After an initial disappointment, Amal Choucri Catta is spellbound Gala concert, Cairo Opera Orchestra, cond Abbassi, with flautist Wissam Boustany and mezzo-soprano Jolie Faizy. Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, 7 May, 9pm Abbassi is a musical alchemist. He immerses himself in all kinds of rhythmic and melodic themes, achieving a fantastic balance between heart and intellect. His approach to music is highly-charged and his performances are superb. Last Friday, at the head of his Cairo Opera Orchestra, he conducted an interesting gala concert at the opera's Main Hall, with the astounding flute virtuoso Wissam Boustany and young mezzo-soprano Jolie Faizy. The programme, an unusual blend of Spanish De Falla and Armenian Khatchaturian, made for an intriguing musical experience. The concert opened with El Amor Brujo, a one-act ballet with female voice in the background which Manuel de Falla composed in 1915 on a libretto by Martinez Sierra, as requested by the then famous Spanish dancer Pastora Imperio, and based on tales Pastora's gypsy mother told the composer and his librettist. Premiered at Lara Theatre, Madrid, in April 1915, with limited success, the ballet was later revised by De Falla and, in 1928, the great Argentina, a notorious Flamenco dancer, turned it into a scenic success at the Paris Theatre Beriza and at the Opera Comique, choreographed by famous Serge Lifar, who danced the part of the ghost. The plot is set in one of the gypsy caves near Granada. The beautiful Candelas had married a young Bohemian, reputed for his jealousy, who had made her life unbearable. After his death his ghost incessantly haunts her. Candelas is courted by the handsome Carmelo; yet, each time they meet, the Bohemian's ghost appears to separate them. A terrified Candelas finally consults the old gypsy women who form the magic circle around the flame, performing the ritual fire dance, in order to chase away the evil spirits. Lucia, another beautiful young gypsy girl, decides to distract the ghost. She succeeds in attracting him while Candelas and Carmelo manage, at last, to exchange their first kiss: they are thus delivered from the ghost and from all evil spirits, and love overcomes death. Manuel de Falla's masterpiece is particularly Spanish: as fierce and bitter as a Corrida and as gentle and sweet as a midnight Serenade. As an orchestral suite, El Amor Brujo has extraordinary unity, with varied episodes flowing beautifully into each other. It opens dramatically with a violent prelude, introducing the gypsies, as night falls on the cave, while Candelas sings her dismal love song before performing her "dance of fear", and the gypsies glide around the magic circle, chanting their doleful incantations and dancing the ritual "fire dance" to the tunes of loud instrumental imitations of rhythmic beatings on pots and pans. From the theme of violent passion the music moves into a mystifying, melancholic theme, culminating in the "song of the fire sparks" while the syncopated rhythm of the "dance of love" finally rushes to the "Morning Bells" proclaiming, with the advent of a new-born day, love's ultimate victory over evil. Simultaneously violent and tender, diabolic and angelic, the music swells into stormy crescendos, and suddenly returns to serene diminuendos. Under Abbassi's eloquent baton, the orchestra gave its audience a captivating version of De Falla's ballet suite. Local audiences are not often served De Falla's music at Cairo's Opera House: this was therefore a most welcome opportunity to meet the great Spaniard, one of the few of his country to win international recognition. Born in Cadiz in 1876, he died in Argentina in 1946 due to a heart attack. He was thus never capable of realising his dream: to spend his last days in one of the convents surrounding Cordoba. De Falla was taught the piano by his mother and harmony by two local musicians. His ambition, however, was to be a composer, and, so, studied composition in Madrid for three years where he won the Fine Arts Prize for the best lyrical drama by a Spanish composer, with his two-act opera La Vida Breve. In 1907 he went to Paris where he befriended Ravel, Debussy and famous pianist Ricardo Vines, who played his Four Spanish Pieces in Paris, together with other works. De Falla's fame, however, was established in 1919 in London, due to Diaghilev's production of The Three-cornered Hat, De Falla's best- known ballet. In the same year he also completed his major piano work, dedicated to the Arthur Rubinstein, Fantasia Baetica, Baetica being the Roman name for Andalusia. After WWI De Falla's style was less colourfully but no less inherently Spanish: the post- Andalusian folk element was succeeded by a recreation of the severer style of early Spanish polyphonic masters. In 1926 he began work on his enormous scenic and intensely passionate masterpiece, Cantata Atlantida which was, however, left unfinished, and which was not completed until 1939 by Ernesto Halffter. Last Friday night, Jolie Faizy, one of Cairo Opera's mezzo sopranos, sang El Amor Brujo 's Candelas. Faizy has been studying with Nevine Allouba and Violette Makkar, graduating from Cairo Conservatoire in 2001 and participating in several operatic works as well as in concerts and recitals. She has a good voice which she unfortunately does not know how to use. Badly in need of a good "maestro concertatore", she should try to give more colour to her timbre, and concentrate more on singing and less on shouting. She should also try to make better use of her hands and maintain a more confident presence on stage. Her Candelas was not Spanish flamenco, but a sad mixture of harsh tones and poor diction. Faizy is still a long way from a Prima Donna. Maestro Abbassi would have therefore been well advised to choose a more competent performer for such a demanding work. Faizy, however, did enjoy quite a lot of encouragement from her companions and friends in the hall, as well as from all those who inspire and animate young talent. The second part of the 7 May concert was dedicated to Aram Khatchaturian. Cairene audiences have recently applauded his ballet Gayaneh at the Opera: he therefore did not come as a surprise. The surprise of the evening was Lebanese flautist Wissam Boustany, one of the most sublime virtuosos ever applauded at the Main Hall. He gave the audience a thrilling version of Khatchaturian's Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in D-minor, originally composed for the violin, and specifically for the famous David Oistrach. Written in 1940, the concerto is mainly built on popular rhythmic and melodic elements, with a brief, though dynamic introduction by the orchestra, which establishes the general character of the composition. Premiered by Oistrach in Moscow in 1940, its success was immediate: Jean-Pierre Rampal adapted it for the flute with the composer's permission and turned it into a masterpiece of vivacious passion. Boustany's brilliant allegro swept beautifully into a blissful andante, before culminating into an exuberant finale. Here was excellence and refinement, and an extraordinary harmony between maestro and soloist. The audience was spellbound. Born in Beirut in 1960, Wissam Boustany obtained his Professional Performers' Diploma with distinction from the Royal Northern College of Music and won many awards and prizes, collaborating with a number of famous musicians and composers. He teachers at Trinity College of Music and has toured the world. Boustany is a magnificent performer, a flautist of rare virtuosity, maturity and depth -- without doubt the most exciting master of the flute encountered in years. His instinctive musicality, together with his subtle interpretation and precise graduations of tone, colour and volume made a huge impact on the audience. There was magic in his flute and as he reached the last fortissimo, and the crowd jumped to its feet, roaring approval and asking for more. He returned on stage, took a chair, sat with the orchestra's flautists and joined them in the notorious Saber Dance, the last piece on programme. The audience loved Boustany. That night they likewise loved the orchestra and the maestro.
