Marvin Gold <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>There is also a symphony No.1 by somone called "Saab" recorded in 1942.
>Does anybody have any information about this person?

There seems to be a slight confusion, since the Archiphon website says at:

   http://home.t-online.de/home/archiphon.unger/news.htm

that Gabriel Saab's 1st symphony was premiered in 1997.

I find some more information in French at:

   http://www.scena.org/lsm/sm3-2/SM3-2NO-Fr.htm

It appears that Gabriel Saab lives not too far from you, Marvin!

Here is a quick translation:

   On March 18, in the concert hall of the Cracow Philharmony, the
   Cracow Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Jacub Kowalski
   premiered Dr. Saab's Symphony No. 1.  The concert was helped by active
   participation and support from the Candian Embassy in Warsaw.

   Gabriel Saab's Symphony No. 1 in E minor, opus 1, is a 38-minute
   long work, following the traditional four-movement sonata pattern.
   Middle-Eastern liturgical tunes and nostalgic songs of Egyptian flute
   players, reminiscent of the composer's youth, can be heard in it.
   Dr Saab describes his work as "very personal, coming from the heart".

   Gabriel S. Saab, PhD in economy, was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1923.
   He arrived in Montreal in 1967 when he was appointed Head of the
   agricultural economy department of the Quebec Union of agricultural
   producers (Union des producteurs agricoles du Quebec).  Later, after
   having worked as an international consulting expert in more than 30
   developing countries, he was appointed Permanent Representative of
   the FAO (in Rome) at the UNO office in New York, fulfilling the
   function from 1982 to 1988.  After he retired, Dr Saab studied
   composition with Maestro Jacques Faubert, Professor at the Music
   Conservatory in Montreal, thus resuming the studies which he had left
   incomplete in 1953 after 7 years of theoretical work with Professor
   Georges Becker of the Paris Conservatory.

I hope it helps...

This sounds interesting IMHO, if unusual, since it is very difficult to
find Symphonies by Egyptian-born composers.  I never heard any of Khairat's
3 symphonies.  As for Halim el-Dabh, who must have completed 5 symphonies
to date according to the Cleveland composers society (of which he is a
member IIRC), even finding a detailed catalogue of his works seems very
difficult, not to mention any recording.  Naturally these composers should
be vastly different from each other.

Best wishes,

Thanh-Tam Le
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