Chan Wai-kwong's 1997, Symphonic Fantasia, Hui was a world premiere. Like all of his works, this was prefaced by specific, laundry-list of everything he wanted to do in the music.

The piece was tied together with three resounding notes repeated every few measures. The scurrying orchestral fillers were written competently enough, but lacked what is most important in music, a sense of urgency, a feeling that even a single measure had to have been written.

This had been preceded by a joyous Dvorak Carnival, conducted by Yip Wing-sie, and followed by David Atherton's conducting of Sibelius' Fifth Symphony.

For reunification, or any other event, little can overcome this glorious work. But the symphony has more than glory, it has non-sensual passion, it has a pastoral second movement of almost elegiac simplicity, and a finale which is emotionally overpowering without becoming bathetic.

Atherton enjoyed the glory of the piece, but most important, he has trained his orchestra to play the piquant and the fiery with equal dexterity.

It is always a pleasure to hear Lin Cho-liang. His presence and technique are aristocratic, and his performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto while not terribly Slavic, had an honest elegance. The piece might be the ultimate concert war horse, but played with such regality, Lin created a work combining finesse, grandeur and heartfelt expression.