A palace echoing with the sound of the moving images.

Byline: Matthew Mosley

Summary: "I am Lebanese," said Gabriel Yared to a rousing cheer. "I was born in Lebanon. It is here that I developed my love for music. It is here that I developed my desire to compose. And it is here, after 40 years, that I offer you the fruit of my labors." The courtyard of Beiteddine Palace was the setting.

Review

BEITEDDINE: "I am Lebanese," said Gabriel Yared to a rousing cheer. "I was born in Lebanon. It is here that I developed my love for music. It is here that I developed my desire to compose. And it is here, after 40 years, that I offer you the fruit of my labors." The courtyard of Beiteddine Palace was the setting for a emotional rollercoaster of a concert Saturday night, as one of the country's most celebrated creative talents made a rare appearance in the land of his birth.

A pianist and composer, Yared's fame primarily resides in the work he has done on numerous film soundtracks. He is twice winner of an Academy Award, once for the score he composed for Jean-Jaques Annaud's 1992 motion picture "L'Amant" ("The Lover"), then again for Anthony Minghella's 1996 epic "The English Patient."

With more than 70 soundtracks under his belt, Yared has more than enough material to present. This Beiteddine concert was comprised of a selection of his film work, plus an excerpt from the score he composed for Roland Petit's ballet "Clavigo."

Yared's star quality was evident in the calibre of the collaborators he had amassed for the show. Dirk Brosse, considered by many to be among Europe's most talented composers, took the conductor's podium. The entire Budapest Concert Orchestra was on hand to lend Yared's orchestrations their requisite richness and depth.

In the audience sat Juliette Binoche, the legendary French actress and star of "The English Patient," as well as Annaud and Michel Ocelot, the French animator and director of "Azur and Asmar," for which Yared provided the score.

Though composed to accompany moving pictures, Yared chose to play the music without visual adulteration. "I consider the music evocative enough on its own," he said at the opening of the concert. "If you close your eyes, you'll be able to enjoy your own private cinema inside your head."

Instead, each piece was introduced by a clip from its accompanying film. The evening commenced with music from "Betty Blue," Yared's sultry jazz piano complemented by a breathy saxaphone solo.

Yared's reputation may rest upon his soundtrack compositions, but on Saturday he proved to be an affable and engaging performer as well. He chatted with his audience between each piece, discussing his songwriting process and recalling the progression of his career.

"My approach to composing for film is not very orthodox," he told the Beiteddine audience. Yared avoids working with the images themselves for as long as possible, often working only before the film has finished shooting.

Composing the score for "L'Amant," for example, Yared began by researching Chinese music of the 1930s, to chime with the setting of the film. "The story is very simple," he said, "so I decided to use a simple musical from: The arpeggio" u a broken chord where the notes are played in sequence.

He went on to demonstrate how, in Chinese music, an arpeggio has a somewhat different tonality than its Western counterpart. The passage Yared and ensemble played from "L'Amant" was one of the most delightful of the evening. A prominent harp emitted rippling tides of notes, tempered by the velveteen force of a cooing clarinet.

The composer's triumph on Saturday evening was tempered, however, by the spectre of tragedy. Anthony Minghella, the director of "The English Patient," died unexpectedly last year at the age of 54.

Yared, who had also composed the scores for Minghella's subsequent three films, including "The Talented Mr Ripley" and "Cold Mountain," expressed his disbelief at Minghella's passing.

"We shared a botherhood of tastes, inspirations and working practices," he said.

Binoche also took to the stage to express her regret. "He was generous, intelligent, sensitive and seemingly telepathic," she said. "There is music even in the silences of his films.

"For me, Gabriel's music is inseparable from Anthony's films u I cannot dissociate the character I played from the music that accompanies."

Following these tributes came a suite compiled from "The English Patient" soundtrack. This was the emotional core of the evening, and a reminder for the audience, if any were needed, of the magnificence of Yared's score.

A throaty vocal soars and plunges, poignant in its mournful isolation. Soon an oboe pipes up, its reedy melody replacing the voice before the entire weight of the orchestra sweeps in. The ensemble navigates a vast, shimmering musical landscape replete with emotional intensity. Saturday's concert made crystal clear to its audience just how crucial a soundtrack can be to the overall impact of a film.

Yared's vocal pieces were performed with delightful gusto by the soprano Gaelle Mechaly. Wonderfully poised, the singer took full advantage of the performative opportunities of her parts, from an Italian aria written for "Posession," to a creepy lullaby from "The Talented Mr Ripley."

Yared also demonstrated great range. A brass-heavy waltz from "Camille Claudel" was preceded by a dramatic, bandoneon-led tango from "La lune dans la Caniveau" ("Moon in the Gutter"). A number of pieces betrayed jazz influences, including the throbbing double-bass heard in an excerpt from "Breaking and Entering."

After the obligatory encore, the audience surged toward their cars and buses while Yared and his celebrity guests melted away in the other direction. Busy Binoche and Annaud had less than 24 hours in Lebanon. Yared, prolific as ever and with multiple projects in the pipeline, shows no sign of slowing down either.

Beiteddine International Festival continues with Hanine y Son Cubano on July 31. For tickets, call Virgin Megastores on [phone].

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