The Mariinsky Orchestra has come to Hong Kong again, under its distinguished conductor Valery Gergiev. It was not the first time. A couple of years ago, they came under its former name, Kirov Orchestra. This time, they helped to bring the Hong Kong Arts Festival to a resplendent close, amidst a sea of sound. I was so glad I went to their concerts on the 27th and 28th. The Orchestra is wonderful, its players and its vocalists magnificent.
The night of 27th was devoted principally to the works of Richard Wagner. It opened with his Prelude to Act III of the opera Lohengrin. This Prelude is one of the most popular of Wagner's works. It plunged us into the music amidst great fanfare right from the first phrase. It started forcefully, then dropped into a soft melody, rose again, and fell and rose and fell again in an endless undulation, with constant constrast and tension, and ended with a bombastic finish with the trumpets and timpani blasting away at full volume towards its climactic finale, Wagner style.
Next in line was another popular piece. This time it was from another romantic composer Tchaikovsky. It was his Romeo and Juliet, a symphonic poem in sonata form with two main themes alternating with each other, the F-sharp minor Friar Lawrence theme and the fighting B-minor theme of the Capulets and the Montagues, with irregular rhythms to simulate the street fights between the two feuding families in Shakespeare's play of the same name. There was also a love theme, which is one of the most beautiful ever written by Tchaikovsky. It was used as the theme song of one of the most popular radio programmes in Hong Kong in the 1960's and brought back many memories of my childhood. It had tenderness, is filled with longing and yet is tinged with not a little anxiety. The love theme was followed by the battle theme again, then the suicide and finally a tribute to the lovers played by the woodwinds until it rose again to a climax in B minor and B as a kind of anguished shout of protest against their deaths. The music is one of the earliest of Tchaikovsky's works and fully demonstrates his penchant for colourful orchestration.
The second half of the evening's programme was then given over to Act III of the Die Walkure. The female vocalists came out in force. We had 9 female vocalists taking the parts of the Valkyries. They took turns to sing, sometimes, alone, sometimes with one or two or three others. The male singer is well fitted to sing his role of Wotan. He towers above the others: a literal giant both in physical size and in the volume of his voice. But our seats, chosen by Mr Chu, placed us in a rather unfortunate position because he had little choice in the matter. He told us that if we bought the other seats, we must take our chances by random computer lottery. Whatever might have been the case, throughout the concert, we had the singers' back to us because we were sitting stage left. But it was not entirely without any advantage: we were able to listen to even the tiniest sound from a single violin touching the strings in pizzicato or by the bow in staccato and we could listen to the female vocalists, singing literally just below our noses, within 8 feet from where we were sitting. We were thus able to catch the most subtle nuance in the micro-changes in the texture of their voices. And what voices they had! An even greater advantage was that we could see Valery Gergiev conducting, without any baton, face to face with us. He would use his fingers which he would cup into small arcs and flutter like the wings of little birds to indicate when which section of the orhestra should come in and when to stop. He would raise his arm, lower them, draw imaginary waves in the air, in line with the rise and fall of the music and sometimes, he would stab the air to signal the sudden entry of particular section of the orchestra into the music and he would raise his heels and lower them according to the flow of the music. He also conducted with his eyes, his eyes brows, his lips, his face and his head. It seemed that his whole body had been transformed into a giant but sensitive organic baton. This is a very personal style of conducting but it gives him infinitely more room for subtle variation and certainly is much more expressive than a mechanical baton!
In Act III of the Walkure, Brunnhilde, one of the 9 Valkyries, the daughters of Erda and Wotan, is his father's favourite daughter. Originally, Wotan told her to protect Siegmund in his fight with the Hundig, after Siegmund left with the former's wife Sieglinde. But Wotan changed his mind because of his wife Fricka. Brunnhilde, however, defied her father's wishes but ultimately had to obey. She knew that it was Fricka's idea that Siegmund be killed. She tells Siegmund she would lead him to Valhalla, castle of the gods, where he would find his father. But he refuses to leave with Sieglinde. Then Hundig caught up with him, They had a mortal combat. But just as Siegmund was about to drive his sword into the heart of Hundig, Wotan appeared and shattered Siegmund's sword with his spear and he was killed by Hundig. Brunnhilde escaped to the mountains with the pregnant Sieglinde and asked her sisters to protect her because she had defied Wotan's wishes but they were afraid of Wotan's fury. She therefore advised Sieglinde to escape and alone, she herself faced her father, who upon his return flew into rage and banished her, turned her into a rock be taken by the first man who would find and wake her up, despite the entreaties of her sisters. But she asked for one last favour: that her sleeping body be surrounded by fire so that only the brave would find her .Wotan granted her wishes and they sang a tender farewell song to each other, Brunnhilde was later found by the Siegfried the son of Sieglinde and Siegmund, who wakened her with a kiss. She bade farewell to Valhalla and abandoned her status as a god out of love for Siegfried!
In Act III of the Walkure, Brunnhilde, one of the 9 Valkyries, the daughters of Erda and Wotan, is his father's favourite daughter. Originally, Wotan told her to protect Siegmund in his fight with the Hundig, after Siegmund left with the former's wife Sieglinde. But Wotan changed his mind because of his wife Fricka. Brunnhilde, however, defied her father's wishes but ultimately had to obey. She knew that it was Fricka's idea that Siegmund be killed. She tells Siegmund she would lead him to Valhalla, castle of the gods, where he would find his father. But he refuses to leave with Sieglinde. Then Hundig caught up with him, They had a mortal combat. But just as Siegmund was about to drive his sword into the heart of Hundig, Wotan appeared and shattered Siegmund's sword with his spear and he was killed by Hundig. Brunnhilde escaped to the mountains with the pregnant Sieglinde and asked her sisters to protect her because she had defied Wotan's wishes but they were afraid of Wotan's fury. She therefore advised Sieglinde to escape and alone, she herself faced her father, who upon his return flew into rage and banished her, turned her into a rock be taken by the first man who would find and wake her up, despite the entreaties of her sisters. But she asked for one last favour: that her sleeping body be surrounded by fire so that only the brave would find her .Wotan granted her wishes and they sang a tender farewell song to each other, Brunnhilde was later found by the Siegfried the son of Sieglinde and Siegmund, who wakened her with a kiss. She bade farewell to Valhalla and abandoned her status as a god out of love for Siegfried!
The programme of the 28th was pure orchestra. We had Baba Yaga Op 56. a short peice by Anatoly Liadov, Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 in D O. 25 and Dmitry Shastakovich's Symphony No. 7 in C, Op. 60. The first peice was based on a Russian folk tale. Baba Yaga is the equivalent of our Ow-Woo with whom our mothers used to frighten us when we did not obey her wishes when we were very small. We would be told that we would be seized by her and got gobbled up: something which would strike terror in our young hearts when we closed our eyes in our little beds because that's when the Ow-woo would appear to kill or torture us. . The Baba Yaga story is a bit like Cinderella, about the relationship of a step mother with the children of her husband's former wife. She sent the twin daughter and son of the former wife into a forest ostensibly to her grandmother who lives in a hut on hen's feet and told them that there they would have all the sweets they could eat and be happy. But the daughter took her brother to their own grandmother instead but who told them that she could not help except to give them some milk and plenty of cookies and some advice to be kind and good to every one, help the weak and live always with hope. They set out on their journey to the witch's hut. She allowed them to stay but she had to weave whilst her brother had to fetch water to fill a tub for her. However there were tons of weaving to do and the tub would never fill. They then met with all kinds of ventures during which they showed kindness successively to the cat, the dog and the birds who all offered them good advice which helped them escape from their drudgery and eventually they were able to rejoin to their father. It's a weird fairy tale and is full of all kinds of strange happenings, with rivers and forests appearing magically to stop the pursuit of the witch Baba Yaga and this gave Liadov plenty of opportunity to create a short piece of the very very colourful music which we heard.
Prokofiev's first symphony was full of joy and colour, in the style of Haydn and he composed it as a "neo-classical" composition exercise during one of his trips to the countryside but included some of his own peculiar themes, highlighted by the use of trumpets and timpani especially in the finale . The atmostphere of Nature is most palpable. It contained several themes with which all who listened to classical music are quite familiar. But the highlight of the evening was Shastokovich's No. 7 otherwise known as the Leningrad. It is a very strident piece with a first movement which lasted more 35 minutes! From where we were sitting, again, the timbre of the music sounded very much "in the face". I have never heard all the nuances of different sections of this symphony so clearly in my hi fi system at home. It was a completely different feeling. Everything sounded so "real" and for that reason, so much more moving. You actually hear the "power" of the musical climaxes which mounted, subsided and mounted again and again, like huge waves of sounds, bashing against the shore of my eardrums, melodious, violent, soothing and exhilarating by turns. Everything is good. I like particularly the brass, which literally dazzled.So were the woodwinds. They were so precise: never too loud nor too soft. Just as they ought to be. Their timing and tone were perfect! The timpanists were superb and helped give substance to the very bombastic late 19th century music of Wagner and mid-20th century Russian style of music.
Prokofiev's first symphony was full of joy and colour, in the style of Haydn and he composed it as a "neo-classical" composition exercise during one of his trips to the countryside but included some of his own peculiar themes, highlighted by the use of trumpets and timpani especially in the finale . The atmostphere of Nature is most palpable. It contained several themes with which all who listened to classical music are quite familiar. But the highlight of the evening was Shastokovich's No. 7 otherwise known as the Leningrad. It is a very strident piece with a first movement which lasted more 35 minutes! From where we were sitting, again, the timbre of the music sounded very much "in the face". I have never heard all the nuances of different sections of this symphony so clearly in my hi fi system at home. It was a completely different feeling. Everything sounded so "real" and for that reason, so much more moving. You actually hear the "power" of the musical climaxes which mounted, subsided and mounted again and again, like huge waves of sounds, bashing against the shore of my eardrums, melodious, violent, soothing and exhilarating by turns. Everything is good. I like particularly the brass, which literally dazzled.So were the woodwinds. They were so precise: never too loud nor too soft. Just as they ought to be. Their timing and tone were perfect! The timpanists were superb and helped give substance to the very bombastic late 19th century music of Wagner and mid-20th century Russian style of music.
The symphony was supposed to depict the suffering of the Russian people during the Nazi invasion in 1941. He dedicated it to the city of Leningrad, the former St. Petersburg. There was first a lyrical string theme with 12 increasingly strident march theme to depict the violence of the invasion. Some would say it depicted the violence of the Stalinist purges. The long first movement was followed by a very short second movement and two further short movements which use the marching rhythms to build up to the final glorious end in which the orchestra played at full strength by all the sections. It was a most fitting close to the Arts Festival.
I was so fortunate to be able to hear this wonderful orchestra under the direction of a rough looking conductor with an "afternoon shadow" around his cheeks. He must love music. It is evident from the way he coaxed the most beautiful notes and the potentials for all kinds of sounds inherent in every piece he played for us from his troupe of singers and talented orchestral musicians. I do not know when they'll come again. It's so good to be alive. It is even better to have retained my sense of hearing. I would not know how to live without music! Two of my friends have already had to resort to hearing aids! I do not know how long I can still have my ears! If ever there is a reason to pray, this must be my prayer.
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