Piano concert: A celebration of peace, with sounds of tranquility

Martine Mirabel-Pitte concert held to mark 50 years since Treaty of Friendship was signed.

ISLAMABAD: Half a century ago, the leaders of two perennially warring nations sat down to sign the Elysee Treaty. With the stroke of a pen, centuries of cold and hot wars were replaced by a friendship that would lay the foundation for the world’s most successful economic union.

Earlier this week, the embassies of France and Germany worked together to celebrate 50 years of the Treaty of Friendship in a language everyone can understand — music.

French Ambassador Philippe Thiebaud played host at a piano concert by French pianist Martine Mirabel-Pitte held at the German Embassy.

After the guests were seated, Ambassador Thiebaud opened the show by welcoming guests and reminding them of the significance of the Elysee Treaty in Franco-German relations, before moving on to state the importance of cultural exchanges in improving bilateral relations between states. “We are trying to promote Pakistani culture in our countries and our own culture here, and music is a great medium for this. Enjoy this evening of music and friendship.”

He then introduced German Ambassador Cyrill Nunn, who joked about how he is doubly-happy about the event because, “My mother is French, so it’s also a matter of heart”. He then noted how, despite close Frenco-German ties, “Oddly we always need an American piano to play,” referring to the Steinway on stage.

Mirabel-Pitte then took the stage and explained the set she was about to play, mostly from the late 19th and early 20th century.

Trained at Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, Mirabel-Pitte has also extensively explored avenues for dialogues amongst culture by visiting South East Asia and taking lessons with Master Gita Lulin Maung

Ko Ko and is very active and interested in cultural exchange work.

She explained that this era held musical significance because it is when styles began to move in a different direction from Romanticism, and identified Johannes Brahms as “the last true romantic composer”.

After a mellow opening, Mirabel-Pitte moved on to more uplifting stylings. Taking a pause, she then explained how she prefers music from the Romantic era because it is emotional, and joked, “When I play, I play for myself, because no one else.”

Maybe everyone should play for themselves, because the precise, delicate, passionate nature of the manner in which she made every keystroke resonate within the souls of the audience made the experience pure joy. This was only made more obvious by not one, but two encore performances after the set was completed, and the thunderous standing ovation that followed.

Apart from the two German composers, the works of Frenchmen Gabriel Faure and Claude Debussy were also included in the set, which Paul Molloy, Australia’s deputy high commissioner, found “lovely”, adding that her “selection of pieces was very relaxing and inspiring”.

Apart from the intimate assembly of diplomats, which included ambassadors and senior officials from EU member states and others such as Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Oi, who is himself an accomplished

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2013.