Hong Kong Philharmonic, Lin Cho-liang, violin; David Atherton, Yip Wing-sie, Chan Wai-kwong, conductors, Cultural Centre Concert Hall, Saturday The final 'Reunification' concert was a misnomer, as no mainland-born soloists or composers were represented.
But it was certainly eclectic. One Hong Kong composer, two Hong Kong conductors, one British conductor, and a Taiwanese-born violinist now a US citizen, showed just how international music can be.
The music had a variety of moods, three of the pieces familiar to the packed concert hall.
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.