Glorious gala
Amal Choucri Catta goes Russian
Rakhmaninov's Aleko and Gala Concert with Cairo Opera Orchestra and Cairo Opera House soloists, conductor Alexei Lyudmilin; Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theatre performance with Bashkir Theatre soloists. Cairo Opera House Main Hall, 22 and 23 October
Two of the loveliest gala concerts ever presented at the Cairo Opera took place last week, with one whole opera filling the first half of the programme and a star-studded second half featuring choir, soloists and ballerinas exploring song and dance for 160 ravishing minutes of non-stop performance. Under Alexei Lyudmilin's baton the Cairo Opera Orchestra kept up a dynamic pace -- something it had not done for a while. And combined with choir and ballet performances, Serguey Rakhmaninov's first opera, Aleko, made for a happy audience, the only regret being the lack of a full house -- something this concert undoubtedly deserved. Once again promises failed to be kept at the Opera, with last-minute changes all but driving away the most faithful patrons. Three nights of Bashkir's Swan Lake, to be followed by two nights of opera and one gala concert, were initially scheduled to be performed. With the ballet proving more popular, though, the fourth night too was handed over to Swan Lake and the two remaining nights turned into a medley of opera, singing and ballet -- a challenge only a company of Bashkir's stature could have lived up.
Patrons who had bought tickets for the first night of opera were nonetheless disappointed to realise they would attend a ballet they had already seen. Others traded in their tickets for the next night's performance. Others still left the theatre, determined never to return. Such confusion partly explains the aforementioned lack of a full house on the last two nights, another reason being the lack of adequate publicity. Where Russian ballet is well-known to the Cairene audience, Russian opera (Tchaikovsky's Yolanta and Rakhmaninov's Aleko) is not: the public should have been provided with more detailed information prior to the performances; an explanatory press conference might have been just what was needed. In the end, however, Yolanta was cancelled, to be replaced by two nights of Aleko performed alongside a grandiose musical extravaganza. Thus the last two performances opened superbly with Aleko, the masterpiece Rakhmaninov composed and orchestrated in three weeks, while still a 19-year-old student at the Moscow Conservatoire. Inspired by Pushkin's poem, The Gypsies, and based on a libretto by Vladimir Danchenko, the one-act Aleko received the conservatoire's gold medal and was highly praised. Once published it premiered at the Bolshoi on 7 April 1893.
Preluded by a lovely instrumental at the Main Hall, the opening scene showed a colourful camp with a fiery backdrop, an interesting gangway for the gypsies' arrival and departure, a tent for the baby's cradle and an impressive hand-cart bearing gypsy paraphernalia. Costumes were as rich as the voices of the choir, while spotlights cast dark shadows over Zemfira's father sitting by the fire, recalling his youth and his loved one, Mariula. Running off with her lover, she had left him alone with their only daughter, Zemfira -- now a young, married woman who gave birth to a baby girl a few months before. There is a nostalgic sadness in the old man's beautifully melodious voice, and the gypsies' response is appropriately sympathetic. As if to change the subject, they begin to dance around the fire, singing traditional, lively songs.
Aleko, Zemfira's husband, an outsider, abandoned his settled life when he fell in love with Zemfira. But their flame seems to be turning to ashes: she does not love him any more. In his simple, grey outfit, Aleko sings his indignation, expressing his belief that adultery should be punished by death. The atmosphere changes as night falls, with a gigantic moon occupying almost the whole backdrop. As the gypsies fall asleep, Zemfira and her lover are silhouetted on the gangway, against the moon, singing their amorous duet. Their happiness is undermined by an impending disaster: the appearance of Aleko, who kills the lover, and, seeing Zemfira weep shamelessly over his corpse, proceeds to take her life as well. The baby, abandoned, starts crying in his cradle. In the morning, the moon replaced by an immense rising sun, the gypsies are shocked at the sight of the two dead bodies: surmising what has happened, the old man exiles Aleko. The gypsies fold their tents and depart, leaving him to his uncertain fate. Here as elsewhere the performance was delightful, with the gypsy choir producing a thrilling interpretation of the scene.
The second part of the concert was similarly overwhelming, with lively arias and breathtaking dances: the Arditi Kiss sung by the ravishing Tatiana Nikanorova, was followed by Azucena's and Manrico's lovely duet from Verdi's celebrated four-act opera Il Trovatore, with Larissa Akhmetova's exciting mezzo- soprano and Serguey Gavrilov's distinctive tenor bewitching the audience. A remarkable pas-de-deux in short tu-tu and white tights, from the Adagio of the ballet Crane Song was juxtaposed with a Bashkir folk song, Nightingale, vivaciously interpreted by Fanavi Salikhov. Then the scene shifted unexpectedly. Cio-Cio- San is the Geisha who fell in love and married Mister Pinkerton, the American naval officer of Puccini's two-act opera Madama Butterfly. A fickle lover, Pinkerton leaves her for an American lady; and in his absence, Cio-Cio-San bears him a son. Yet she would rather kill herself than face a life without honour. When Pinkerton arrives, he finds her dead. And it is her famous aria that Iman Mustafa, Cairo's dramatic soprano, provided, with ardour and sensitivity, in the wake of the Nightingale. Bashkir's fervent bass, Salavat Askarov, supplied a captivating Calumnia, Don Basilio's celebrated aria from Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia, to be followed by Chopin's seventh waltz from the ballet Chopiniana, an enrapturing pas-de-deux beautifully performed by two able Bashkir Theatre dancers.
Je veux vivre, the lovely aria from Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, was sung by Alfia Karimova, while Egyptian tenor, Walid Korayem was applauded for his interpretation of Kapua's O sole mio. The Bashkir choir's lovely ladies, in marvellous velvet turquoise-blue gowns, with their male counterparts in traditional black suits and white shirts with a papillon, managed to captivate the whole audience with their fascinating voices and spectacular presence. They remained on stage for another series of songs and dances, among which the Habanera from Bizet's Carmen, splendidly sung by Hanan El-Guindy, was particularly applauded. Figaro's famous Cavatina from Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia, and a Persian dance from Strauss' Blue Danube, proved equally popular. The Gala Concert closed with an enchantingly colourful Brindisi from Verdi's La Traviata, with Mona Rafla and Tamer Tawfik as the Bashkir soloists' guests. The audience loved every minute of this astounding extravaganza, and as bravos resounded from every part of the hall, everyone agreed that the Bashkir Theatre Season has been a smashing success.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 6 - 12 November 2003 (Issue No. 663)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/663/cu1.htm