Edo de Waart--Bruckner 7th

HKPO, Edo de Waart plays Schubert no.5 and Bruckner no.7
21 Sep 2008, HKCC

HKPO begins a new season with a series of big symphonic works, thoughtfully featuring Mahler, his mentor Bruckner, and Bruckner's idol Wagner. One wrote the symphony orchestrated for the biggest orchestra (mahler 8), the other wrote the longest ever opera (ring of the nibelungs), and Bruckner happens to be my recent favourite composers.Schubert 5, a lively, light-hearted work that brings you into 18th century bourgeois Vienna. Generally well-played, yet at times sounded too controlled, lacking the natural flow that lies benneath Schubert's melodies. Everyone seems to be performing their duty, making the right sound at the right moment, without making enough music.Bruckner 7, the orchestra doubled to a full size band with extra brass players for the additional horns and wager tubas. Acoustically the sound was huge enough quantitatively, brass section especially having the much needed impact and brightness. Yet it often overshadowed the strings in the climaxes (HKCC acoustics has always been less than ideal), and thus sounded rather incoherent with the rest of the orchestra, with not infrequent misses in various entry points. 1st movt was unimpressive, the team were too self-conscious at times and simply did not build the orchestral cathedral the way Bruckner intended. From 2nd movt onwards, de Waart managed to unfold the Bruckner sound world layer by layer, and alas, i finally feel the long awaited moment of yearning in this movt written for Wagner's death. The exciting Scherzo is the best played, though a bit more punch would be appreciated. The momentum sustained to the grand Finale, ending the night with a gorgeous wave of symphonic power.All in all, a 70 marks performance.the good thing is, HKPO is playing a broader repertoire year by year, and attracting more world-class musicians, the bad thing is, my yearly concert expense therefore increases.the good thing is, HKPO done a respectable job in bigger symphonic works such as Bruckner's symphonies,the bad thing is, after attending a live concert with Berliner Phil and Abbado just 3 months ago, one just can't help wanting more from HKPO.