It is a brave composer
who allows his very earliest compositions
to be exposed to public view in such
a decisive way as on a CD easily available
and reviewed. These pieces mostly date
from the 1980s when El-Khoury was in
his 20s and early 30s. Most composers
are still developing their language
at this age. There may well be inconsistency
of style or standard, experiments sometimes
fail to come off; they can be learnt
from. This would be particularly so
in the area of writing for orchestra.
Fundamental problems of balance arise
as do issues with the disposition of
parts, special effects and logical lines.
Technical problems peculiar to each
instrument must be learnt … often empirically.
So what is remarkable here is a young
composer born in the Lebanon somewhat
away from what is generally regarded
as the mainstream of musical developments.
He moves to Paris at eighteen or so
and is, within a short time, a natural
and prolific composer for the greatest
instrument of all - the orchestra.
These early pieces
show a considerable competence. Sometimes
they are inspired - often sounding extremely
mature. The language may not always
be quite consistent but the technical
standard and the composer’s ease in
the use of the orchestra is masterly.
All in all it’s quite clear why Bechara
El-Khoury felt quite happy to release
these 1980s recordings. Equally importantly
one can quickly hear why orchestras
and conductors were delighted to commission
such music, put them on and spend time
on these pieces.
Bechara El-Khoury was
born in the war-torn city of Beirut
in 1957. His works can be considered
an expression of his humanistic beliefs
based on Christian spirituality. He
is also a poet, and was a published
composer and poet whilst still a student
in France at the Ecole-Normale de Musique.
Since 1987, attracted by France’s Catholicism
and by the philosophical attitude inculcated
in the arts, he became a French citizen.
El-Khoury has been commissioned by bodies
in France and in the Lebanon, writing
serious concert works and film music.
He has won various prizes, for example
the ‘Prix des Arts et de la Culture’.
He has had performances all over Europe
and in Russia. His music manages to
be both approachable and original.
This double CD set
opens with an untypical work: his Opus
9, a Dance for orchestra of little more
than two minutes. It is certainly reminiscent
of eastern European music, perhaps Khachaturian
is recalled or Ahmed Saygun. Anyway
it is a good start. My only criticism
is that it is too short and disappoints
on those grounds alone.
As an example of stylistic
dichotomy listen to the ‘Poème
Number 1, for piano and orchestra’ Op
11. Here we find a melody, let’s call
it a second subject although these epithets
are not accurate when applied to this
music, which is, as the booklet notes
say, Oriental, or at least eastern in
inspiration. Immediately after it comes
the return of the first subject, now
marked at least forte and played romantically
on the violins with massive piano chords
in the style of Rachmaninov. After the
climax the atmosphere calms again before
a grand gesture and a strong major key
resolution at the end. Is it a dichotomy
or is just an attempt to fuse the music
of his homeland with the European works
which he was now studying?
The second ‘Poème
pour piano and orchestra’ Op. 22 was
written just one year later. It is a
lush effusion and I’m sorry to say I
have no particular desire to hear it
again. This is a pity because David
Livelyis a sensitive pianist; stylistically
ideal for this music. These two Poèmes
are, in a sense, a preparation for the
largest piece in this set: the twenty-five
minute Piano Concerto composed in 1984
and played with great commitment by
Abdel Rahman el Bacha. It adheres to
a classical format being in three movements.
The outer movements however are too
overblown for the rather limited material.
The whole work is rather derivative
of weak post-romanticism. The odd moment
when one is reminded of Dutilleux and
Messiaen only serves to make matters
worse.
The early music of
Messiaen is especially recalled in the
earliest work here ‘Le Regard du Christ’
Op 2, not only in the title but in its
rich and sonorous language. El-Khoury
started life, and has to some extent
continued, as a church musician, so
Messiaen is close to his heart, although
this piece is not particularly representative
of him.
After that things settle
down a little.One is quickly immersed
in El-Khoury’s natural landscape with
his ‘Image Symphonique’. The devastation
he saw around him as an impressionable
young man is, quite naturally, reflected
in this music. It inspired that work,
and tragically, continues to inspire
this distinctly serious music, which
is trying to say something to us about
the human condition in the inhumane
circumstances of war and destruction.
These circumstances also lie behind
the Symphony Number 1 subtitled ‘Les
Ruines de Beirut’ (on Naxos 8.557043).
In an interview available from Naxos
over the internet the composer talks
of the symphony as the "last part
of a Lebanese trilogy". The other
parts are ‘Lebanon in Flames’ and ‘Requiem’
both of which are, in my view, the most
moving pieces on this CD, not only for
their tragic context but also because
they are musically by far the most consistent
and successful pieces here.
Some pieces came out
of poems. The booklet notes by Gerald
Hugon are only partially translated
from the French. He tells us that ‘Lebanon
in Flames’ was inspired by a poem written
by the composer whilst he was living
briefly in his homeland again. This
twenty minute score is notable for its
use of a very oriental melody at its
mid-point played on the oboe with delicate
harp accompaniment amidst the contrasting
catastrophic sounds of destruction all
around. The two-movement ‘Suite Symphonique’
subtitled ‘La nuit et le fou’ (The night
and the madness) was inspired by a poet
close to the composer’s heart - a fellow
Lebanese, Khalil Gibran. It is a solemn,
intensely chromatic and predominantly
slow parade of dark murmurings perhaps
more akin to a film score but with its
own formal logic.
Until you know the
music, formal logic is the very thing
which appears lacking in most of these
works. In actuality they have their
own form which almost never corresponds
to anything conventional. From that
point of view El-Khoury is very French.
The symphonic music does however have
intellectual strength and complete integrity.
Of a slightly different
‘ilk’ is the ‘Méditation Poètique’
wonderfully played here by Gérard
Poulet. At first I thought that it was
using a tone row but then I read the
booklet note which, if my French is
up to it, suggests the music is post-romantic,
not unlike Reger or even more closely,
Alban Berg.
Mostly however the
works on this CD are slow and serious
and only one piece can be taken at a
time. You may feel that the composer
repeats himself. I suppose that this
was inevitable when one considers how
quickly some of these pieces came to
fruition. Its worth noting that both
the Op. 26 and Op. 29 date from 1983
and therefore we can perhaps assume
that the works in between belong to
that same year. It’s also worth noting
that they all received fairly immediate
performances. It is these which have
been captured very competently by Forlane
for posterity. Not all of these are
equally good however. In some cases
the orchestra appears to be distinctly
under-rehearsed but mostly things go
very well and on the whole the overall
balance is excellent.
El-Khoury’s great champions
have been Pierre Dervaux and the Orchestre
des Concerts Colonne. They premiered
all of this music. What a great loss
therefore Dervaux has been to all concerned
since his death in 1992 aged 75. This
double CD acts as a memorial to him
as well as a tribute to this fascinating
composer.
Gary Higginson
Orchestre Colonne/Pierre Dervaux