Poet Li Bai

Poet Li Bai Asian Performing Arts of Colorado HK Cultural Centre Grand Theatre Reviewed: Dec 4

While the Hong Kong Philharmonic was roistering through a Li Bai drinking poem in Mahler's Song of the Earth at the Cultural Centre Concert Hall on Friday, the theatre was coincidentally exposing the Tang dynasty man of letters as a weary old soak, about to come to a watery end in Guo Wenjing's splendid 2007 chamber opera, Poet Li Bai.

Mahler invested angst and huge forces in the poetry; Poet Li Bai is a model of profound simplicity. Li Bai lives in exile on a boat, consoling himself in wine and communing with the moon; flashback to better times at the Imperial Court where he is fawned over before being discarded; rebound to the final take where he surrenders himself in confusion not to the moon, but to its reflection in the water.

The five-act, 90-minute work is like porcelain: each aspect of the production is delicately wrought. The music is suffused with oriental flavours and gentle on the ear; the opening of the third act (Li Bai at the Imperial Palace) is pure Cecile B. DeMille. The Opera Hong Kong Chorus excelled in a multifaceted role, while the principal soloists combined flawless technique with subtle acting.

As Li Bai, Tian Haojiang's gripping bass voice commanded the stage, flipping to falsetto with acrobatic precision; tenor Chi Liming (above, right, with Tian) was a full-bodied Wine; soprano Zhou Xiaolin, as Moon, floated her lines beautifully; Peking opera tenor Jiang Qihu was on form as Poetry and Magistrate.

Direction, sets, costumes and lighting were all telling in their simplicity, throwing the spotlight onto the libretto by Diana Liao and Xu Ying in which not a word is wasted. Under Yip Wing-sie, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta gave impressive support from the pit.