Naji HAKIM (b. 1955)
Hakim plays the Schuke organ of the Palacio Euskalduna de Bilbao – Vol. 1
Track-listing at end of review
Naji Hakim; Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet (organ)
rec. 26-27 March 2013, Palacio Euskalduna de Bilbao, Spain
SIGNUM SIGCD389 [60:56]
‘Organ music doesn’t get more contemporary than these invigorating
and provocative pieces’, I wrote in my preamble to an earlier disc
in the Hakim plays Hakim series (review).
That’s certainly true of this new collection, in which the Lebanese-born
composer. organist and pedagogue is joined by his wife Marie-Bernadette
Dufourcet for the thirteen-movement four-hander, Die Apostel.
(The Apostles). Appropriately enough these up-to-the-minute works are
played on the ultra-modern Schuke organ in the Palacio Euskalduna de Bilbao,
Spain. This impressive concert hall – home to the Bilbao Symphony
– is part of a multi-purpose complex that opened in 1999. As the
CD’s extended title implies this is just the first in a series of
recordings planned for that venue.
What appeals to me about Hakim is his forensic but engaging intellect
and his boundless energy, which feed into works that are sometimes daunting
but never dull. It’s also good to be reminded that there is so much
new and rewarding repertoire for the organ; apart from that earlier Hakim
disc I must also alert listeners to a stimulating album in which Jan Lehtola
plays organ pieces by Kalevi Aho (review).
The present CD opens with a now mercurial, now Gothic Toccata
that reveals an organ of splendid range and stability. No wheezes and
clanks here, just the very discreet noises one would expect from a well-behaved
modern instrument.
Hakim's three-movement Petite Suite – which takes its cue
from the Spanish baroque organ – is dedicated to his wife, who is
something of an expert in the field. The registration of Diferencias
brings out the woody, sometimes nasal side of this splendid organ. After
this animated and colourful opener comes the high-lying, wonderfully ethereal
Falsas; the concluding Batalla has a strong antiphonal
element that’s well caught in this full, very detailed recording.
The hall’s acoustic is a little dry, but the upside is that there
is no echo to swamp inner detail or blur the music’s well-defined
edges.
Die Apostel is based on a series of woodcuts by the German Renaissance
artist Lucas Cranach the Elder (c. 1472-1553). As Hakim points
out in his liner-notes he draws on appropriate musical antecedents here;
for example, the Gregorian antiphon Tu es Petrus in Die Heiligen
Petrus and a Gregorian Alleluia from the feast of St Simon
and St Jude in Der heilige Simon und der heilige Judas Thaddäus.
This was post-Reformation Germany, so the artist and his son are represented
among the elect as well.
It’s a glorious work, whose moments of reflection and ecstasy that
brings to mind the sound world of Olivier Messiaen. That said, there’s
a mobility and – dare one say it – a quick wit that ensures
Die Apostel is stripped of superfluous religiosity. Hakim’s
artful treatment of source material and this duo’s lively playing
make for a hugely entertaining piece that passes far more quickly than
its multi-part structure might suggest. I particularly admired the genial,
somewhat burbling portrait of the artist – Der heilige Jakobus
der Ältere – and the gentle solemnity of Der heilige Johannes.
What also impresses me about this music is its method: it’s transparent
and refreshingly direct, with no sign of precocity in either the music
or the playing. In a phrase, Hakim wears his prodigious talents lightly,
and it’s always a joy to find a composer/performer who achieves
that rare state. Mme Hakim makes a sympathetic partner, and there’s
a wonderful sense of two musicians really listening to each other
and responding accordingly. The younger Cranach is energetically drawn
and Paul is dignified in music that embraces both weight and a pleasing
lightness of touch. This is a gorgeous score, brimming with invention,
and it’s one I'd happy to revisit time and again.
The Signum team deserve a mention in despatches, for they have come up
with a clean, unexaggerated recording that does full justice to both the
music and the organ. It would be so easy to turn this into a ‘hi-fi
spectacular’, but as their Nolan/Widor cycle confirms that is not
their way. The paraphrase on Schubert’s Ave Maria finds
Hakim in free-flowing, Lisztian mode – in the best sense –
and the Hommage à Jean Langlais combines buoyancy with a satisfying
body of sound. Apart from the expected Langlais quotations there’s
more than a hint of Parisian street music too.
As its title implies the five-movement Esquisses Grégoriennes
is a set of plainsong paraphrases. As before Hakim takes these ancient
progressions and filters them through a modern lens, with surprising results.
Each one seems so fresh and individual; they’re also scored with
economy and grace, the loveliest of combinations. Indeed, Hakim’s
choice of registrations is perfect, and this noble instrument impresses
even when it has to lift its skirts and dance. That’s exactly what
it does in the concluding part of Arabesques; also dedicated
to Mme Hakim these are deceptively light but intricately wrought pieces,
full of character and point.
I haven’t enjoyed an organ collection this much in ages. Hakim the
composer and performer are shown at their considerable best, and Signum
have obliged with an exemplary recording. The composer’s concise,
very readable notes are an added bonus.
Just fabulous: music that revives the jaded palate.
Dan Morgan
http://twitter.com/mahlerei
Track-listing
Toccata (2011) [4 :11]
Petite Suite (1983)
I. Diferencias [3:33]
II. Falsas [1:17]
III. Batalla [3:43]
Die Apostel (2011)
I. Der Heiland [0:42]
II. Der heilige Petrus [1:58]
III. Der heilige Andreas [0:40]
IV. Der heilige Jakobus der Ältere [1:13]
V. Der heilige Johannes [1:37]
VI. Der heilige Philippus [0:43]
VII. Der heilige Bartolomäus [1:39]
VIII. Der heilige Thomas [0:50]
IX. Der heilige Matthäus [0:57]
X. Der heilige Jakobus der Jüngere [1:14]
XI. Der heilige Simon und der heilige Judas Thaddäus [2:21]
XII. Der heilige Matthias [1:13]
XIII. Der heilige Paulus [1:27]
Ave Maria (Fantasy on a song by Franz Schubert) (2012) [3:38]
Hommage à Jean Langlais (2006) [7:31]
Esquisses Grégoriennes (2006)
I. Nos autem [2:11]
II. Ave maris stella [2:25]
III. Pater noster [1:20]
IV. Ave verum [2:03]
V. O filii et Filiae [3:15]
Arabesques (2009)
I. Prélude [0:46]
II. Pastorale [1:12]
III. Libanaise [1:08]
IV. Arabesque [0:58]
V. Litanie [0:42]
VI. Rondeau [4:29]
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