3rd June, 2016 – BBC Frozen Planet in Concert

Conductor: Benjamin Northey

Orchestra: Hong Kong Philharmonic

Venue: Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

Fenton: BBC Frozen Planet (Live music with images)

In 2003, I saw George Fenton conduct HKPhilharmonic bringing us the music and footage from ‘The Blue Planet’. I loved the show and it was a great opportunity to see the composer conducting and talking about the music and how it related to the images. Last year I saw ‘Planet Earth’ performed in Hong Kong, so it was time to finish off this trilogy of concerts.

Although, I was less familiar with the music of this programme, it had George Fenton’s signature all over it. The music always complimented the footage whether it be crashing waves, orcas wave washing a seal to wear it out so they can eventually feed on it or a mother polar bear and her cubs.

The concert shows different aspects of nature where the audience is awed by the magnificence of the views captured, the brutality of predator prey interactions and of course the comical side to bring some light relief. Definitely a favourite part of the concert was watching the criminal penguins – stealing from another’s nest to build their own!

17th November, 2015 – Benjamin Grosvenor

Piano – Benjamin Grosvenor

Venue: Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall

Mendelssohn  Two Preludes & Fugues from Op. 35

Chopin   Barcarolle op. 60

Chopin   Mazurkas Op. 63 No. 2 & Op. 30 No. 4

Chopin   Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante

Ravel   Le Tombeau de Couperin

Liszt   Venezia e Napoli

Premiere Performance of Hong Kong had wanted to book Benjamin Grosvenor, but he had already been fully booked for a few years ahead, so they had waited patiently for his availability to perform a recital in Hong Kong. Benjamin Grosvenor’s reputation just seems to go from strength to strength, currently being nicknamed the ‘Boy Lord of the Piano’ by the New York Times. It often amazes me that someone at the age of 23 has such skill at the piano and the humility and gratitude to the audience seems to show as he takes his bow.

Here he is in 2011 when he was the youngest soloist performing at a BBC Proms opening night:

 

13th November, 2015 – Håkan Hardenberger, HK Sinfonietta

Conductor and Trumpet – Håken Hardenberger

Orchestra – Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Venue: Amphitheatre at Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts

Haydn Trumpet Concerto in E flat

Prokofiev Classical Symphony, Op 25

Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin

Robert Planel Concerto for Trumpet and Strings

Joni Mitchell Both Sides, Now

Jan Lundgren The Seagull

I invited a couple of friends to come along to this concert. One is an artist and the other a fellow teacher. I was quite excited about going to this concert as it is seldom that we get to hear brass or woodwind concertos in Hong Kong compared to strings or piano. Håken Hardenberger is a well known Swedish trumpet player, who performs with renowned orchestras. I did find the choice of venue surprising though. I’ve been to concerts in the HKAPA amphitheatre before which is quite small and rather underwhelming.

The Haydn concerto started off well and Hardenberger produces a beautiful tone. However, when he was climbing through a phrase, it already felt like he was struggling and as an audience member, to be wondering, “Will he make it!?” decreases the enjoyment of the experience and he struggled to place the high notes which was a disappointment.

The rest of the pieces were conducted by Hardenberger and were pleasant enough and the orchestra performed well. Unfortunately, Hardenberger didn’t make it to another climactic point in the Planel concerto. Having read reviews and knowing this famous trumpeter’s name, I really expected better. I question what could have improved this concert. Was it too much to be conductor and soloist? Had jetlag caught up with him? Maybe this was just an off day.

Here’s a video of Håken Hardenberger performing the Haydn concerto with Yehudi Menuhin conducting in 1998:

6th November, 2015 – Mozart and Strauss – Canellakis and Hadelich, HKPhil

Conductor: Karina Canellakis

Violin: Augustin Hadelich

Orchestra: Hong Kong Philharmonic

Venue: Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Mozart –  Abduction from the Seraglio Overture

Mozart –  Violin Concerto no. 5, Turkish

R. Strauss  – Die Frau ohne Schatten: Symphonic Fantasy

R. Strauss –  Salome: Dance of the Seven Veils

Since Marin Alsop made her speech as the first female conductor at the Last Night of the Proms, it seems that female conductors have stepped into the limelight a little more. Hopefully orchestras have become more intentional about including female conductors in their programmes. It is fantastic to see some female conductors in the HKPhil 15/16 season. This was the debut concert for Karina Canellakis. It is unsurprising that she has come over to Hong Kong to perform considering that Jaap Van Zweden is one of her mentors and they work with Dallas Symphony Orchestra. I definitely enjoyed watching her conduct showing appropriate movements for each phrase.

The first half of the concert had a Turkish theme – ‘Abduction from the Seraglio Overture’. This had lively beginning and endings featuring cymbals and piccolo, with a more sombre section in the middle. The second piece was Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 5 ‘Turkish’ played brilliantly by Augustin Hadelich.

Here’s a video of Augustin Hadelich:

The concert ended with two very entertaining pieces by R.Strauss. First was the symphonic poem translated as ‘The woman with no shadow’. The last piece of the evening was ‘Salome: Dance of the Seven Veils’ being based on the biblical story of Herod’s daughter. Herod offers Salome anything if she dances for him. She goes to her mother, Herodias, to ask what she should ask for and requests John the Baptist’s head on a tray. (John was not popular in the Herod household as he had told Herod that he should not have married his brother’s wife!)

2nd November – Avi Avital and the Cologne Academy

Mandolin: Avi Avital

Orchestra: The Cologne Academy Chamber Orchestra

Venue: Hong Kong City Hall, Concert Hall

Vivaldi – Concerto in F major Autumn from The Four Seasons RV 293

Bach – Violin Concerto in G minor BWV 1056 (arr. Avital)

Vivaldi – Concerto in F minor Winter from The Four Seasons RV 297

Bach – Violin Concerto in A minor BWV 1041 (arr. Avital)

Bloch – Nigun from Baal Shem

Bartók – Romanian Folk Dances

Falla – Danse Espagnol

Tsintsadze – Georgian Folk from Eight Miniatures Tunes

I wasn’t so sure about buying a ticket to this concert at first. However, I knew the name, Avi Avital is quite prominent at the moment- probably due to following Wigmore Hall‘s Twitter feed and hearing of his collaboration with Mahan Esfahani, the harpsichordist.  I looked at the programme and saw that it consisted of equal measures of Baroque and folk music, both of which I enjoy, so why not go and experience it?!

As the players of the Cologne Academy walked onstage, I was surprised that the ensemble was mostly women. This was quite a nice observation to make as it is usually the opposite that is seen. Avi Avital and the conductor arrived and Avital sat on a chair near the front of the stage, but unfortunately for me the conductor was standing directly in my line of view! I was at the front and just at the wrong angle, but it really is all about listening to the music! The first half was Vivaldi and Bach which I enjoyed. The second half was based on folk music. Avital was fantastic on the mandolin and the balance between orchestra and soloist was excellent.

During the second half of the concert, Avital paused to talk about the concert and the pieces noting the themes of the two halves. He talked more about the pieces in the second half of the concert including the pieces by Tsintsadze, who he said many people may not have heard of and therefore may not have heard the music before. I had looked in the programme and noticed that one of the Tsintsadze pieces was called ‘Indi Mindi’ which rang a bell with me. So when I was listening to the music I recognized several sections, especially ‘Indi Mindi’ which I was quite excited about. I realized that I had a CD – probably from BBC Music Magazine around 20 years ago that was called ‘St Petersburg Classics’. I did get to mention my familiarity to ‘Indi Mindi’ to Avital afterwards, and he asked if I was a cellist as Tsintsadze wrote music for cello, but I told him that I had heard a chorale version of it on an old CD. He did comment that it was quite rare for someone to be familiar with this piece.

A mandolin concert is probably not everyone’s first choice, but Avital really makes the instrument and the music come alive, with his playing and programme choice. I would definitely recommend anyone to see Avital in concert, whether it is classical, folk or jazz that he is performing!

Avi Avital and I after a little chat at the autograph session

Avi Avital: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

24th October, 2015 – Penderecki, James Cuddeford and HK Sinfonietta

Conductor: Penderecki

Violin: James Cuddeford

Orchestra: Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Venue: Hong Kong City Hall, Concert Hall

Penderecki Violin Concerto No.2, ‘Metamorphosen’

Shostakovich Symphony No.15 in A, Op 141

I was motivated to go to this concert as it’s a great opportunity to see a renowned living composer conducting his own work and a Shostakovich symphony. I had been quite oblivious to the fact that Penderecki actually knew/met Shostakovich. When I told a friend recently that I would be attending this concert with Penderecki conducting, he asked how I knew of this conductor. To be honest I have no idea but could only reply that I read ‘stuff’ – including BBC Music magazine. I was also thinking of various websites including Classic FM and NPR (classical music), and maybe browsing in CD shops engraves these names in my brain.

The Violin concerto was performed by HK Sinfonietta’s own concertmaster, James Cuddeford. It is a challenging work with the player having few breaks, and when they did come, they were short. Cuddeford did an excellent job and it was fantastic to see HKSinfonietta having one of their own perform as soloist.

James Cuddeford talking about the Penderecki violin concerto:

The Shostakovich symphony was performed well with clear entrances. This performance surpassed my expectations.

Here is a performance of the concerto by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Bernard Haitink conducting.

23rd October 2015 – Christoph Eschenbach, HKPhil

Conductor: Christoph Eschenbach

Piano: Tzimon Barto

Orchestra: Hong Kong Philharmonic

Venue: Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Dvorák – Carnival Overture

Gershwin – Piano Concerto in F

Brahms – Symphony no.1

I had wanted to see Christoph Eschenbach conduct for a while as I had seen he had worked with Ray Chen on his recent Mozart album.

The Carnival Overture was a fun way to start this concert. This piece of music is supposed to depict a wanderer coming across a city where a festival is taking place. This is definitely shown with the energetic folk dance feel of the music. The middle section, led by the flute and cor anglais is a much gentler tune, where the wanderer has found a companion. The Overture, soon returns back to lively dance music.

Here is a video of it being performed at the BBC Proms in 2012:

As Tzimon Barto entered the stage, my first impression was that he was quite a striking figure –  tall and broad shouldered. I’m sure he can produce the power needed in some piano concertos like Rachmaninov 3. In typical Gershwin style, the concerto starts with a New York feel to it. Barto played with precision and fimness when the music called for it. Other passages were played sensitively and gently without losing that jazzy theme.

The concert ended with the fabulous Brahms Symphony No. 1 which took Brahms about 21 years to write.

Christoph Eschenbach signing autographs after the concert

Christoph Eschenbach in rehearsal with HK Philharmonic – Brahms 1

I found this obviously older video of Eschenbach and Barto performing Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F. Barto has since ditched the puffy sleeved shirt!

12 September -Cirque de la Symphonie- Guy Noble, Hong Kong Philharmonic

Orchestra: Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Guy Noble

Cirque de la Symphonie

Venue: Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert 

Kabalevsky: Colas Breugnon: Overture

Debussy: Suite Bergamasque – Clair de Lune

Risky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, op.34, parts IV & V

Bizet: Carmen Suite no. 2 – Gypsy Song, Act II

Bizet: Carmen Suite no.1 – Toreador Song

Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty Suite op. 66a

Saint- Saens: Samson and Delilah: Bacchanale

Abreast: Tico Tico No Fubá(Dragon)

Chabrier: España

Williams: Witches of Eastwick: Devil’s Dance

Kabalevsky: Comedians: Galop

Offenbach: Orpheus in the underworld: Can-Can

Antheil: Hot Time Dance

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake:Valse

Sibelius:Finlandia

J.Strauss II: Thunder and Lightning Polka, op. 324

The previous evening, I had been to a school function and a colleague asked if I would be at this concert. So, we arranged to meet for dinner. When I arrived, another colleague realised she had left her ticket at home, she was about to leave and I suggested that they could ask at the box office/ HKPhil organisers if they could still let her in as this had happened recently to another concert attendee and it was sorted out without much fuss. Thankfully, our friend was saved a long journey home and didn’t have to pay again – so thank you people at the HKPhil desk!

The orchestra were situated further back than usual to make room for the rigging that was needed on stage for the Cirque performers. This was an excellent evening of circus acts – think ‘Cirque du Soleil’ but with less fantastical costumes set to classical music. There were aerial skills with a team of about six people holding the rope, appearing and retreating offstage,  to help hoist the acrobats into the air. There was a good variety of acts, including spinning cube, tango, quick change and hand balance. A highlight was certainly the juggler who brought some comic relief every time he came on stage. They ended with an aerial duo including a man flying through the air on silks and lastly, the golden strongmen who manage to somehow balance on and using each other.

A very entertaining programme, with beautiful music. Guy Noble did point out that there was quite a bit of ‘Spanish’ music in the performance – but interestingly enough, none of it was written by spaniards!

Cirque de la Symphonie

5 September – HK Philharmonic Season Opening: Tan Dun’s Nu Shu

Orchestra: Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Tan Dun

Metal Percussion: Zhang Xinru

Violin: Zeyu Victor Li

Harp: Elizabeth Hainen

Venue: Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

Tan Dun  – Symphonic Poem on Three Notes

Mendelssohn – Violin Concerto in E minor, op.64

Tan Dun – Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women (with images projected)

When I think of Tan Dun, I think of his music from the award winning ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ and the Beijing Olympics. So already, I was looking forward to seeing this composer conduct his own works.

As I walked into the concert hall, the stage was set with metal percussion instruments arranged at the front of the stage. Zhang Xinru walked on with Tan Dun and took her initial bow amongst the instruments. Although she was partly hidden from view, Zhang could easily be seen transferring from instrument to instrument. This piece of music was written for Placido Domingo for his 70th birthday concert. The music is based on three notes (A, B and C) known as ‘la-si-do’ which sounds like ‘Placido’. The orchestral players played the music as usual, but also added in foot stamping and chanting of ‘la-si-do’. It is an unusual piece, but one that is totally captivating to hear and see performed live.

Spotify – Tan Dun Symphonic Poem on Three Notes – Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

The Mendelssohn violin concerto was performed well by 19 year old Victor Li. His encores were Paganini’s Caprice no. 1 and Bach’s Violin Sonata no. 3 in C major, BWV 1005. The Paganini displayed his technical ability with his bow moving repeatedly . The Bach, in contrast was slower and allowed the sensitivity of the piece to come through.

After the interval, Tan Dun’s with microfilm was performed. There were three screens that turned on one at a time, sometimes showing the same film, at other times showing different parts of the same film. Listening to the women’s singing, which to my ears sounds strange, and not altogether pleasant, I was always amazed at how Tan Dun is capable to hear this music and create a musical backdrop to it. There were definitely elements that sounded like the music could be from a movie soundtrack, especially in the movement where the girl was in the boat on water sounded like a part of ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’. The music has an organic sound to it with water being used by the percussion section and the instruments at times sounding like a soft breeze.

Tan Dun on his 13 microfilms with HK Phil’s live music

Elizabeth Hainen talking about Nu Shu

This concert was really one that displayed Tan Dun’s creativity and showed how as a contemporary composer, his music is very accessible.

25 August – HKFO, Vassily Sinaisky & Dominique Moralez

Orchestra: Hong Kong Festival Orchestra

Conductor: Vassily Sinaisky

Tenor: Dominique Moralez

Venue: Concert Hall, Hong Kong City Hall

Berlioz Requiem

I seem to have a theme recently – see some choral music with extra brass situated on each side for the surround sound effect! It was First night of the Proms with Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast and now Berlioz’s Requiem. (I also realised I’ll be seeing Belshazzar’s Feast again later this season with HKPhil!)

The brass were situated in four groups, two to the left and two to the right, to demonstrate the four corners of the world. This was particularly effective in the movement as the sections entered one after another. There were definitely some Verdi- type moments within the piece.

It was lovely to see the Rowlands family again and I managed to have a photo with the two music students before we parted ways.

(L to R) Abigail, me and Isabelle

Here is a video of Berlioz Requiem from the Proms conducted by Sir Colin Davis: