High Life

HIGH LIFE 27 On the fabled “signature sound” of theRoyal ConcertgebouwOrchestra, Vienna Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic, indeed the top three orchestras at present, all of which he has conducted, Van Zweden offers a succinct and ingenious description. “Ever so delicate and refined, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is reminiscentofwatercoloronpaper,” he says. “At the other end of the spectrum, the Berlin Philharmonic is profound and structured, akin to oil on canvas. The Vienna Philharmonic, meanwhile, sits somewhere in between.” “Developing an orchestra is like seafaring – upon reaching the intended destination, one realizes that there are uncharted waters on the horizon waiting to be explored.” Jaap van Zweden “I try to instill in the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra both styles,” Van Zweden elaborates, “so that when necessary or requested, it can perform at ease, since music-making requires different styles and techniques.” He opines that, stylistically and sound-wise, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra ismuch closer to the Berlin Philharmonic than it is to the Royal ConcertgebouwOrchestra. “This is intentional and alsowhere my heart is closest to,” he says. “We invested in and acquired this ‘signature sound’ bystagingthecomplete DerRing desNibelungen byRichardWagnerover a four-year period.” Celebrating its 45th anniversary in the 2018/19 concert season, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra has announced a particularly festive program, which will see former Music Director David Atherton and former Artistic Director Edo de Waart return, punctuated by a star-studded list of world-class soloists including Joshua Bell, Khatia Buniatishvili, Augustin Hadelich, Leila Josefowicz, Evgeny KissinandRachel Cheung, HongKong’s burgeoning pianistic talent. Equally noteworthy are the regional premiere of John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 and the world premiere of a commissioned piece by Hong Kong composerWong Chun-wai.