Hong Kong Music for Our Youth Concert

"Providence: A Silver Lining". Well, I guess I found my silver lining after spending 3 hours at the JC auditorium watching performances by our own String Orchestra, Belllilios Public School Symphony and Beijing Military Music and Arts Academy.

Antonio Vivaldi - RV 315, The Four Seasons: Summer

The description that was provided was that this piece "mirrored the serenity of the summer heat and the slow tempo of life that results from it". However, the summer is not all still, with the piece presenting "long difficult breaths....imitations of specific birds: the cuckoo, the turtledove and the finch". Eventually, a sense of restlessness emerges as the orchestra depicts an image of a man trying to find rest in the blistering heat through strained, repeated notes and raging music. The piece ends on a wild and heavy note, leaving one "astounded at the speed it was played".

Personally, though I found the piece an entertaining one, the image in my head was not that of a raging summer day. Perhaps I didn't catch the imitations of the birds of summer, or perhaps I'm not imaginative enough, but the image that I got was that of a large ocean. From the serenity of the waves gently lapping against the shore, to the churning and frothing waves and raging winds of a storm, and finally ending with what felt like a large tsunami. However, I still sensed the seething energy in this piece, and I think that was what made the first piece succeed.

Gioacchino Rossini, Overture to La gazza ladra ("The Thieving Magpie")

After reading the introduction to this piece, I was a little surprised to realise that this was merely an overture to a long story. But who cares about what part of the story plot it was when one is simply blown away by the grandiosity of the music. It begins with a drum solo that fortells a military march, and with the tempo sustained throughout the whole piece, it ends with an "orchestral crescendo" that was beautifully done and left us all spellbound. Though I didn't really pay much attention to the imagery shown by this piece, I think that the majesty of it all was what made this second piece succeed.

Chen Gang & He Zhanhao, The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto

Just a short introduction on this brilliantly-played piece. It is an orchestral adaptation of the Chinese equivalent of Romeo and Juliet. In the story, Zhu Yingtai disguises herself as a man and attends school, where she meets Liang Shanbo and falls in love with him. After they graduate three years later, Zhu Yingtai invites Liang Shanbo home, where Liang Shanbo then realises that Zhu Yingtai is a female and falls in love with her. However, their love is thwarted by the fact that Zhu Yingtai has been betrothed to another and Liang Shanbo cannot do anything about it. As Liang Shanbo falls sick and dies due to his lost love, Zhu Yingtai, pining for her loved one at the funeral, jumps into the chasm of Liang Shanbo's death. This causes the two lovers to be magically transformed into butterflies.

The playing of this piece by the Orchestra was simply stunning.

Though it was a violin concerto, the voice of Zhu Yingtai in the orchestra was replaced by an erhu played by one of the most prominent erhu players in the world, Ms Shao Lin. Though the front part describing Zhu Yingtai's journey to school and at school was not highly significant, the love duet between the two of them was just simply magnificent. The erhu gave flesh and blood to the beauty of the love, and the cello that was Liang Shanbo's voice complimented the erhu perfectly. It was as per the story, with a rich, graceful young lady and a poor, intelligent young man. There was a palpable sense of love and peace, and had I been an emotional person, I would most likely have teared.

It was an exciting build up to the climax of the piece starting from the love duet. The cellos angrily moaned like how Liang Shanbo was angry at Zhu Yingtai for being betrothed to a rich man, and at Fate for making him a poor man. Eventually, however, as the orchestra mournfully played, we felt the cello and the erhu become softer and softer, and as the erhu continued playing, the cello silently faded out. Then, as the orchestra played on, the erhu's voice was soft and it eventually became louder and louder, with the orchestra diminishing into silence as the erhu seemed to scream in pain and sorrow. The erhu then crescendoed into a higher pitch before climaxing and creating a nearly tangible tension with a long, high-pitched note. The orchestra then comes back in with a triumphant finish as the lovers are reunited in love and death.

One could feel a deep sense of emotional satisfaction throughout the whole concerto, as my heart rose and fell together with the ups and downs of the couple's love. Undoubtedly, this was one of the best pieces in the concert. In fact, Ms Shao Lin, conductor Dr. Yip Wai-Hong, and the orchestra itself received an ovation for 3 minutes and performed a short section from the orchestra as their encore.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Symphony No.5 in E Minor Op. 64

This piece was played after a short interlude of 15 minutes, most likely to give the members of the orchestra some rest before they commenced on this opera. And this rest proved to be necessary, for the opera was a long 45 minutes with four unique movements.

It might have been due to the late hour or maybe also the concentration I had used for the past 1 and a half hours, but I soon lost focus in the whole symphony, and instead started wondering about my Secondary 2 life. As the music played on, I was mainly lost in my thoughts regarding future plans of all my commitments, and also how I would manage my time. After a long thought process, I emerged slightly refreshed to enjoy the triumphant closing chords of the symphony.

Afterwards, when I read the description, I realised that this whole piece had the theme of Fate and Life. Coincidence? I prefer to think of it as this piece being very successful in provoking one to think about Fate and Providence while listening to this music.

Climax

Following the symphony, the emcee thanked the orchestra for their piece, and just as he said "Due to time constraints", the conductor of Tchaikovsky's symphony, Dr. Gordon Siu, founder of HKMOY, interrupted in Cantonese, "Wait for a while!" Then, he passed the conductor's baton over firstly to a girl from Belilios whom I think was the leader of the orchestra, and conducted a nice and short little piece. Following which, she passed the baton over to another girl from the Beijing Military school, who conducted a stirring little melody.

Clueless about what these melodies were, I watched as the baton was passed over to whom I think was the leader of our own String Orchestra. It was only when the introduction to the school song was played did I then realise that I had been listening to the other schools' school songs, and I stood to attention and sung my school song.

Personally, I found the take on the school song quite lifting. Not exactly stirring like China's national anthem, but it gave a light and lyrical touch to the school song. However, what made me even more pleasantly surprised is that despite the cavernous auditorium and the loud orchestra, one could still hear the lyrics of the school song being sung. I think that gave even more meaning to the whole night's performance. What made it even more meaningful was the fact that we managed to raise $80 000 for the needy pupils of our school. Though the remaining presentation of souvenirs was a little draggy (a necessary formality of gratitude after all), what remains most clearly in my mind is the great music, the great imagery, and all in all, a great sense of pride.