Edo de Waart's Last Round : Das Lied von der Erde

Das Lied von der Erde



4th December 2009 8pm

Hong Kong Cultural Center Concert Hall

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor - Edo de Waart

Mezzo-soprano - Sasha Cooke

Tenor - Stephen Gould


Programme:

Osvaldo Golijov - Last Round

Gustav Mahler - The Song of the Earth


Not counting the gigantic Symphony No.8, Edo de Waart had finally finished his Mahler cycle earlier this month, ending his long-term dream project with the HKPO since his arrival here as their artistic director seven years ago. So, the concert started suitably, but not coincidentally, with a short piece called "Last Round" by the Argentinean contemporary composer Osvaldo Golijov for a small string orchestra, followed by Mahler's The Song of the Earth after the intermission.

"Last Round" is written as a highly-likable and easy-listening tango music, which is interesting even visually per se, since the orchestra was divided into two equal parts and seated as mirror-images on each side, with the double bass at the back in the center as the dividing junction. The piece started solely with 2 string quartets interacting and intervening with each other not unlike the tango dancers during the dance. However, the right sided quartet was not at all a good counterpart in terms of precision, dynamics and tone control all the way, and so the old saying of "it takes two to tango" unavoidably came to my mind. Things became better in the slower second movement with the whole string section joining in, and the attractive jazzy tango theme played lazily and leisurely. Unfortunately after the Kremerata Baltica's marvelous tango music showcased a week before, I found both de Waart's handling and orchestra's playing somehow boring and not capturing the spirit or even in the right mood at all.

But who cared about that? Many people like me were paying to see Das Lied von der Erde only, right? And "Last Round" was just a considerate gesture by HKPO to wait for the last round of latecomers, perhaps. So, with no further delay, we were treated with a well polished and fully prepared playing there. The orchestra played better and better progressively, especially during the slow movements, after a fairly unfocused start in the first movement. The woodwind family was the main attraction and noticeable hero there, since they played enchantingly and movingly, particularly in giving the appropriate Autumn atmosphere in the Der Einsame in Herbst.

Then in Von der Jugend, though the orchestra sounded a bit too heavy and rushed, Mr. Gould's voice was nevertheless expressive and penetrative, regaining its power after the somehow straining and struggling in the opening movement. Regardless of the sometimes too harsh and too intense Strings, Ms Cooke was at her best in the following movement Von der Schönheit, where she demonstrated vividly her absolute control of her lucid voice in terms of dynamic changes, phrasings and tone colour, giving us a truly beautiful and memorable brief movement. Then Der Trunkene im Frühling was a slight disappointment due to the overall suboptimal execution by the orchestra, while the final lengthy movement was played very satisfactorily but with the sense of longing and yearning missing. I've always expected a more emotional "ewig" instead of this sort of bidding farewell with sheer calm acceptance.

I know it's just a matter of point of view or way of interpretation. Edo de Waart, just as we all know and should expect from, like his reading of Mahler's ninth symphony last season, gave us this Das Lied in a very clean, even straight-forward and plain-spoken way. His Mahler may sound too cold, too calm and too peaceful without a hint of conflict, despair and self-rationalisation. I personally can't find this approach convincing for the final works of Mahler (post-Synphony no.8 to be exact), including this Song of the Earth particularly. I simply felt something's gone missing after the concert...................