The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra saw in the Year of the Wood Snake in grand style at Hamer Hall, with a diverse programme showcasing works of western and eastern classical canon.
The Chinese New Year concert on Saturday saw special guest appearances from conductor Lü Jia; concert pianist Haochen Zhang; and virtuoso of the stringed Chinese Pipa, Zhang Hongyang. Ahead of the evening’s onstage performance, attendees were greeted at the entrance by traditional Chinese dragon dancing and drumming, leading into the doorway decorated by red paper lanterns and gold ribbon.
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Before welcoming conductor Jia onto the stage, the audience was met with an introduction from outgoing MSO Chairman David Li AM, wishing to “bring people together through the universal language of music” ahead of his retirement.
The opening work of the night, Zhou Tian’s Gift, presented a heroic plume of thunderous brass, threaded with exuberant twirling lines for flute. Written to celebrate the composer’s residency with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra after 18 years abroad, it served within its bright, brief duration an ode to the gift of making music – replete with glossy textures of trumpet and hard percussive accents.
Perhaps the star of the night was Haochen Zhang, whose performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 was both brutal and beguiling in its technical precision and immense speed.
Extracting a remarkable range of character and ferocity from the Steinway grand, Zhang balanced blistering speed with impeccable gentility of motion, able to draw from the piece incredible swathes of grace and elegance.
A success in balance, also, was the work of Jia here in not only keeping the rest of the orchestra in-line with Zhang’s phenomenal pace, but also highlighting those passages of the concerto where the winds and strings have their moments to really sing.
The final soloist of the evening was Hongyang, enchanting the audience with her immensely characterful performance on the stringed Pipa. In many ways echoing the precision and swiftness of Zhang’s performance on the keyboard, Hongyang instead gave a much more playful musical showcase, with joyful, energetic tremors atop the tight elastic cluster of strings.
With a rousing interpretation of Strauss’s Fledermaus Overture, opting to notably heighten the tempo of the strings sections, Jia gave much to enjoy with the full range of the MSO’s expertise and verve.
As a celebration of the Year of the Snake, and its promises of wisdom, longevity, and renewal, Hamer Hall’s Chinese New Year concert surely laid strong foundations to the months ahead.
Find out more information about the MSO’s upcoming performances here.
