The range of vocals of the singer and the performance of the musicians mesmerised the audience. PHOTOS: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
It is no secret that Pakistanis love emotions and drama. So it was unsurprising that Pakistani guests attending a piano concert organised by the German Embassy on Thursday seemed to adore the music of 19th century German composer Richard Wagner, famous for his dramatic and emotion-packed compositions.
The concert was held to commemorate Wagner’s 200th birth anniversary, which fell earlier this year.
German pianist Stephan Rahn and mezzo-soprano Judith Mayer combined with Karachi-based Pakistani pianist Usman Anees to perform the openings of some of Wagner’s most popular operas.
Wagner is famous for his operas, Rahn said. But because the musicians could not bring the whole orchestra required to play an opera, they decided to perform openings of two Wagner operas along with some other musical pieces.
Rahn, a freelance musician, and Anees, who is currently studying Western classical composition at London’s Trinity College, started with the overture to Rienzi. With a four-hand piano arrangement, the two pianists synchronised perfectly to reproduce the intensity of the opera’s opening.
Mayer then worked magic with her powerful voice, singing five songs by Wagner, including “In the Greenhouse” and “Dreams.” The range of her vocals and dramatic delivery of the lyrics mesmerised the audience, which was evident from the applause she got at the end of each of song.
Sheikh Farooq, the general manager of a private shipping company, said the singing was “heartfelt and moving, with an emotional pull.”
Wagner’s music is all about emotions and dramatic music, Rahn said, talking about the musical quality of the German composer, who was also famous for writing his own librettos. “It’s pure opera.”
Rahn, who, along with the Mayer and Anees, also performed at the Goethe Institute in Karachi on Wednesday, said “Pakistani audience have been very welcoming to Wagner’s music, even though they are not accustomed to Western classical music.”
At the concert, Anees, 27, also gave a solo performance of the Isolde’s Love-Death — the final, dramatic climax of Wagner’s opera, Tristan and Isolde, which is based on a medieval European legend of unattainable love.
After a brief interval, Rahn performed the “Sonata for the album of Madame MW” before combining again with Anees to play the prelude to The Master-Singers of Nuremburg. In between, Mayer sang five more songs composed by Franz Liszt, who was a friend and father-in-law of Wagner.
Pakistani and foreign guests in the audience appeared united in their applause for the performances and Ambassador of Germany in Pakistan Dr Cyrill Nunn seemed to agree.
“Music is the perfect bridge between countries,” the ambassador told The Express Tribune after the concert.
Nunn said the German Embassy always tries to create collaboration between Germany and Pakistan at its events.
He offered the concert as an example of “one bridge bringing German musicians here for the local audience”. The other is to feature a Pakistani musician who extraordinarily performs the music of someone as typically German as Wagner, he added.
German nationals in the audience said the pieces picked by the musicians for the evening were some of the “lighter” and “happier” music by the German composer.
They said Wagner’s popularity in Germany is evident from the fact that people wait years to get tickets for the performances of Wagner’s operas held at an annual festival in Bayreuth, Germany, where Wagner had supervised the building of a theatre during his lifetime.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 12th, 2013.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ