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Kolja Blacher directs Mozart

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall

Reviewed: May 4

Kolja Blacher simultaneously played and directed Beethoven's Violin Concerto with panache in this  Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra concert. The German violinist  sailed through the  work with creamy violin tones and  effortless mastery. His solo playing was suave and engaging without undue  showiness, giving breadth and opulence to the first movement, scintillating tenderness to the second and a bouncy gait (spiced with a whirlwind  virtuoso display) to the third.

Blacher whipped up some swaggering orchestral performances from the podium  when he wasn't playing. And when he was busy with the solo lines, he still managed to keep everything together, although  another conductor  may  have chosen to bring more refinement  to the piece.

There were also some awkward wind utterances and the orchestra could hardly  keep pace with  Blacher several times during the  first movement.  But that was compensated for by a passage in  the slow movement in which the violin glided along lyrically in the high register to the serenading accompaniment of string pizzicato, which was sublime.

The Beethoven concerto was  the second half of the programme, which  the orchestra also performed at the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival  yesterday. The  first half featured two classical symphonies: Haydn's No 39 and Mozart's No 33.

Blacher,  formerly first concert master of the Berlin Philharmonic, directed a  smaller Hong Kong Philharmonic from the front desk. The orchestra  played in a lush  style, but was often too coarse.  The minuets, for example, could have been improved with a daintier gait. Some of the audience showed up only for the concerto.  They  didn't miss much.



Kolja Blacher directs Mozart