Liebreich Throws Everything but the Kitchen Sink at the Sinfonietta

The Hong Kong Sinfonietta's concert at the City Hall last night was very much a game of two halves, as France in the sylph-like shape of pianist Alexandre Tharaud took on Germany in the lanky guise of conductor Alexander Liebreich.

There was no disguising who saw himself as Alexander the Great, as it was with almost palpable relief on the Bavarian's behalf that the enormous Steinway piano was wheeled off at half-time, leaving him with free rein (or should that be "reign" - his name after all is code for Lover of Dominion) to run through the full gamut of his repertoire.

Before this, we had been treated to a rare sight, that of Tharaud, looking five years older than his photo on the programme cover, using a page-turner to help him negotiate Bach's Keyboard Concerto in F minor. Clearly not the most popular piece in the repertoire, this ten-minute piece nonetheless proved a delightful way to open the programme.

If Tharaud had to hold back a little in the Bach, there was no such restraint in Mozart's Piano Concerto in E flat ("Jeunehomme"), where he ran through the full range of facial expressions from agonised through tortured to tormented. Meanwhile, like Dr. Hyde waiting for darkness to fall, Liebreich was merely biding his time, going through the motions with his stick, his eyes on the score but his mind on the performance yet to come.

At 55 minutes, Schubert's 9th Symphony ("The Great") is tailor-made for both the conductor who wishes to demonstrate all the moves he's learned on the rostrum and the Professor of Kinesics planning a field trip for her first year students.

After a horn opening that was so solid one instintively knew that the Sinfonietta must have hired a guest player (they had - his name is Zachary Glavan), the progressive participation of the full orchestra, and there must have been nearly 50 of them, as they built up to the first of many crescendos, was marked by a glittering array of pre-prepared moves, as well as the odd unplanned one, notably, the Flick-manically-through-the-score-to-find-the-right-page. (There are a lot of repeats in the Great.)

Everyone will have their favourite, but for the record here are the major manoeuvres executed by Liebreich. First, in the vocal category, we had the Sniff, the Sharp Intake of Breath and the Singalong (or "Da-Da-Da-Da"). Then, in the hand gestures category, there were the Lunge and Point, the Errol Flynn Swordplay Flourish, the Start the Car, the Flip the Fried Egg and the Push the Dwarf Down. Bringing a gasp from the audience was the first of his entries in the full-body category, the Jack-in-the-box, which was alternated with the Stand-back-against-the-rail-and-admire-the-work and finally, for rugby fans, the Quade Cooper Behind the Back Flick Pass.

On a night of mostly pleasant surprises, a special mention should be given to the Sinfonietta's new principal flautist, Harry Winstanley, whose playing was assured and enthusiasm refreshing to see.