HK Cultural Center Concert Hall. Stall 1 (Seat H52, HK$240.)
Program
Violin Concerto in D, op. 77 by Brahms.
Symphony no. 4 in F minor, op. 36 by Tchaikovsky.
Wang is the concertmaster of the Hong Kong
Philharmonic. He was appointed by van
Zweden in 2013. The two evidently knew
each other from their Dallas days: Wang was the concertmaster for Dallas Opera,
and van Zweden music director of Dallas Symphony. Wang was born in China, grew up in Canada,
and went to Julliard. He is now in his
early 30s. He performs on the 1760 G. B.
Guadagnini violin on loan to him.
He did a great job with the Brahms concerto. The last time I heard this in concert was Gil
Shaham with the New Jersey Symphony. I
described Shaham’s playing as technically sound, but the performance ultimately
felt like “a day at the office.” There
was a lot more passion tonight, and Wang also rose to the technical challenge,
for the most part. There were hints of
intonation problems every now and then, and some of the arpeggios could be
cleaner; but they did not hinder how well the music spoke. Brahms seemed to have a fondness for double
stops, and there were many in this piece, Wang did very well with them.
The Program Notes described how Joseph Joachim’s
suggestions to Brahms were mostly ignored initially. The premiere was by Joachim and Brahms, and
was not a success. Brahms then
incorporated some of Joachim’s ideas, and the rest is history.
Jing Wang, with Jaap van Zweden looking on, thanking his colleagues after the Brahms violin concerto.
The Tchaikovsky symphony was simply a treat. When done well, it is easy to like, and it
was done well tonight. As an example,
Tchaikovsky reused the first theme of the second movement multiple times. Some performances caused me to wonder: will
this ever end? Tonight, the repetitions
just took the music to a darker and darker place, close to depressing at the
end. The fourth movement was wild, and
the orchestra picked up its pace and galloped along.
I characterized this in my Facebook blurb as one of the
best concerts I have attended, world-wide.
Looking back, I also enjoyed the many times the same symphony was performed
by New York Phil, including a recent one with van Zweden conducting. So it may be a case of expectations: the high
one for NY Phil was met, and the (slightly) lower one for HK Phil was exceeded.
The applause at the end of the Tchaikovsky was as enthusiastic as I have seen. It was well deserved. Too bad there were quite a few empty seats in the balcony sections.
The horn section did very well. For instance, it produced a firm and steady
sound at the start of Tchaikovsky; I suppose having all four horns (and the
bassoons) playing together helped. The
oboe, on the other hand, didn’t sound as well as I expected, especially in the
“duet” it had with the violin in the second movement.
Being a frequent visitor to Hong Kong this year (this is
my fourth trip), and given that van Zweden is now also the music director of
the New York Philharmonic, it seems I cannot avoid running into him everywhere.
As long as the music great, I am fine with it.
I had a late afternoon snack today, and a bowl of wontons
from Mak’s noodle after the concert.
No comments:
Post a Comment