This year's Annual Pipe Organ Concert at the Royal Opera House Muscat promised more than just the resplendent timbres of the magnificent organ — it was a celebration of youthful exuberance and artistic diversity. The air buzzed with excitement as patrons settled into their seats, eager to experience an unforgettable evening.
It opened with the well disciplined children’s choir, ‘Piccoli Cantori di Torino’ (Little Singers of Turin) - 32 children aged 9 to 15 dressed in red frocks and black trousers, who performed impressively for a whole hour. Their organist, Federico Perotti made interesting use of the organ stops in Gustav Holst's, ‘Hymn to the Water’ with some lovely part-writing in the English 20th century style.
‘La Voce del Mar’ (The Voice of the Sea – a watery theme was emerging) by contemporary composer, Francesco Corrias was sung comfortably in their native Italian with gently rippling voices. The organ part imitated washing of waves while two children added bird song and rainmaker effects, enhancing the marine atmosphere. A turning point came from Verdi's 19th century, “La Traviata”, ‘Noi siam le zingarelle’. The children acted out the meaning (We are little gypsies) with movement and steps without their guest conductor, Elisa Dal Corso. She returned to take the vocal solo in a semi-staged, dramatic interpretation, surrounded by adoring “gypsies”! It was extremely popular and received warm appreciation from the audience. Offenbach's, “Barcarolle” from his, ‘Tales of Hoffmann’ opened with a low bassoon stop and later high woodwinds imitated the sound of the little boat on the water. It segued neatly into a delightful rendition of the ever-popular Neapolitan sea-song, ‘Santa Lucia’ in a lovely four-part acapella arrangement.
The choir sat and faced the back where a young soloist sang, ‘I feel Pretty’ with tambourine accompaniment from Leonard Bernstein's, “West Side Story”. The whole choir stood to join in the chorus making a refreshingly youthful performance. Perotti treated the listeners to some big, fiery waves in a splendidly improvised interlude before, ‘Somewhere’ to light organ accompaniment. Short solo phrases were distributed throughout the choir with tricky entrances, and finished with a poignant Italian translation for the young voices.
The ‘Piccoli Cantori’ were joined by ten singers from the local Cheltenham and Downe House schools. They performed the 20th century Hungarian composer, Làjos Bàrdos’ lovely, minimalist arrangement of, ‘A Mia Mamma’, reminiscent of Arvo Pärt, juxtaposing the choir texture with organ and tubular bell effects. Bruno Colais’ enduring soundtrack, “Voir sur ton Chemin” (from the 2004 film ‘Les Choristes’) was sung beautifully in French with exotic Indian bell chimes – and here the choirs should be complimented for performing the entire programme by heart.
The Norwegian, ‘Eatnemen Vuelie’ (Earth) was the inspiration for a song in the musical, ‘Frozen’ featuring Eastern European uneven rhythms, foot stamps and shouts. It was an evocative piece, building up with an organ crescendo to create an impressive conclusion to the first half.
Part Two opened with the exceptional Italian Organist, Claudio Astronio, performing 17th century Nikolaus Bruhns’ ‘Preludiom in G’. It made full use of the organ’s Baroque colours and textures, including the wonderful bass pipes of the Opera House's Klais Orgelbau four-manual instrument. Demonstrating Astronio’s extraordinary finger technique and virtuoso footwork on pedals, it is a shame that there were no cameras in the organ loft to project his hands and feet onto large screens.
Contemporary composer, Philip Glass’s minimalist sound world transfered well to organ writing in the impossibly dexterous, “Mad Rush”. Glass’s unique, iconic language focused on the organ’s middle register followed by a faster, hypnotic section with a lyrical clarinet melody suspended above. The music returned to the first section, with tune below and clarion stop clashes as it built up to a final astounding climax.
The third section of the concert introduced the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra - surely meriting a full concert of their own - conducted by Gianluca Marciano in Handel’s Organ Concerto (Grosso) in G minor. Claudio Astronio reappeared as soloist and the favourable acoustics of the auditorium aided a lovely round quality from ROSO’s excellent ensemble. The two forces rarely played together, but created a well-balanced juxtaposition of timbres with clear, precise direction from enigmatic Maestro, Gianluca Marciano.
Wagner's, ‘Meistersingers Overture’ demanded ROSO’s full, romantic orchestral complement with wonderfully Wagnerian brass and timpani additions. Marciano is a visually animated conductor and his charisma coaxes an equally energetic performance from the wind players. It was gratifying to hear this lush, Romantic work performed so well by His Majesty’s musicians.
The final ‘Allegro con fuoco’ from Dvořak's popular 1893, “Symphony from the New World” effused with some superb string playing. Celebrating Native American folksong, it provided the brass section a chance to excel with resounding clarity. It was a rousing, triumphant ending to a full, long and varied concert, leaving the Pipe Organ repertoire behind for another year.
Photos Khalid al Busaidi
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