A flapping of wings
Fish, flesh and fowl: well, only the latter on Saturdays, finds Amal Choucri Catta
Cairo Symphony Orchestra, cond. Gihad Daoud; Yuri Pryalkin, flute. Al-Goumhouriya Theatre, 22 November, 9.30pm
Nobody flew away Saturday night though the concert was dedicated to the feathered class of vertebrate animals, those odd little things with wings. The last concert of the month of Ramadan took place at Al-Goumhouriya Theatre, both the Main and Small Halls at the Opera House now being closed till the end of November for urgent restoration and improvement to the sound systems and acoustics.
Cairo Symphony Orchestra, under conductor Gihad Daoud, opened the concert with Franz Josef Haydn's Symphony No 83 in G-minor, often referred to as The Hen. Critics have been at a loss to explain the reasons behind the nickname, many insisting that it could not have been Haydn's idea and others arguing that it was originally suggested by the second sequence of the first movement.
Haydn produced over 100 symphonies, many of them subtitled with seemingly banal swords -- The Clock, The Queen, Passion, Oxford and The Surprise among them. His 83rd is one of the set of six known as The Parisian Symphonies.
It starts vivaciously enough, the allegro spiritoso recalling rural scenery before the oboe embarks on its staccato cackling sound and the orchestra follows with tunes recalling the clucking of chickens as they forage around the farmyard. The melodious andante then seems to abandon the theme of fowl for a headlong rush towards the green hills and sunny vales, reaching graceful, meditative horizons, before leaping joyously into the sparkling tempo di menuetto before culminating in a merry song and charming melody. The dance closed gleefully, with the maestro swaying happily to the enchanting rhythm.
Gihad Daoud appears rarely on the main stage of the Cairo Opera House though he is an excellent conductor and a remarkable musician. Precise and sensitive, he conducts with a rare combination of finesse and authority. The audience, though sparse, appreciated his performance and there seem to be few if any reasons why he should not appear at the head of Cairo's symphonists in the Main Hall.
Having received a bachelor degree in composition, music theory and piano from the Cairo Conservatoire, Daoud went on to obtain a post- graduate diploma in opera training and conducting from the London Opera Centre in 1974. In 1979 he completed a PhD in ethnomusicology from the Sofia State Conservatory. He is currently professor at Cairo Conservatoire's Department of Musicology and a member of the Music, Opera and Ballet Committee at the Higher Council for Culture and since 1982 has been a guest conductor of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, the Cairo Conservatoire Orchestra and the Cairo Opera Group. He also composes, having written incidental music for film and theatre. In 1991 he was awarded a State Merit Prize.
Saturday's concert also found him conducting Antonio Vivaldi's Flute Concerto in D-major, the Goldfinch, RV 428, with Russian soloist Yuri Pryalkin. Researchers have identified almost 500 concertos by Vivaldi, among them 250 for violin and 22 for flute solo. Among the so- called Amsterdam collection are six concertos for flute, strings and basso continuo, with the "Goldfinch" among the three bearing titles. It is a lovely piece, demanding a great deal of virtuosity from the soloist.
The first movement's allegro acts as an introduction to the song-birds of the title. The flute passes rapidly from the highest to the lowest pitches as the bird flies from one tree to the other, busily building its nest. The melody suggests that spring time has arrived, sunny and vernal. There are, too, moments of calm and silence, a kind of drowsiness with the flautist showcased against the violin, the viola and, in the second movement's cantabile, with the cello.
The song is a sad one, filled with regret and with melancholy: such days cannot last forever and soon the autumn showers will drive the goldfinch into his second allegro, a preparation for the hardships of winter. But there is hope, the intimation that such balmy days will return. Pryalkin managed it all with limpid tones, displaying the requisite skills.
Born in 1978, Yuri Pryalkin began his studies aged five at the Moscow Musical Lyceum. In 1994 he joined New Names, an international programme for talented musicians, and performed in France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Greece. He graduated in 1996 with honours before joining the Russian Academy of Music. In 1998 he joined the Cairo Symphony Orchestra as associate principal of the flute section. A laureate of three international competitions, he took master classes in Germany and Switzerland, receiving an award from the Russian government in 2000, and from Trinity College, London, in 2001. His Goldfinch performance was extraordinary: trills and tremolos were executed with aplomb in a fascinating performance in which scales and arpeggios sparkled and the cadenzas were perfectly adjusted to the composer's demands. Yuri Pryalkin is a great asset to Cairo's Symphony Orchestra and a musician who deserves far more exposure as a soloist.
The second part of the Gomhouriya programme continued the feathery theme with Ottorino Respighi's Birds, a suite for small orchestra based on 17th and 18th century bird pieces for lute and harpsichord in five movements.
The delicious prelude summarises the entire suite, replete with the cooing of doves, cackling of hens, the nightingale singing and the cuckoo's calling. This supple, lithe piece of music includes a dreamy, dejected slow movement, reminiscent of doves sitting on a window-sill in awe at the cloudy skies. It is in the third movement that we have our second rendez-vous with the hen -- a hen, admittedly, moving rather more rapidly than its modern counterparts. There is no time for gossip, no time to linger nor to brood over hennish philosophy. Too many eggs to lay, perhaps, and too much time spent watching over potential rivals within the flock.
The music leaves the hen as the orchestra rushes off to join the migrating nightingale. The tune becomes meditative, romantic, a memory of moonlit skies and secret meeting places. Then the cuckoo starts calling in lonely woods. The suite closed to loud applause. The audience loved the melodies and the colourful performance Gihad Daoud extracted from the players.
The concert was not over yet: there was more to come as we were finally treated to Tchaikovsky's suite from the ballet Swan Lake, which replaced the announced item on the programme, Stravinsky's suite from The Firebird. As usual no reason was given for the last minute change, though the audience, in all fairness, did not seem to mind.
We had a full orchestra for the suite of five movements which starts with the fabulous swan theme followed by the tantalising waltz of the corps de ballet. We were also given the famous pas-de-quatre, a sublime pas-de-deux, the dance of the swans and finally the czardas of the third act in the prince's castle. The conclusion saw the audience cheering.
The concert deserved rather more publicity than it received, and neither maestro nor instrumentalists can have relished the emptiness of the hall. The orchestra furnished the few who had turned out with an excellent performance and well-deserved the appreciation they received.
Fingers crossed that Gihad Daoud's next concert will be applauded by a full house, after having been given the publicity he deserves. Cairo Opera House desperately needs to make greater efforts in this respect.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 27 November - 3 December 2003 (Issue No. 666)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/666/cu2.htm