Review | Beethoven on period instruments a mixed success in cavernous Hong Kong concert hall; Chinese pianist Yuan Sheng impresses on a 19th century grand

The size of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall challenged the Insula orchestra in an all-Beethoven programme for the Hong Kong Arts Festival

The sounds of bass instruments didn’t carry enough and the icy violin timbre didn’t always work; but Yuan Sheng, on a 19th century piano, excelled in two works

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The Insula period instrument orchestra and Accentus choir, their conductor, Laurence Equilbey, and pianist Yuan Sheng receive the applause of the audience at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall following their performance of Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy” on February 25. Photo: courtesy of the HK Arts Festival

Published: 5:45pm, 27 Feb 2023

Can a historically informed performance of music written 200 years ago deliver an entirely authentic sound experience given the absence of recordings? Obviously not.

Then again, historical replication is not the only name of the game.

As conductor Laurence Equilbey pointed out in the programme notes for the all-Beethoven concert performed in Hong Kong on February 25 by the period instrument orchestra Insula, the Accentus choir and piano soloist Yuan Sheng, “learning where the expression and contrast lives in the music” is what counts.

The performance, part of this year’s Hong Kong Arts Festival, offered ample opportunity to contemplate the “new” sounds of old instruments.

The Insula orchestra, seen here with the Accentus choir and pianist Yuan Sheng, had mixed success performing on period instruments in such a cavernous space as the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Photo: courtesy of the HK Arts Festival

The comprehensive programme included an overture, a symphony and solo piano variations, and culminated with the whole kit and caboodle of orchestra, piano, choir and soloists in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.