The Hong Kong Sinfonietta was not playing it safe when it commissioned Alice Yeung’s double concerto for chromatic harmonica and jazz piano – a combination that may be a world first.
Performed by the orchestra’s two new artist associates, the multi-genre mavericks Daniel Chu and CY Leo (real name Ho Cheuk-yin), Time (in-)Linear’s June 27 premiere was the highlight of an evening that also included traditional symphonies by Haydn and Beethoven, and was governed by the ethos of “surprises”, according to music director Christoph Poppen during his introductory remarks.
From Haydn’s signature musical pranks to the megaphone-wielding conductor shouting German time stamps, the concert certainly kept the audience guessing.
Time and its manipulation were the programme’s through lines. Haydn’s Symphony No 64, subtitled “Tempora Mutantur” (which translates as “Times Change”), was a fitting aperitif, and not just in title.
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