By Hilary Finch, "London Sinfonietta/Masson at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, SE1" - Times Online/ The Times - London, UK
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Arabic Sufi poetry has always had a very special take on the sufferings of mankind, and on the mystical love between the human and the Divine. So it was inevitable that, before long, music responding to this tradition would appear in the Al Farabi Concerto series, of which the London Sinfonietta has just presented the third concert.
Voix interdites, or Forbidden Voices, is the title of the song cycle by the Moroccan composer Ahmed Essyad for solo soprano, narrator and instrumental septet. The cycle consists of nine sections, with instrumental interludes between the three songs. But we heard the songs alone, first narrated in hushed and evocative tones by Nadim Sawalha; then briefly meditated upon by the ensemble; and finally sung by Patricia Rozario.
Cello and bass became a pulsing Arabic lute, as they plucked their way through Rozario's increasingly ardent, semi-declaimed Blossoming of the Body and Feverish Hearts. And then a sensuous solo from bass clarinet twined itself round the agitated vocal writing and dancing xylophone and flute of the second song, before an angular and fearful duet with viola sang of the perfection of passion and prayer.
This was by far the most substantial work of the evening: a fascinating inter-fertilisation of the Arabic sensibility, tinted with Gallic instrumental sophistication and a fearless love the human voice.
Amr Okba's Message, later in the programme, was a seven-minute close-focus on the whistling harmonics and swooping glissandi of two violins and a cello, with the seductive menace of a muted trumpet piercing the textures from far back in the hall.
The purpose of this series is to counterpoint East and West, so British contemporaries of these Moroccan and Egyptian composers also stood by. Tansy Davies was there, in her Iris of 2004, with Simon Haram's saxophone as shaman on a mysteriously and wittily constructed rainbow bridge between higher and lower worlds.
And, before a powerful performance of Peter Maxwell Davies's A Mirror of Whitening Light, Diego Masson conducted an admirably taut and compelling performance of Simon Holt's demonic 1990 Lilith.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008
A Very Special Take
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Arabic Sufi poetry has always had a very special take on the sufferings of mankind, and on the mystical love between the human and the Divine. So it was inevitable that, before long, music responding to this tradition would appear in the Al Farabi Concerto series, of which the London Sinfonietta has just presented the third concert.
Voix interdites, or Forbidden Voices, is the title of the song cycle by the Moroccan composer Ahmed Essyad for solo soprano, narrator and instrumental septet. The cycle consists of nine sections, with instrumental interludes between the three songs. But we heard the songs alone, first narrated in hushed and evocative tones by Nadim Sawalha; then briefly meditated upon by the ensemble; and finally sung by Patricia Rozario.
Cello and bass became a pulsing Arabic lute, as they plucked their way through Rozario's increasingly ardent, semi-declaimed Blossoming of the Body and Feverish Hearts. And then a sensuous solo from bass clarinet twined itself round the agitated vocal writing and dancing xylophone and flute of the second song, before an angular and fearful duet with viola sang of the perfection of passion and prayer.
This was by far the most substantial work of the evening: a fascinating inter-fertilisation of the Arabic sensibility, tinted with Gallic instrumental sophistication and a fearless love the human voice.
Amr Okba's Message, later in the programme, was a seven-minute close-focus on the whistling harmonics and swooping glissandi of two violins and a cello, with the seductive menace of a muted trumpet piercing the textures from far back in the hall.
The purpose of this series is to counterpoint East and West, so British contemporaries of these Moroccan and Egyptian composers also stood by. Tansy Davies was there, in her Iris of 2004, with Simon Haram's saxophone as shaman on a mysteriously and wittily constructed rainbow bridge between higher and lower worlds.
And, before a powerful performance of Peter Maxwell Davies's A Mirror of Whitening Light, Diego Masson conducted an admirably taut and compelling performance of Simon Holt's demonic 1990 Lilith.
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music
By Hilary Finch, "London Sinfonietta/Masson at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, SE1" - Times Online/ The Times - London, UKWednesday, December 10, 2008
Arabic Sufi poetry has always had a very special take on the sufferings of mankind, and on the mystical love between the human and the Divine. So it was inevitable that, before long, music responding to this tradition would appear in the Al Farabi Concerto series, of which the London Sinfonietta has just presented the third concert.
Voix interdites, or Forbidden Voices, is the title of the song cycle by the Moroccan composer Ahmed Essyad for solo soprano, narrator and instrumental septet. The cycle consists of nine sections, with instrumental interludes between the three songs. But we heard the songs alone, first narrated in hushed and evocative tones by Nadim Sawalha; then briefly meditated upon by the ensemble; and finally sung by Patricia Rozario.
Cello and bass became a pulsing Arabic lute, as they plucked their way through Rozario's increasingly ardent, semi-declaimed Blossoming of the Body and Feverish Hearts. And then a sensuous solo from bass clarinet twined itself round the agitated vocal writing and dancing xylophone and flute of the second song, before an angular and fearful duet with viola sang of the perfection of passion and prayer.
This was by far the most substantial work of the evening: a fascinating inter-fertilisation of the Arabic sensibility, tinted with Gallic instrumental sophistication and a fearless love the human voice.
Amr Okba's Message, later in the programme, was a seven-minute close-focus on the whistling harmonics and swooping glissandi of two violins and a cello, with the seductive menace of a muted trumpet piercing the textures from far back in the hall.
The purpose of this series is to counterpoint East and West, so British contemporaries of these Moroccan and Egyptian composers also stood by. Tansy Davies was there, in her Iris of 2004, with Simon Haram's saxophone as shaman on a mysteriously and wittily constructed rainbow bridge between higher and lower worlds.
And, before a powerful performance of Peter Maxwell Davies's A Mirror of Whitening Light, Diego Masson conducted an admirably taut and compelling performance of Simon Holt's demonic 1990 Lilith.
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