JAAP VAN ZWEDEN CONDUCTS HONG KONG PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA WITH ALEXANDRE KANTOROW / Review

JAAP VAN ZWEDEN CONDUCTS 

HONG KONG PHILHARMONIC 

ORCHESTRA WITH 

ALEXANDRE KANTOROW 

Esplanade Concert Hall 

Tuesday (20 February 2024) 

This review was first published on Bachtrack on 22 February 2024 with the title "A triumphant return to Singapore by the Hong Kong Philharmonic". 

Singapore was the first stop of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s 50^th anniversary concert tour of eight cities in Asia and Europe. Led by its eighth music director, Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden, the orchestra more than followed up on indelible impressions left at its last visit to the island-state in May 2017. 

One hallmark of the orchestra’s programming was its promotion of works by Hong Kong composers. Daniel Lo Ting-Cheung’s Asterismal Dance, specially commissioned for the anniversary season, was a compelling opener. Lasting just under seven minutes, the “scherzo fantastique” made every second count. Its slow and mysterious opening highlighted excellent woodwind passages, later erupting with a restless pulsing energy. Its idiom was tonal, chromatic and without revealing Chinese influences. Resembling Vaughan Williams at his darkest and prickliest, it was also possessed with a Bernsteinian beat, dynamics of which hinted at jazz. 

Then it was the turn of Alexandre Kantorow, 1^st prizewinner of the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, to guest in Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Bespectacled for this performance, he looked more like a mathematics professor about to deliver a lecture but appearances deceived. Going full pelt and trading blow for blow with the orchestra, he latched on the lapels and never let go. 

This was through and through a virtuoso outing, the pace only relenting during the first statement of the Dies Irae chant, Variation No.XII’s graceful Tempo di minuetto and the glorious transition from B flat minor to D flat major for the famous 18^th Variation. The laconic yet witty ending was also perfectly voiced. Kantorow’s encore was typically anti-virtuosic: Federico Mompou’s Cancion No.6, and the audience waited with bated breath for the ensuing Danca, which never came. 

Impressive as the first half was, that was mere sideshow to Mahler’s First Symphony. By reprising its reading from seven years ago, the orchestra and van Zweden may be accused of trotting out a tired and well-worn warhorse. However, they were determined to make this account resound anew. The first movement’s evocation of dawn was rapt with stillness, the three offstage trumpets subtle yet alert to the day’s awakening. The symphony’s thematic link with the Wayfarer song Ging heut’ morgen übers Feld was well elucidated and its development convincing as to elicit premature applause at the movement’s close. There were new ears to this music indeed. 

The Scherzo was very buoyant and rambunctious, tampered by the Trio section’s more gemütlich feel. Clearly this was a performance of fine contrasts and nuanced balances. Similarly, the slow movement’s droll funeral march, a variation of Frère Jacques in the minor key, was contrasted by its unbuttoned klezmer elements, revealing the Bohemia-born composer at his earthiest. 

Yet all these had to take a backseat to the very long finale, opening with the tumultuous “cry of a wounded heart”, mustered with an immediacy that was instinctual rather than coerced. The movement’s upheavals are well-known, and there were returns of earlier themes, but stiller moments never flagged. These were deliberately built up, restraint awaiting a final payback with dividends aplenty. This was realised with the ten French horns rising to their feet for the final call to arms, a dramatic and “lump in the throat” moment if any. 

Its conclusion was greeted with a spontaneous standing ovation, which van Zweden and his charges rewarded with Dvorak’s passionate Slavonic Dance in G minor (Op.46 No.8), a furiant as a furious encore. For the orchestra’s excellence and the evening’s varied musical pleasures, one can only proclaim, “Glory to Hong Kong!”                   

Star Rating: *****

The review as seen on Bachtrack:

A triumphant return to Singapore by the Hong Kong Philharmonic | Bachtrack

Mervin Beng's review in The Straits Times:

Concert review: Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates 50th anniversary with sterling show | The Straits Times

HONG KONG PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA / Review

HONG KONG PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Esplanade Concert Hall

Monday (1 May 2017)

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra's third visit to Singapore (the previous occasions were in 1983 and 1999) was part of its tour to mark the 20^th anniversary of the former Crown Colony's return to China, where it retains a Special Administrative Region status. The orchestra turned professional in 1973-74, and thus has a five year head start over the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. 

We Singaporeans have a sort of unspoken rivalry with Hongkongers over such things as economy, standard of living, food and shopping, and whether we have a world-class transport system (they do, we don't) et cetera.  In a way, this rivalry even extends to our orchestras, and here was a chance for Hong Kong to parade its musical crown jewel for the first time at the Esplanade.

By the way, Hong Kong's own Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, home of the HKPO, came up during the early 1980s, thus establishing yet another head start (this time of some 20 years) over Singapore. Let's not even discuss about international piano competitions, of which HK has held four editions since 2005, to our big fat zero (OK, we do have one really good international violin competition, but just one edition so far). One thing which Singapore does not have, and which the City of New York would soon gain, in 2018 is the HKPO Music Director Jaap van Zweden. He was what made the difference between the HKPO of today and the orchestra that was last heard at Victoria Concert Hall in 1999.

The Esplanade Concert Hall has flattering acoustics but that was not what that made the first work of the HKPO's concert resound with a glittering sheen and glow. Hong Kong composer Fung Lam's Quintessence, composed in 2014 for the orchestra's 40^th anniversary, was not one of those atonal nightmares which modern orchestras trot out on occasion and pretend to delight in.

A 10-minute single-movement concerto for orchestra, it provided a display of what each section could achieve – seperately and together - in the most virtuosic manner possible. There were extremes in dynamics, such as high-pitched strings and tingling percussion pitted against growling basses, answered with brassy interjections and chorales. Cor anglais, flute and muted trumpets all had their moments. Never static and always eventful, it kept the ears (and the performers) fully engaged through the mounting tension to its abrupt close.

That was a palate cleanser that led uncharacteristically to Mozart's Violin Concerto No.4, not a typical concert showpiece, which saw a welcome return of Sichuan violinist Ning Feng, former winner of the Paganini International Violin Competition in Genoa. The pared-down forces provided exquisitely sensitive accompaniment to Feng, who wisely chose not to flex his Paganinian prowess, but played along like a consummate chamber musician. He joined the orchestra's strings in the tuttis, and soon beautifully carved a path in his solo role, which was tasteful and fully in the spirit of the music.

His tone was sweet, but never cloying or overpowering. Only in the solo cadenzas did a sense of romanticism come into the picture, but that was never overdone. The slow movement was a delight, the restraint coming naturally rather than forced, and the Rondo finale another show of grace and courtliness, with no little prettiness in the execution. The fire-breathing aspect of Feng's musicianship came in the encore, where he obliged in Paganini's Caprice No.7 in A minor, which was simply dazzling. There seemed to be a palpable sense of relief that his natural instinct of showmanship had not gone unexploited.   

The main work was Mahler's First Symphony, just performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Robert Spano) at the same venue just less than two weeks ago. Unfortunately, I was not present and thus no basis of comparison could be made. While the SSO's show was said to be attended by a small house, it was filled to the rafters (including gallery seats sold) for the Hongkongers. They could not possibly disappoint.

Conductor Jaap van Zweden is not a big man by physical stature, and he has an Alberich-like stoop that appears ungainly at first, but in everything else he bestrode the podium like the titan of the symphony's title. The orchestra responded magnificently, with the softest hush in the symphony's opening, a rapt depiction of dawn which gradually unfurled with the nascent sun's rays beaming in. Offstage trumpets were excellent, and so it gradually led to the wayfarer's song of the movement proper. It is the attention to detail, rather than the volume of sound expended, which made this performance something touching and memorable.

The striding Ländler of the second movement was taken at a good lick, and here there was no fear of sounding rustic. All too often, the need to come across as immaculate and polished gets in the way of the heart of the music, but there was no fear of this here. Similarly, in the third movement's Funeral March, the klezmer-like episodes were more unbuttoned, preferable to the spick and span of Rattle's Berlin forces in their view of the same symphony here in 2010.

If one wanted to be swept away by the finale's fury, then consider wish granted. Two taps of the drum led directly into the tumultuous “cry of the wounded heart”, which was as passionate as one could have hoped for. The brass was on top form, not least the 8 French horns and associates who raised their bells at the final stand for a grandstanding finish. That was not all in this 20-minute long movement which had its share of reflective moments, and it were in these that Zweden brought out playing of the greatest definition. When themes for earlier movements were relived, the palpable sense of nostalgia was all pervasive, making the symphony's final triumph all the more poignant.

The standing ovation was overwhelming and spontaneous on the first curtain call, with individuals and sections of the orchestra taking their bows. And the encore, the Ride of the Valkyries from Wagner's Die Walküre, brilliantly delivered, was yet another subtle (or maybe not too subtle) reminder of something that Singapore has yet to accomplish – to mount its own Ring Cycle.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic is a class act, and a repeat visit with Jaap van Zweden is imperative. 

All photographs courtesy of 

Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay.

EXPERIENCE ONE OF ASIA'S GREAT ORCHESTRAS "LIVE" - THE HONG KONG PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Photo by Cheung Chi Wai,
Courtesy of Esplanade - Theatres On The Bay

THE HONG KONG 

PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA 

Experience one of Asia's great orchestras perform at Esplanade Concert Hall on 1 May 2017. The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra led by its Music Director Jaap van Zweden performs for one night only in its Esplanade Concert Hall debut.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic, formed in the 1970s during the British colonial era, has previously performed in Singapore in concerts at Victoria Concert Hall in 1983 and 1999. The pride of Hong Kong SAR, its reputation has never been greater, boosted by its recent performances of Wagner's Ring Cycle under Dutch maestro Jaap van Zweden.

This concert offers a rare opportunity for concert-goers to face the conductor head-on and observe his directions, with tickets to gallery seats being sold at $35 and $50.  Jaap van Zweden is also the Music Director designate of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. His last appearance in Esplanade was conducting the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Singapore Sun Festival in 2009.

The programme is as follows:

FUNG LAM Quintessence 

  (HKPO commission)

MOZART Violin Concerto No.4

MAHLER Symphony No.1 "Titan"  

The soloist is Chinese violinist Ning Feng, past winner of the Paganini International Violin Competition. 

Monday, 1 May 2017

7.30 pm, Esplanade Concert Hall

Tickets at $35, $50, $75 and $100 are available at all SISTIC outlets and the SISTIC website via the link below:

https://www.esplanade.com/events/2017/hong-kong-philharmonic-orchestra

Photo courtesy of Esplanade - Theatres On The Bay

Do book early to avoid disappointment.

The Joy of Music Festival 2011: Concerto Gala Concert

Cheekily referred to as the "Mother of Piano Concerto concerts", the final gala concert of this year's The Joy of Music Festival and 3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition closed with a big bang. There were four piano concertos in total, featuring four judges from the competition partnered by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.

The evening began on a lighter note with Cristina Ortiz performing Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto in F major, one of her signature pieces. Interestingly, the very first recording I had of this work (on EMI Classics) was performed by her as well, and bought in Hong Kong way back in 1981! Make no mistake, despite this being an "easy" work written for a teenaged Maxim Shostakovich (DSCH's son), this is by no means a walk in the park. Perfect timing, wit and humour are crucial for its success, and she succeeded with great aplomb. There was tenderness and nostalgia in the Rach-like slow movement, and perfect prestidigitation in the Hanon-like exercises of its riproring finale. Marvelous, just like old times!

I had never heard of the Russian piano pedagogue Tigran Alikhanov prior to this, but I did check out a Melodiya recording of his playing Taneyev and Mendelssohn chamber works, which was very impressive musically. In Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto, he is a livewire, capturing the ascerbic wit and mechanistic brilliance very well. There were some unfortunate lapses in the slow movement's 2nd and 5th variations but that did not cloud a very lively finale - perfectly hewn - to close an enjoyable Russian first half.

The pianists got older as they came. Peter Frankl is now 76, but would not have guessed it by the way he launched himself into Liszt's Second Piano Concerto in A major. A far more subtle work than its predecessor, its transformation of themes unfolded majestically in his hands. The sublime page with cellist Richard Bamping was particularly beautiful, and when it came to crunching chords and those outlandish octave glissandi on both hands, Frankl is up there with all those youngsters. A totally impressive showing. Let's hope he play's Bartok the next time around!

Finally it was the turn of Gary Graffman, who just turned 83, in the Left Hand Concerto by Ravel. These days he only performs concertos for the left hand, which means he plays this and the Prokofiev Fourth Concerto with some frequency. His was a thoroughly assured reading, although sometimes the piano gets drowned by all the dense orchestration. The central jazzy march was totally delightful, as if turning back the years, while the final cadenza - one of the most fearsome exercises thought possible - was taken with great confidence. A chorus of bravos greeted the fiery end of the concerto, and of a magical evening of concertos with the stars.

What will they think of next in 2014?

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011 / Finals Day 3, Part 1

HONGKONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011

Finals Day 3 (Sunday, 30 October 2011)

CHEN HAN (Taiwan)

The second of two Taiwanese boys, 19-year-old Chen Han, opened the evening with Howard Blake’s Speech after Long Silence. Playing from a score, his was a glacial account, very slow to the point of being stultifying. Soporific might be the more appropriate term, and it sounded very much like a struggle. However there was some method to this madness, as if it were a protracted rubato, making the faster passages sound more brilliant in comparison. This extreme swing in dynamics also had the uncanny effect of reminding one of Scriabin’s more frenzied pages, so it all worked out in a weird way.

Only in a piano competition will one get to hear two performances of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto in the space of one evening. It’s either piano heaven or an overdose of romantic excess. In either case, the results can be quite exciting, as tonight proved. The first performance of Rach 3 came from Chen Han, who is studying at The Juilliard School. His was a steady and quietly confident account, as if keeping his emotions in reserve until some pivotal movement. I waited, and that moment did not occur in the first movement, which sounded for most part restrained and small scaled. The lyrical second subject was lovingly shaped, which underlined the young man’s sensitivity and sensibilities. The choice of the lighter and more scintillating cadenza was the right one, as the brooding chordal alternative would not have been appropriate here.

The slow movement’s orchestral introduction was taken a little too slowly, in fact it dragged, but Chen’s entry was excellent and it was here when his performance began to take wing and soar. The whimsical little waltz episode was brilliantly dispatched, a good prelude for the finale’s fest of prestidigitation. His fingers did not fail him for a second, and if there were a point of regret, it was he did not shape the movement’s soaring (and more vital) second with greater clarity. There were two chances for it, and he did not make the big melody happen. And there was also a tendency to rush the fences, almost leaving the orchestra in his wake. Nevertheless, this was a performance which grew in stature, and one that made a listener care about the music and the performer.

My verdict: This young man has potential and bears watching, and even if he does not win here, the experience would have been immense.

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011 / Finals Day 3, Part 2

HONGKONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011

Finals Day 3 (Sunday, 30 October 2011)

ANN SOO JUNG (South Korea)

Appearing in a stunning orange gown, the pretty young Korean is an artist who can also make heads turn in many ways than one. In my humble opinion, she gave the most beautiful account of Bake’s Speech. Even playing with a score, her conception of the work as a nocturne was breathtaking, delighting in its lyrical beauty yet revelling in its turbulence. In fact she combined the best qualities of the earlier readings in a sumptuous whole which bears repeated listening.

Her Rach 3 was to be totally different from Chen’s. While the young man was happy to go along with the flow, Ann seemed to dictate the pace and proceedings. She had better sound projection and articulation, and one could sense her going for broke even at an early stage. Although always conscious of making a beautiful sound, the risk-taking had its drawbacks, the number of lapses and flurry of wrong notes was to dog the performance, most notably in the opening movement. Like Chen, she played the shorter mercurial cadenza, even though she might have succeeded with the bigger-boned one. Perhaps it was a case of damage limitation.

The second movement worked much better for her, and it was sheer delight through its rapturous pages, and the ensuing rush into the hectic finale. One has to feel for her as not all the notes were there for the Alla breve finale, and there was an uneasy sense of an accident waiting to happen. However she delivered the big melody well, on both occasions, as the performance worked to a heady conclusion. Here she gave her best shot, and even if this was not to be her day, it was an admirable effort. Her conception and view of the music and its trajectory was close to perfect, it was the execution which fell short.

My verdict: A very musical if flawed account of Rach 3 may have put paid to her chances of a top three finish. Would still definitely want to hear her again.

Having not heard the earlier rounds, I hazard to make any predictions of the final placings, lest one gets egg splattered on the face. However based on the showings in the concerto finals, my choices were as follows:

Winner (Numero Uno): Giuseppe Andaloro

Most raw potential: Tsai Min Hao

Best performance of Blake: Ann Soo Jung

Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2011 / Finals Day 2, Part 1

3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Finals Day 2, Saturday 29 October 2011

TSAI MIN HAO (Taiwan)

Much had been said about the sheer prodigiousness of the 14-year old Tsai Min Hao from Taiwan, but nothing quite prepared me for the sight of one so full of self-confidence and poise. The way he bestrode the stage as if he owned it could be attributed less to chutzpah than to the fact he has yet to learn about anything as mundane as nerves or stage fright. The sparkles in his hair and the pin-striped suit were also part of an extroverted personality.

Of course he performed Howard Blake’s Long Speech After Silence from memory. The wonder about musical interpretation is that a given piece can be made to sound so different in the hands of different artists. Young Tsai is probably familiar with the sounds of New Age piano, film music and popular idioms, and his view reflected that slant. Sometimes dirge-like, he wallowed in pregnant silences, slowing the music down to savour its fragrances and even ponder on the facts of life. Then, within a twinkling of an eye he brought it to a spectacular climax before closing emphatically. It was very different from last night’s performances, but equally valid.

Tsai again revealed absolutely no nerves in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. His entry after a long tutti was emphatic, truly making up one sit up and listen. Clearly and meticulously articulated, he made every note count. Yet there was none of that young or youthful exuberance about his reading, and no concessions need to be made on account of his age. There was both subtlety and flexibility in his conception, making one wonder if he were 24 or 34, rather than merely 14. In 1997, the year he was born, Hong Kong was handed over to the Chinese. Lan Shui had just been appointed Music Director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and I had just written my very first Straits Times music review. Hardly ancient history.

Having said that, Tsai will have to learn to give up his excess bodily movements, head shakes, rolling of eyes and side glances into the audience. He certainly reminded one of a young Lang Lang before it all went to his head. The slow movement also benefited from a rapt understanding of the music, so graceful that one will easily forgive a wrongly placed chord that showed he was human after all. Some less than subtle brass playing near the end was irksome, but that soon dissipated with the Rondo finale which was a joyous ride from start to finish. Here being young was an asset, as the music sparkled with Tsai’s imaginative prestidigitation. His timing was spot-on, synchronising those runs perfectly with the orchestra’s phrases, bringing on plenty of smiles from an energised Vladimir Ashkenazy on the podium (I was seated close enough to see and sense the body and facial language of those onstage). Both pianist and conductor were clearly enjoying themselves, and should that not be the raison d’etre of all musical activity?

My verdict: Tsai is a name to watch. He has talent to burn and time is on his side. He might just be the second coming of Lang Lang.

Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2011 / Finals Day 2, Part 2

3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Finals Day 2 (Saturday 29 October 2011), Part 2

SATO KEINA (Japan)

Sato Keina is a serious looking young Japanese lady for whom a hint of a smile might even seem a tad too forward. Her maroon evening gown is elegant and understated. She performed the Blake with the score as safety net, when she need not have. Using the sustaining pedal a little more than the others, she achieved an impressionistic glow to her performance, again sounding different from the other versions we have heard. First it began Debussy-like, and later with the onset of chimes and bells, the dissonances were highlighted and it gradually morphed to sound like the ecstatic pages of Messiaen. Again it was different, and a lady friend seated next to me commented on Sato’s “feminine mystique”. I think she hit the nail on the head.

Her Beethoven Third Piano Concerto was also different from Tsai’s. First it sounded more urgent and serious, and she had none of the youngster’s extraneous gestures. Fact: at 27, she is almost double his age. One could also feel a more mature and subtler mind at work, but could apply power and voltage when the need arose. On her debit side, her performance was less clean, having flubbed some of the arpeggio runs in the first movement cadenza. Here she appeared a little vulnerable alongside Tsai’s rock-steady confidence.

I however preferred her view of the slow movement, which had a reverential air besides the requisite poetic beauty. Yet there was a sense of world weariness and fragility that coloured the reading, and a missed note and French horn raspberry seemed to underline that fallibility. The concluding Rondo had a nervous edge that was missing in the young man’s performance, with an emphasis on clearer accents and contours. Much as both pianist and orchestra tried, those moments at the end of the pianist’s dazzling runs which coincided with orchestral cadences did not come off cleanly. It would have been the equivalent of catching lightning in a bottle had those split-second decisions clicked. Conductor Ashkenazy knew it, but he smiled nonetheless. A slightly grim–faced view turned to pure joy from the coda to the final page, and that itself was worthy of good cheer.

My verdict: A more mature but less clean vista of already familiar music. Sato’s self-effacing and embarrassed look summed up her outing. Tsai’s youth and confidence has the edge.

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011 / Day One Part 1

3^RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Finals Day 1, Friday 28 October 2011

Oh, how I love Hong Kong! But I would not want to stay here. Take the traffic, for instance. It took me an hour and a half to get from the Airport to the hotel, and another hour from the hotel in East Tsim Sha Tsui to the City Hall Concert Hall on Hong Kong island itself. If not for the Chopin Society of Hong Kong’s President Dr Andrew Freris, whose elaborate pre-concert preambles kept an audience captive, we would have missed the music itself.

For this year’s finals, the Mozart piano concerto has been dropped. Word has it that the jury had been disappointing with performances in previous editions of the competition and felt it a chore to differentiate between six middling to mediocre readings. So it has been replaced by a newly commissioned work written for this concours, British composer Howard Blake’s Speech After Long Silence (below).

HOWARD BLAKE'S Newly commissoned Work

The World Premiere of Blake’s Speech was given by the first finalist, Russia’s Elmar Gasanov. Unlike most new works, whose fate is to be played on multiple occasions ad nauseam at a competition and then shelved for eternity thereafter, this one promises to be heard rather often. Blake’s partiality for tonality and emotional connection (unsurprising for the composer of the children’s favourite The Snowman) makes this a most accessible work. At about 8 minutes, its Romantic gestures replete with lush harmonies and crashing chords resemble an updated and extended version of one of Rachmaninov’s Etudes-tableaux. The key of E flat minor is also telling. Gasanov performed it with a score, but no matter, the performance brought out its colours, and for a Russian who might already be familiar with this idiom, the bell-like sonorities came out trenchantly.

The partnering orchestra for the competition was the Hong Kong Philharmonic, in its very first collaboration. Previous editions had seen the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, HK City Chamber Orchestra and London Chamber Orchestra, sometimes augmented with free-lancers, conducted by Christopher Warren-Green do the honours with mixed results. And it was a peculiar sight to see Chairman of the Jury Vladimir Ashkenazy step away from the judges’ table and walk directly to the stage, ascend the podium and conduct. He certainly is a busy man!

ELMAR GASANOV (Russia)

Gasanov’s chosen concerto was Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, a work he should know like the back of his hand. He certainly has the fingers for it – the bold opening chords accompanying its majestic first subject, and the ensuing cadenza of ascending arpeggios set the tone. However there was something rough and ready to the performance, as if soloist and orchestra were not fully engaged with each other. Was it opening night nerves or lack of rehearsal time? An uncharacteristic lapse just before the second subject, at one of the easier passages, underlined the apparent rawness of this outing.

Undeterred, Gasanov generated a nervous tension that makes this masterpiece the exciting work it is. He is generally reliable for most part, alert to its dynamic shifts, barnstorming alternating with and being sensitive when the situation calls for it. His octaves are good if not thunderous (here the Horowitzian element could have come to the fore) and filigreed passages well managed, as was the big cadenza at the end of the first movement. Orchestral contributions for the Andantino semplice slow movement were lovely, particularly the opening flute solo. Gasanov did not disappoint in the lightness of touch for its mercurial pages. The finale mirrored the opening movement with its element of roughness but the Cossack dance was well driven, something one might expect from a pianist born in the Crimea. There were some missed notes in the fray which although may detract if this were a note-to-note audit, but the overall effect was still exciting, with the build-up to the final rush of octaves a quite thrilling one.

My verdict: Far from being the perfect performance of Tchaikovsky, but nevertheless exciting. Will I want to hear this repeated at Esplanade next Friday? In two words, not particularly.

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011: Finals Day One, Part Two

3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition Finals

Day 1 / Friday (28 October 2011) Part 2

GIUSEPPE ANDALORO (Italy)

Giuseppe Andaloro, winner of multiple first prizes, would have performed at the First Hong Kong Competition in 2005, but had pulled out last minute having won First Prize at the Busoni Competition in Bolzano the week before. Under the HK competition’s new rules which forbid participation in other competitions three months before or after, he would have been disqualified and barred instead. Anyway, at 29 this would be a last hurrah.

I had heard him perform in 2002, when he made a big impression winning 1^st prize in the London International Piano Competition. In Hong Kong, he did not disappoint. First he performed the Blake work from memory, which immediately gave positive vibes. His was a more nuanced performance, perhaps a little slower than Gasanov’s but far more ruminative. Displaying more shades of colour, it opened more possibilities for imagination. This was not a merely memorised Speech, but one imbued with much thought, probing and ultimately revealing a slew of emotions. Even the tintinnabulation dazzled, and with a more volatile finish, had a sense of improvisation. I am beginning to love this work even more.

What can I say about Andaloro’s view of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto? For starters, it was a more polished outing for both piano and orchestra than Gasanov’s Tchaik One. And he does not merely play the notes, but personalises them. The opening chords were taken with a broad and expansive view (but never protracted, such as in Lang Lang’s case), and this was the tenor of his interpretation. Melancholia seemed paramount in his reading, rather unusual coming from an Italian (brooding being a Slavic preoccupation by birth right), which came out from slow boil to an ecstatic climax of crashing chords. Andaloro seems completely at ease with himself, and that greatly steadied the ship.

The slow movement was simply beautiful with pianist happy to play the accompanying role for the splendid flute and clarinet solos to shine. Here much of the piano’s melodic line is simple, two hands playing the exactly the same notes an octave apart. Andaloro does not gild the lily but lets the music speak for itself. And one could have been lulled to terminal stupor if not for his slow but steadfast build-up and eventual release, the cadenza coming as a spontaneous outburst of raw emotion. Lovely strings concluded this most wondrous of reveries.

In the finale, Andaloro showed he knew the true meaning of scherzando, with a playful romp which belied the thoughtfulness that coloured the big melody. Again, he was restrained in displaying heart-on-sleeve emotion, which could have gone overboard in less poised individuals. That coyness was merely a ploy, as the central tumultuous interlude was unleashed with great vehemence, one in which both pianist and orchestra were as one through every split second. All this made for totally enthralling ride, and when the big melody returned, it was to magnificent effect. Andaloro’s playing was close to faultless, which made this performance ever so memorable Rachamaninov was a master of the musical orgasm, which is why no one (except perhaps the Germans and Austrians) can get enough of this music. And Italians certainly know the meaning of amore.

My verdict: Magnificent performances of Blake and Rachmaninov from Andaloro. Have we seen the winner of this competition? But wait, there are still four more competitors to be heard!

3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION: Finalists named

After a gruelling Quarter Final round at the 3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition, the six finalists have been named. Unusually for a competition, the six pianists will first perform chamber music in the Semi-Finals where there will be no elimination. Instead their scores will be carried into the Grand Finals where the pianists will perform Howard Blake's Long Speech after Silence, a specially commissioned solo work for this competition, and a concerto with the Hong Kong Philharmonic conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.

The finalists and their chamber work / piano concerto are as follows (in order of performance):

ELMAR GASANOV (Russia)

Schumann Piano Quintet

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1

GIUSEPPE ANDALORO (Italy)

Brahms Piano Quintet

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2

TSAI MIN HAO (Taiwan)

Schumann Piano Quintet

Beethoven Piano Concerto No.3

KEINA SATO (Japan)

Schumann Piano Quintet

Beethoven Piano Concerto No.3

CHEN HAN (Taiwan)

Dvorak Piano Quintet Op.81

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3

ANN SOO JUNG (South Korea)

Dvorak Piano Quintet Op.81

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3

The Semi Finals take place on 26 & 27 October, and the Finals from 28 to 30 October 2011.