//The World Came to Me (7)//

PROGRAM

Brahms / String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51, No.2
Richard Strauss / String Sextet (from Capriccio), Op. 85
Ng Cheuk-yin / Let There be Light (World Premiere)
Beethoven / String Quartet No. 9 in C, Op. 59, No. 3

I spotted a flyer about this concert while waiting for admission to a previous Hong Kong Sinfonietta in the City Hall foyer. I wondered, “How would seeing these players in a group of 4 be different from seeing them in an orchestra?”

Three of the players were principal or assistant principal players in the Orchestra. Seeing their familiar faces but in a smaller setup was both soothing and refreshing. The first question I jotted down in my notes to ask Teacher was “How come the cellist was not sitting on the far right like in the orchestra?”. I forgot what Teacher’s answer was though 😛

With less players on stage, I could take more time to observe each player and the exchanges among them. One thing that stood out to me was the girl in red, second violinist Selena Choi. I remember liking her energetic performance and the distinct sound of her violin.

What surprised me the most was the intensity of a quartet could be even higher than a full orchestra. And it was quite fascinating to watch the interaction between the individuals, both the musical exchanges and body language.  

Here’s the event page on the RTHK Quartet website: http://app4.rthk.hk/special/rthkquartet/latestnews.php?lang=e&id=14.

And the archived podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/演藝盛薈-香港電台弦樂四重奏五周年音樂會/id938029488?i=1000322850014.

//The World Came to Me (6)//

I gotta confess. The only reason that brought me to this concert was the Adagio from Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. I have this CD of clarinetist Robert Marcellus’ 1961 recording with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra with me for decades. And this recording has always been my savior whenever I desperately need to find some inner peace. Teacher once said, “You will never find an interpretation that matches what you have in your head.” There is an untouchable & out-of-the-world quality to this exquisite piece of music. So with a guarded expectation, I went to this concert.

PROGRAM

Mozart / The Marriage of Figaro Overture, K492
Mozart / Clarinet Concerto in A, K622
Mozart / Serenade No. 10 in B-flat, K361, “Gran Partita”

It was a delight watching Michael Collins’s clarinet dancing and twirling, making Mozart’s music come to live. Teacher was right though. I will probably never see an interpretation that matches what I have in my head. To me, Robert Marcellus’ recording is still the closest version thus far.

The extra bonus I got from that night was the discovery of the oboe. I never really paid much attention to the oboe in the orchestra. But that night when Hong Kong Sinfonietta then-principal oboist Marrie Rose Kim played in the “Gran Partita”, I was like “Wow!”. Her oboe was dancing and fencing with Michael Collins’ clarinet. And it was so beautiful and powerful. Since then I always looked for her on stage in Hong Kong Sinfonietta concerts.

Here’s a review of the concert in South China Morning Post: https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1593158/great-clarinet-concertos-michael-collins-plays-mozart.

And a more recent (2019) performance of the Mozart’s clarinet concert by Michael Collins with the London Mozart Players:

 

//The World Came to Me (5)//

Sometimes I do wonder if it was fate. So, here’s the story. I was trying to figure out how to write this next episode. As I surfed the web to see what this cellist Ka Lap Wong has been up to lately, I came across an interview article on his upcoming concert that will be held in a few days (in 2020)! I immediately jumped into the ticketing site to check the prices and availability. There was a single seat available right in the middle of one of the front rows. But it cost $380! I hesitated. I was not in a good financial state and $380 was a lot of money…

I kept debating with myself that night and the next day. “It’s expensive. But he is going to play Bach Cello Suite No. 5 in a tuned down cello setting. What would be his approach?” The tuned down Bach Cello Suite No. 5 became my favorite Suite after attending British cellist Colin Carr’s Bach Suites concert in 2017. The curiosity was killing me, so I put my foot down and bought the ticket.

Before I get to the 2020 concert, let’s rewind. At the very beginning of my cello learning, Ka Lap Wong was one of the teachers in my group class. In 2014 I went to his concert, also out of curiosity to see how he was doing. The program at the time was quite technically challenging.

2014 PROGRAM

César Franck  / Sonata for Violin and Piano
J.S. Bach  / Cello Suite No. 6
György Ligeti / Sonata for Solo Cello
Frédéric Chopin / Cello Sonata
David Popper / Elfentanz

Five years later, this was the program of the 2020 concert:

2020 PROGRAM

J.S. Bach  / Cello Suite No. 5
Henri Dutilleux / 3 Strophes Sur Le Nom De Sacher
Zoltán Kodály / Sonata for Solo Cello
Ka Lap Wong / Variations Lament for Solo Cello

I am not technically there yet to try the whole Bach Suite myself. So far, I have only played the Sarabande. So at least I am a little more familiar with that. My first reaction to Ka Lap’s interpretation of the Sarabande was “One can do THAT?!”. Then I immediately reminded myself what a lot of masters have said. Everyone has his or her own interpretation of the Bach Suites. And the key thing is whether the player himself or herself is convinced of such interpretation. Just then I relaxed and very much welcomed an opportunity to experience his interpretation. A good lesson learned.

As for the other pieces, I have to confess that I am not a big fan of contemporary music as I find it quite difficult to understand. But surprisingly I didn’t find Ka Lap’s playing boring at all. And his own composition was full of sincerity. Actually, “sincerity” was not a good description. When I looked back at the notes I scribbled on the back page of his 2014 concert program booklet, one of the words I wrote said it all – “Heart”. And this was exactly what I saw in this 2020 concert as well. I noticed a self-acknowledgment gesture of his after completing each piece. My impression over the years was he has worked very hard on what he believes in. It was inspiring and comforting to see a cellist putting his heart and mind into a lifelong soul-searching journey. I am not alone.

//The World Came to Me (3)//

Then I saw another interesting poster in the subway station. “The King’s Singers? This is not the King’s College Choir since these are grown men. Who are they?” Out of curiosity, I bought a ticket.

PROGRAM

John Rutter‘s The Wind in the Willow
Traditional English Folksongs
Triumphs of Oriana and Trionfo di Dori
Cole Porter Songs from The Great American Songbook

I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears during the night of the performance. They were SO good. I had never heard such a mix of voices like that. And how on earth could they sing like this without any instrumental accompaniment? (Yeah. That’s the first time I learned the word “Cappella”) What they created was more than just 6 voices together. So alive. So captivating. They were not doing this just as a job. They really enjoyed sharing the moment with the audience.

This performance review in the South China Morning Post (https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1519679/review-kings-singers) reminded me of the fantastic encore they did for the Hong Kong audience by singing Frances Yip’s Shanghai Beach in Cantonese!!! It was unbelievable!

//The World Came to Me (2)//

 

Immediately I froze when I noticed the cover of the oldest program booklet. The concert was French cellist Edgar Moreau playing Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 with Hong Kong Sinfonietta in April 2014.

 

PROGRAM

Stephen Yip  / Ink. Colour
Shostakovich / Cello Concerto No 1 in E-flat, Op 107
Prokofiev / Symphony No 7 in C-sharp minor, Op 131

Video of the event posted by Hong Kong Sinfonietta.

Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 meant a lot to me as it started my music journey. My cello teacher used to show me all sorts of music videos on his iPad, and then asked me about my thoughts. To be honest, he got so much fun out of this “game” that sometimes I felt like his lab rat! Anyway, one day some years ago as he was flipping through different videos on his iPad as usual, I stopped him. “Wait! Who is this guy?! He is so cool. His style is so much like mine!” I tried to note down the cellist’s name in my head. Then when I got home, I searched for his videos. And then I saw a video of him playing Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 (https://youtu.be/RKVU6TzM8gg). I couldn’t take my eyes off the video and I could feel my blood boiling in my veins.

I had never heard of a composer named Dmitri Shostakovich before. (Yeah, that tells you how little I knew about music back then and probably still now.) I spent many nights searching for videos of this concerto played by different cellists. And after watching countless of videos, I still thought this guy was the coolest.

Anyway, coming back to this concert booklet, I got very excited when I spotted a poster of this upcoming concert in the subway station. It would be the first time I watched a live performance of this concerto. I still remember Teacher teasing me, “You are going to this concert just to confirm this concerto is your destiny, aren’t you?” I enjoyed the concert very much that night. Since I have watched the video of this concerto so many times already, I could fully immerse in the piece as the young cellist was playing on stage. (A side note: In 2019, 5 years after this concert, I got to see this young cellist and the cool guy playing together at a music festival. Quite an interesting sight!)

During concerts I usually made notes either on a palm sized notepad or on a page of the program booklet. Afterwards, I would spend most of my next meeting with Teacher discussing these observations and questions I had. Often these questions were kind of dumb such as “Why is the Oboe being used to tune the orchestra?”, “How come they keep the lights on at one venue but off at another venue?”, “How come the cellists in the orchestra sit in the middle this time?”,etc.

And yes. This concert did confirm my belief at the time that Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 was my destiny. But more unexpectedly, the experience from that night opened the pandora box for me. “What else is out there?”