Amal Choucri Catta catches up with the latest Three recent concerts of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, conductors Steven Lloyd, Marcello Mottadelli and Christoph Mueller, Cairo Opera House Main Hall Cairo Opera's Main Hall has lately seen some lovely dancing performances, while a number of impressive symphonic concerts have simultaneously been performed under the baton of Principal and guest conductors Marcello Mottadelli and Christoph Mueller. All deserve special attention and should therefore not go unnoticed. Introducing 20th-century music, one interesting concert presented Kurt Weill's second symphony, Maurice Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin and Francis Poulenc's Concerto for two pianos and orchestra in D-minor, with "Duo Scaramouche" at the keyboards. This excellent duo is formed by Malvina Renault and Filippo Antonelli, who since 1992 have acquired a reputation for their extraordinary performances in Europe and elsewhere. Their interpretation is electrifying, filled with vitality and passion; it turned the concerto into a lively and melodious adventure, which the audience enjoyed immensely. Poulenc's tuneful, ecstatic perspective, his love of life and luminous musicality was followed by a name rarely, if ever mentioned in our symphonists' programmes: Kurt Weill. The son of a German cantor, Weill was Ferruccio Busoni's favourite pupil; he studied composition in Berlin and in the early 1920s his new form of opera, together with much of his music, captured the flavour of an era while successfully fusing jazz and classical elements. Weill is the composer of Bertold Brecht's famous Dreigroschen Oper (Threepenny opera) with its hit number "Mack the Knife", which was just as popular in Europe in 1928, as it was after WWII, around 40 years later. 1928 was, by the way, the year in which Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin while investigating the influenza virus; it was likewise the year when Mickey Mouse made his screen debut in Steamboat Willie and the chimes of Big Ben were heard on the radio for the first time in history. That night at Cairo's Main Hall, Kurt Weill's second symphony, brilliantly conducted by Steven Lloyd, was filled with nostalgic memories of ages past, revolution and inflation, disease and starvation that rocked the German population since their defeat in 1918 at the end of WWI. Yet, there were also memories of the German Elite who had invaded their ambiguous metropolis where sex was Big Business and collective lust roared unashamed. Under Maestro Lloyd's sensitive baton, Cairo's symphonists gave an impressive musical interpretation of Weill's symphonic vision of this troubled era. The concert had started beautifully with Maurice Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin in four meditative movements created in memory of friends who had lost their lives during the Great War. It was quite moving and perfectly performed, though somewhat sad. Another noteworthy concert, this time quite a far cry from the worlds of war and misery, was conducted by a young guest from Italy, Marcello Mottadelli, who gave his audience a superb Mendelssohn and an exceptional Rachmaninov. Born in 1971 in Torino, Mottadelli's musical studies took him to Milan, Vienna and Szeged in Hungary, while he has conducted in Bern and Budapest, making his American debut at the Denver Opera in 2001, and in Cape town, South Africa in that same year. He likewise conducted Tosca with the Bolshoi theatre in Minsk, the Moscow symphony orchestra in Russia and the Philharmonic Orchestra of "Teatro alla Scala" in Milan. The concert had started with two compositions by Felix Mendelssohn: "The Herbrides", also known as "Fingal's Cave", Opus 26, one of the composer's most popular works, followed by his concerto for violin in E-minor, Opus 64, with soloist Hassan Sharara, Egypt's renowned virtuoso, the head of the string department and former Dean of Cairo Conservatoire. He is furthermore listed as "one of the famous Egyptian personalities" and plays an important role in Egypt's musical world. His interpretation of Mendelssohn was quite exceptional. The E-minor violin concerto has been described as one of the most perfect ever written, while Mendelssohn himself has been called a Classical Wunderkind, a romantic master craftsman who astounded audiences with his precociousness. Inspired by landscape, history and literature, he was also closely attuned to classical ideals of formal clarity and balance. With Sergey Rachmaninov's one-hour- long second symphony closing this extraordinary musical soirée, the audience appreciatively applauded the sparkle, the refinement and elegance of the concert. The third important symphonic concert was conducted by Christoph Mueller, from Switzerland, former Principal Conductor of Cairo Symphony Orchestra and now chief conductor and artistic director of the Goettingen Symphony Orchestra: he conducted Schumann's third symphony and Mozart's Thamos Koenig in Aegypten. Born in 1810, Robert Schumann was a great composer for pianoforte, enriching its literature with a series of poetic works in which classical structure and romantic expression are harmoniously combined. Among his four symphonies, the third is generally considered the finest, though his numerous other works: concertos, incidental and chamber music, his opera Genoveva, his songs and song cycles, are also popular. His third symphony in E-flat major, Opus 97, called "the Rhenish" in response to the Rhineland countryside, when he was appointed municipal music director in Duesseldorf, is in five colourful movements. A rather demanding and difficult work, it was masterfully performed. The second part of the concert came on with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Thamos king of Egypt : KV 345, with the A Capella choir directed by Maya Gvineria and four soloists singing in German while Azza Madian introduced each of the five acts in Arabic. Mozart had been commissioned to write the incidental music for Tobias Philipp, Baron von Gebler's five-act heroic drama Thamos King of Egypt, which points in the direction of Mozart's great Masonic Work: The Magic Flute. The choruses, the setting, the entire plot, as well as the light confronting darkness and good confronting evil seem to be a preview of the great "masonic flute". The plot itself, however, is somewhat complicated and totally based on fantasy with no relation whatsoever to ancient Egyptian history. Here Rameses has usurped the throne of Egypt's rightful king Menes, who is disguised as the high priest Sethos. But now Thamos is called to succeed his father Rameses. The young heir to the throne loves Sais, a priestess who is in reality Menes' daughter Tharsis. The evil high priestess Mirza, however, is plotting Tharsis's marriage to Pheron, a treacherous general who is struck by lightning when Menes reveals his true identity. In the end Mirza kills herself while Menes cedes his crown to Thamos and Tharsis and all the good people live happily ever after. The hymn-like choruses and the solos, as well as the instrumental music were beautifully performed. As Thamos was crowned and the drama came to an end, everyone cheered. It was, once again, an impressive musical soirée.
