Review | Hong Kong Philharmonic and pianist Kyohei Sorita put on lively concert
Sorita performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 in an evening that also featured the world premiere of Charles Kwong’s Festina lente
Artists find inspiration in places both profound and pedestrian, a creative spectrum vividly illustrated by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s latest concert.
The featured composers drew from sources as diverse as quantum physics, Beethoven’s explosive contrasts, Ukrainian folk melodies and the humble street cry of a sausage vendor. But it was the sound of water that set the evening in motion.
The world premiere of Charles Kwong Chin-wai’s Festina lente opened not with a grand statement, but a liquid one. Inspired, in part, by underwater recordings he made in the Rhône river in Europe, and how the sound of water dissolves into discrete, melodic granularity when played back extremely slowly, he has created a musical metaphor for the quantum physics concept of space-time being “foamy”.
On stage, strings conjured a slow-moving continuum while woodwinds interjected with fragmentary cells, the intricate tapestry punctuated by otherworldly brass glissandi. The work built to a climactic surge, energised by an almost improvisatory vigour from the percussion.
Unsuk Chin’s Subito con Forza followed, a sharp, modernist curtsy to Beethoven. True to its title, which means “suddenly, with force”, the piece is a spirited excavation built from fragmented quotations.
It began with a sharp orchestral stab collapsing into an eerie bass tremolo. The performance bristled with a Stravinskian energy, its primal textures navigated with precision by the orchestra helmed by conductor Lio Kuok-man.