Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Tsuen Wan Town Hall Auditorium
Continues tonight at Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall
British clarinettist Michael Collins was the star in the Hong Kong Philharmonic's concert last night, in which he played the famous Mozart clarinet concerto using a basset clarinet, the instrument for which Mozart wrote his masterpiece.
The basset clarinet is slightly different from the modern standard clarinet: it can produce several low notes that the latter cannot and sounds mellower. Collins elicited a pure, pellucid tone from it, playing the figurations with admirable evenness. Collins let the music speak with his smooth, natural and effortless phrasing. He also treated the fast outer movements with rhythmic lightness and a fitting sense of style.
The same could not be said about the orchestral accompaniment under the baton of David Atherton. Where Collins' playing flowed like a gentle autumn breeze, the orchestra often sounded like trudging in the mud after an autumn drizzle.