Mohammed Fairouz (1985, Ägypten)

Press Reviews

"The Borromeo players achieve the special balancing act of patience and ferocity in Mohammed Fairouz's Lamentation and Satire, an intensely felt score in which the instruments engage in compelling duos, a fugue of doleful urgency and a farewell utterly bereft of hope."

Donald Rosenberg, Gramophone Magazine

"Mohammed Fairouz . . . experiments with dissonance and microtonality to expressive effect. ‘Four Critical Models’ (2009) uses the violin for its penetrating tone and the saxophone for its insinuating smoothness in a spiky opening; a slow, haunting second movement; and a pensive finale. Inspired by writings about music and Orientalism, the piece features a brilliantly handled third-movement indictment of stereotypically ‘Arab’ music. (Think of snake charmers.)"

Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times