Nabila Erian finds a mixed bag in the Cairo Symphony's contribution to the ongoing series of concerts dedicated to peace Cairo Symphony Orchestra, conductor , Cairo Opera House, Main Hall, 17 June For The Sake of Peace: such was the title given to the Cairo Symphony Orchestra's performance on Monday, 17 June, marking its participation in the ongoing series of concerts at the Opera House dedicated to that cause. The programme was well-chosen, beginning with a symphonic poem, Peace Overture, by Russell Peck, a composer hitherto unknown in Egypt. Commissioned by the Birmingham International Festival in 1988, it was, says the composer, intended "to honour Egypt". Peck "wanted to create a musical tribute to all the people who have struggled against conflict itself toward a just and lasting peace for all of us... I chose one man's story to symbolise that effort -- late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat". Peace Overture is a very beautiful work, taking us on an exhilarating, terrifying voyage, replete with desolation, romantic nostalgia, triumph, sadness over Sadat's death, and then an aftermath of idyllic peace. All this is enveloped in a romantic, nostalgic leitmotif with clear affinities to African-American spiritual melodies Next came a poem for soprano and orchestra, the work of this evening's conductor, . No More Crying was composed in 1972, and based on a text by Fadwa Touqan. It is clearly intended to express the universal ideals of truth, peace and justice. El-Saedi makes repeated recourse to contemporary musical textures and compositional techniques while incorporating Arabic modal and rhythmic elements, in which endeavour he joins all composers of the Arabic world though there are, of course, idiosyncratic variations. He allowed soprano Taheya Shamseddin to use a microphone, supposedly because of the infections of the Arabic language and the relatively low range of her voice. This is perhaps the major obstacle confronting composers in the Arabic language -- a problem they have not yet managed to tackle. But El-Saedi handled the Arabic language rather well, respecting its inherent prosodies. Next came Sinai Epic, an almost unknown work by Amal Abdel-Rahim for mixed choir, children's choir and orchestra. Composed in 1974, it has been performed only once before, by the Cairo Conservatoire Orchestra and Choir in 1975. It consists of two connected movements, "The Crossing" (of Egyptian troops in the October 1973 War) and "The Hoisting of The Flag in Sinai". The first movement begins impressively enough: militaristic, martial, an epic and rhythmic fanfare from the brass section which once again made use of Arabic modes, integrated relatively naturally. The trouble began when the choirs came in. In order to avoid harmonising on Arabic modes, and the consequent danger of straying out of tune or sounding horrendously dissonant, they were made to sing short phases which dodged the critical pitches. The over abundant use of imitation and sequences, and a tendency for the choir to shout word endings on high-pitched staccatos, disregarded the inner inflections of the vocabulary and sounded far too forced for comfort. The children's choir, which was obviously included to add a softening, domestic touch amid all the bombing was quickly swallowed up by the overall texture. Aziz El-Shawwan's Oath, a cantata for soloists, choir and orchestra, followed the intermission. Written in 1963, it is an early work by this composer, though there could be no questioning the reasons for its inclusion in the night's programme -- it addresses the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and, thematically, attempts to combine a sense of nationalism, the Palestinian's insistence on returning to their homes, with the relentless quest for peace and justice. Sequences and imitations were avoided and the choir sounded more uniform, with reasonable respect on the part of the composer for the phonetics and syntax of the language. He was less considerate to the soloists, though, who are made to jump from one vocal register to the other. The orchestra was too loud for the choir, and here the soloists might have benefited by being allowed microphones as in the previous work. Last came the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with its celebrated outlines of the sonata form. The simple theme starts quietly and gradually ends in a majestic tutti. The movement ends with the famous double fugue for the chorus and a triumphant finale of joy and praise. One good piece of advice for the orchestra was to be found in the words of the baritone's initial recitative of the Ode: "O friends, not these sounds! Let us sing something more pleasant, more full of gladness!"
