KVT’s musings on Music

Praise and Lamentations

The 2009 European Music Festival in Hanoi has come and gone and this opinionated music lover didn’t see or hear any of them… hence the lamentations… but I’m full of praise for the Vietnamese theatregoers who rush the barricades whenever free stuff is advertised and grab the tickets. We got to Goethe about an hour after the advertised ticket give away time and had no luck… and the same result at L’Espace a bit later.

And of course that’s what the project, and all similar ones throughout the year are all about… providing local Vietnamese, and especially the young, with the opportunities to access world class culture from a globalized planet.

So, all of you lovely European agencies that provided a feast of music you have to feel that you have been more than successful… and may the barricades continue to be rushed.

I’ll just have to pay a student to get there early and grab a free ticket or two for me… it will be worth it.

Winds of Wonder at L’Espace

L’Espace is a wonderful auditorium for chamber music. The acoustics must be the best in Hanoi.

When the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra plays its Cycle Classique there it’s advisable to rush for tickets because invariably the music is top quality and, thanks to the sponsors, tickets are only 50,000 a pop.

This week guest Japanese conductor Hirota Tomoyuki had the two ensembles in the palms of his very enthusiastic hands.

The Nonette for winds and strings by the “forgotten master” Lois Spohr was first up and the four movements were a delight to listen to. The VNSO string section soloists are always top class and the violin, cello, viola and double bass were beautifully played. The winds breathed magic through the opus.

In the recent past I’ve been a teeny bit tentative about the performance of the winds and brass in the orchestra and as the wind ensemble was playing Mozart’s famous Serenade in B major for 12 winds and one double bass I was on the edge of my seat at first, but I needn’t have worried. I was soon relaxed and smiling. By the third movement, the adagio, which is so well known thanks to the movie Amadeus, I was totally involved and stayed thus through the remaining four movements. The non-stop applause was well deserved.

Congratulations to all players and I’m really looking forward to seeing you again with the full orchestra on the 18 or 19 for your Jazz Christmas at the Opera House… I can hardly wait for An American in Paris and may your Rhapsody in Blue be as rhapsodical as your playing of Mozart’s Gran Partita.