The CRR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Murat Cem Orhan, is to play works – most of which involve two pianists – by Mozart, Poulenc, Camilleri and Saint-Saëns. First, the orchestra will play the overture to Mozart’s 1786 opera The Marriage of Figaro; then they will accompany two of the pianists in the same composer’s Concerto No 10 for Two Pianos and Orchestra in E flat major (K 365). The next work on the programme – by the French composer Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) – will be his 1932 Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, described as ‘the climax of his early period’. Following this, a work by the Maltese composer Charles Camilleri (1931–2009) will be heard: his atmospheric Concertino No 4 for Two Pianos and Orchestra, subtitled ‘Summer Nights in Malta’. The last work on the programme, meanwhile, will be Camille Saint-Saëns’ humorous and ever-popular The Carnival of the Animals, written for two pianos and string orchestra in 1886. (In fact, Saint-Saëns later tried to suppress this work, thinking that it would damage his reputation as a serious composer. Fortunately, he didn’t succeed.)
The five pianists referred to in the concert’s title are Gökhan Aybulus, Cem Babacan, Kandemir Basmacıoğlu, Başar Can Kıvrak and Özgür Ünaldı.
Finally, a word about Charles Camilleri, who is one of Malta’s culture heroes. Here is Wikipedia’s description of him:
Camilleri moved from his early influences (i.e., Maltese folk music) to a musical form ‘in which nothing is fixed and his compositions evolve from themselves with a sense of fluency and inevitability’. He composed over 100 works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, voice and solo instruments. Camilleri’s work has been performed throughout the world, and his research into folk music and improvisation, the influences of the sounds of Africa and Asia, together with the academic study of European music, helped him create a ‘universal’ style.
Issue 66, December 2023
Turkey’s Centenary Issue
