Hong Kong Philharmonic Theresa Santiago, soprano David Atherton, conductor City Hall, April 12 The crowds turned out for a mixture of moods created by the Hong Kong Philharmonic and David Atherton. But was it for the familiar Haydn Surprise symphony, the equally well-known Finlandia or the very rare Schubert Salve Regina ? Salve Regina is one of several settings of the hymn to the Virgin Mary set by Schubert. This one for string orchestra was totally new for this listener, but it is an ethereal piece.
The melodies of the verses are not exceptional in themselves for Schubert, but the little variations and harmonic surprises showed nuances of inspiration demonstrating that the composer was more concerned with the intimate beauty of the piece than being clever.
New York soprano Theresa Santiago has a purity of line in her soprano, which is custom-fit for the piece. But she is not simply a woman with ethereal voice and nothing else.
Since her voice has a lovely low range (she is no coloratura), she could create drama in some of the verses, using almost an easy alto range to give the music honest power. Yes, this was obviously church music, but Ms Santiago also gave it that personal push.
The strings started the evening with a stately introduction to Haydn's 94th Symphony, leading to a fairly cheerful opening for the abbreviated orchestra. It was not very jocular, and the second movement surprise did not actually wake up the audience, as was proposed by the composer.
But this Haydn has a delicious minuet (much more rustic than usual), and a finale where the strings sounded benign and the winds were bold with authority.