After what seems like an eternity, the HKPO has returned to the Cultural Centre concert hall on Saturday. It began appropriately enough with a very lively overture: Dimitri Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Op. 96 under a Russian conductor Vassily Sinaisky who first achieved world fame back in 1973, when he won the Gold Medal at the Karajan Competition, the principal conductor of first Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, then the Moscow Philharmonic and now chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre and guest conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, Malmö Symphony, NDR Symphony, LA Symphony, London Phiharmonic etc.
The piece, done after Shastakovich's 10th Symphony, opens with an energetic and very high-spirited brass fanfare, which continues in a jubilant mood throughout the rest of this composition which was done at break neck speed after the death of Stalin in March 1953 when its original composer Vasili Nebolsin, failed to deliver upon his commission to write the piece for the celebration of the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution when the deadline was fast approaching and in desperation, he sought last minute help from Shastakovich. Perhaps of the way it's written, it has a remarkable unity of mood: one of continuous bubbly joy and at a speed which matches that in which it was composed, which adds enormously to its excitement.
The next piece is a work which HKPO did before, Shastakovich's Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op 70 in Allegro, Moderato, Presto, Largo and Allegretto, done by the composer at the close of WWII, another work of celebration, one done with lots of very odd and whimsical musical motifs almost cartoon like which Stalin and the Russian official rightly suspected to be another piece in which Shastakovich was trying to pull his leg like what he did in his Symphony No. 5, one in which he exaggerated certain "official" requirements for pomp and circumstance by its accelerated pace. It has is pathos, especially in the second movement but Shastakovich couldn't resist his itch for parody in the circus like the latter part of the third which seems to proceed with an unseemly haste but the mood changed again in the dark and jittery final movement. If this symphony teaches politicians anything, it teaches that the human spirit is free. It just can't be manipulated like one controls a machine. A musician is not a machine nor a mechanic, not even an engineer of "culture" !
After the intermission, we had the reason why the concert hall was packed: Li Yundi performing a popular piece: Tchaikovski's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat minor, Op. 23 . Lots of piano students, some probably forced to go there by their parents, could be seen. This did little but to introduce some hesitant applauses at the wrong time. I don't know why but there was no encore by Li after he finished the final movement in Allegro con fuoco despite the enthusiastic applauses at the end of the piece. This piece certainly needs no introduction. Li is technically brilliant but at times I couldn't help feeling that there was little co-ordination between his play and that of the orchestra which could sound a little less loud at places so that the piano and the orchestra would be complimenting each other instead of playing in parallel or even in competition with each other. I was more than a little disappointed. Li is not Lang Lang. He need not be. It's not fair to compare him with the flambuoyant Lang Lang. But I wished he could show a little more visible enthusiasm for what he is doing and infuse a little more passion into his play. After all, Tchaikovsky is supposed to be a romantic composer.
Unlike visual artworks that can be realistic or abstract, music is always abstract.
回覆刪除[版主回覆09/11/2012 07:23:06]Of all art forms, music is the most abstract but by the same token one which moves most directly because the highs and lows, the pace, the force, the rhythm in which the music propels itself forward directly mimick the nuances of the movement of our emotions.
I agree that music can be one of the most abstract and impromptu forms of art. Yet, I personally find it hard to enjoy performance of excessively dramatic or flamboyant musicians who usually distract my own imagination and experience of the music itself.
回覆刪除Li and Lang have their unique style and skills perfection, but Li is more my cup of tea.
Thanks for the music.
[版主回覆09/13/2012 06:49:58]Musical taste is a very personal matter. No two person will have exactly the same kind of taste because no two persons have exactly the same kind of past personality, character and emotional experience.