HK Phil open 2025/26 season in style under guest conductor Daniel Harding

Orchestras, like all companies, never count on instant results from leadership changes. The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra know that full well, and given that their new music director, Tarmo Peltokoski, has had little podium time so far, just when and how the young Finn puts his musical stamp on things is anyone’s guess. In the meantime, though, the orchestra, in tip-top form and on the heels of a highly successful European tour with Jaap van Zweden, kicked off their 52nd season in style with acclaimed British conductor – and pilot – Daniel Harding. The season opener included Haydn (hoorah, at last!), a Mozart piano concerto and Richard Strauss’ epic tone poem Don Quixote. It also featured celebrated British pianist Paul Lewis and two of HK Phil’s own principals as soloists. That Haydn symphonies are like hens’ teeth on HK Phil programmes these days is baffling, especially considering that many of his 107 or so are bursting with humour, wit and creative invention. Although humour is well off the menu in his Symphony No. 49 in F minor, to finally hear one of the Austrian’s quintessential “Storm and Stress” works at the HK Phil was a welcome treat. Its nickname “La passione” has hazy origins at best. Still, the sentiments of this homotonal music (almost exclusively in F minor) were crystal clear on the evening of September 18 as Harding and the HK Phil fuelled it with relentless energy and, by turns, doses of sombreness. In the darkly hued Adagio that began – in itself a radical detour from classical symphonic tradition – dissonances were milked and well sustained by the strings. Although a less-is-more approach is hardly fitting in this music, Harding could well have insisted on exaggerated dynamic contrasts to enhance the overwhelming bleakness. With drama aplenty, however, in both quick movements (an Allegro di molto and a Presto finale), things were packed with an edgy rhythmic drive. In the minuet and trio movement, where Harding took both parts at the same tempo, the F major trio, the symphony’s only glimpse of brightness in a generally pessimistic scene, was lent lilts that both charmed and comforted. Sadly for this reviewer, who was seated to the right of the stalls, an odd acoustic anomaly put a damper (literally) on Paul Lewis’ finely nuanced performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 that followed. Where bright, ceremonial C major colours from the orchestra projected clearly and were well balanced with the second violins right of stage, much of Lewis’ fine articulation came across as distant and muffled from behind the Steinway in the Allegro. That aside, Lewis, a pianist well known here in Hong Kong and who gave deeply moving performances of Schubert’s late sonatas recently, captivated with his reflective and poised playing in Mozart’s Adagio as the melodic lines by the HK Phil wind players were lovingly caressed. As difficult as it was to ignore the curious, muted nature of the piano’s registers in that spot, the Allegretto finale was joyful nonetheless, teasing brilliantly along the way, serving to underscore Mozart’s abounding creativity in his late concertos. Exquisite orchestral colours followed the interval, with the roles of the mad protagonist Don Quixote and his companion Sancho Panza both fully relished by HK Phil’s principal cellist Richard Bamping and violist Andrew Ling in Richard Strauss’ complex and vivid tone poem Don Quixote. Winds began playfully, Michael Wilson’s oboe solo seduced in a depiction of Quixote’s ideal woman, and Ling introduced squire Sancho’s chatter with busy and crisply articulated viola playing. A portrayal of flocks of sheep bleating frenetically was vivid and en pointe from the muted brass and wind instruments, while concertmaster Jing Wang’s solo interjections sparkled with accuracy and string cascades from the tutti violin sections impressed in their unity. Bamping, telling of Quixote’s bygone stories, extracted a wealth of rich, colourful sounds from his cello, depicting Don the dreaming knight with vulnerability and sensibility. Being the consummate pilot that he is, Harding aptly navigated the course of Strauss’ tone poem with expertise, directing its ebb and flow and luscious swells in the score with aplomb. The timpani rolls and the wind machine in Variation 7 were brilliantly atmospheric, making for an ideal picture of “delusional Don” riding a horse at top speed when in fact he was simply sitting on a bench surrounded by pumping bellows. Quixote, finally coming to his senses, saw Bamping drawing heartfelt strains of remorse from his cello, ultimately signalling the knight’s peaceful death. Whatever changes are in store, the Hong Kong Philharmonic continue to flourish – both at home and on tour – and clearly reap the rewards from distinguished guest conductors such as Daniel Harding along the way. Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Season Opening: Daniel Harding & Paul Lewis, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Reviewed: September 18.

HK Phil open 2025/26 season in style under guest conductor Daniel Harding

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}British conductor Harding expertly navigated Mozart, Strauss and Haydn pieces in the Phil’s season opener featuring guest pianist Paul Lewis

British conductor Harding expertly navigated Mozart, Strauss and Haydn pieces in the Phil’s season opener featuring guest pianist Paul Lewis