Review | Elim Chan like a magician in brilliant Prokofiev Symphony No 5 with the HK Phil
Chan shapes a mesmerising rendition of symphony after teaming with violinist James Ehnes in a refined performance of Tchaikovsky concerto
Musically speaking, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s latest Swire Maestro Series concert was a case of light emerging victorious from the ashes.
The world premiere of Angus Lee’s … aux cendres, which means “from the ashes”, made for a somewhat eerie and desolate opening to a concert billed for the participation of conductor Elim Chan and violinist James Ehnes, but it also offered a soundscape full of textural interest.
Lee, a Hong Kong composer and flautist commissioned by the Hong Kong Phil to write the work under The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Composers Scheme, explained in the house programme that … aux cendres portrays a non-specific “event” and concludes a diptych that began with his earlier Des flammes …
It is a work “born of the flames of our times”, he wrote, and the music’s unresolved tensions evoked the unrest and upheaval in today’s world.
Chan, seemingly at one with the work, showed uncanny fluidity in her direction as the orchestra players embellished the score with brassy snarls, trombone slides, string glissandi and whistling harmonics.
