 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
 |
 |
|
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
|
|
Egypt Region International Book Fair Economy Opinion Culture Features Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters An outbreak of violins
By David BlakeMusic for All IV; Cairo Opera Orchestra; Wolfgang Marschner, violin; Sherif Mohieddin, conductor; Main Hall: Cairo Opera House: 29 January
You could have danced all night to the standards of this concert and the one on 31 January. They will set a standard. Everybody's music, marvelously performed by all concerned. Matinée, so kids can come -- for free -- with conductor Sherif Mohieddin rounding off an exasperational month with freshly minted Bach. The greatest of masters can let his hair down without losing one jot of quality.
The first concert first. The matinée Music for All series seems destined to survive. They have set out on an almost impossible attempt to bring good music to a large section of people who know almost nothing about it. This is difficult -- and in an opera house, of all places, and one which has a reputation for formal dress, especially for men. Since the women can come in anything, it seems hard on the males to encase them in a way their spouses manage to avoid.
Music for All is breaking down the barricades. Jeans have appeared and running shoes. Things are on the bend. The house for this 29 January concert was the largest audience so far, and all for Bach. The audience was respected. No cheating on quality, and by Mohieddin and the orchestra they were given Bach in the free-wheeling manner, with no pretensions or theorising. It is music: play it as it feels, but not to pattern. No jiggy-Bach for this conductor; he goes for sweep and largesse with generous waves, with real fortissimi and etherealised pianissimi. And always with melody. And since Bach is all melody, it was simply delivered with loving surges of sound and speed when required. There were the popular Bach chestnuts, but at least they are Bach's own, with his brand-name shining out proudly.
The first piece, the Concerto for Three Violins and Orchestra in D major (BWV 1064) was played by Wolfgang Marschner (a regular guest at Sherif Mohieddin concerts), Ariane MathŠus and Nadine Contini. This piece -- full toned, lyrical and almost vocal -- set the atmosphere of the evening. Bach loved important opening statements. This unusual piece began with rolling tones over which the violins crooned and soared. It was a golden opening. The same tone continued throughout the concert. Through the three movements -- fast, slow, fast -- the bare bones of the music were only the beginning of a long, sunset contemplative outpouring of sophisticated style. The effect was both restful and exciting. We were transported to the leisured realms of music. Bach specialised in the demonic, but this afternoon the audience bathed in peace and beauty.
The second piece was the Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra in D minor (BWV 1043). The players were Catherine Kudelka and, again, Nadine Contini. Both caught the mood, playing together perfectly in the brilliant fast sections, and were powerful and clean throughout. There were no disappearing trebles; everything was firm and done with dignity.
This is a strange piece. The same rhythm runs through the entire work. Whatever is going on in the top treble, the lower, darker stresses sound like ghostly footsteps moving along underneath. Sadness, regret and nostalgia are all represented, in miracles of economy. Bach made notes: it is for us to unravel their meaning, which is often salutary. An unending chain as time ticks on. We are left in no doubt about its meaning in the music.
These are tough states for the very young to absorb. Yet, from the attitudes of many of the children around, they were taking in more than their elders would ever understand. Something of childhood emerges from Bach in these endless twistings and turnings which fascinate all ages, especially when they are performed with the simplicity and purity of Mohieddin conducting the Cairo Opera Orchestra.
After the intermission came the Brandenburg Concerto No 3 in G major(BWV 1043), an old Bach regular. It is in three movements, of which the first and last are quick, with a slow cadenza in the middle for the harpsichord, played by Mostafa Garana. It sounded good as the orchestra played it. The Blessed Fields were gone. The orchestra moved into rapid action and all the strings were arranged in lots of three: violins, violas and cellos. The bass part might have had more of an accent from the lower strings. Bach gives them plenty to do, so they hummed and rattled along, energisers and pace makers regardless.
The last item, the celebrated Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor (BWV 1052) was played by Wolfgang Marschner as soloist. He reads it as energy plus. So the concert ended with the Cairo Opera Orchestra weaving a magic carpet of notes, resonant and implacably resolute, upon which the audience flew through space.
Akhnaton Chamber Orchestra; Sherif Mohieddin, conductor; Small Hall: Cairo Opera House, 31 January
The second concert opened with the Suite of Antique Dances by Respighi. These three dances from the Baroque era were arranged to show the old shining through the new. Respighi was adept at such things, and his arrangements are beautifully composed, showing the Akhnaton off to the best advantage.
In one of the dances, the orchestra suddenly makes as if from nowhere a great heave, dramatic and swift like a bolt from out of the blue. Mohieddin got a splendid explosion from the orchestra, which swept through the entire hall like a wave of bright bronze sound, not water, but a blast from a furnace. This small orchestra has acquired a wonderful and useful repertory of sounds, from the Baroque to the present day.
Then more Bach: Islam Noureddin, violin, and Noha Sami, oboe. There are not many lady oboeists, and Noha Sami makes a good, healthy sound with an instrument which is usually thin and silvery. The two players enjoyed the piece. Bach is at his tricks. Light, sophisticated, almost a joke of musical effects. The entire piece is an echo game, oboe announcing, violin repeating from far away, and then a renversé as the instruments take up new places and the game goes on. It sounds silly, but not with Bach, who weaves cunning loops and holes through which the dancers pass. It was loose, relaxed and strange.
After all these violins, the sound of the human voice, the greatest of all string instruments, was a startling pleasure, especially as it was the voice of Jacquelin Rafik, a new young soprano pupil of Nevine Allouba. She's a find: a dark, beautiful alluring voice, equalised throughout its range. Rich, but not mezzo. As she went through her pieces and the voice took us to the topmost areas, it emerged clear, dramatic, powerful, without any squeeze or wobble. She is, above all, an artist. It was a genuine pleasure to hear the grand way of one so young, presenting the entire programme of Pergolesi, Gluck, Gounod and, above all, Fauré's wonderful and difficult song, Après un Rêve. She plumped down into her low tones, soared to her top and threaded out the romance of the long drawn melody like a real professional.
Finally came Gounod's arrangement of Bach's Ave Maria. This holds a nasty, high, full-voiced trip to the top. We hardly noticed, so easy was the voice which carried the difficult pieces and went by so quickly. She's made for opera. One hopes she succeeds in seizing the right roles.
Last was Manal Mohieddin and her harp. They are really one and the same person. When she sits down at the immortal triangle of the instrument, she becomes a creature of the Elysian Fields. When she strikes and charges the instrument, she becomes angel or devil, as the music demands. Her power of suggestion is uncanny -- she's a muse. The Naderman piece was enough for her to show her qualities. Manal Mohieddin is a very great player who erases all distance between herself and the listener. One cannot ask for more.
