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Oliver Chou

For the Love of the Butterfly Lovers

Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra

Cultural Centre Concert Hall

Reviewed: January 7

The name of the concert  fails  to  reflect the importance of  the event, which was the world premiere of  Chinese Music Suite No1. The more than 40-minute orchestral work places 51-year- old Macau Orchestra maestro Shao En  in the league of such conductor-composers as Leonard Bernstein and Andre Previn.

Commissioned in 2003 by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, the work is in four movements  inspired by the four famous Chinese  occasions of sorrow,  joy, parting and reunion. Shao,   a devout Christian, blended traditional Chinese values with the western religious beliefs  about life's frailty and the eventual reunion with God.

Shao's grasp of the Chinese instrumental idiom is impressively displayed by the use of  the  egg-shaped flute in Sorrow, and the piercing sound of  the suona,  the Chinese oboe, in the louder passages of  Joy and Reunion. The bass line built by the lower strings in the funeral march in Parting is reminiscent of Gustav Mahler's First Symphony, whereas the exultant Reunion is as effective  as The Gate of the Kiev by   Modest  Mussorgsky.

The use of Tibetan and Mongolian folklore  in the work  is ingenious. Yet it's the overall symphonic  power that Shao drew from the players, particularly the extended percussion section and the strings, that  excelled.

Chinese violinist Xie Nan (below) delivered a technically solid Butterfly Lovers concerto,  a Chinese version of Romeo  and Juliet,  despite drawbacks  in the transcription from the original western scores.

The soloist's  aggression on  the violin highlighted the uncompromising character of  Zhu Yingtai, the Chinese Juliet, against the inevitable.

But the work was marred  by the  inherent problems in orchestral transcription. The tutti lacked power,  and the high-pitch   sounds such as the   dizi often  interfered  with the violin solo. Xie  asserted her  presence  by choosing a Paganini caprice as an encore.

The Chinese Orchestra was at its best  during the Ancient Capital, which opened the concert.  Under Shao's baton,  the performance was disciplined, with rich symphonic effects. The melodic line was clean, and the harmonies  generated a nostalgic mood. But it was the Lunar New Year encore piece, Happiness, that sent everyone home  smiling.



For the Love of the Butterfly Lovers