|
Back
Shaping Gold into Masterpieces Hong Kong
Hong Kong Cultural Center, Tsim Sha Tsui
03/15/2008 -
Mark-Anthony Turnage: Lullaby for Hans
Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op.77
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6 in B Minor, Op.74 'Pathetique'
Nikolaj Znaider (Violin)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski (Conductor)
As part of the closing finale of the 36th Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF), RBS Coutts, Sino Group and Bank of East Asia are major sponsors to finance and promote cultural enrichment of the Arts in Hong Kong. Their generous support has led to the realization of a long-awaited date between the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) and lovers of classical music in Hong Kong possible. This ‘pair of lovers’ has reunited once again at the same venue where they first met, since the LPO’s first acquaintance at the HKAF in 1973, under the guest directions of then Maestros Enrich Leinsdorf, John Pritchard, and our very own favorite, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO)’s artistic and chief conductor Edo de Waart. Thirty-five years later, under the direction of its newly inaugurated conductor Vladimir Jurowski, violinist Nicolaj Znaider on March 15th and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet on March 16th joined forces with the Orchestra as guest soloists to bring out wonders in these two evenings’ performances, long sold-out last year in October shortly after its public release. This signified the long-bound love between the people of Hong Kong and their faithfulness to the LPO, exemplifying the strong cultural awareness of Hong Kong audience to the great influences of Western culture, especially towards the genre of classical music, opera, and ballet. Certainly, compliment goes to the high caliber of musicians and soloists in carrying out these positive messages to our local community, only to even newer heights than 35 years ago. None of this would have been possible without the forward-vision support from the HKAF and its partners. The success of the HKAF, equipped to invite the many young and established talents to foster Hong Kong’s awareness to cultural diversity, remains a continuing and important chapter of a beautiful story that began on one fine spring 35 years ago. Surely, the ‘story of the HKAF’ is a proud testimony, and will continue to flourish for many years to come. Not only will it remain the topic of conversation from the East to the West, but the HKAF symbolizes a visionary organization of the Arts and Culture for the benefit of its audience in the city of Hong Kong.
After great efforts to secure tickets to both the sold-out concerts (and special thanks goes to Mr. Lock and Mr. Walker in this regard), my music partner and I had the honor to attend the LPO, together with Maestro Jurowski, in their first joined partnership performance here in Hong Kong as part of their Asian tour. The musicians just performed in Seoul on Wednesday and Thursday with local guest soloists on a slightly different programme tailored to the audience of Korea. Whereas in Hong Kong, we had a slightly wider spectrum of compositions - from the Romantic lush strings of Brahms, to the jazzy idioms of Ravel, in order to highlight the musical depth and developmental milestones that the LPO has acquired over the years. The level of musicianship could be traced back since the days of Sir Thomas Beecham, up to more recently in September 2007, when the LPO began a new chapter with Maestro Vladimir Jurowski as their newly inaugurated principal conductor on their seventy-fifth birthday occasion. The fruits of this mutual trust and vitality had brought upon awesome harvests ever since, as documented by their excellent recordings and the many ravishing reviews. Just to highlight how special the music playing of the LPO can truly be as an influence, a dedicated group of individuals had journeyed together with these musicians ever since the start of their Asian tour in Seoul last week, faithfully till their present stop here in Hong Kong. Indeed, it had proven to be a travelogue filled with memories that were sufficient of a lifetime.
From Turnage to Tchaikovsky and ending on a strong forté in the repertoire of Prokofiev, Maestro Jurowski was surely 'a man of all trades.' Whether he was in the orchestra pit at the Opera (recall those devastatingly beautiful sounds of the Welsh National Opera in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades or the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra’s exquisite and glowing ‘German sound’ in a recently much-debated production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel) or standing erect fully engaged decoding the underlying qualities of standard orchestral repertoire (recall his transparent and faithful presentations with the Russian National Orchestra in the symphonies of his native Shostakovich). Altogether, these were glaring examples of what wonders this young leonine Russian conductor of 35 (and 36 to-be, in less than a month’s time) was capable to capture. Heading orchestras and opera houses with more different personalities and specialties rather than similarities to wide-acclaim, this would be hard to imagine for such the young Jurowski, unless he had been a ‘maestro of old’. Simply put, an audience’s respiratory rate and cardiac output were put on to full test during the evenings. There were no exceptions to this phenomenon, both in yesterday and in tonight’s performance, although irrefutably, the most rewarding segment to both evening’s performances laid principally in the symphonic works of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. Maestro Jurowski was able to polish and pinpoint qualities on each LPO musician in order to bring gold into a masterpiece, irrespective of the acoustics within the concert hall. Shaping a layer of gold into what is already considered ‘a masterpiece’, often times with a legacy of famed interpretations behind certainly is no small compliment for a hard-working conductor such as Vladimir Jurowski. The secret to this formula, simply, is founded on the principle: to be ‘faithfully faithful’ to each composer as if the composition is one of your very own.
Turange’s Lullaby for Hans was surely not out of place in the programme as the start of the first evening. With over 95% of the seats filled, our audience was prompt and ready to experience the mellow strings that kick-started the next 6 minutes, a relatively short composition that centered only on the string players. One would find from reading the programme notes by Anthony Burton that ‘the piece was written to mark the 80th birthday of the German composer, Hans Werner Henze.’ The fact that this little piece could hold its own against the magnum opus of Brahms and Tchaikovsky to follow exemplified the great milestone to Turnage’s achievements as a composer, who currently serves as Composer in-Residence of the London Philharmonic, ever since the 2005-2006 season of the Orchestra. Originally written for the piano, this work had become known as a landmark representation to Turnage’s vivid output as a composer. To a first-time listener, this short piece dedicated to the strings could be decisively reflective as a hallmark to a true Romantic. But in fact, this piece had laid hidden under the disguised eclectic post-modern character of Turnage (as we shall discover from Evening Songs during the opening of the second evening). Nonetheless, the lush strings had brought life to this placid lullaby so sweetly even to the tooth, and such fine solo passages, full of warmth and invigoration, from the concertmaster and solo cellist, Mr. Boris Garlitsky and Ms. Susanne Beer. Their playing was revered by the audience unanimously, and an unrestrained opening applause assured the players after this brief introduction to the evening that they have amongst themselves a well-mannered and tasteful audience.
The name Nikolaj Znaider would not have been new to many in the audience tonight; it was just like yesterday, recalling his performance of the Korngold’s Violin Concerto two years ago in 2006 with the HKPO, so technically flawness that you simply ‘ignored his virtuosity and listened straight into the beating heart of the music.’ Fans of Mr. Znaider would have a strong hunch that after this performance of the Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D Major Op.77, he would have made himself many new friends in Hong Kong, and reaffirmed many long-built friendships. Surprisingly, given Mr. Znaider’s stylistic confidence in a wide variety of music, and particularly with rave reviews both in live performances and in the recording studio of this work with Maestro Zubin Mehta, this Brahms’s Violin Concerto ironically turned out to be the least satisfactory part of the concert. Mainly, this was in part due to an unperceived fiasco with his violin 30s before the end of the first movement, rather than on the interpretation itself.
Although Maestro Jurowski’s marmoreal way with the opening orchestral tutti paved the red-carpet for Mr. Znaider, it did not help matters with the musical lines on Mr. Znaider’s parts. Simply, God was not on his side ‘tis night! In retrospect, although there was an exquisite and sympathetic accompaniment from the LPO at large, with rustling leaves in the string and a serene quality of the woodwinds, Mr. Znaider had occlusion throughout his phrasings in the entire first movement, lacking in fluidity from one phrase to the next. His first entry sounded more febrile than heroic, as though he was withholding himself from a grandeur, which he deliberately suppressed rather than letting it be released from what would have been his natural quality in sound. The audience soon found it even distracting because in addition to this resilience, he seemed to be preoccupied with the back of his violin, looking head down at it every time like a new found puzzle whenever he had a break of entry with the Orchestra. Of course, this was not typical of a ‘Znaider performance’ or his etiquette, for those who heard him perform many of times. Without much effort, one came to realize something must be problematic with his violin chinrest, as one could see how he fidgeted at it whenever possible as to secure its place. Finally, there even came a point when he gave an eye signal to one of the string players, who gently and quietly, went backstage in an attempt to look for a replacement, only to come back few minutes later with a backup woodpiece. But, how would this help in the middle of a busy performance? Then, up came the fine Joachim’s cadenza, and here, despite an ill-equipped instrument, Mr. Znaider shone himself with a torch of light, that foreshadowed the sublime coda that eminently followed. However, the fiasco came just 30s before the end of the first movement, when the chinrest of Mr. Znaider’s Kreisler Guarneri del Gesù 1741 just air-dropped 6ft high from his shoulders. The audience was sympathetic to give applause at the end, giving the proper signal to allow Mr. Znaider escape in the interim to look for a remedy. However deep down, some of the audience would have found this to be an inexcusable phenomenon to occur, even almost comical in nature. The audience and musicians at large, including the Maestro himself, had to wait nearly 15mins before the continuation of the Adagio
Here, in the Adagio movement, the Orchestra was given ample room of breathing space in their music, which is a quality one finds typical throughout in Maestro Jurwoski’s conducting. He certainly is not a conductor who impresses a certain ‘way’ onto his musicians, but on the contrary, he takes great effort in bringing out those inner qualities that laid within each musician, serving only as a catalyst to bring out a musical reaction to its final destination. One may compare Maestro Jurwoski’s role analogous to that of a gardener, letting a flower blossom in nature, but only supplying the basic water and nutrients that it needed – never forceful, never imposing. The result of this practice was best exemplified by the subtle but graceful introductory oboe solo by Mr. Ian Hardwick, which was marvelous and beautiful, and all-in-all, by the beautiful layering of phrasings. Unusually, however, Mr. Znaider continued to find restlessness in himself, seemingly volatile at times in quality, quite different from the poise most interpreters bring to it. Surely, and understandably, because of the prior incidence with the chinrest, this continued to have an unsettling effect on him. Upon resumption in this movement, his playing remained hesitant that lacked a depth to his usual rich tone; this was as though everyone was determined simply to get to the end in one piece. Having said so, one could feel the energy radiating from deep down Mr. Znaider’s heart and facial expressions to bring out his best under such extraneous limitations.
In the third movement Allegro, the Hungarian opening gave way to Mr. Znaider’s touch of youthful abandon and passion for Brahms, which was completely a new page with an attractive face. Back arched, the physical commitment and integrity of his playing finally impressed the lot on a completely new and fresh frequency than two movements ago. Finally, after a movement of adjustments, he finally turned each Brahmsian phrase into jewel. Maestro Jurowski’s conducting, as described, had been clear-headed and very creative. A natural musician on the podium himself, he found his ideal collaborator in Mr. Znaider, despite some places where Maestro Jurwoski wanted to linger on a phrase, but Mr. Znaider thought it better to speed ahead. All-in-all, they fit hand-in-glove. At his young age of early 30s, Mr. Znaider has already captured a strong musical personality, and though he may have some way to go yet before he reaches full blow maturity, there will be no second thoughts that one will hear much more of him in the nearby future.
After intermission, we came to the ‘Pearl of the Sea’ of tonight’s programme, Tchaikovsky’s 'pathetically beautiful' Symphony No.6 in B Minor Op. 74, nicknamed ‘Pathétique’. Similar to his practices in recent past, Maestro Jurowski conducted from memory, greatly to the work’s benefit given the conductor’s aptness and full grasp of every nook and cranny ‘nitty-gritty’ detail of the score. By comparison with his many performances on this signature piece of Tchaikovsky with other orchestras, most notably in his recent appearances with the Russian National Orchestra in the United States, his partnership tonight with the LPO proved equally mercurial. Like the Lullaby by Turnage earlier, one could easily spot his meticulous preparation and sophisticated sensibility to the acoustics in the hall that Jurowski must have indulged on his musicians prior to this evening. To sum, his Tchaikovsky was immensely powerful. Maestro Jurowski wrung emotions from the strings, right from the very silence of Bar 1 to the finale in absolute finesse. Mr. John Price, solo bassoonist, seemed to be playing from the depths of despair, while the 5/4 second movement was like a Russian bear waltzing – a big, beautiful, black cuddy creature, who could for any moment you were not paying attention, bit your head off.
The Symphony proceeded as if it followed a regular cardiac rhythm, an inner pulse that intensified our very own ‘lup tup … lup tup … lup tup’ heart sounds. The notorious resemblance to Beethoven’s Fifth sounded ever more intoxicating as one recalled the infamous ‘fate theme’ of Beethoven used in Tchaikovsky’s very own third movement of the Pathétique. Thanks to the group of luscious brass and double-bass players, this pulsation spearheaded the forward momentum as the music unfolded. The stature of Maestro Jurowski on the podium was simply a joy to watch – he appeared to be able to do anything he transmitted with the Orchestra, who as a whole was fully engaged and responsive as a common voice from the tiniest of pianissimo to those deceiving chords in the final bars of the third movement with utmost accuracy. His baton technique was immediately communicative; his left hand meanwhile communicated with his players like silk on a weaver’s hands – gentle and soft. When he wanted to whip up excitement, he built tension beginning with his posture, rotated his wrists to command, and literally, was able to drive the third movement of the ‘Pathétique’ on fire like a wizard with his magic wand. Well-trained and mannered, our Hong Kong audience behaved at its top behaviour, resisted what would have been an awkward moment should there have been an applause after this tempting third movement. Here, Maestro Jurowski gave time for the players to recuperate, before he dived straight into the crystalline waters, leading to the close of a triumphant Finale.
One could envision it would not be long before the world would unanimously proclaim Jurowski and the LPO’s interpretation of the Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique as ‘the’ authoritative testament for generations to cherish. With the successful recording of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony under the LPO’s own label, collectors and lovers of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique will have to keep an eagle’s eye on the birth of the Pathétique with Maestro Jurowski in coming months, hoping this will surface by the end of the year. Irrefutably, it will stamp a mark in the 'Recording Hall of Fame' as a legacy of its own, for future generations to associate this masterpiece as ‘truly Jurowski’s!’
Despite countless efforts to over six rounds of applauses, the LPO decided they will leave the best till the last on their second and final appearance at the HKAF. Hence, no encore was called upon, and for the unfortunate few whose final destination with the LPO in Hong Kong began and ended here today at the Cultural Center, do consider a visit to the newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall on your next visit, the home of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, where Maestro Vladimir Jurowski will remain the toast of London for as long as music lives. For those whose date with the LPO had just begun on the 15th with a curfew that extended until the evening of the 16th, the climax has yet to come. Be ready to more musical adrenaline tomorrow night!
Patrick P.L. Lam
|
