And had it been up to me – as opposed to the Governor of Macau – it would have been another year without

And had it been up to me – as opposed to the Governor of Macau – it would have been another year without a first prize.That said, however, there were some things to savour, not least the Straussian elegance with which Rustem Hairudtinof, a Russian based in London, toned down the warhorse qualities of the Rachmaninov 3 (continued da capo the day after the big storm), and the stylish technical assurance with which a Portuguese pianist called Jill Lawson played Saint-Saens’s Concerto No 2 It got her second prize. But the perforations also limit sound projection; and in the poor acoustic of the Macau auditorium, a converted sports hall, the Steinway was a handicap for the contestants who chose it in favour of the alternative, brighter and untropicalised Kawai.Add the fact that the concerto finals orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony, had clearly been flown in for reasons of cultural diplomacy rather than artistic excellence (it was risibly bad), and you’ll appreciate why the standard of playing in the finals was not dazzling Any sense of legato or of line came at a premium Personality barely surfaced. It’s a novel experience, straining to hear Rachmaninov’s 3rd Concerto in full force.The other problem with monsoon conditions is that they affect the mechanism of pianos, which is why the competition had shipped down from Hamburg a “tropicalised” Steinway, its soundboard minutely perforated to accommodate swelling. And this year’s relocation to Macau coincided with the monsoon at its height: a time when Macau is a swirling mudbath lashed by storms so terrible that one round of this competition had to be abandoned in mid-course. It demands a lot of repertory, covering solo recital work, chamber ensemble playing, and concerti with orchestra The choice is limited. But almost as often as not, there has been no first prize at all, because the standards are so tough.

The competition was founded in 1957 in Lisbon and has taken place there ever since, producing a respectable number of star first-prize winners, including Viktoria Postnikova and Artur Pizarro. Macau is to the Portuguese what Hong Kong was to Britain: a distant colony acquired in dubious circumstances, which the Chinese now want back They get it in 1999. Meanwhile, the Portuguese colonial government is going through the now-familiar process of pre-handover manoevres – with events like the Vianna da Motta Competition commandeered to play their part.
Vianna da Motta was a distinguished Portuguese pianist whose name means nothing in Britain but lives on in mainland Europe as the last significant pupil of Liszt. And meanwhile, a few miles west along the South China coast, the game of cultural politics was being played with equal vigour on the neighbouring territory of Macau, as it hosted for the first time the Vianna da Motta International Piano Competition. After the explosive multi-disciplinary extravaganza of Tan Dun’s Symphony 1997 and Vanessa-Mae’s Happy Valley Reunification Overture (yes, I’m afraid the voluptuous violinist is now a composer too), the Hong Kong Sinfonietta were sustaining the last gasps of festivity in a programme of specially commissioned scores with names like Hong Kong is a Mother’s Child and Dream of a Hundred Years. Thankfully, the world remains unhealed and war remains unstopped.Michael Jackson: Wembley Stadium, 0181 900 1234, Tues & Thurs..

The musical life of Hong Kong was making all the noises its new masters wanted to hear last weekend, and with all tastes catered for. Alice escapes and throttles his assailant with the sleeves of his straitjacket. Alice is straitjacketed by three men in white coats, and coshed with a loofah. He’s done away with the guillotines and snakes that characterised them, a shameful misjudgement of the market. Hasn’t he seen a Kiss concert recently? Kitsch, over-the-top, heavy-metal horror theatrics are back in fashion.On the other hand, the band out-Spinal-Tapped Spinal Tap, and Cooper rescued the end of the show with a mini-rock opera: Alice is hassled by a street gang Alice throttles their leader with his cane.

Not that I’m complaining about the “School’s Out” 25th anniversary tour. “I’m Eighteen”, “Lost in America” and “School’s Out” update Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran’s catalogues of teen frustrations as sharply as any songs in the rock’n'roll canon. In among the thunderous racket Cooper made at the London Astoria on Tuesday, those few gems earned the bony old buzzard a couple of “We are not worthy” bows by themselves.He’s a little more wary about relying on the past glories of his stage shows. Don’t put your son on the stage, Miss Ross.Alice Cooper hasn’t recorded many great songs since he sacked his original band and took their name for himself back in 1974, so he has no choice but to trade on past glories. Her mortified young son, sitting at the front of the audience, wasn’t made of such strong stuff.