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Sam Olluver

Spirit of Two Strings
City Chamber Orchestra of HK
Sha Tin Town Hall
Reviewed: Nov 30
Mao Yuan's Scenes from China is a familiar piece, but this was the first performance of the composer's arrangement for chamber orchestra, commissioned by the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, and the first of three works being previewed ahead of the group's tour of Italy. Mao uses the limited resources imaginatively and the orchestra handled changes in texture and lead lines with tightness and clarity.
Guest conductor  Andrew Massey directed the rest of the programme, continuing the east-west fusion in two works  that received their Hong Kong premiere.
The two soloists were in excellent form for Situ Gang's double concerto for erhu  (Hsin Hsiao-hung), violin  (Ho Hong-ying) and strings, but they deserved a better vehicle for their efforts. The concerto lacks direction, the orchestral interludes are often unimaginative and the perfunctory ending is disappointing. The  difference in sound between the soloists was reconciled   in the unison and counter-melody passages of the work's second half. With the erhu modestly amplified, Hsin and Ho maintained  balance  between themselves and with the orchestra.
Hsin returned as a soloist in  Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger concerto for erhu and chamber orchestra. It reworks material from the soundtrack of the film,  Hsin's erhu replacing  Yo-Yo Ma's solo cello lines with  a more satisfying sound, despite being over-amplified  for much of the time.
Tan's score drew the best from everyone. Orchestral colour and a charged atmosphere supported Hsin's highly eloquent playing - her cadenza and the duet with Mo Chun-pang on hand drum were splendid.



Spirit of Two Strings