THE
JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2013
Here I am back in Hong Kong for another
helping of musical treats organised by the Chopin Society of Hong Kong – The Joy
of Music Festival, and held at Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall. Primarily an
international piano festival centred around the 1st prizewinners of
the Hong Kong International Piano Competition (which the Society also
organisers) and other laureates, it also features chamber music, which have
been an added delight.
Monday
(14 October 2013)
Recital
by Past and Present
Students
Of Eleanor Wong
The festival opened with a recital by
four piano students of leading Hong Kong pedagogue Eleanor Wong from the HK Academy
of Performing Arts. Her students have won important prizes at major
international piano competitions and represent the acme of Hong Kong’s piano
talents.
Johnson
Li Zhong Xin (above), only eleven years old, has been tipped to be the next Lang Lang, having been
taken under the wing by the Chinese phenom himself. That might just be an
underestimation, as I think he may be the next Glenn Gould. In Bach’s French Suite No.5 in G major, one would
expect note perfection and rhythmic accuracy at the very least. He delivers
those and more. He sounds like he knows exactly what he wants to achieve, and
how to get it without affectation or extraneous gestures. He strides confidently
on stage like a pugilist and sits at the edge of the piano stool; his feet
barely touch the pedals and he cannot sit any higher! His sound is clear, the
notes and passages are precisely articulated without idiosyncrasy or other
effects that colour Gould’s playing. After the breathless Gigue, he followed with Chopin’s First Impromptu in A flat major (Op.29) which showed he understood
the nuances of rubato and the
suppleness of tonal colour. Li is certainly not a cookie-cutter prodigy, and I
expect to hear more from him in years to come.
Tsang
Hin Yat,
20 this year, has also gone by the name of Mozar Tsang (Mozart sang, get it?).
He is nattily attired in white, looking every bit the part of a cruise ship
pianist or a Liberace wannabe (minus the candelabra). Thankfully, his playing
is as serious as they get, beginning with Samuel Barber’s Nocturne, a night piece in homage of John Field rather than Chopin.
He shades the short but dark work quite beautifully, bringing out its subtle
dissonances over an uneasy calm of cantabile, before drawing out a brief but
turbulent centre. His big work is Schumann’s Humoreske (Op.20), the longest work of the evening, and one not
easily programmed within the confines of a recital. Its half-hour could be
laborious listening, but Tsang varied its myriad moods and sections well. Schumann
sang in the achingly lyrical opening and the ensuing allegro was well
contrasted. In short, he made one listen through its longeurs and his technique
is well up to the work’s demands. Only the final section came across as
repetitious but that was before he romped home on a spirited high. Perhaps we
can hear some “Schuber Tsang” from this fine young artist.
 |
| Professor Eleanor Wong with her students, (from left) Colleen Lee, Rachel Cheung, Mozar Tsang and Li Zhong Xin. |
Rachel
Cheung,
now 22 but a finalist in the Leeds International Piano Competition as a
teenager, is already a celebrity of sorts in the SAR. Her recital comprised two
20th century sonatas. Leos Janacek’s Sonata “On The Street” was conceived as a requiem in memory of a
worker killed in a 1905 riot in Brno. Overlooking its socialist overtones, it
is a dark and bitter work in which Cheung was sensitive to its every note and phrase.
The sense of foreboding was ever-present and she maintained that tension quite
expertly without going into overdrive. The “Death” as portrayed in the second
movement was swift and violent (as murders tend to be) and the catharsis
seemingly unresolved (as all premature deaths are) by the work’s quiet end. Almost
completely different in tone and mood, but equally convincing in performance,
was Bartok’s Sonata. To these ears,
Cheung’s take was refreshingly free of the usual percussiveness and banging,
the sharp and angular contours smoothed over by a musicality that was utterly
convincing. The slow movement was plain-speaking, and although I don’t know the
Hungarian language, I can only guess what she was saying would have been a
result of her two years of studying with Peter Frankl at Yale. Similarly, the
relentless pursuit in the finale impressed by its sheer pace and stamina, and
again in full control of all faculties.
Colleen Lee is the senior colleague in this
company, having just crossed over the competition circuit age-group into the
reality of adult concert life. What she has won in terms of prizes was brought
to bear in her recital; she is a finished product of years of studies, training
and competing. And she is a totally musical soul, as her reading of Cesar
Franck’s Prelude, Choral and Fugue
showed, with full attention paid to colour, texture and sonority. The
spirituality of its musical language shone through in its lachrymose themes,
arriving radiantly in the arpeggiated Choral
section. Through the dizzying fog of the final Fugue, light and clarity - not to mention digital brilliance -
illuminated the way.
By now the audience had been treated to
music from the Baroque to the 20th century, and it was for Lee to
finish off with a living composer’s music. The choice of Nikolai Kapustin’s Variations was totally astute, given
that its subject is that opening bassoon melody from Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, the centenary of
which is celebrated in this festival. Her approach was cool, even nonchalant,
but that allowed much of the grace notes and harmonic nuances to be better savoured,
and when the heat was on, she turned on the quintessential jazzman’s swagger to
complete the concert with great aplomb.
 |
| HK Chopin Society President Dr Andrew Freris with the score of Lavignac's 8-hands masterpiece. |
Hong Kong has very much to be proud
about with its surfeit of piano talent, and Eleanor Wong was rightly
acknowledged for her inimitable contributions. All four pianists finally converged
on the single Steinway keyboard for the delicious and totally frivolous Gallop-Marche by Albert Lavignac which
brought down the house. Now that is something the ex-Bukit Damai piano quartet
of Neil, Boris, Etienne and yours truly should try out sometime!
