Australian Chamber Orchestra

The Four Seasons

These concerts celebrate the resonance of different cultures. In addition to Antonio Vivaldi’s eponymous work, the program features music of the Ottoman Empire alongside original works by Egyptian-Australian oud virtuoso and composer Joseph Tawadros.

There is a profound symbiosis between the cultures of Venice and Islam, as evidenced by countless artworks, relics, and traditions, as well as numerous books on the subject. Stefano Carboni, who was curator and administrator of the department of Islamic art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and a former director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, prepared a 375-page book to accompany an exhibition he curated at the Metropolitan Museum in 2007 called Venice and the Islamic World, 828–1797. He writes:

“The artistic consequences of the dynamic relationship that Venice forged with its Islamic trading partners, especially the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the Ottomans of Turkey, and the Safavids of Iran, were felt over nearly a thousand-year period. The same merchant galleys that carried spices, soap, cotton, and industrial supplies from the bazaars of the Islamic Near East to the markets of Venice also brought with them luxurious carpets, velvets, silks, glass, porcelain, gilded bookbindings, illustrated manuscripts, and inlaid metalwork. Not surprisingly, these and other portable works of Islamic art, which were often superior in quality to what was available in Europe, made an indelible impression upon artistic taste and production in Venice. From the medieval to the Baroque eras, Venetians acquired Islamic art and adapted and imitated its techniques. In turn, albeit to a lesser extent, the arts of Venice became of interest to the Islamic world.”

That there exists so much visual art, textiles, and food resulting from this rapport comes as little surprise. The artistic consequences of this symbiosis on music are harder to discern from the mere existence of a composer’s manuscript, but when performed in a collaboration such as this, one can be convinced that these links do occur in no insubstantial way.

Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons come from a 1725 set of concertos entitled The Contest of Harmony and Invention. Of the 230 or so concertos he wrote for the violin, these four have acquired a special place in the repertoire, becoming the most performed pieces of classical music today, celebrated for their recognizable melodies, for their virtuosity and innovation, and for being vividly programmatic. This is illustrated not only through the music, but in seasonal sonnets and scenic descriptions that Vivaldi wrote to accompany the score.

In Vivaldi’s Spring, birdsong, flowing fountains, and rustic pastoral dances frame a gentle middle movement in which the murmur of branches and leaves accompany a sleeping goatherd and his dog. In Summer, everything languishes in the extreme heat except for a few birds. The turbulent north wind draws storms ever closer until thunder interrupts the buzz of insects. In the finale, the storm breaks.

In Autumn, a village celebration leaves one drunkard tumbling into the gutter, while the middle movement portrays the strange dreams of sleeping drunks. The finale is a hunt – the game is set loose, guns fire, dogs chase, and the fleeing beast dies. Winter brings horrid winds from which one must run and stamp feet to keep warm. There is brief respite by a cozy fireplace, but in the finale one slips on breaking ice before a stormy battle of the winds. 

The inclusion of Joseph Tawadros’ exquisitely crystalline oud line and the zing of James Tawadros’ riq’ lifts these concertos out of the Western concert hall, and places them back into the Venice that Vivaldi himself would have inhabited, with an abundance of sounds and flavors from the East around every street corner.

The Near East served as direct inspiration for Vivaldi’s opera Bajazet, as well as the violin concerto nicknamed “Il Grosso Mogul,” named for the Mughal emperors of India. After hearing Vivaldi’s use of modes and improvisational solo writing, the similarities with two Ottoman works on this program become unmistakable. The concert opens with a Middle Eastern improvised instrumental prelude, or Taqsīm, a form that continues to be especially popular in Egypt and Türkiye today. Tanburi Angeli, a Greek musician living in Istanbul in the latter part of the 17th century, was renowned for playing the Tanbur – a form of long-necked lute from the same instrumental family as the oud. His Ottoman march Maka-m-i-Rehavi Çember-i-Koca pre-empts the hunt of Vivaldi’s Autumn. 

I have always found that the music of the Baroque shared many similarities with Arabic music: chordal progressions, its diatonic nature, its use of ornamentation and phrasing. This can be clearly seen in Vivaldi’s music, and this concept has formed the basis for these collaborative performances of The Four Seasons alongside my own music with the ACO.

The pieces I’ve written come from a turbulent period in my life. The year 2012 saw the passing of my beautiful mother, Rose. Then in 2013, my father Nabil also passed away. Both were wonderful characters and storytellers. It is not easy losing anyone, let alone two very inspiring and encouraging figures within the space of a year.

At times like this, my oud is my refuge, my comfort and true friend. And, although it is already a very big part of my everyday life, it is also a metaphysical outlet and healer, a link between my reality and my aspirations. Its charismatic sound reminds me of my parents: my father’s voice in the bass and my mother’s in the treble.

The album from which many of the works on this program are taken is Permission to Evaporate. The music covers a range of diverse voices, compounding all that I’ve learned in my decades on this planet and converting those experiences to sound – a compositional diary, if you will.

I believe the strongest link in this collaboration is the energy, passion, and shared vision of this music. It’s not about placing it in any genre, culture or time, but how it moves us as humans and can be shared together regardless of our background.