long way to the manger

By David Blake
Christmas concert; Nevin Allouba (soprano), Mohamed Abul-Kheir (tenor), Raouf Zeidan (baritone), Ashraf Sweilam (bass) and Greig Martin (piano); Small Hall, Cairo Opera House: 14 December
This is the beginning of it -- the mystic marriage is on its way. Images of Cairo are beginning to fly in the air and soon the whole Family will be airborne.
Christmas has become a chancy business in 2000. It is always looming -- gifts, love, light and laughter and, if you are in the correct place, snow, Santa and robin redbreasts.
It can prove all too much, hence the birth of the get-away Christmas cruise. Christmas is no longer a city thing: it has become the big sell, as well as the old snowy time, and it is the big sell that people try to escape. Get away from it all on something that floats, on a cruise liner, on something bigger than the Titanic. Or fly away on a jumbo, though there is always the danger you get tangled up in Hurricane Olga and end as shark meat in the Caribbean. Or take the supreme flight, the mystery one, to nowhere. They fly you away, dump you down, and you can take a look at what the local savages are doing for the 25 December. But whatever you do, laugh. The spirits must soar at this time of superlatives.
This concert, with some very lively help from tenor Abul-Kheir and pianist Greig Martin, began quietly. No buzz at this Christmas party, at least at the beginning. Thankfully it livened up. And when Allouba changed into white fox, mock mink, or whatever it was, she bore an uncanny resemblance to Marlene Dietrich. She floated on stage, a snow drift on her way to a wedding at Monaco.
But after pieces from Handel's Messiah and a big selection of hits from Broadway musicals where were we? Les Mis, Garland and the Rainbow Oz song, ending, with of all things "I Got Plenty of Nothing" and "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." We were jaunty but with Miss Allouba in furs we should have been hearing "My Bill" or "Where Have All the Flowers Gone." The manger seemed further away than ever even though Raouf Zeidan and Ashraf Sweilam were in top form, and Greig Martin was assertive and full of sparks. Sweilam's voice can adapt to almost anything, from Gershwin to the high priest of Aida, while Zeidan sounded happy to be back in baritone-land.
As for Allouba: she, always the actress, arranges everything for herself. Garland had the stellar explosives to blow up any Christmas party. But this particular lady in white adopted another route to the rainbow. She picked out words and the poetry of the old song from beneath the huge edifice that Judy Garland has become and did her own thing, in a hushed, small, sad voice. It was quite something else -- clever and successful but not easy. After the pause came another feeling altogether. We were moving closer to the manger. Suddenly the Baby and the Family were present. This is what everyone really wants for Christmas. The packed house settled back to enjoy themselves.
Everything about this concert was happy, even poor Porgy. The trio had made it clear from early on that they wanted a light touch, and they delivered.
It is difficult to come up with anything new about Christmas. And while the feast will probably straighten itself out later in the millennium, when they stop pumping it full of vitamins it does not require, until then the story which shook the world will have to take care of its own charisma.
The trio in the second half went classical. The old favourites came out shyly from behind the veil the trio invented for them. They delivered the tunes everyone knows with a relaxed, impersonal humour, giving a sense of pleasure, wonder and kindness, similar to what the three kings must have felt in Bethlehem. There was mystic splendour without in the least being romantic. It was a new vision. Then the trio gave the audience "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "Ding Dong Merrily on High," "Silent Night," and what the crowd had been waiting for all along, "Away in a Manger."
The sounds the trio made were lovely and hushed, and done with ease and poise: nothing twee or sugar-coated. Simple and generous, and it was all music. The trio was happy and put out that special feel -- whether it be music-hall or Handel -- that they were enjoying themselves. Even Broadway had joined the trio and everyone sang Happy Christmas.
Cairo Symphony Orchestra; Handel's Messiah; Iman Mustafa (soprano), Jihan Fayed (alto), George Wanis (tenor), Reda El-Wakil (bass), Maya Gwineria (choir master) and Ahmed El-Saedi (conductor); Main Hall, Cairo Opera House: 16 December
Don't ever speak of Handel's Messiah as having longueur because, for most people, it represents not only Christmas, but New Year, good times, bad times. It is indestructible. It is not holy or sacred: Handel wrote it as a theatre piece, and its first London performance was at Covent Garden Opera House which was then, and is still, gloriously profane.
So there it is, this Messiah in front of us, omnipresent, with something direct to say to all people. Handel was a true theatre man and he had God. His melodies and passions of the holy saints and martyrs strike deeper than those of any other composer. His debts are as famous as his loves, and it is this side of him, his loves, that keeps the Messiah out front as music drama. It has appeal, warmth and compassion and, of course, the "holy spark." This spark illuminated Handel's operas as well as the oratorios, but especially the operas. Immensely famous in his lifetime, they dropped away into Never Never Land in the 19th century only to be dramatically rediscovered as potential gold mines in the 20th.
This performance of the Messiah was dedicated to the memory of a very special conductor. Youssef El-Sisi, who had a very special way of his own in dealing with opera, was musically extremely sensitive, but the heart-kernel of an opera to him was the words, the story and their presentation. He was often almost careless about the music, considered a crime against the art of opera, though when it came to the big, dramatic episodes at the Cairo Opera he could be overwhelming.
El-Sisi had not conducted Handel in recent years, but the feeling was that his approach to the Messiah would have been rather like El-Saedi's, who turned it into an opera. By accenting all the long recitatives and speeding up the orchestral responses it is possible, as El-Saedi did on the 16 December, to make it a dramatic singspiel, and the long ariosos and melodies spread out operatically.
This performance had the best turn out the opera could offer: the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, the acappella choir and the cast of singers all expert in their music. Iman Mustafa, the soprano with the bright metallic top, gave out an effortless shine to all her tunes and intervals. Chilly as an interpreter, she lends strong, useful support to the ensembles. Her voice cuts through the chorus with sword-like clarity.
The mezzo-soprano, Jihan Fayed, is not a mezzo at all. She is a dramatic soprano with a very beautiful middle voice suited to the big roles of opera. Her Turandot in an international cast under El-Sisi a few years ago was very important for the Cairo Opera House. One wonders if they noticed. Her voice has colour, great power, and an exciting top under pressure. She has great courage to attempt the mezzo of the Messiah and her handling of the nether regions of the role was very game. She did her best. The highs, hardly present, shone out; the middle, naturally was awkward; and the depths were there but just not Jihan Fayed's voice. That voice is valuable and it is dangerous to tamper with nature. Soprano is soprano: even amateurs of opera know this. And Fayed's voice has a proper soprano presence.
George Wanis opened the performance with his heroic "Every Valley Shall Be Exhalted." His declamation is perfectly clear, and these days he makes the most of every word. There is great improvement in his vocal production, but he needs time to develop.
Of Reda El-Wakil there is nothing but the usual to say. Maybe he has passed out of the purely musical areas such dark bass baritones inhabit and is moving into dramatic acting roles. This reviewer has long been pining -- where is the production of Don Giovanni with Reda El-Wakil in the title? Orchestra present, conductor present, all musico-dramatic singers present, no imports needed, why not take the El-Wakil-as-Don-Giovanni jump?
These are permissible Christmas musings for one addicted to the Cairo Opera House, in spite of its often capricious behaviour. El-Saedi and his orchestra gave suitably shiny explosions in all the big climaxes and the chorus, after a messy start, rose to heights. Iman Mustafa's voice soared through the opera in "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" and later, even better, in "The Trumpet Shall Sound." Let it sound for things worthy -- as was this performance.
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