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The desert rose, with its intricate crystalline petal clusters, forms over millennia through the interaction of minerals, sand, and water in regions such as Qatar—a land of desert and sea. This “architectural” wonder of nature inspired the design of Jean Nouvel’s masterpiece, the National Museum of Qatar, a stunning structure of interlocking discs that tells the story of Qatar from the natural history of its origins through its cultural developments to the cutting-edge technologies of today.
Springing from the idea that architecture is frozen music, Malek Jandali’s Symphony No. 6 takes its inspiration from both “desert roses,” transforming them into a consummate orchestral work that preserves and extends the rich heritage of the region. The Desert Rose Symphony depicts their complexity and contrasts in form and scale, juxtaposing the traditional and the modern—rapid progress intertwined with the arid golden sand dunes and the abundance of the sea. The nine-movement symphony also takes inspiration from the nine-point serrated line in the flag of Qatar indicating the ninth member of the “Reconciled Emirates” of the Persian Gulf in the wake of concluding the Qatari-British treaty in 1916. The white color reflects the internationally recognized symbol of peace.
Like its inspirations, Symphony No. 6 harbors an elaborate interlocking structure. Bookmarked in A-flat major, in which key the first and last movements end, the Symphony comprises three interlaced musical forms—a symphonic suite and two symphonies. One is a Qatari symphonic suite based on traditional folk music and dances using the principal of contrast: Movements II, III, V and VII. Second is a traditional “old-fashioned” symphony of four Movements I, IV, VI and IX. The third combines the first two “symphonies” with Movement VIII, which brings about the grandiose conclusion of the Desert Rose Symphony.
The Desert Rose Symphony amazes on so many levels, just like its models. Driving rhythmic ostinatos contrast with poetic beauty, old interlocks with new, Qatari folk with Western classical, natural with manmade. Through it all runs the voice of hope for peace and unity.
The symphony was recorded by the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by Marin Alsop at the ORF-Funkhaus Wien, on May 15, 2021, just days after its completion. This collaboration between Alsop and Jandali stemmed from Alsop’s commissioning of The Silent Ocean for her contemporary festival in Baltimore after being impressed by the composer’s Syrian Symphony. Says Alsop, “I don’t know of another composer who so successfully weaves in the Arabic, particularly the folk elements. . . . and by bringing that into the symphonic structure and integrating them, opens up a whole new form. Jandali belongs among the superb composer poets of our time. A meaningful voice of quite astonishing, almost unearthly beauty.”
As to nature’s desert rose, an example of which she was able to touch leading up to the recording sessions, she was struck by its sturdiness. “Seeing the actual desert rose today,” she reported, “made me feel much more connected to our heritage as human beings on the planet. And maybe that’s the goal . . . to find that fundamental connection among all of us as human beings instead of all these superficial things that we have to fight about. So . . . we can aspire.”
- Genre
- Classical
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