Amal Choucri Catta is disturbed by dissonance Cairo symphony orchestra concert, cond. Steven Lloyd, cello soloist Kamal Salah El-Din: Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, 11 November, 8pm Audiences were happy to applaud Steven Lloyd once again on Cairo Opera's Main Hall podium at the head of the symphonists after a month-long absence. He was conducting a single concert before disappearing again until December when he is scheduled to give two more. Last season Lloyd was much appreciated by the audience who would probably like to see him more often on the Main Hall's podium. Last Saturday he led the orchestra in a difficult and demanding programme which opened with Edward Elgar's Serenade for strings in E- minor, Opus 20, followed by Patrik Bishay's Symphony No 4 and Richard Strauss's Don Quixote, Opus 35. Though his music is enchanting Edward Elgar is seldom included in programmes here and as a consequence little is known about him. He was born near Worcester, in England, in 1857 at a time of unbounded riches on the European musical scene: Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Hector Berlioz and numerous others were active in continental Europe. Elgar took a while to find his true voice but by the end of the century was acknowledged as the greatest English composer since the 17th-century heyday of Henry Purcell. Elgar's father ran a piano business, tuning, hiring, selling and providing music for functions; he also played in local orchestras. His family was of limited means, and young Elgar had to teach himself the theory and practice of music: his early compositions are a strange mix of works based on religious texts, salon music and historical dramas. In later years his musical style was specially open to the progressive works of the both Wagner and Richard Strauss though by the 1890s he had found an individual voice based on chromatic harmony, soaring melodies, virtuoso orchestration and an energy hitherto unknown in English music. Inevitably, at the height of British imperialism, it was to Elgar that many looked to provide music to express the confidence of empire. In 1897 he enjoyed major popular success with the Imperial March, a swaggering masterpiece full of the warmth and intoxication of a man in love with his country. Enigma variations and the Cockaigne overture consolidated his reputation at home and abroad and honours began to be showered upon him though he never made enough money to be fully independent and, later in life, had to borrow a large sum from his friend Bernard Shaw. World War I profoundly affected Elgar: he was horrified at the destruction and, as the horror sank in, so his music changed. It became more autumnal in flavour. He did, however, provide staunch support for the war effort with works like Fringes of the Fleet and Spirit of England. From 1914 Elgar took many of his works into the recording studio, at a time when recording as still shunned by many serious musicians. He was the first composer to engage with the gramophone and record almost all his orchestral music. He died in 1934, aged 73, after a lengthy illness: his ceremonial and patriotic style had epitomised the age in which he lived though the robust patriotism of his earlier works often disguised the fact that he was at heart a sensitive, romantic composer. He was a magician when it came to handling the orchestra and enriched musical textures with seemingly effortless counterpoint. His Serenade for stings in E-minor, Opus 20, is one of his most charming string pieces: the first allegro piacevole is as agreeable to the ears as it is to the heart, with sweet melodies reminiscent of happy days, while the larghetto that follows seems to be evoking nostalgic souvenirs and the final allegretto, with exuberant delight popping up at every chord, communicated itself joyfully to an enraptured audience. The maestro drove the orchestra to extremes of expression with only the violinists remaining at times emotionally restrained. The second work in the programme was the world premiere of Patrik Bishay's fourth symphony Black and White ; as such it would have benefitted from an introductory announcement by the composer and the maestro before the performance. Patrik Bishay is no newcomer to Cairo's opera house. Born in Germany in 1975, Bishay received his bachelor degree in composition from Boston in 1999 and a PhD in composition from Newcastle in 2002. He is 31 and more dedicated to noise and sound effects than to melody and harmony: Black and White is an interesting, though eerie work which would better serve as the sound track to a horror-film than as a concert item. In some of its sequences one can hear Dracula rising from his grave. Sounds were often spooky and the entire work, with its overdose of noises, abstract sonorities and dissonances, is far from being beautiful. Good music, of course, is never in need of explanatory introductions, but scratchy sounds, breath-like noises and chaotic textures, as has been noted, cannot be considered music. The performance was a tiring experience for maestro, orchestra and public alike. Bishay would be well advised to try to give his audiences real music instead of just noise. The second part of the concert was entirely dedicated to Richard Strauss's Don Quixote -- Fantastic Variations on a theme of Knightly Character, Opus 35, with the excellent cellist Kamel Salah El-Din as soloist. Blessed with wealth and success from an early age, Richard Strauss's music reflects his tremendous zest for life. In April 1945 the American armies drove into Garmisch in the Bavarian Alps. Houses were requisitioned for billeting and the owners given just fifteen minutes to leave. One attractive villa looked ideal, so an officer strode up to the front door. An elderly, frail man opened it and said simply: "I am Richard Strauss, composer of Rosenkavalier and Salome." The officer had an off limits sign erected and Strauss's home was left untouched. From the moment he was born in 1864 in Munich, Strauss had enjoyed almost uninterrupted success and prosperity. He began composing at the age of six and, by 21, was hailed as the successor of Brahms and Wagner. He wrote 14 operas, several pieces of incidental music, concertos, ballets, chamber music, tone poems and songs. He died in 1949. Cervantes's Don Quixote was brought to musical life in Strauss's colourful variations for cello, viola and orchestra. In his 35 minute orchestral work, symphonic poem and cello concerto combine with a set of ten variations, each reflecting the Don's ill-fated adventures. Strauss illustrates revolving windmills and bleating sheep with colourful panache, while the lyrical stretches of the score, in which the melancholy Quixote promotes his chivalrous ideals, inspires some of his greatest music. From "the windmills" to the "false Dulcinea" and from the "enchanted boat" to the "Knight of the white moon" and the Don's death, Quixote's adventures are distilled in the 10 variations and the finale of Strauss's poem. The cello and viola soloists were perfect, and Lloyd led the musical cortege to a moving end.
