Daniel Lozakovich Tarmo Peltokoski Vasily Petrenko Sunwook Kim

Concert Review: Master Fiddler, 2 Pianists, 2 Bruckner, 3 Great Concerts

In chronological order, the last being the most recent, just the day before!

September 6, 2024, CCCH

HKPO - Peltokoski - Lozakovich

Sibelius - Bruckner

Typhoon derailed this Friday concert, which was rescheduled to an unusual 4 pm the next day (and the HKPO had to play the 8 pm concert too). The 2 Scandinavian artists delivered as satisfying as concert as one could hope for.

I have long followed Daniel Lozakovich (excellent albums on DG), and particularly admire his tonal allure. From the first note of the Sibelius VC, it was clear that he was everything the recordings conveyed (not true for many soloists unfortunately). Great projection, ravishing tone and nuance at any dynamic level (most violinists sound pinched as they go high or loud). Great rhythmic resilience and fire. The orchestral contribution was tight and it was as perfect a performance as one could hope to hear!

Although I regard myself as fairly well informed, I had never heard of very young Tarmo Pelkotoski until his appointment as HKPO's next director. Then came his somewhat idiosyncratic debut album of Mozart (DG). I was told by a friend with trusted ears that he had done well with the HKPO before, so I had high hopes.

I was not disappointed. The Bruckner 9 played out with great tonal weight and good flow. Yes, the third movement for me lacked angst and enough dissonance at its height of tension. More looking forward and reminiscence than confronting death. But then, many seasoned Bruckner conductors fail too at that (in my view; my benchmark is Schuricht/VPO). Very grateful to have heard B9, and I'm looking forward to more!

September 27, 2024, CCCH

HKPO - Petrenko - Fedorova

Rakhmadiyev - Grieg - Bruckner

This concert was absurdly and prominently billed as "Belt and Road". Huh? Perhaps to justify the wayward claim, concert opened with Kazakhstan composer Rakhmadiyev's Kudasha-Duman. A frivolous soviet-era piece with predictable rousing rhythm and cacophony.

Anna Fedorova is well known to me through her recordings, which have all been good but not exceptional. Her playing revealed a plain tone, lacking in sonorous depth. Her playing of the Grieg PC was curiously wayward in places, especially in the finale's marcato section, where her rhythm was downright unnatural. The orchestra was razor sharp in response, thought the woodwinds lacked warmth and elan. Overall, this rendition very much lacked the headlong ardor this piece should possess.

I've long admired and followed Vasily Petrenko on records (seminal Shostakovich cycle on Naxos; many good recordings on Onyx and Lawo), but I was not sure at all how he would be in Bruckner. I remember his NYC and HK appearances very well. In recent times, he has had a few well received outings with the HKPO, which I've missed.

The Bruckner 7 surpassed all expectations! From the opening, Petrenko showed his exceptional ability to tease out all the string parts (so important in this symphony) in a natural manner. Yes, I heard many things new in this thrice familiar score. Everything flowed well, and the brass played superbly, though not as full in tone as in the Tarmo B9. A minor caveat would be that the apotheosis of the slow movement should have tugged at the heart a little more. Anyway, a major achievement. As a Bruckner interpreter, it is obvious that Petrenko is more seasoned than Tarmo, as expected.

Unbelievable to have heard 2 excellent HKPO Bruckner concerts in a row! May more are to come!

September 28, 2024, CH

HK Sinfonietta - Poppen - Kim

Dallapiccola - Schumann - Brahms

Although I've been highly impressed by Christoph Poppen's conducting before (here), I admit my choice of this concert was to hear pianist Sunwook Kim, who have impressed me on discs (DG).

As usual for Poppen, concert opened with a "new" piece, in this case Dallapiccola's Piccola Musica Nocturna, well played and atmospheric. Then came a lithe performance of Schumann's Symphony 1, "Spring". I found the string sonority slightly coarse.

The Brahms PC2 was very well shaped, and the playing of Kim was poetic and immaculate. Power and nuance played in tandem. Again, while the Sinfonietta played very well, the somewhat dry string texture nagged at me. This is not typical of the Sinfonietta I used to know, which usually had warm strings. Although very different, I'd say I enjoyed Kim's playing as much as I had my heroine Leonskaja's 2018 SZSO performance, but on that occasion the orchestra really shone in a way the Sinfonietta didn't.

Kim ended the concert with a beautifully concentrated Brahms Nachtstucke.

Anastasia Kobekina Alexander Malofeev Gabor Takacs-Nagy Verbier AYO

4 Brief Concert Reviews

These concerts happened quite a while ago, and were not written up due to various reasons on my part. As they have lost any possible timely relevance, these comments are capsular in nature.

March 1, Shenzhen Concert Hall
SZSO - Lin Daye - Gorini
Beethoven - Mahler

Concert opened with a competent Beethoven PC5 with soloist Fillipo Gorini, who played in a refined manner, yet was ultimately quite bland and failing in probing the Beethovenian spirit.

Given their previous decent performance of Mahler, I was eager to hear the Mahler 1st, but it proved somewhat fragmented and earthbound. The playing was not on par with their recent very good Mahler 3rd.

March 28, Shenzhen Concert Hall
Olivier Latry organ Recital

Programme comprised Guilmant, Liszt,Bach, Saint-Saens (le Carnaval des animaux), Vierne, Dupre, Alain, Guillou, and some improvisation.

Latry is an excellent organist but I could not enjoy the concert. From my seat higher up, deep bass was sorely lacking and that's a deep no no for an organ recital. I was surprised, as similar seating position at the HK CCCH has good bass.

March 29, Shenzhen Concert Hall
Verbier Festival Orchestra - Takacs-Nagy - Bouchkov - Kobekina - Malofeev
Ysaye - Tchaikovsky - Saint-Saens - Beethoven

This was a highly unusual concert, as it featured not one, but three! concerti in the first half, and the soloists were uniformly excellent.

The Ysaye Violin Concerto featured Marc Bouchkov, who played superbly and was totally under the skin of this still rarely performed concerto.

While Ysaye may be too cerebral for some (like me), Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations is certainly much more accessible. Yet this is not an easy piece to bring off, even on record. That, Anastasia Kobekina certainly did, with aplomb! She was every bit as wonderful as on her marvelous Sony albums.

As if that were not enough, then came Saint-Saens PC2 played by none other than Alexander Malofeev, who had been praised here before. Needless to say, the pianism was pristine, but I'd have preferred a little more romantic ardor from both the soloist and the orchestra,

On records I'm a great admirer of Gabor Takacs-Nagy (especially his pulsating Mozart). He and the Verbier Orchestra has also recorded a decent Beethoven cycle (DG). On this occasion, the Beethoven 7
has all his trademark litheness but was not entirely satisfactory. Most of all, this touring iteration of the Verbier Orchestra does not seem to be quite at the same level as on recordings. As an example, the woodwinds and brass are only good to very good in my book, not exceptional.

August 3, 2024, CH
Asian Youth Orchestra - Jader Bignamini
Gershwin - Bernstein - Respighi - Mussorgsky

It's been a while since I attended an AYO concert. I chose Program B, which featured American conductor Jader Bignamini.

Gershwin's Porgy and Bess Suite and Bernstein's West Side Story Symphonic Dances were very well played, but lacked the last degree of lift.

Most surprising was a cogent Respighi Pines of Rome. This piece is not a fav of mine, but this atmospheric performance was as good as any I have heard! In particular, I actually reveled in the majesty of the Appian Way. Great!

Unusually, this was followed by another blockbuster, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. The performance was fine but lacked the distinction the Respighi had.

It's a miracle the AYO has held on since founder Pontzious passed on. Although the current musical directors are much less known than before (likes of Commisiona, James Judd etc), they seem to soldier on. The musician standards remain very high