Light French and Heavy German Music (輕型法式重型德式音樂)

After what seemed like an unbearable break over almost the entire month of December, I found myself at the Cultural Centre again on Sunday night. Needless to say, it was music which drew me there. As if to welcome a friend back, the first piece opened with some very some energetic fanfare by the brass section, followed by a very romantic and much slower and softer string melody which after some development was rejoined by the opening brass theme, then by another string motif which then finally drew in the whole orchestra playing up to the climax in full blast. The piece was inspired by a poem by the tempestuous English romantic poet who died at age 36 fighting for the Greek War of Independence, Lord Byron. It was a poem called The Corsair about Conrad, a pirate (whom many saw as the alter ego of Byron), a man of many pleasures and few regrets, strong, calm, mysterious, lonely, with eyes that seem able to pierce into others soul, a paradoxical heroic figure fighting against oppression who towered above the crowd of vulgar men and yet is regarded as the author of a thousand crimes. Le Corsaire Overture was written in 1844 by Hector Berlioz, the French master of program music. A most rousing start to the concert. We had a new guest conductor June Märkl from Germany with very exaggerated and abrupt changes of hand gestures and body movement but who seemed able somehow to turn the HK Phil into a huge, perfectly co-ordinated but compliant mechanism for the production of very musical sound. One hears in the music the pathos, the heart yearning for love and adventure at the end the festive joy..

The second piece was a completely different . It was Chausson's Poème Op 25, another French composer, written in 1896, inspired by a romantic novella written in 1881 by one of my favorite Russian novelists, Ivan Turgenev, then living in Paris, a novella called "Song of Triumphant Love", a fantastic tale about jealousy and love in a love triangle. But Chausson turned it into a quasi-violin concerto, initially called "Le Chant de l'armour troimphant", later changed to Poème fantastique. He dedicated it to a famous violinist of his day Eugène Ysaÿe  The violin solo was performed by our first violinist and concert master Igor Yuzefovich. It was one of Chausson's most famous pieces. It was a difficult piece to play for his day. It started with a slow and mysterious opening which became more and more lively as it went along, then slowed down again before picking up speed and ended quietly, A sad and contemplative piece.

Then we had Ravel's Tsigane, another virtuoso violin piece typical of Hungarian rhapsodic Gypsy music, full of fast bow work alternating with sudden changes of rhythm, melodic motifs and moods. It was originally written for the violin and piano but it wasn't long before Ravel adapted it for the orchestra which he premiered in 1924. A very popular, lively but melancholic piece done in the romantic style. Yuzefovich is a true violinist completely equal to the music.

After the intermission, we had Brahm's Symphony No.1 i in C minor OP 68: in I Un poco sostenuto – Allegro – Meno allegro (C minor/C major) II Andante sostenuto (E major) III  Un poco allegretto e grazioso (A-flat major) IV  Adagio – Più andante – Allegro non troppo, ma con brio – Più allegro (C minor/C major). By the time Brahms started to compose it in 1854 he was already quite a famous composer. In this symphony he did pay hommage to Beethoven: he had the kind of heavy theme announcement typical of Beethoven complete with the mighty blows from the timpani which continued to dominate and to mark critical moments in the music throughout the piece and with the very energetic and rhythmic sound from the string to keep up the musical tension at peak level, broken only by solos from the woodwinds and flutes. That's why some call it Beethoven's 10th symphony, a description Brahms didn't like because he did introduce something new of his own.  It took him a full 14 years to complete it, writing, rewriting and re-writing ! Brahms really poured his heart into it. But it was all worth it. The first movement in sonata form, the second and third movement are much less organized and the fourth changed mood from gloom to glory. A very powerful work as Brahm's first venture into symphony. One feels it in the might of music in his sound and yet there's no lack of softer sentiments in the symphony. I love the second movement. It was another very satisfying concert.