Issue No.587
Culture
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23 -29 May 2002 Issue No.587 Culture |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Palaces of iron will
Nabila Erian finds more than history
Gyorgy Sandor (pianist), Manasterly Palace, 8 pm, 19 May
At the south western tip of the Roda Island lies a palace, its compound overlooking the Nile on all sides but one. This cone-shaped area was once the property of Hassan Fouad Al-Manasterly Pasha, governor of Cairo in 1854, during the reign of the Khedive Abbas Helmi I. The mosque where he is buried is close to the palace, while to one side stands the Nilometer, dating from 861 and the reign of Caliph Al- Mutawwakil Ala Allah Al-Abbassi, lending historical significance to the site. The interior of the palace, walls and ceilings, are covered with late Ottoman rococo painting: it is a model of its type, and has hitherto been a not-quite-on-the-beaten track tourist attraction.
Click to view captionOne feature of the palace, though, that for a century and a half was overlooked, is that it possesses the most wonderful acoustics, reminiscent of the old Cairo Opera House. These have proved naturally suitable for concerts, and without the costly technical interventions which would have compromised the architectural integrity of the palace.
As of 2002, the Cultural Development Fund has been using the palace as its International Music Centre, venue for a series of concerts by internationally acclaimed artists, prominent Egyptian musicians, and promising young talents. Master classes, local competitions and lectures are also scheduled at the site. This year's concert series has included performances -- mostly solo piano -- by the Cypriot Katsaris-France in January, Josep Colon from Spain in February, Olga Balakleets and Julian Gallant from England and Miguel Angel Estrella from Argentina in March, Hussein Sermet from Turkey in April and Gyorgy Sandor from Hungary this month.
Ramzi Yassa is artistic director of the International Music Centre, Tareq Sharara its music consultant and Nevine El-Kilany the general coordinator.
The Hungarian pianist Gyorgy Sandor wound up the current season's concerts. The programme was refreshingly simple, restricting itself -- and this is by no means the norm -- to only necessary information. Brief critical notes on the particular opus, no tributes to administration, technical staff, coordinators. No extraneous additions, no waste.
If the programme came as a pleasant surprise, so too was the bahaviour of the audience. Everybody was in their seats half an hour before the performance. Entry gongs and post-intermission reminders were unnecessary, and dispensed with. During the performance you could hear a pin drop. Applause was well-timed, polite.
Gyorgy Sandor is almost 90, a pianist with six decades of performance experience. He was in perfect control, playing with great ease and strength. There was no want of suppleness in the production of colour and sound effects, and this was immediately apparent in the opening piece, Beethoven's Last Sonata op. 111, in which the impressionistic colouring of certain of the passages, especially in the second movement, struck with the authenticity of revelation.
Schumann's Fantasy in C major op. 17 came next, and perhaps sounded a little too much like Beethoven. It might have been more subdued, more romantic, more cantabile.
Post-intermission Sandor was far more at home with his sometime contemporary, Bartok. Here was more than understanding of the music, or perhaps that deeper understanding we call love. The best was the last piece, Dance Suite, originally written for orchestra and rearranged for piano and based on Hungarian folk music. Nothing could have better suited this pianist. The same could not be said of the previous piece, Songs and Dances, which includes Serbian and Arabic material. This half of the concert had opened with the Intermezzo Interrotto, the final movement of a concerto rearranged for piano.
The real surprises came in the encore pieces: a Mazurka by Chopin, a Lament by Kodaly, and a Toccata-aria by Bach-Busoni. No lack of creative imagination with this old war horse, no dimming of the wells of emotional energy and power. The very few false notes were drowned by an iron will, by control and self-assurance. Age, apparently, shall not wither them.
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