Review: Images of Hong Kong

This 80-minute collage of works by five young Hong Kong composers - Choi Sai-ho, Lam Lan-chee, Galison Lau, Joyce Tang and Ian Ng - was commissioned and produced by the Hong Kong Arts Festival. At its core was the poetry of Leung Ping-kwan, who died last year.

He wrote under the pen name Ya Si and left a cache of poems housing his considerable passion for Hong Kong. The composers' brief was to embrace the poet's detailed memories of the city by wrapping them variously in acoustic sound, electronica and video projections. Some chose the sentiments of a single poem for their new works; others chose up to five.

The overall impression was that of a confusion of clear ideas, compounded for non-Chinese speakers by the absence of English translations whenever projected or spoken words were used.

Video images appeared sporadically throughout the programme but were used consistently in all three works by Choi. In , the scenes were poignantly devoid of people but ill-served by the music's minimalist electronic hook. His was a more convincing marriage between the fast-forward action of trams ploughing across the island and its simple, inventive and well-synchronised accompaniment.

Ng's for piano solo (Melody Chung) was the most successful piece of the evening, begging to be heard again, not least for its attractive contrapuntal features; but the simultaneous projection of water, rock and two graphic characters reminiscent of Gilbert and George in bowler hats seemed incongruous.