Zaytoun

Zaytoun

Haitham Haidar, Sylvain Bergeron, Abdul-Wahab Kayyali, Amanda Keesmaat, Tanya LaPerrière, Abraham Ross
ATH23027 Athene

Haitham Haidar is a Lebanese-Palestinian-Canadian tenor with a memorably warm tone, whether speaking or singing (and we have both in this programme) he is a gripping communicator and charismatic musician. This touching and sensitive debut album presents a beautifully conceived programme exploring the intersection of Western Baroque music and Arabic music where meeting points touch on melodic construction, accompaniment texture and, rather fabulously, vocal ornamentation. Three poetry tracks from Gibran Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet are read over atmospheric oud improvisations by Abdul-Wahab Kayyali and provide a frame for the music.

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The peak of the programme, for me at any rate, is Haidar’s translation of Bach’s Erbarme dich into Arabic. On so many levels this is extraordinarily beautiful, beginning most obviously with Tanya LaPerrière’s baroque violin playing which winds around Haidar’s subtly ornamented voice like a vine. The oud enlivens and complicates the energy adding a brooding layer of reiterated notes to an aria which is arguably one of the glories of the entire Western baroque. This performance will stay with me for a long time, it is both exquisitely beautiful and inherently melancholic.

To read the full text of this review please visit Gramophone.co.uk (October 2025)