Ensemble Modern / Nina Janßen: clarinet / Saar Berger: horn / Michael M. Kasper: violoncello / Bassem Alkhouri: qanun / Martyn Brabbins: conductor / Hermann Kretzschmar: piano / Ulrike Stortz: violin / Noriko Kawai: piano / Franck Ollu: conductor
Saed Haddad views good music as needing, in addition to many intangible elements, a balance of physical and metaphysical traits. In the former category, he includes beauty, energy, magic, tension, virtuosity, etc. In the latter category rest elusive concepts: the existential, the intellectual, the transcendental.
The compositions presented on this CD belong to two periods of compositional practices. In the first period (2004–06), Haddad aimed to achieve a synthesis of Arabic and Western music, without the usual Western gimmicks, i.e. tourism, exoticism or even "abstraction". His goal was true existential and transcendental integration, not a juxtaposition or imposition of one tradition on the other. In the latter period (2007–), the ever-questioning composer has been distancing himself from a direct, existential contact with Arabic culture.
Le Contredésir On Love I for qanun and ensemble - On Love II for piano and ensemble - Les Deux Visages de l'Orient - Études Mystérieuses (I–VII) - The Sublime for ensemble