and explosive during the exuberant dance section. The orchestra had more bites in its playing finally that added to the desired dramatic intensity and became an energetic beast. It seems the leaner orchestral parts had the upper hand this evening and sentiments failed to excel as in the Rachmaninov.

Review - Simon Rattle, Seong-Jin Cho & Berliner Philharmoniker, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, 10 November 2017

Don Juan (Richard Strauss)
Piano Concerto in G (Ravel)
Encore: Clair de lune (Debussy)
Symphony No. 4 (Brahms)

Seong-Jin Cho (piano)
Sir Simon Rattle (conductor)
Berliner Philharmoniker

The revisit of Berlin Philharmonic to Hong Kong marked the final Asian tour with Simon Rattle as its chief conductor, before Kirill Petrenko to assume the role in 2019. Besides local public screenings of both performances across the city, orchestra principals like Emmanuel Pahud and Amihai Grosz also gave their own recitals in town. Despite steep ticket price, with the top category charging nearly four hundred US dollars, the performance quality was as high as expected with many memorable moments. Over the two days a diverse programme was given ranging from Russian to Korean, though the first evening focused on the core German repertoire with Ravel's piano concerto sandwiched in between.

The full bodied sound, at the dramatic opening of the symphonic tone poem 'Don Juan', made a thrilling sonic impression. With such great energy, swift tempo continued at the following soft passage before rubato culminated the built up to a crushing climax. The intensity stayed throughout the gallop, but lacked some dynamic contrast at the mysterious flute leading interlude. The lyric like oboe solo was beautifully played while the strings sustained the soft and ethereal impression. The horns responded with a majestic and confident announcement of the main theme. During the thick and expressive transition, the orchestra managed not to create a vigorously violent tone. Rich tutti playing with sheer momentum drove the energy forward at the recapitulation of the highly romantic expressive theme. Though it could have been more patient with the tempo at the moody coda than too eager in reaching the end.

Probably due to where I sat behind the orchestra, the hall acoustic did not help to project the solo piano too well in the Ravel and sounded rather distant. Seong-Jin Cho's playing was rather stiff at first, in contrast to the energetic orchestral playing which was crisp and carried more direction. One felt the orchestra had a clear road map in mind and produced much colourful playing to the witty and jazzy passages. Elegant harp solo at first and Cho began to play with more momentum towards the end of the first movement . He finally sank into the performance when the lyrically expressive piano solo was given at the start of the second movement. His touch and dynamic achieved a fine balance with the vast space and carried the direction. Sublime winds' solo followed in their entrances and maintained a flowing impression that the tempo neither drag nor in hurry. The cor anglais played its solo beautifully and accompanied by the piano for a sweet and dreamy song without words.

Slick playing began the third movement with woodwind being smooth and secured in their jazzy passages. A rather playful piano part for Cho who maintained the lightness yet also the weight to keep the direction forward in the gallop. Excitement continued among the orchestral playing with transitions seamlessly woven together and accommodated the soloist with consideration on dynamics. For encore, Cho selected Clair de lune to continue the French theme and also a foretaste for his forthcoming album on piano works by Debussy. Not only he played elegantly, but also a good musical sense of phrasing the line naturally that never lose the intention. Even at the elaborated development that his playing was not aggressive and the smoothness sustained throughout. His exquisite touch on the tranquil music held me spellbound and deserved a second hearing in future.

Despite I generally had difficulty to appreciate Brahms's symphonic work generally, the high music standard that being set at the first half kept me interested in what to follow after the intermission. The fourth symphony itself was one that I struggled to understand. Like Tchaikovsky's sixth symphony, the composer would have a rather cheerful third movement but followed by a rather gloomy ending for the sake of seriousness. The first movement was also enigmatic and far from having a clear expression. Instead, the performance gave a rather different approach to the symphony than what I expected. It convinced me that the composer could have been less restrain on his emotions after all. Yet the orchestra took some time to settle at first by being uncertain and untidy in the syncopated entries. There was a level of eagerness to hurry the tempo along, while the strings were heavy footed with the pizzicatos and vibrato heavy. Structurally dialogues between strings and winds did not synchronise naturally and lacked the seamless connection that was effectively executed early on. Momentum gradually regained when reaching the lengthy echo of suspended main theme between parts. The lush tutti sound poured out the emotional tragic sentiments in full and crushingly violent at the coda.

In contrast, the second movement began with the winds playing a broad and majestic dance motive. Sectional entries were seamlessly woven together and stayed on the same dynamic level throughout. The strings entered confidently and expressive on emotions, which carried the sonic intensity but not explosive. It gradually built up the sentimental climax into a rich and vast sound world. The sonic depth gloriously rang out in the hall before calmness hold the emotions back once again. The overall approach to the third movement focused on romanticism than the celebratory mode. Sunshine and positivism broke through the cloudy closing of the previous movement, yet the playing remained majestic and lush than hastening through. Entries were closely connected, and the music was phrased into one long breath so that the intensity was kept throughout.

These all left room for a natural development when the tragic bleakness returned at the beginning of the last movement. Heavy vibrato on strings might not be the current fashionable performing style, but it had expressed the emotions effectively in full at this point. Yet the orchestra did not indulge with the sentiments but kept the momentum forward. Exquisite flute solo on the sorrowful theme answered by some hopeful glimpse from the brass. Violent respond on the strings instead, and was breathtaking to hear the crescendo being built in seven steps as one progressively more intense than before. Ebbs and flows of emotional tides in contrasting dynamic aimed for a tense coda, which culminated the wall of sound into a rich sonic ocean with depth. It took the breath away and worth even the expensive cost to hear this great orchestra on another musical inspirational high point.

(Photo credits: Berliner Philharmoniker; Cultural Presentations Section of Hong Kong)

Review - Yan Pascal Tortelier, Jakob Koranyi, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, 22 May 2016

Valses nobles et sentimentales (Ravel)
Cello Concert No. 1 in a minor (Saint-Saëns)
Encore: Song of the Birds (Casals)

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Debussy)
Tod und Verklärung (Richard Strauss)

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Jakob Koranyi (Cello Soloist)

Yan Pascal Tortelier (Conductor)

After two evenings of predominant German works performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the local philharmonic orchestra offered a mostly French programme in contrast. Atmospherically lighter works made a change from the rich and muscular sound world since Parsifal at Madrid in April. I also felt the chosen music fit well with the polish and bright timbre of the orchestra.

Though probably due to the tight schedule of rehearsals, Tortelier conducted every note with too many indications. After a pompous festive dance opening in the Valses nobles et sentimentales, the momentum became rather mechanical and square in the surreal second movement. There were too much lingering as the players had to wait for the conductor to give the down beat. Beautiful playing from the woodwinds but the music need to flow more instead of stiffness, especially the piece was all about waltz dancing.

Tortelier's laborious conducting produced a vertical reading of the score that not able to produce direction in the playing. Although not as terrible as Jader Bignamini in Netrebko's Hong Kong gala, who failed to conduct ahead and resulted many tempo negotiation issues, it became problematic in Saint-Saëns first cello concerto when the orchestra constantly a fraction behind the soloist. There were some imprecision in his conducting which caused messy coordination in entries. The cellist Jakob Koranyi was alerted to the situation and his playing remained smooth and refine. He had a sense of naturalism and at ease to play through thick fugal passage. Even sitting far away from the stage one could feel the presence of the body of sound that filling the hall nicely. A star to watch out in future.

In the second half, the orchestra sounded very confident in Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by expressing its own will shaping the music than following the conductor. More connected between sections and captured the dreamy atmosphere vividly. Radiant flute solo playing from Megan Sterling by being unhurried and tender. It was also my first to listen to Tod und Verklärung by Richard Strauss. Probably best to describe it as an instrumental version of his opera Daphne, which structurally similar with a long second half towards a heavenward conclusion, though a mysterious opening than a pastoral one. In this performance atmospherically the beginning was not too bleak during the cor anglais solo with tremolo by the double basses. Though the tension of the violent stormy passage did not make quite an impact, and again Tortelier's vertical reading of the score failed to make the transition to the calm and peaceful section a smooth one. The orchestra produced a magnificent sound in climatic moments and highly emotional, but the playing still lacked focus in direction. The tempo towards the end gradually became too broad and as a result the supposed sublime conclusion sounded a boring climb. Otherwise it would have been a wonderful discovery if the conductor would allow the orchestra to do its work than too many instructions.

Jakob Koranyi