HK Philharmonic; Opera Society; Cecilian Singers; Diocesan School Choruses; William Preucil, violin; Zhang Hao, mezzo; David Atherton, Yip Wing-sie, conductors; Cultural Centre; June 22 Since this is the week when ultra-patriotism is ultra-fashionable, Alexander Nevsky was thoroughly appropriate. Prokofiev's cantata, from the World War II film is such a paean to Russian nationalism that it makes Deutschland Uber Alles sound like Three Blind Mice . But, almost incidentally, it is probably the greatest film music in the history of cinema.
Yip Wing-sie did give it the most rousing performance. But then, there really is no other way to play the piece. She started lugubriously, allowing torpor to replace tension. But after that, there was no stopping her, the three choruses, the astounding brass section of the HK Phil (especially tuba player Lee Tsarmaklis) and the entire orchestra.
Mezzo-soprano Zhang Hao couldn't be called the weak link in this performance, but her so-pure voice wasn't as emotionally fulfilling as it should have been. This music calls for an utter dirge, a voice which lyrically, intently almost screams with anguish. Zhang sang her part as if it was an opera aria.
The battle of the ice had some wild climaxes, the choruses came close to medieval grotesquerie, and even the most rabid pacifist would have rooted for the Russians to destroy the evil Teutons.
Nevsky was the rousing climax of an otherwise undistinguished concert. David Atherton conducted a Haydn-sized abbreviated orchestra in a minor Haydn overture, but it was more pretty than jovial.
Violinist William Preucil, is noted as concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, chamber musician and, sometime soloist. He has played with Atherton countless times, and the two obviously enjoy a musical bond.