Review | Champion Hong Kong pianist Aristo Sham joins Rome-based orchestra in powerful concert

If you think that the tradition-steeped Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia – Rome has a voluminous name, you should hear the tutti forte and fortissimo sounds of the 117-year-old ensemble.

On November 20, the orchestra flaunted its full power at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre under its music director, Daniel Harding, in the first of two concerts that kicked off its Asian tour.

The ensemble impressed – most notably in Rachmaninov’s beloved Symphony No 2 in E minor after the break – filling the crevices of the cavernous Concert Hall with a lush, voluptuous sound profile with stellar crescendo and diminuendo swirls and swells.

Unfortunately, for all their towering lyricism and carefully constructed climaxes under Harding, some raggedness in picking up new, quicker tempi blemished the overall picture.

Despite the untidy spots, the symphony’s opening Largo was generous, expansive and milked to the fullest by the musicians.

Given its rich tapestry of tonal colour and dynamic contrasts, the ensuing Allegro moderato also proved fascinating as Harding lent it elements of operatic flair that brimmed with finely tapered nuance and dexterous tension and release.