To celebrate the 50th birthday of the City Hall Concert Hall on March 2nd, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra chose a programme of short but diverse works with undulating emotional appeal. Star soloist for the evening was cellist Yo-Yo Ma, returning three and a half decades after his debut here.Under the baton of Lan Shui, the evening began with Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the Kronos Quartet’s ‘Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11’, the centrepiece of their week-long Barbican residency. Especially, I must confess, when I learned that the recital would feature a children’s choir. There was a chance, I thought, that this would be taking things slightly too far.
