Concert Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Center. Stalls (Seat FF49, HK$390).
Banner inside the Cultural Center.
Program
String Symphony No. 13, Sinfoniesatz by F. Mendelssohn (1809-1847).
Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, by Beethoven (1770-1827).
Symphony No. 4, Italian, by Mendelssohn.
This was taken at 7:52 pm, 8 minutes from start. Still many unoccupied seats in the Orchestra section.
The String Symphony was written when Mendelssohn was 14. The Program Notes makes a credible case that Mendelssohn was even more of a musical talent than Mozart, as the latter wrote nothing to this level of sophistication at the same age. In defense of Mozart, he was born more than 50 years prior, and music had not progressed to this level of sophistication.
In any case, one could discern (at least) two segments in the short 7-minute piece (Program says 6 minutes). A slow introduction followed by a rather fast section with a heavy dose of fugues. My appreciation of the piece was helped by the Program Notes. The annotator further claims this reflects Mendelssohn's love of Bach and perhaps began his revival of Bach's music.
Over the years I have heard quite a few Emperors performed. Today's was quite different from the rest, but impressive in its own way. First, Buchbinder made it seem so effortless. From where I sat (and the venue is very intimate) he didn't seem to break a sweat. The concerto probably won't be nicknamed "Emperor" because of this performance, yet the whole piece simply hangs together. The orchestra was a true partner in that it did not try to overwhelm the soloist - that was my fear at the beginning. Van Zweden should know what would work: this is his home turf.
For encore Buchbinder played a rather familiar piece by Johann Strauss. I didn't get the title of the piece, though.
I had heard Buchbinder perform twice before, once with Orpheus, once with Mostly Mozart. They were a while ago, he was already "old" then. The Austrian-born pianist is 76 years old. Turns out the van Zweden/Buchbinder combination will find its way to New York Philharmonic in January, 2024, and I have tickets to that concert. That would be Beethoven's Fourth Concerto, which was played in Hong Kong the night before (September 15). I wonder if I will remember enough of this performance to do any sort of comparison.
As an aside, Joshua Bell opened the HK Phil season with a piece he commissioned called "The Elements." He will do so with New York Phil at the end of this month.
Mendelssohn's 4th Symphony turns out to be quite familiar, even though I hadn't heard it for a while - I think. That is particularly true of the first two movements. The first one (Allegro vivace) is sunny, a hymn is based on the melody of the second movement (Andante con moto). While the third and fourth movements are not as familiar, they nonetheless evoke a happy and sunny atmosphere. To quote the end of the Program Notes (written by Stephen Johnson): "This is music of wonderful abandoned rhythmic energy; unusually it remains in the darker minor key right through to the final chords, though a joyous use of the minor mode is hard to imagine." The tempo markings for the last movements are Con moto moderato and Saltarello: Presto. The Saltarello is an Italian folk-dance very similar to the Tarantella, so says the Program Annotator.
After the first piece. Notice the seats were mostly occupied.
Buchbinder and van Zweden.
At the conclusion. One can't but feel Jaap is very comfortable with these musicians.
Apparently in Hong Kong there is not this pressure to program in modern or neglected composers yet, if the programs for these two evenings are any indication. The concert was still completely satisfying. This actually didn't occur to me until I am wrapping up this writeup. The January 2024 concert has the Beethoven concerto bookended by Wagner and Brahms. That's fine by me.
I am glad I could catch this concert, especially with a discounted ticket. And there were few empty seats in the auditorium, which is simply great.
