Hong Kong Philharmonic rendering of Brahms, Tchaikovsky a sublime treat for the senses

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Jaap van Zweden has been music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic since 2012, and also serves as music director for the New York Philharmonic. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:04pm, 17 Nov 2018Updated: 1:04pm, 17 Nov 2018

I have been a Hong Kong Philharmonic fan for many years. In the Brahms and Tchaikovsky performance on October 19 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, orchestra concertmaster Jing Wang performed a brilliant and most memorable Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D major, under the baton of music director Jaap van Zweden.

Worthy of Brahms’ creation and his only violin concerto, all three movements were played with dynamic energy full of vibrant colours. I particularly liked the second movement, where fluidity and emotions flowed effortlessly, as Wang moved through the passages with sensuous phrasing and interpretation all of his own, yet in perfect harmony and collaboration with the composer, who created the work some 140 years ago.

Hong Kong Philharmonic concertmaster Wang Jing performs in 2015 with Zhao Yingna, also of the Philharmonic, at HKUST Business School Central Facility in Central in 2015. Photo: Nora Tam

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Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor is a real treat to excite our senses. All sections of the orchestra contributed magnificently to the familiar work that has been much loved over the years.

Philip S.K. Leung, Pok Fu Lam

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