Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante

Fabio Biondi & Europa Galante
Vivaldi Sinfonia in C (from La Senna Festeggiante)
Purcell Suite in D Minor from Abdelazer, or che Moor's Revenge
Vivaldi Concerto for Violin and Strings in A Minor, RV357, La Stravaganza, Op. 4, No. 4
Vivaldi The Four Seasons

9th Nov 2008, HKCH

My first time going to a concert of period instruments is probably also my last time. Period.

Not that there is anything significantly wrong about the concert, it was just not my cup of tea. Performing 17th century music with 17th century instruments and technique sounds reasonable enough, but whether you would prefer ice cream made in the way 300 years ago to Hagen Daaz is another thing. To some it is authentic, pure, heavenly. To me it is dry, coarse, and scratchy. I guess I am just a modern man with a modest taste.

Granted, there are moments of remarkable music making. Such as the concerto from La Stravaganza, and part of the Summer and Autumn, where the fast passages with impressive unison ensemble sparkle. Yet, not infrequently the inaccuracy of tone and the harsh timbre of the period instruments prevented me from enjoying the music.

Apart from the instruments, the way they interpret The Seasons was also very much atypical, to say the least. Reduced ornaments, displaced accents, some strange sounding phrasing and the rather irritating pianissimo passage, where the scratchy sound of strings was louder than the music intended to come out from it. (In cantonese, the sound of slaughtering a chicken)

That said, it was nevertheless interesting to hear the Seasons live. Certainly an experience to have, hearing period instruments and music, not that I would pay for another try though.

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The time was early and my date was late,

why not have a walk? I'd say

I passed by a beggar, a couple and a group of maids,

begging, kissing, and dancing gay

the very same streets of the money slaves

and what a different place!

Leif Ove Andsnes recital

Leif Ove Andsnes
Schubert piano sonata D.958, Beethoven Moonlight sonata, Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
5th Nov 2008, HKCC concert Hall

You don't often get high quality piano recitals like this in HK.
Schubert sounds young and resolute, 4th movt especially exciting. Moonlight is perhapes a tinge too zealous to my liking, but nonetheless convincing.
And the Exhibition, Andsnes made an exhibition of short movies of the piano notes. SO very lively is his depiction of the pictures that for once the Pictures reveal themselves to my inner eyes. "Ballet of the uhatched chicks" nearly found me dancing, and "the Great gate of Kiev" threatens to shatter the Cultural center. Exhilarating.

Encores included 2 Debussy Preludes and a Scarlatti. One can sense Andsnes' upbeat mood despite the half-filled hall. If only he'd play some Janacek!

HK is a strange place. Lousy singers get a full house of fans, while a top notch musician faces a semi-empty hall. This was Andsnes debut in HK. Its good that he had come, its bad that it took a world renowned pianist like 10+ years to visit HK for the first time. New York and London, and even Tokyo and Taipei usually catch them much earlier. And the government claims "to build west kowloon so as to make HK the international hub of cultural activities..." Wake up folks, not in a hundred years.

The Book Thief

"Jesus, Mary, Joseph!"

I exclaimed after flipping over the last page of the book.

A book I first encountered in a book shop, attracted by the intriguing title.
A book I waited two long years before a 40% discount prompted me to snap it up.
A book I couldn't help but sneak to read when I should be studying bloody surgery.
A book that struck me dumbfound much like the first time I heard Mahler's 9th.
A book that so overwhelmed me that I literally shake like an epileptic.

A lively story told by Death himself, of an abandoned girl caringly raised by her foster parents, of a Jew-loving German, of a puppy love with the neighbouring boy, and the ending...the ending...utterly powerful..

Jesus, Mary, Joseph!

Band of Brothers

This series deserves an Oscar!

2nd world war lover must watch this, 10hrs of packed action, provocative thoughts, enlightening inspirations.

highlight: episode #9, with Beethoven string quartet op.132 as background music, the liberation of a concentration camp.

Sublime.