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13th April 2008 City
Hall, Concert Hall
Max Bruch Violin
Concerto in G minor Danwen Jiang, violin
We were happy and fortunate to
have Danwen Jiang playing with us again. This time in
one of the most popular and romantic of all violin concerti.
Her technical prowess was beautifully displayed and the
tender moments were truly romantic. The audience showed
their appreciation with prolonged applause. Her encore,
Bach's Gigue from the 3rd Partita for solo violin,
demonstrated she is equally at home with baroque. Each has 3 songs alternating in sequence. Oliver Lo's 3 songs were superbly sung. His first, Das Trinklied Vom Jammer Der Erde--Drinking Song of the Sorrow of the Earth, a real menace to all tenors, was no trouble to him at all. His second (3rd in sequence), Von Der Jugend--of Youth, had just the appropriate lightness. His third (5th in sequence), Der Trunkene Im Fruhling--The Drunk in Spring Time, was well drunk and happy ! Lo has a wonderful voice with both words and music beautifully delivered.
Mahler called this work
"Symphony for Alto and Tenor with large orchestra". Zhu's first song (2nd in sequence), Der Einsamme im Herbst--the Lonely One in Autumn, is indeed a tone poem depicting autumn and loneliness. Her second (4th in sequence), Von Der Schonheit--of Beauty, compliments the tenor's song on young love. It is, of course, the third mezzo song (6th in sequence) that is the heart of the Symphony. Many Mahler "experts" and Mahler lovers consider this, Der Abschied--The Farewell, as the composer's greatest work as well as a summation of his art and his life. The beauty of Mahler's tone painting of Nature is extraordinary but it is his gradual deepening atmosphere of the inevitable, death, that is heart breaking. Towards the end of the symphony, the repeated "Ewig--Forever" simply gradually fade away completely in stark contradiction to his Second Symphony "Resurrection". This was Zhu's first performance of this work, but to this writer it ranks amongst the best in his experience of 50 years of listening to many recordings and live performances. The lovely voice was well controlled to let the music through. Her Ewig was shattering in quietly fading into nothing. Fortunately, our KK managed to hold off the applause for many seconds to protect the magic atmosphere. This was one of the finest performances since the formation of the SAR Philharmonic Orchestra. ˇ@
Cultural Centre Concert Hall.
20th January 2008 The evening got off to a boisterous start with the Capriccio Espagnol and was certainly popular with the audience. De Falla's ˇ§Nights in the Gardens of Spainˇ¨ was less familiar. The piano solo was beautifully played by Hong Kong's own Margaret Lynn who made light of the technically difficult passages. Her evocation of the atmosphere of Spanish gardens at night was a refreshing change from the usual war-horse concerti. The encore (Granados Spanish Dance No.5) was enchanting. Chabrier's Espana was a bright start after the interval but Ravel's La Valse was a very angry protest against war. Ravel was in the French Ambulance Corp during World War 1and witnessed the horrors of the battlefield at first hand. It was a difficult piece with sounds of aircrafts, tanks and guns. Our orchestra came through almost unscathed ! We ended on a much happier note, Ravel's Bolero. The many solos for our members gave us a chance to "show-off" and our Rebecca Ng, on snare drums, was the darling of the evening. For this Spanish theme concert we had authentic advice from our Spanish guest first flute, Izaskun Erdocia, who was most helpful on questions dealing with Spanish music style and tried hard to put us right !
St. John's Cathedral. 11th December 2007. At the request of the HK Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care we performed Vivaldi's ever popular Gloria for their Christmas Concert. It was our second combined performance with the Pro-Musica Choral Society at St. John's and was well received by the appreciative audience. A joyous start to the festive season.
Once again we welcome the distinguished pianist Robert Roux from Texas. His performance of Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto was full of technical and musical mastery. The fearsome difficulties sounded so easy ! The emotional content was well under control so that this much loved "old war horse" sounded totally new and refreshing. The encores (Brahms Intermezzo Op.118 No.2 and Mozart Sonata K.330 1st Movement) confirm his status as one of the leading concert pianists. We are fortunate to have him playing with us.
Continuing our journey of the Mahler
Symphonies, his 7th was the second half of our concert. To say that
this is a difficult piece would be a gigantic understatement for any
orchestra, let alone an orchestra with mostly amateur players, (Amateur
in its original meaning of playing for the love of playing). Again
credit goes to both our Conductor K.K. Chiu and our Concertmaster
Y. S. Liu and of course our players who worked hard to overcome
the horrendously difficult parts. After a discouraging final rehearsal
our members were determined to perform well and the result was most
rewarding for our players and the audience gave an enthusiastic and
prolonged ovation. The members of our orchestra felt proud of our
performance and quite rightly so. In particular, our string and wind
soloists distinguished themselves. Once again, we look forward to the
live recording to be available soon. The distinguished Shanghai Quartet once again played to a capacity audience on 17th October 2007 at the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall. The concert started with Mozart's Quartet No. 23 in F major, K.590. This was played with their now renowned elegance and lightness of touch and was a joy to listen to. Ligeti's String Quartet No. 1 "Metamorphoses nocturnes" followed. The very difficult parts were played with ease and the performance was a revelation to the majority of the audience. The second half was Schubert's String Quintet in C major, D.956. HK Phil's principal cellist, Richard Bamping, joined the Shanghai Quartet in a superb performance of this wonderful music. The five musicians blended so well it was as if they had played together for a long time. A most satisfying performance and a night to remember !
This was an emotional concert for the
participants. Sadly, our eminent first violin, Dr. Richard Poon,
passed away earlier in the year and we all miss him very much. Hidemi Minagawa is a happy "find" ! Her prodigious talent was brilliantly demonstrated in 2 of Chopin's Opus 10 Etudes, no.3 in E (Tristesse) and no. 4 in C# minor. She then played Lizst's Etude de Concert S.144 no. 3 ("Un Sospiro") and our orchestra accompanied her in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467 ("Elvira Madigan"). She had the technical mastery and the musical maturity way beyond her 14 years. The audience was completely spellbound. The second half was all Mozart. John Koljonen was the soloist in the Adagio movement of the clarinet concerto and this was played with the utmost sensitivity and a flawless technique. He was then joined by his fellow soloists, Victor Tam (Oboe); Nguyen Bao Ahn (Bassoon) and C.C. Chow (Horn) in the Concertante for Wind Quartet, K.297. This was played with verve and obvious enjoyment. The audience also appreciated the humour imparted by the soloists and gave a loud and prolonged applause.
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