Review | Sibelius concerto tests violinist, Goehr’s Confucius confuses us despite conviction of Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s playing

Ably supported by the in-form Sinfonietta under Catherine Larsen-Maguire’s baton, violinist Liya Petrova gave a largely controlled reading of Sibelius concerto

Alexander Goehr’s The Master Said, with readings from Confucius, was well performed in its Asian premiere, but the mood of the music doesn’t fit the words

Reading Time:3 minutes

Soloist Liya Petrova performs the Violin Concerto in D minor by Sibelius with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta at the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall. The orchestra, under the baton of Catherine Larsen-Maguire, also gave the Asian premieres of two works by British composers. Photo: HK Sinfonietta Ltd

Published: 11:15am, 4 Jun 2024

When asked by his disciple Ji Lu about serving the spirits of the dead, Confucius said, “While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?”

For his 2016 work The Master Said, for narrator and chamber orchestra, British composer Alexander Goehr chose this and six other sayings of the Chinese philosopher from James Legge’s English translation of the Analects to be read in between sections of music; the work comprises seven adagios and a final allegro, and is reminiscent of Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross.

For Saturday’s Asian premiere, given by the Hong Kong Sinfonietta under guest conductor Catherine Larsen-Maguire, Hong Kong musical theatre and film composer Leon Ko joined them on stage to read the original Chinese sayings in Cantonese.

Ko’s readings were eloquent and emphatic and the Sinfonietta’s playing of the tricky score under Larsen-Maguire impressive; she also conducted the work’s world premiere with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 2021.

However, the lack of cohesion between text and music, which never seemed to correspond in imagery, was frustrating.

Catherine Larsen-Maguire conducts the Hong Kong Sinfonietta in the Asian premiere of The Master Said by Alexander Goehr, with Leon Ko narrating excerpts from the Analects of Confucius. Photo: HK Sinfonietta Ltd

That said, Goehr’s scores are never dull. The Messiaen-like birdsong interactions and chirping between the solo violin, cello, and oboe stood out, as did the almost rude piano and brass jabs and the clucking woodwind sounds in the final allegro (a response to Confucius’ statement about death); all were played with conviction.