Seong-Jin Cho is an artist whose rise has been meteoric, and it is easy to see why. He held the audience’s attention from the first chords of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s season-opening concert. His aptitude for both large-scale works and more intimate pieces was on show in a concerto that by turns calls for concentrated expressive power and ornamental playing. The first movement in particular juxtaposes technically demanding passages and moments of stirring lyricism. Cho’s technical proficiency and refined romanticism meant he was at ease with both, and transitioned from one to the other without ever interrupting the narrative. Music director Jaap van Zweden allowed the strings to radiate in the movement’s first subject, when the pianist is relegated to accompanist. The second movement contains a melody that elevates the emotional palette to even greater heights. There is a danger of sentimentality here, but in the capable hands of van Zweden, its contours were navigated delicately to highlight the richness of the harmony. The return of the main theme was not so indulgent, showing a sophisticated understanding of repetition and structural design. The interplay between soloist and orchestra was at its best in the final movement. Showing a sophisticated comprehension of the work, Cho was less showman than integrator, his playing assimilated with that of the orchestra. As an encore, the South Korean pianist gave a stylised reading of Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 20 in C sharp minor that was transcendent but never overindulgent, in keeping with the romantic lyricism of Rachmaninov, and provided a fitting conclusion to the first half. Without the aid of dancers to illustrate the storyline, Prokofiev’s Suite from Romeo and Juliet, drawn from his full-length ballet score, it is down to the orchestra to bring the music to life. Unfortunately, the Hong Kong Philharmonic was not quite up to the task. At times there was a lack of attention to detail which affected the clarity of the playing, and the tenor saxophone playing was too clinical. The orchestra only came to life in the piece called “Romeo at Juliet’s Grave”, its descriptive nature becoming more palpable. This was a disappointing end to the concert after a polished first half that began with a rousing rendition of Wagner’s overture to Die Meistersinger, in which suitably dry articulation from the winds and pointed tonguing from the brass highlighted its polyphony. Wagner’s panache for the lengthy melody is on full display here, and van Zweden shaped the orchestra’s playing with care, never allowing it to descend into the melodramatic. Season Opening: JAAP | Seong-Jin Cho, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Reviewed: September 6