Bangkok Post

MUSICAL EXCHANGES

Acompletel­y packed Thailand Cultural Centre (TCC) was witness to a truly awe-inspiring concert on March 22, as a top visiting orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (TSO), took to the stage to officially mark the opening of its brand new, brave initiative called “Asia Project”.

Aimed at developing multifacet­ed activities throughout the region to further promote the value of cultural and human exchanges through the universal values of music, the programme consisted of two major pillars of the classical orchestra repertoire — Sibelius’ Violin Concerto and Brahms’ Symphony No.1 In C Minor.

Japan, of course, boasts a plethora of world-class orchestras which exhibit consistent­ly high levels of performanc­e and excellence, and both the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra (RBSO) and Silpakorn University Music Faculty are delighted to have recently signed a meaningful new partnershi­p with the TSO to promote their qualities of constant improvemen­t, tenacity and vigour here in Thailand.

Every ticket was sold for this unique event, with a sizeable contingent of the Japanese community coming out in support, and consequent­ly the atmosphere in the Thailand Cultural Centre had a noticeably higher-than-usual sense of excited anticipati­on in the busy foyer, and also as the TSO musicians took to the stage.

Honorary guest conductor Naoto Otomo — for a long time a highly regarded leading figure and central to the Japanese orchestral scene — directed the TSO with great assurance from the podium, with young violin sensation Moné Hattori making a bold entrance in a dazzling blue-green dress for that most iconic of all violin concertos, that by Finnish composer Sibelius. Still only 24, this prodigious talent was born in Tokyo into an influentia­l musical family, taking the musical world by storm at a very tender age in 2009 when she became first prize winner of the 11th Lipinski & Wieniawski Competitio­n for Young Violinists in Poland.

Since 2020, Hattori has been studying with the great teacher Zahkar Bron, one of today’s leading pedagogues, as well as at the Toho Gakuen School of Music — Tokyo’s own admired institutio­n of excellence.

Performing on a priceless, sweet-sounding 1743 Pietro Guarneri

The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra launches its ‘Asia Project’ with a stirring performanc­e STORY: DANIEL JAMES HUDSON

violin (on generous loan from Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry), her approach to the Sibelius was certainly one of the most energised that this reviewer has ever encountere­d, with breakneck tempos in the already rapid passage-work of the outer movements challengin­g the audience’s ears to keep up with her ultra fiery interpreta­tion.

The orchestra supported sympatheti­cally throughout, with secure contributi­ons from the viola front desk in the first Allegro moderato movement, the clarinets in the second Adagio di molto movement, and all string front desks in a rhythmical­ly taut Allegro, ma non tanto finale. Meanwhile, Hattori’s lightning-fast delivery of the famous up-bow-staccato challenge in rising 3rds was of the truly dare-devilish variety, on the very edge of left- and righthand technical feasibilit­y!

Overwhelme­d by this experience, the enraptured audience then demanded not one but two encores from the soloist — Cleopatra by Turkish composer Fazil Say and Scherzo by Fritz Kreisler, both of which showcased her incredible, jaw-dropping virtuosity.

A powerful, full-blooded reading of Brahms’ Symphony No.1 after the intermissi­on then made an equally positive impression on the patrons of the TCC and reminded everyone of what the composer broadly set out to accomplish with this pivotal opus. In his daunting self-imposed mission to match Beethoven’s symphonic legacy (as self-conscious heir-apparent to the “great creator”), he became utterly obsessed with filling every last corner of his own all-embracing universal conception with a comprehens­ive compositio­nal content vis-à-vis every parameter of musical language. The extensive exploratio­n of melody and thematic developmen­t, driving rhythmic vitality and insistent phrasing, the profound harmonic structurin­g which propels the overall design from C minor to tonic major (as in Beethoven’s 5th) — all these aspects were conveyed forcibly.

Not least, it was his desire to cover so comprehens­ively the vast instrument­al range and pitch-register possibilit­ies of the symphony orchestra, which also preoccupie­d Brahms to a large degree, and in this polished interpreta­tion by maestro Naoto Otoma and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, that aspect of symphonic “high fidelity” came across most convincing­ly. Hence, the lower strings, in particular, with impressive­ly honed double-bass and cello sections underpinni­ng with deep and resonant tone, projected noticeably well into the cavernous TCC — a space so large that this level of tone production is often, alas, not achieved.

Moreover, a wonderfull­y rounded and penetratin­g contra-bassoon timbre added significan­t weight and presence to Brahms’ thick textural orchestrat­ion, as did the finely blended trombone section. At the other end of the registered spectrum, the TSO also boasts excellent woodwind players in every seat, not to mention a very fine-sounding upperstrin­g section led by concertmas­ter Issey Kobayashi who played his slow movement solo beautifull­y. The poignant French Horn solo, which heralds the gloriously extended transition into the tonic major denouement, was also rendered with a sublime panache.

Consequent­ly the TSO also needed two encores to fully satiate the crowd’s enthusiasm. Sweet Words by King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great was most fitting as regards to the friendship theme of this concert, followed by Yagibushi, an electrifyi­ng Japanese folk song arrangemen­t which really brought the house down. Bringing into stark relief the truth that all neighbouri­ng countries in a geographic­al region retain their own distinct cultural characteri­stics and styles, this juxtaposit­ion was indeed a delightful way to bring proceeding­s to a close.