Photos by Oliver Theil
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony opened their Asian tour in Macau on Wednesday, participating in the Macau International Music Festival. Tickets were sold out two months in advance.
On the next stop, in Hong Kong, they got a headscratcher of a review in the South China Morning Post:
The fundamental challenge of both Rachmaninov's Second Symphony and Mahler's Fifth Symphony is that they use too many notes to deliver their message, necessitating strategies to oil their clunky construction and make time glide by. Thursday's performance of the Rachmaninov work lacked such momentum, sounding altogether more played through than thought through.Tilson Thomas' account of Mahler's voluble five-movement symphony, however, was out of a different drawer. Between the work's serial climaxes lie lengthy, repetitive blocks that drag under most batons.
Apparently taking a leaf from the Emperor Joseph II complaint about Mozart's "too many notes" in The Marriage of Figaro, reviewer Sam Olluver still allowed that the Mahler was rather well managed, and then rhapsodized about the concerto [which, truth to tell, appears to have an even greater excess of notes than the two symphonies]:
Yuja Wang's performance of Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto was an absolute cracker. Her electrifying technique was put at the service of unusually rich characterisations, from the subtlest colours in the first movement's opening bars, for example, to its towering cadenza that brilliantly fused ferocity and clarity with other-worldliness.
Of the Friday concert in Hong Kong, Alan Yu reported in bachtrack.com:
The orchestra’s decision to include works by American composers who draw their inspiration from this part of the world is a masterstroke of cultural diplomacy. [Harrison's Pacifika Rondo: Family of the Court and Cowell's Music 1957 preceding Mahler's Symphony No. 5]The singular focus of Family of the Court is regality. The ponderous rhythm that underpins the weighty melody is characteristic of a royal procession, with a lone flute providing occasional relief from solemnity. Sometimes bordering on irreverence, Cowell’s Music 1957 surveys emotional expressions ranging from exuberant vivacity to demure introspection with the help of traditional Chinese motifs and pointed percussion. In both, the San Francisco Symphony excelled in bringing out the unique colour and timbre of the "Asian sound."
If it's Sunday (11/11), it must be Taiwan; here's a brief video report, by the orchestra's Yun Chu and Shu Yi Pai.
The orchestra arrived in Shanghai on Monday, and continues the tour with concerts on Wednesday and Thursday in the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center; Friday in Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts; next Monday in Tokyo's Suntory Hall, and Tuesday in Bunka Kaikan.