Friday, October 5, 2007

Happy birthday, Yip Wing-sie! :)



Towards the end of the HK Sinfonietta's Birthday Rhapsody concert earlier this evening, the orchestra's Conductor and Music Director, Yip Wing-sie, told the audience that like many of us, she doesn't like working on her birthday and joked that when she found out that she had to work on October 5, her birthday, this year, she said that she would only do so if the orchestra got to include a birthday-related piece in the programme.

Well, she got her wish -- and the HK Sinfonietta's spirited rendition of composer Peter Heidrich's fun Happy Birthday Variations turned out to be one of the highlights of the musical evening. At the same time, what really made the concert for me was a performance of Sergei Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Opus 43, with the nimble-fingered Cristina Ortiz on the piano. In particular, that portion of the piece that this movie buff first got acquainted with by way of Somewhere in Time sounded truly sublime when heard being played live by the concert's musicians.

So here's taking the opportunity to express my gratitude on this blog to them for their music making and -- even though she'll probably never come across it over here in this modest section of cyberspace -- extend happy birthday greetings to Ms. Yip! :)

7 comments:

A. said...

It wasn't until I read this post that it dawned on me that you very rarely see women conductors. I wonder why, because there doesn't seem to be any physical reason.

Anonymous said...

Crikey, "Somewhere in Time"? That was a good one, the technicalities (?) of the time travel aspect might have been a bit on the fuzzy side, but that's totally missing the point, no wonder it amassed something of a cult following in later years :).

Now, nothing beats being in an audience for an actual performance, most certainly, glad it was enjoyable, but ahh, Rachmaninov... Haven't many of us heard that slow movement from his Second Piano Concerto tinkling away as Muzak of some sort, even if we were not aware of it at the time (as I was, for many a year)? It has more to do with the Photo Shop, in spirit, but one gem I came across in Hong Kong (not specific though, it just turned out that way) was a recording of the man himself playing some of his compositions... Forget about sound quality, some are from somewhere around 1929 :), but the existence thereof has something irreplaceable in a similar way to the photos to be found there ;).

- NK

YTSL said...

Hi a. --

It's interesting you made that comment about women conductors being rare as here in Hong Kong, I've gotten used to seeing Yip Wing-sie with baton in hand. But just yesterday, I read the following piece in the Guardian about four rising stars of classical music and the choice of conductor was a Chinese female:-
http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/tomservice/story/0,,2183658,00.html

A choice section from that piece: "...it reveals just how patriarchal conducting is as a profession, especially in the US and Germany, that it's still unusual to see a woman on the podium. Zhang, who comes from a female conducting lineage in China - both her teacher and her teacher's teacher were women - is defiant."

Interesting isn't it, especially with so much coverage in the Western media about China being a (more) patriachal (than the West) society?

Hi NK --

I'm not so sure that I'd like "Somewhere in Time" so much if I were to watch it for the first time now (that I feel rather allergic to time-travel themed movies). But back when I watched it, it really came across as cooly atmospheric.

At the same time (pun intended!), agree with you that nothing beats being in an audience for an actual performance... and that Rachmaninov piece most definitely didn't sound like muzak to my ears last night! ;b

Anonymous said...

Something makes me suspect that you weren't enamoured of "Il Mare" and "The Lake House" all that much ;). And it feels quite serendipitous, but "Secret", which by chance (and before I read this) I finished an hour or so ago, is almost like a more down to earth remake thereof, was Jay Chou impressed by it somewhere down the line? Don't get me wrong, I still liked it... :).

And, really, why not? It's even been on the silver screen already, for example ;), even within my limited knowledge. My own tiny hands were hardly much help when trying to play some sort of musical instrument either, I'd know that feeling, if at a much less elevated level ;).

- NK

YTSL said...

Hi again NK --

Right you were re "Il Mare". And probably would have felt that way re "The Lake House" if I had cared to check it out. And unlike the case for you, "Secret" ultimately wasn't to my liking either!

Apropros of that last film: Am finding with a few films that I like their music more than their story along with the overall work!!! ;(

Anonymous said...

Ohhh, I think I understand why you didn't like (or wouldn't like) those movies now. 'Nuff said.

I wouldn't doubt that it didn't sound like muzak in the right hands, of course -- among recorded stuff (alas I've never gotten around to hearing them live), and it is all so 20th century on top of being oh so conventional and predictable, but still, I did feel that Vladimir Ashkenazy was quite reliable in this area, and Martha Argerich too :).

- NK

YTSL said...

Hi again NK --

'Ohhh, I think I understand why you didn't like (or wouldn't like) those movies now."

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm re those comments! ;S