The exotic textures of Middle East music are familiar, if not by name, then surely by the uniqueness of their sounds: the infectious rhythms of the darabouka drum and the riq tambourine, the plangent melodies of the lute-like oud, the ney flute and multi-stringed quanun.
It is music that drifts across borders from Syria and Lebanon to Iraq, Iran and the nations of the Persian Gulf, music whose character and nature have represented a sophisticated cultural expression for thousands of years. Yet, on certain evenings in Damascus, it is possible to experience the sounds of a very different culture by joining jampacked crowds of 2, or so to hear a full symphony orchestra perform the music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.
The ensemble is mostly filled with young people, ranging in age from 18 to 25, performing the works with expertise and enthusiasm for an audience that greets each selection with animated applause. Currently we have about 18 former Soviets--very fine players, some who were students of Rostropovich and Oistrakh--from places such as Baku, Azerbaijan and the Ukraine.
And all of these works have been orchestrated for our ensemble from the original compositions. In the case of the Movement for Three Lutes, for example, I have orchestrated it as a kind of Oriental moto perpetuo. A vital voice in Arabic music since the 8th century, the oud, with its half-pear shape and short, fretted neck, came to Spain with the entry of Islam in , eventually emerging in England as the lute.
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The quanun is similar to the instrument known in the West as the zither or dulcimer--all descendants of the Greek kithara and the Egyptian harp.
