bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Oliver Chou

European Tour 2005 - Variations on Concerto Grosso

Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Concert Hall, City Hall

Reviewed: August 4

Pre-tour excitement has turned  a tired orchestra into a spirited ensemble performing a mixed programme of classical and modern works.

The Hong Kong Sinfonietta  gave the local audience a preview of works by Respighi, Mozart  and Stravinsky, and a world premiere of a piece by local composer Chan Hing-yan  that they'll play in France, Lithuania and Poland this week.

After eight weeks of sold-out concerts with comedian Jim  Chim Sui-man, the 43-member ensemble showed some sign of fatigue, especially in the opening, Respighi's Third Ancient Airs and Dances Suite. But, despite some intonation problems such as  the viola passage in the second movement, the Sinfonietta strings displayed an ethereal lightness, and at times a nostalgic yearning.  But the final movement was truly a maestoso, as marked in the scores.

No small accomplishment, considering  that only one  of the five sections in the strings was a permanent principal.

The seemingly half-hearted performance of Mozart's A  Major Concerto by the French pianist Helene Couvert was a disappointment that was met with lukewarm applause.  The cool rendition of Mozart's charm was  a mismatch, and the soloist's flipping of the scores throughout the three movements was a nuisance to  the eyes and the ears.

Chan's There Is Something  in the Wind ... was a three-movement work for orchestra  and  dizi and sheng soloists commissioned for  this year's  tour.   Chan  successfully blended  western and Chinese  styles and idioms that carried a moment  of Bartok and Mahler here and Peking Opera there. The all-wind-instrument first movement might sound like a long tuning session  to the laymen, but   the Chinese percussions' extensive use of  the quirky flexatones in the second movement added oriental exoticism to the work. The tour  de force on a Peking Opera quotation in the finale was the most impressive.

Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite,  a speciality of Sinfonietta's music director Yip Wing-sie, showcased a young but alert orchestra  with incisive agility. The  opening was delightful, so was the clean attack of the brass section and the fine double bass solo passage in  the mid-section. But it was the focused performance in the final bars that conveyed the orchestra's  eagerness to travel.



European Tour 2005 - Variations on Concerto Grosso