THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2012 / JINSANG LEE and the London Chamber Orchestra Strings / Review

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2012

JINSANG LEE, Piano with the

London Chamber Orchestra Strings

Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall

Saturday (13 October 2012)

Korean pianist Jinsang Lee, 1^st prize winner of the 2008 Hong Kong International Piano Competition, now leads a double life of concert pianist and piano technician. He is presently based in Hamburg, where he works at the Steinway and Sons piano plant on a full-time basis, and gives concerts in his spare time in between. He flew in this morning, had a rehearsal with the LCO chamber group, and is expected to perform this evening, before returning to Germany tomorrow. Is he in any shape to perform?

His recital opened with a selection of Préludes by Rachmaninov and Chopin. I wondered how this would fit in with the three pieces by Estonian spiritualist composer Arvo Pärt that followed. All scepticism was dispelled with the G major Prélude (Op.32 No.5) of Rachmaninov, which he played with a glacial slowness, as if in a trance. When the right melody emerged, it came with the gentle pealing of bells as if from a great distance. 

I have never heard this number played so deliberately, but with his exemplary pedalling, it has never sounded so beautiful. In fact, I would go on to add that he makes Horowitz sound choppy and agitated. The G sharp minor Prélude (Op.32 No.12) with its repeated right hand arpeggios tolling over the left hand’s lament gave a different perspective of bell sounds.

Then the penny dropped. Lee’s selections were all about tintinnabulation, a procession of bells in the six solo pieces. The four Chopin Préludes (from Op.28) followed in the same vein; No.23 in F major flowed like spring water, the A flat major chorale of No.18 was backed by warm reassuring chords, the brief No.7 in A major was in gentle mazurka rhythm, before closing with the tempest of No.24 in D minor, which ended with the three fateful (and deadly) low Ds.

This is truly inspired programming, which continued with Pärt’s short solo piece Für Alina, a brief sequence of bell-like notes. At once, Romantic effulgence had given way to the spare and lean harmonies of a different era. Although Pärt belongs to the 20^th and 21^st centuries, his music fondly looked back into the medieval age. 

Violinist Andrew Haveron then joined Lee for two more Pärt classics, Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in the Mirror) and Fratres. Both are static, hypnotic minimalist pieces, with minute variations in harmonies and tonal colour stretched over a course of time which make up the music’s main content. Spare arpeggios from the piano define the former; Beethoven himself had a similar idea in the first movement of his Moonlight Sonata. Violin arpeggios and triads, punctured by single piano octaves occupy the latter. I am not exactly crazy about the minimalists, but both Haveron and Lee play with such conviction that and sympathy that it is hard to ignore.  

Jinsang Lee performed the First Piano Quartet (Op.25) of Brahms on his way to winning first prize at the 2008 Hong Kong International Piano Competition. Here was a reprise, not under the microscope of competition but rather in the warm presence of friends. By this stage of the festival, a sizeable number in the audience had plucked up the courage to seat themselves on the stage, far closer to the music making. I had already made this a regular habit; one definitely feels more involved with the music and musicians within sniffing distance. Here, Lee was partnered by violinist Andrew Haveron, violist Joel Hunter and cellist Pierre Doumenge of the London Chamber Orchestra.

This great work may be viewed as Brahms’s first symphony in all but name. The ideas and themes were conceived symphonically but cast modestly as a work for piano and strings. The first movement is a most substantial utterance, rich in textures and a triumph of the sonata form. The mood is sombre but somewhat lightened by the piano’s presence (this is also echoed in the Piano Quintet Op.34), and these contrasts made it an absorbing listen. 

The tension is continued in the second movement, with a gradual relaxation of weightiness by occasional “lapses” into schmaltz and Lee’s whimsical piano flourish at the end. The hymn-like countenance of the third movement was merely an introduction to a martial episode and its mighty climax. Again the players provided the contrasting themes with body and contour, and one truly feels the tension building up to the big moment.

Note the little boy in the
Chelsea FC jersey
(left background) has fallen
fast asleep in the Brahms.

However all this scarcely prepared one for the furious pace whipped up for the final Rondo alla Ungarese, the most unbuttoned of Brahms’s many Hungarian-flavoured finales. Split-second precision timing defined its frenetic pace with Lee’s flying fingers on the keyboard striding over the string players’ rapidly accelerating dance. The elan in which the players exhibited was simply a joy to behold, culminating with the piano’s cascading cadenza which swept from the top of the keyboard to its depths. 

The coda was a breathtaking show of togetherness, certainly worthy of a welcome encore. However such musical moments are a wholly spontaneous manifestation of top class musicianship, caught at the spur of the moment. A repeat would be almost anti-climactic, because one already knows what to expect.

What can one hope for in The Joy of Music Festival 2013? Another feast of great music and great playing beckons.

    

Glenn Gould's piano technician
Verne Edquist asks Jinsang Lee,
"You want to be a piano tuner
when you can play like thisss?"

Jinsang has a legion of female fans!

The Joy of Music Festival is presented by The Chopin Society of Hong Kong.

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2012 / GIUSEPPE ANDALORO and London Chamber Orchestra Strings / Review

JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2012

GIUSEPPE ANDALORO, Piano with the

London Chamber Orchestra Strings

Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall

Friday (12 October 2012)

                                                  

Concerts featuring the piano at The Joy of Music Festival over the years follow a distinct format – a short solo recital followed by chamber music. The pianists are invariably first prize winners of the Hong Kong International Piano Competition or members of its jury. This year’s concerts brought back the three first prize winners, with the most recent victor Giuseppe Andaloro (from the 2011 competition) giving the most unusual of recital programmes.

The unorthodox juxtaposition of Baroque and 20^th century music suggests a whiff of Glenn Gould, but there is method behind the madness that unites Frescobaldi with Gershwin. Being Italian, Andaloro decided to devote the first part of his recital to works inspired by the La Follia (or La Folia) theme. Its origins come from Spain (hence La Folies d’Espagne or The Follies of Spain) or South America, but we know it through the music of Vivaldi, Corelli, Liszt (Rapsodie Espagnole) and Rachmaninov (Corelli Variations). 

Frescobaldi’s Partita sopra l’aria di Follia uses an earlier version of the theme, and Andaloro applies the most delicate of touches to its procession of fine filigree. It’s a fussy little piece, full of decorative flourishes and grace notes, and he makes it sound as if coming from a harpsichord. Pasquini’s Partite diverse di Follia, now based on the more familiar D minor La Folia theme, is a more traditional set of variations. In Handel’s Suite in D minor, the theme appears as a graceful Sarabande. Andaloro’s refined approach on the piano make those piano versus harpsichord debates irrelevant.

Variations are what these baroque pieces have in common with what we call 20^th century jazz. Even Morton Gould’s Boogie Woogie Etude, a favourite encore of Shura Cherkassky, is composed of micro-variations over an ostinato bass, in this case the infectious boogie woogie beat. Andaloro simply rocked. In the Three Preludes by George Gershwin, an incisively rhythmic beat defined the outer pieces which sandwiched the famous Blues number. Here, Andaloro took many liberties by varying the syncopations and later adding a little ornamental doodle of his own. I am sure GG would not have minded. Turkish pianist-composer Fazil Say’s outrageous Paganini Jazz, an improvisation on that ubiquitous Caprice No.24, completed this jazz outing.

As a tribute to the host nation, Andaloro closed with Abram Chasins’s Three Chinese Pieces. These are as authentic as the likes of Fu Manchu, Ming the Merciless through Western eyes and Sir Peter Ustinov playing Charlie Chan. A Shanghai Tragedy and Flirtation in a Chinese Garden contained all the clichés of the Far East thought possible, and ending with the ching-chong chinoiserie of Rush Hour in Hong Kong (another Cherkassky favourite). Andaloro played these most sympathetically and got the rush hour part of Des Voeux Road Central spot on. 

The second half’s chamber music began with Rachmaninov’s single-movement First Piano Trio in G minor, an early work heavily indebted to his mentor Tchaikovsky. The brooding opening theme, first heard on the piano, could only have come from a Russian. It is one of those melodies or romances (rather laments) founded on grief and tragedy, and Rachmaninov toils at it like a work horse, only relieved by a second, soaring theme on the violin. Without outstaying its welcome, it closes with a pall of doom and gloom and unfathomable darkness. 

This is not vintage Rach, but wearing his heart on his sleeve, this clearly states his inclinations and how later works would turn out. This rare performance was well brought out by Andaloro and his string partners, violinist Andrew Haveron and cellist Pierre Doumenge. Could we get to hear the Second Trio Elegiaque in D minor in a future festival?

Also in a similar vein was Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet, also in G minor, with violist Joel Hunter and cellist Pierre Doumenge joining in. It begins like a neo-Bachian Prelude and Fugue, updated in the Soviet’s acerbic colours and trade-in-stock dissonance. Andaloro’s opening piano solo, heralded by a fortissimo G minor chord, served like a declamatory statement, and from the first measure, the performance was a gripping one that went for the jugular and never let go. 

The rather substantial fugue opened in hushed tones, raptly delivered by muted strings, and the movement ambled from strains of beauty to mounting screeching discords and a massive climax. The big chord from the piano returned, but it isn’t in the home key of G minor! Shostakovich was indeed a master of surprises.

The Scherzo, returning to G minor, was anarchic and subversive in thought and deed. Cryptic messages abound but what were these? Without further pondering, the slow movement, pensive and meditative as Shostakovich’s passacaglias tend to be, seemed to provide some respite in its deep and dark funereal repose. 

The finale, instead of offering solutions, was unexpectedly light and even cheery. But this is the irony that a composer in Stalin’s repressive regime has to live with, grinning from ear to ear but concealing a veil of masked scowls. The quintet played it straight, po-faced but in the face of the strings’ comic responses towards the end, could not truly suppress the music’s true nature.

For this listener, this trenchantly delivered performance, with its wide-ranging plethora of emotions, surpasses the last outing of the Shostakovich Quintet at the 2006 festival, helmed by the late Russian virtuoso Vladimir Krainev and another group of LCO string players. That’s saying quite a lot. 

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2012 / LONDON CHAMBER ORCHESTRA STRING QUARTET / Review

The Joy of Music Festival 2012

London Chamber Orchestra String Quartet

Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall

Thursday (11 October 2012)

My second evening at this marvellous music festival in Hong Kong involves only string music, hence its title A Cascade of Strings. It is performed by the ensemble in residence, a string quartet formed by members of the London Chamber Orchestra. Its leader is violinist Andrew Haveron, the Concertmaster of The Philharmonia Orchestra, and had served as Guest Concertmaster of the Singapore Symphony earlier this year in its concert performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio.

He is also a confident and rather informal speaker, introducing each of the works in the programme in a totally approachable and effable manner. This concert, he explained, was an exploration of four great composers (whose surnames all happen to start with the letter B) in their early attempts at the string quartet form. It began with Benjamin Britten’s Three Divertimenti, composed in 1933, essentially wood shavings from a master’s work bench. A March, a Waltz and a Burlesque, each coloured with his typically dissonant, vigorous and sometimes humourous style. The variety of colours and shades, quirky shifts of dynamics, all came across in this breezy performance like a refreshing rush of mint to the palate.

Then came Beethoven with his first numbered quartet in F major (Op.18 No.1), introducing a major voice to the genre. The opening unison theme was delivered with an arresting and assertive demeanour, contrasted with the poignant and suitably sepulchral mood of the slow movement, described by the composer as Romeo and Juliet at the crypt. Here the build-up to its impassioned climax was totally moving one, with the silences between the notes playing as important a part as the notes themselves.

After that catharsis, the following movements were as light as feathers. Split second timing was still required in the brisk third movement, which could have been a Scherzo in the early symphonies and the upbeat spirit of the finale was totally disarming. Its rondo-like theme was a fast trickle of notes answered by three emphatic beats, typically Ludwig, was dispatched with an equally lusty fervour. Its earthiness was encapsulated in violist Joel Hunter’s infectious head-nodding and foot-stamping, which was quaint in a way, something more akin to a drummer in a rock band. More importantly, the quartet responded with a verve which showed that they love this music.

By this time, I had abandoned the idea of sitting in the stalls, instead making my way to the stage, placing myself within sniffing distance of the quartet. This arrangement was becoming my own private Ezterhaza, enjoying my private string quartet playing after-dinner divertissements for my own personal enjoyment. There should be no apologies for that!

The second half opened with violinists Haveron and Magnus Johnston only, to play a selection from the 44 Violin Duos by Bela Bartok. For the sake of variety, they chose not only from the first book, but a smattering from all the books, working from simple harmonies to more sophisticated and complex pieces. The first Teasing Song was simple enough for beginners, and the successive pieces became more and more interesting. The buzzing Mosquito Dance was certainly a first cousin to The Diary of a Fly from Mikrokosmos for the piano. The dances come from different lands of Eastern Europe, using the folk songs and dances of Hungary, Slovakia, Transylvania and Ruthenia. The Ruthenian Dance sounded just like those gypsy pieces, while the number called Bagpipes predictably had the drones. When we reached Pizzicato, we were already in the territory of Bartok’s famous Fourth String Quartet. The performances were simply delightful, with Haveron punctuating small sets of pieces with his helpful commentaries.

The evening closed with Brahms Second String Quartet in A minor (Op.51 No.2), a slightly more congenial piece than the originally programmed work, its predecessor in C minor. The overall tone of the work was more relaxed, but it still conveyed an element of tragedy with a muted tension and bittersweet melodies. The quartet brought out these qualities well, contrasted with the serenity of the slow movement and the busy scurrying in the third movement, not a true scherzo in the usual sense of the word. Like in the Beethoven, the finale was a swinging and energised dance, a Hungarian rondo delivered with searing intensity and great rhythmic precision.

The quartet, completed by French cellist Pierre Doumenge, has been a great asset to the festival. Although sounding like a group that has been playing together for the last thirty years, I was surprised to learn that the four musicians only assemble as an ensemble while in Hong Kong, contrary to their London origins. Is there a name for them rather than that generic (and rather boring) name, the LCO chamber group? Why not call them the Hong Kong Quartet of the London Chamber Orchestra? Or this ironic suggestion of mine: Quartet 1997?  

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2012 / ILYA RASHKOVSKIY with the London Chamber Orchestra Strings / Review

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2012

ILYA RASHKOVSKIY, Piano

with the London Chamber Orchestra Strings

Hong Kong City Concert Hall

Wednesday (10 October 2012)

Hong Kong is ever so lucky to possess a music festival like The Joy of Music, organised by The Chopin Society of Hong Kong, which is an event that is more than just presenting piano recitals and chamber concerts. In the four days that I will spend in the SAR, I will attend concerts, music appreciation lectures, a reading by an author who has written a book about Glenn Gould, meet with Gould’s own piano technician, a re-performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations on a Yamaha Disklavier Pro (by the late Gould himself!) and those of historical musical personalities, and if time permits, attend masterclasses. It is this spirit of adventure that encapsulates the ethos of this Festival which compels me to pay an annual pilgrimage to Hong Kong every October.

My first evening of music comes from the Russian pianist Ilya Rashkovskiy, first prize winner of the first Hong Kong International Piano Competition in 2005. He began with a Chopin set, revealing an unfailingly musicality and high polish. How clear the opening statement of Chopin’s Second Ballade in F major sounds; there is no over-pedalling to smudge the textures and when the contrasting tempestuous episode arrives, it does so with startling vehemence. The final coda is no less gripping, and his control is absolute.

The A flat major “Heroic” Polonaise Op.53 is over-familiar, but Rashkovskiy plays its straight, with neither histrionics nor extraneous effects. It comes across as fresh, and how one marvels at the evenness of that infamous left hand octave fusillade, the so-called “hoofbeats of Polish cavalry”, which began softly but built to a thunderous intensity. My favourite Nocturne, in D flat major (Op.27 No.2), is given that smooth and seamless bel canto quality, that is hard to resist.

Rashkovskiy was joined by violinist Magnus Johnston and cellist Pierre Doumenge (from the London Chamber Orchestra) for a rare performance of Chopin’s early Piano Trio in G minor (Op.8). It isn’t a great work but has many lovely lyrical moments that suggest the greatness to come. Like much of his early music, the florid filigree from the piano dominates, with violin and cello merely providing support. The opening movement attempts to make an emphatic statement, but the fussy piano part – played with great diligence and finesse nonetheless – tends to steal the show. All those accusations about Chopin’s piano concertos apply here; this is a piano vehicle, plain and simple.

The effable second movement is contrasted with a more sober slow movement, and the strings do get a look in. Like the finale of the Second Piano Concerto, the piano solo opens the fourth movement with a lilting mazurka-like theme. Here Chopin’s Slavic heritage becomes more apparent with its folk-like dance rhythms and the work closes in a spritely and spirited manner. An enjoyable and well-appointed performance all round.

As the turnout for this concert was a pitifully small one, the audience was invited to sit on the stage in order to get closer to the performers, and the music. I took up this offer and was seated to the right of Verne Edquist, Glenn Gould’s personal piano technician. This is the musical equivalent of having ringside seats in a boxing match, and what an experience it turned out to be. When seated so close, you cannot help but feel involved with the performance itself. The vibrations travel directly to your feet, and the music to your ears; the acoustics of the hall no longer becomes an issue. This is the original spirit of chamber music relived, that is music heard in a small room, where the performers are your friends and they are playing specially for you.

Rashkovskiy first played Schubert’s Impromptu in C minor (Op.90 No.1), which begins with a sad little melody first heard on the right hand, and later he builds a touching edifice around it. Heard on its own, it strikes me as an extraordinarily beautiful stand-alone number, and Rashkovskiy’s persuasive account convinces me to re-learn the piece anew.

His string partners return, boosted by violist Joel Hunter, for Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E flat major (Op.47). Heard much less often compared with the contemporaneous Piano Quintet (Op.44), that is certainly our loss. How Beethovenian it sounds, from the dark opening statement, which in effect introduces the emphatic four note motif of its exposition. The more I hear this work, the more I love it because it packs so much goodness in its relatively brief duration.

Is there are more vigorous scherzo as this, and that lingering melody of the slow movement is one to die for. In one particularly treasured moment, Hunter’s viola sang with such sweetness, accompanied by the violin’s hushed counter-melody and soft piano chords. This is the essence of chamber music captured in moments of sheer inspiration. The finale, based on another Beethovenian motif, erupted with great fervour. The vigorous nod of Johnston’s head for the downbeat was the signal for a most exhilarating ride where all four musicians coalesced as one, single-minded and driving to an ecstatic end.

The Joy of Music? Here it is, undimmed and unadulterated. More of the same please.   

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL: JINSANG LEE and the London Chamber Orchestra Quintet / Review

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2010

JINSANG LEE with the

London Chamber Orchestra Quintet

City Hall Concert Hall, Hong Kong

Wednesday (13 October 2010)

This evening’s programme is unlikely to be repeated for some time to come, as Korean pianist Jinsang Lee, 1^st prize winner of the 2008 Hong Kong International Piano Competition, performed the chamber versions by Carlos Levin of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor (Op.11) and three concertante works. How often has one heard the Fantasia of Polish National Airs (Op.13), the Krakowiak (Op.14) or the La ci darem Variations (Op.2) other than on complete recordings of Chopin’s music? In a word, never. So this was going to be a total treat.

The three shorter works were performed first, and it was an hour long of early Chopin. That could have sounded dreary, but Lee was no empty note-spinner. He takes great care with every note, and nothing sounds supercilious in his hands. The Fantasia began nocturne-like and then meandered its way into an aria and dance, in a three-part potpourri. Not the most memorable of Chopin (his far more compact Mazurkas have greater impact) but very pleasant, and for once one notices the orchestral part played by a quintet from the London Chamber Orchestra, which sounded like a folk music band. The Krakowiak is more direct in its intentions, and its gallop-like dance joyously leapt out of the pages through Lee’s refined fingers.

The Op.2 Variations were a virtuoso’s paradise, and Lee negotiated its long introduction with much eloquence and the subsequent punishing variations with great aplomb. By the time the Alla Polacca (the final variation) concluded, the hall erupted with enthusiastic applause. It should be noted that on this very same evening, a certain Lang Lang was performing across the harbour at the Cultural Centre. But the far more discerning people in this hall knew they were hearing the real deal.

Chopin’s First Piano Concerto also benefited in its chamber guise. The tuttis were full-bodied, resounding like a big ensemble from just five players. It was a joy just watching double-bassist Stacey Watton (a man despite a woman’s name) providing those deep bass notes with much conviction. He provided the vital heartbeat to the whole evening’s fare. Lee was, as always, unflappable, making music wherever his fingers took him. The cantabile passages were lovingly delivered, and he made most of Chopin’s very tricky piano writing. Amid the mass of notes, Lee had some awry moments but these were expertly ironed over, leaving nary a trace in the memory. It should be remembered that he played nearly 100 minutes of music in total, an amazing feat of endurance, concentration and the will.

And there was even time for two encores. Russian composer Alexander Scriabin paid Chopin the ultimate tribute in his Nocturne in D flat major (Op.9 No.2) for the left hand, which Lee (and the audience) lapped up with great relish. And he closed with Schumann’s touching tribute to Chopin, that little movement from Carnaval, but dressed up with some ear-tickling harmonies for good effect. I am pretty sure that both Chopin and Schumann would not have minded.

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL: SOFYA GULYAK and The London Chamber Orchestra Quintet / Review

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL

SOFYA GULYAK with the

London Chamber Orchestra Quintet

City Hall Concert Hall, Hong Kong

Tuesday (12 October 2010)

Frederic Chopin has been much maligned on the strengths (or rather weaknesses) of the orchestrations in his piano concertos. The truth is this: he was first and foremost a pianist, and all his music highlighted the brilliance of his playing. No orchestra was to get in his way (à la Brahms) in his piano concertos. These were never meant to be an equal partnership in the first place, which is why chamber versions of his piano concertos sound, if anything, can sound superior to the orchestral versions we are familiar with.

The Joy of Music Festival 2010 unveiled the World Premieres of both Chopin concertos in chamber transcriptions for string quintet by Uruguayan composer Carlos Levin (left). At once, one is struck by the how symphonic five string players can sound in the opening tutti of the Second Piano Concerto in F minor (Op. 21), performed this evening. In fact they yield nothing to the original version, setting the mood and tone for Russian pianist Sofya Gulyak’s entry.

Gulyak is not a tall woman, but she is compactly built, with a slow centre of gravity. She has both power and precision in her playing, which belies a silken touch when called upon. Her Chopin sounds totally natural and unforced, shaping her cantabile lines beautifully, yet with muscle and sinew to the fortissimo passages. Her use of rubato was also tastefully applied, bringing nuance and character to the music. The nocturne-like slow movement was particularly beautiful, with the hushed strings providing very discreet support yet heightening the tension as the music gradually reached a passionate climax. The Rondo finale was delightful, with Gulyak’s clean fingerwork spot on throughout. Even if the viola solo does not quite replicate the French horn, Joel Hunter’s obvious zest in delivering it made up for that. A very satisfying and enjoyable performance all round.

The second half was all Gulyak’s in Schumann’s solo piano music. The choice of works also highlighted his wonderful variety of styles. The Abegg Variations (Op.1), his first published work, can sound unbelievably fussy, but Gulyak’s pristine handling of the filigreed passages over a gentle waltz rhythm was close to perfection. She also kept the 13 movements of Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) simple and childlike, but not without sacrificing an element of virtuosity. The familiar Träumerei was a little slow for my liking, but not to the point of protractedness.

Caution was cast into the wind for Carnaval (Op.9), and here Gulyak took all sorts of risks, surging and straining at the reins whenever possible. Every short movement was given a character of its own, yet she brought the sum of the parts seamlessly. There were a few wrong notes here and there, but that was a small price to pay for her dedication to realising Schumann’s Florestan (passionate and impetuous) and Eusebius (reflective and retiring). The final march was built on a full head of steam, bringing the work to a triumphant close.

Her two encores were also varied, first Rachmaninov’s popular Prélude in C sharp minor (Op.3 No.2), played as a Russian would with great gusto, and that lovely Marcello-Bach slow movement from the Oboe Concerto. It was perfectly clear why she won the Leeds in 2009 – Gulyak is a little bit special.

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2010, Hong Kong / Evening One / Review

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2010

The London Chamber Orchestra group

with PASCAL ROGÉ, Piano

City Hall Concert Hall, Hong Kong

Monday (11 October 2010)

The Joy of Music. Can anything quite express these feelings of sheer exhilaration on encountering the wonder and magic that is music, one of the purest forms of art? All this is distilled within a week-long festival in Hong Kong, organised by the Chopin Society of Hong Kong. In its fourth edition since 2006, held during the gap years between the Hong Kong International Piano Competition (also organised by the Society), more gems emerged. 

The first evening, helmed by a quintet from the London Chamber Orchestra, opened with positive rarities. Leopold Mozart and Michael Haydn are probably better known for their famous relatives, but their music can stand proud on the strength of craftsmanship rather than sheer inspiration. The elder Mozart’s Frog Partita is a short divertimento-like work, both light-hearted and engaging, featuring violin, cello and bass. The younger Haydn’s Divertimento in E flat major, for viola, cello and bass, began with a Theme and Variations of no uncertain charm. While not masterpieces, the works enjoyed excellent ensemble work and immaculate intonation throughout from the London group.

First violinist Andrew Haveron (left) then broke off on his own to give a fearlessly virtuosic account of Eugene Ysaye’s Third Sonata (Op.27 No.3), also known as the Ballade. He mastered the complex polyphony, cruel dissonances and concluding fireworks with great aplomb, befitting the finalist of the 1997 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition, once named after Ysaye himself. This unusual departure provided a vital link to the next piece, Debussy’s String Quartet, which in 1893 was premiered by Ysaye’s own quartet.

The Debussy, is simply, a masterpiece that was accorded the gravitas it deserved. At once, the quartet produced a muscular but warm sound, marked by its incisiveness of attack. Within its pages, the quartet negotiated flawlessly between in-your-face fortissimos and intimate pianissimos. The Scherzo’s pizzicatos and ostinatos were deliciously lapped up, Debussy’s interweaving rhythmic and gamelan effects vividly realised. 

Joel Hunter’s viola excellently shaped the slow movement’s opening statement, and the paced relaxed but there was little let up in the emotional quotient. The finale began with Pierre Doumenge’s cello theme, which set the tone for the powerful showdown, reprising the first movement’s main themes. Debussy looked far into the future with this quartet, its chromatic though not atonal language placing it firmly within the pantheon of great 20th century works.

Everything listening of Cesar Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor reveals new vistas and truths. Its dour and oh-so-serious demeanour belies a tender and vulnerable heart. The quartet’s descending opening theme starkly contrasted with pianist Pascal Rogé’s relaxed, almost casual musings. This juxtaposition of fire and ice, both scorching in their intensity, made for a gripping performance, which grabbed one by the scruff of the neck and did not let go till its 35 angst-filled minutes passed. 

Tension reigned high throughout, and even in the calm of the central slow movement, it laid the seeds for the finale’s assault on the senses. Shaded in dark grey, the music moved ever so menacingly. Unrest in the strings and bare piano octaves ratcheted the sense of anguish ever so unremittingly that it threatened to boil over. This performance topped the 2006 reading of the same work at this same festival, by Rogé and a different set of LCO string players. The joy of chamber music is in living the moment, and the quintet on stage fully rose to the occasion. That’s how it should always be.

Note: Matthew Ward replaced Magnus Johnston on 2nd violin for all the concerts involving the LCO quintet group.