Concert «Swiss Visions»

   Not the postcard Alps, but a Switzerland built from instruments: the Sun Symphony Orchestra (SSO) brings Swiss Visions to central Hanoi – an evening about the way musicians listen, answer and support one another on stage. In Vietnamese the programme is called «Thuỵ Sĩ tuyệt cảnh», and its motto sums it up: “Swiss Landscapes Transformed into Musical Architecture”.

   Music Director Olivier Ochanine conducts a programme that spans more than two centuries of musical thought: Honegger and Bloch before the interval, Bach and Frank Martin after it.

   At a glance – what you will hear:

• — Arthur Honegger (1892–1955), Pastorale d’été (1920) – written in Wengen after a summer in the Swiss Alps, with a line from Arthur Rimbaud at the head of the score: «J’ai embrassé l’aube d’été» (“I have embraced the summer dawn”). A horn melody over a gently swaying texture opens the piece.
• — Ernest Bloch (1880–1959), Concerto Grosso No. 2 for strings (1952–53) – four movements in which every string part is a voice of its own, imitating, answering and merging with the others.
• — Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 – three violins, three violas and three cellos with the bass line take turns leading the conversation; the middle movement consists of just two written chords.
• — Frank Martin (1890–1974), Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Timpani, Percussion and String Orchestra (1949) – flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet and trombone, each with a distinct personality; commissioned by the Bernische Musikgesellschaft and premiered in Bern the same year.

   Bach was not Swiss, yet he sits at the centre of the evening. His counterpoint – independent melodic lines that coexist and combine into one whole – is the foundation Bloch and especially Martin built on; for Martin, hearing the St Matthew Passion as a child left a lasting mark on his musical thinking. Honegger was born in France to Swiss parents, while Bloch and Martin were both born in Geneva, so the evening presents Swiss musical identity as something shaped where French and German traditions, past and present, structure and freedom meet.

   It suits listeners who want a classical night to be a journey rather than one big symphony: four composers and four musical languages in a single evening. If you think of classical music as one uniform sound, Swiss Visions is a good chance to hear how different it can get. The concert is part of SSO’s Camerata Concert series.

   Worth knowing before you go: doors open from 19:00 to 19:59 and all ground-floor doors close at exactly 20:00, so plan to arrive early. The organisers ask for neat, elegant dress; no applause between movements – only when a piece has finished or the conductor turns to greet the audience; and phones fully silenced, vibration included, with the screen dimmed to minimum if you must use it.

   Tickets are handled by Ticketvn: after you register, they contact you to help choose seats, take payment and deliver the tickets free of charge. Besides the main hotline, Ticketvn runs an English-language line: 0913 489 858.

   Four composers, a Switzerland you won’t find on a postcard and a Friday night in the heart of Hanoi – a fine way to close the working week.