William Chong

(Photo: Thomas Scheuzger and Kelly Schaub)

It was a night of back-to-back-to-back works at New Zealand’s foremost biennial violin virtuoso round-up, fast becoming the most prestigious international violin competition in Australasia. MHIVC 2007′s final round featured 3 finalists who all chose Brahm’s Violin Concerto in D Major, giving the audience a rare opportunity to compare apples with apples in a professional virtuoso competition.

The big apple of the evening was undoubtedly Bulgarian Bella Hristova, whose fierce and also primitive-like sound in the first movement was matched only by her immense dexterity and musical presence that nearly defied acoustic logic. Perhaps it was her 1655 Amati once owned by the famous violinist Louis Krashner, or her playful yet determined cadenza different from her fellow finalists – but Hristova’s style was summed up effectively by the way she ruthlessly yanked at offending strands of loose bow-hair following the first A Section.

It pays to note that the final round featuring Christan Knapp conducting the APO, comprised only a segment of the entire judging process that spanned a week in Queenstown previously. Nevertheless, Berliner Stefan Hempel faced the unenviable task of performing first, his allegro non troppo assured but decidedly ordinary. Both his and Hristova’s adagios failed to rise to any great level of expressiveness, yet one could argue that Brahms would have preferred neither chose to make it a window-sill serenade. The folk-like third movement was riddled with very uncertain runs by Hempel. In contrast, the more fierce and in-touch with her Eastern European stylistics Hristova was, the more it made Hempel sound bland.

Any exciting competition needs a good dark horse, and Singapore-born Yuuki Wong made sure of that: his intense expressiveness convinced everyone in the Town Hall that he was playing from the heart and made for a very deserved 2nd placing (though the APO’s 3rd run-through of Brahms harmonies sounded just that: a run-through).

Ferocity was not Wong’s strategy – that was Hristova’s tactic, yet one almost wished that he chose the Sibelius or Shostakovich No1 instead to showcase his passionate lyricism (rather than the heavy romantic nature of Brahms).  An embarrassingly sharp note in the 2nd movement gave a comic demonstration of Kuleshov’s effect (his constantly fixed expression instantly changed its meaning from “I’m being lyrical” to “I made a mistake”), yet one felt that Wong gave the most depth and warmth to the normally flaccid adagio.  His allegro giocoso simmered with good intentions, but it wasn’t raw and ethnographic enough to appease the judging panel of nine.

In any case, Hristova’s grand prize of $40000, a Naxos recording and a winner’s tour means that there’s more to come from this rising star next year.

- W Chong

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