HK Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Stalls 2 (Seat CC53, HK$10).
Program
Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 by Brahms.
Violin Concerto in D monor, Op. 47 by Sibelius.
Symphony no. 41 in C, K. 551, Jupiter, by Mozart
I am spending a week in Hong Kong with the primary aim of
attending a fund-raiser for Hope International’s Hong Kong office. By checking the Urbtix website, I knew this
concert was going to be on Friday (I arrived Friday) and Saturday. Someone in one of the chats groups I am in
had an extra ticket for Friday and wanted to give it away. I added to the chat by saying I was hoping to
catch Saturday’s performance. Another
group member, S, chimed in and said he was planning to go and would try to get
me a ticket before I arrived in Hong Kong.
Turns out S is an avid supporter of the orchestra and managed to get me
a complimentary ticket. Well, not
completely free as there was a nominal charge of HK$10 for the HK$880 ticket.
There was quite a bit of excitement in the chat group
about the event. The person that
attended the Friday performance called it “very controlled.” He also mentioned the encore was
special. I ventured to guess it was from
“The Red Violin” as Bell did that in July at a Mostly Mozart Concert. My preference is to go into a concert with no
preconception, but in this case I didn’t mind.
The seat I had was excellent, just behind the main seating
area of the orchestra section. I wonder
if that is the reason the orchestra seemed to have a bigger-than-usual dynamic
range. Or it could be that was van
Zweden’s intention. It worked very well
for the Brahms piece.
I was quite disappointed at how the Jupiter was
performed. Sloppy would cover most of
it. It wasn’t botched enough that I didn’t
enjoy it, but enough that the “mistakes” (in many case interpretative takes, no
doubt) detracted from that enjoyment every now and then. Instead of light and crisp, it was heavy and
muddled. I did catch how the different
melodies were woven together.
It is easy to love the Sibelius Violin Concerto. Every time I listen to it, I am impressed
that it is both emotionally and technically challenging. No doubt Joshua Bell can do both, but
oftentimes not at the same time, and he didn’t do it tonight. Technically he was flawless, and he certainly
played with his heart. But I ended up
admiring his skills as a violinist more than an artist. The audience loved it, though. As expected, he played The Red Violin as an
encore. Perhaps this auditorium is more
intimate, I like it a lot more than his David Geffen Hall performance.
S also attended the concert, and he offered to give me a
ride back to the CWB apartment.
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