The three recordings on this disc all derive from live first performances
and all are world première recordings. The composer’s music
will already be familiar to those who have invested in the four earlier
series of releases on Naxos, and this issue is valuable in helping to
‘flesh out’ the favourable impressions created by those discs.
It has however to be observed that the earlier releases did not win universal
approbation from the critics, some of whom objected to the composer’s
neo-romantic aspirations as “pretentious” and as “mere
pastiches of style and mood”. Others welcomed the evident commitment
and passion which he pours into his music, Gary Higginson on this site
describing it as “strong, dramatic and visual”. I must confess
that I find myself wholly in the latter camp, finding the scores of Bechara
El-Khoury to be a refreshing change from modern music that seems to strive
solely for aural effect without any concern for the emotional content
of what is – after all – the supremely emotional medium of
music.
Much of the composer’s music is concerned with memories and reminiscences
of his Lebanese homeland, although he has now been resident in France
for a good many years. Two of the concertos here – those for horn
and clarinet – acknowledge this influence, while the
First Violin
Concerto written in 1999-2002 takes the concerto by Berg as its model.
It must be admitted that the two wind concertos, with their programmatic
titles, are more gripping than that for violin which, while it also has
a title — not explained in the otherwise excellent booklet notes
— does have a sense of drifting. While the music has plenty of rhythmic
drive, it is not clear precisely where it is going until a lushly romantic
melody finally makes a brief appearance during the course of the finale
(track 3, 4.10). Sarah Nemtanu copes bravely with the insistent virtuosic
figuration, but I am not sure that the whole work coheres despite her
valiant efforts and Masur’s controlled management of the orchestra.
The
Horn Concerto written during 2007-8 has a far more assured
sense of purpose, and fully exploits the heroic potential of the instrument
in a series of passionate and indeed thrilling virtuosic passages. The
finale, marked
Drammatico energico, opens with a series of repeated
chords which
are thoroughly dramatic and energetic; and the slow
Poetico slow movement is charged with emotion. The melody which
emerges in the finale (track 6, 5.00) is beautifully handled by David
Guerrier, who seems able to cope with the most stratospheric writing with
enviable ease. Jean-Claude Casadesus brings out all the lushness of the
rich orchestral scoring superbly.
After the whirling finale of the
Horn Concerto, the opening of
the
Clarinet Concerto written in 2009-10 seems rather more withdrawn.
It soon gathers emotional weight with some decidedly folk-influenced turns
on the solo instrument; there is even a hint of the opening of the final
Act of Vaughan Williams’s
The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Thereafter it moves forward purposefully. The scoring for the orchestra
is less challenging, as one would expect given the nature of the solo
instrument. One does suspect that some of the elaborate figuration given
to the clarinet is prompted more by the desire for display than for the
evocation of “the sky of the East” which the composer describes
in the booklet notes. Again the performance is excellent, with Patrick
Messina supplying smooth tone throughout his range, without any suspicion
of shrillness even in the highest passages. The orchestral playing under
Olari Ets is most responsive.
Although the
Horn Concerto is a magnificent and stirring work,
which deserves to be heard more often, one has to admit to a suspicion
that El-Khoury’s undoubted compositional genius is not ideally suited
to the notion of a display piece that is implied by the title “concerto”.
As such the music on this disc is not as immediately impressive as that
on the earlier Naxos releases of purely orchestral scores. On the other
hand, those who have enjoyed those earlier discs should certainly investigate
this one. Although these are live performances — as the enthusiastic
applause at the end of each work attests — the quality of the recorded
sound is excellent. The performances are such as to make any composer
green with envy. Those unfamiliar with the work of El-Khoury should certainly
investigate these Naxos issues of modern music which is immediately approachable.
It's much much more than just surface “pastiche”. One
looks forward with eager anticipation to future releases from this source.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Previous reviews:
Gary
Higginson and
Rob
Barnett
Reviews of other El-Khoury recordings:
Naxos
8.557043 ~~
Naxos
8.557691 ~~
Naxos
8.570134 ~~
Forlane
ARC361216762
