Chinese pianist Haochen Zhang made it clear his concert with the Dover Quartet had concluded when he closed the lid of the Steinway grand piano in the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall following a monumental rendition of Cรฉsar Franckโs Piano Quintet in F minor.
Despite the rapturous applause that followed a display of unceasing modulations, constant harmonic movement and more pianissimos and fortissimos than are heard in most chamber music performances, an encore would have been as out of place as another main course after dessert.
No-holds-barred playing of the highest calibre was the hallmark of this French May festival presentation by Premiere Performances of Hong Kong on May 12.
In the quintetโs opening โAllegroโ, the groupโs voices were like single grape varieties in a finely balanced wine cuvรฉe, each retaining their distinct character amid the density of Franckโs music.
Their playing of the โLentoโ second movement was profoundly reflective, from the stillness of the opening to the more heartfelt passages that followed, where the richness and resonance of the quartetโs sound was evident, especially in the bravura playing of cellist Camden Shaw.