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. Atherton's conducting yielded variable results in the two other pieces in the concert. His rendering of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in Ravel's orchestration had some fine moments such as the bustle in The Market-place at Limoges or the intimidating brass chords in Catacombs; there was also some splashy wind playing and firm string playing. But otherwise the performance lacked rhythmic acuity and dynamic range. The orchestra had no problem with blaring out loud music but often could not play softly: there was much light but little shade in the Philharmonic's Pictures. Nevertheless, Atherton managed to bring out Beethoven's Egmont Overture, which opened the concert, with a broad, epic sweep. The final section was powerful and jubilant, conveying a sense of hard-won triumph, as it should.