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One concert lost, ten found. Despite inclement weather, the recital on February 18th at Beit Tabaris delighted the audience with compositions exploring Orientalist exoticism and culminating in a beautiful interpretation of the “Quatuor des muses,” before concluding masterfully with a lesser-known work by Puccini.
On Sunday, February 18th, despite the bad weather, classical music enthusiasts along with a number of music lovers braved the elements to attend the concert organized at Beit Tabaris. In these times when high-quality Western art music concerts are becoming increasingly rare in Lebanon, this artists’ residency has become the destination of choice for young musicians, seasoned performers, and enthusiasts of this art, all eager for enriching musical experiences. On this particularly cold Sunday, the warm compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Franz Schubert (1797-1828), and Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) promised to warm hearts and stimulate minds.
Musical Exoticism
Soprano Nadine Nassar and pianist Dominique Salloum were the first to take the stage. From the moment they entered, they immersed themselves in the interpretation of a piece specially composed by the musician for this occasion: Al-Chouhrour op. 11 for piano and voice, with text by Gibran Khalil Gibran (1883-1931). It will be reinterpreted at the end of the concert as an encore in a version for voice, violin, and piano (op. 11 bis). Despite some interesting aesthetic elements, Salloum’s work struggles on many levels.
Firstly, the rhythmic musical treatment of classical Arabic poetic meter is very problematic. There is, in fact, an equalization of the durations of long and short syllables in the composition. This resembles the treatment of songs in the Lebanese dialect, which involve an isosyllabic poetic meter. In other places, such as measure 30, cited as an example, the short syllable “Wa” is prolonged far beyond the duration of the long syllable “fan” that precedes it. As for the harmonic treatment (in the second version), it is rudimentary, contenting itself in large parts with the succession of parallel thirds. Furthermore, the Orientalist exoticism adopted by Salloum is unsubtle at best, if not downright inappropriate. Indeed, while the modulation between Part A (adopting a pseudo Nahawand mode or rather a minor mode) and Part B (adopting a supposed Rāst mode) is related to a process existing in the Levantine tradition, the passage in Part C (adopting a sort of Hijāz mode on E natural, while the preceding Rāst adopts an E half-flat) is completely aberrant. The return to the initial pseudo-Nahawand is made all the more difficult by this.
Regarding the vocal line, it is executed with relative accuracy, but this alone is not enough to fully persuade. Nassar’s instrument has such potential that compromises should not be tolerated in any way. We are certainly not talking about minor imperfections in intonation, especially in the three-quarter tones. This is clearly not Nassar’s strong suit. With the rich timbre she is known for, her robust technique, and her sharpened musicality acquired from a great and refined master, Henri Goraïeb (1935-2021), one would expect peaks of interpretation. However, it must be acknowledged that Salloum’s score does not allow her technical and interpretative skills to shine, as the melody mainly concentrates in the middle register. The audience was left wanting more that evening.
Dream and Tempest
After thunderous applause, Nadine Nassar yielded the stage to her accompanist, who immediately became a soloist. Dominique Salloum tackled the Impromptu D. 899 (op. 90) No. 3, in G flat major by Franz Schubert. In this piece, a dream-like melody sang above a cascade of murmuring, undulating arpeggios, while modulations at the bass level created harmonic tensions — roars, to be precise — which soon subsided to dissolve into the melodic flow. The pianist unfolded an eloquent play, imbued with appreciable sensitivity and free from any superfluous sentimentality. Carried by a confident breath that certainly gives clear direction to the music, his interpretation could have been more fluid — especially in terms of arpeggios — in order to extract that tender poetic intoxication intrinsic to Schubert’s work. Despite this drawback, the pianist served the score with good sense and managed, nonetheless, to move the audience.
The assessment will not be exactly the same for the Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 No. 2 (nicknamed “The Tempest“) by Ludwig van Beethoven. The discourse was intelligible, but not everything was melodic enough. The first movement, Largo-Allegro, was well rendered in its Beethovenian dynamic contrasts. However, it suffered from a manifest lack of breadth and refinement. Moreover, the pedal, far from illuminating the harmony, seemed rather to drown it. The slow movement, Adagio, is particularly convincing. The pianist highlighted the harmonic dimension of the piece and created a very comforting sensation of human warmth. The third and final movement, Allegretto, was evidently marred by a lack of precision and especially of accuracy, with the coherence and cohesion of the musical discourse lacking.
Spirit of Conquest
The second half of the concert was dedicated to the “Quatuor des muses.” Among the 6 quartets of opus 18 by the genius of Bonn, the Lebanese ensemble opted for the fourth. “Es ist Dreck” (“It’s crap”), declared the German master, undoubtedly annoyed by the relatively excessive success that this piece received compared to others. “This is all the more surprising because this quartet is in C minor, Beethoven’s preferred minor key, and almost fetishized, since in all his great instrumental cycles, there is at least one work in C minor,” explains Bernard Fournier, an eminent specialist in Beethoven’s work and string quartet, while emphasizing that this tonality has a particular strength and significance for the composer. The first movement, Allegro ma non tanto, began with a dark motif in the low register of the first violin. This motif, accompanied by the other instruments, unfolded at length in space, in a spirit of conquest that announces the generalized crescendo constituted by the first 19 measures of Quartet No. 7 op. 59 No. 1. “Thus, with this beginning of Quartet No. 4, there is a kind of prefiguration of the heroic style in its conquering aspect,” remarks the seasoned musicologist.
The chords that unleashed fortissimo were a veritable struggle between the first violin and its partners, a struggle that persisted throughout this movement, during which Mario Rahi’s dominant violin imposed its law on the three other instruments. The spirit of the second movement, Andante scherzoso quasi allegretto, is essentially playful, with, however, a rather austere fugato and a surprising passage giving the impression of a savory disorder. “In the third movement, called Menuetto, there is nothing elegant and refined nor rustic like in eighteenth-century minuets, but something harsh, violent, passionate, and feverish with the return of the C minor tonality in the extreme parts,” indicates Bernard Fournier. In this regard, the musicians would have benefited from bringing more ardor, energy, smoothness, or even impetuosity to the sound. This also applies to the final movement, Allegro, a rondo whose refrain in C minor responded to the dramatic charge of the first movement and complemented it by playing on the speed parameter. While this masterpiece should have ended with the impetuosity of the Prestissimo coda with a Magyar flavor, the Lebanese ensemble did not sublimate this passage and concluded in a bland manner, devoid of the epic effervescence that should have crowned its performance.
Despite phrases that could have been more breathed, especially in the fast passages where articulation was not excellent, the “Quatuor des muses” nevertheless offered a beautiful authentic interpretation that evening.
This review is long, and it is time to conclude. One word can be said about Crisantemi, SC 65 in C sharp minor by Giacomo Puccini: masterful!
