Tribute to a President

Cecilia Xuereb

The concert of sacred vocal and orchestral music offered as a tribute to the President and his wife at St John's Co-cathedral last Friday week will surely be one of the highlights not only of the current season but also of Eddie Fenech Adami's Presidency.

The occasion saw one of the rare appearances of soprano Miriam Gauci in Malta together with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, bass Noel Galea and the Collegium Musicum Choir. All the forces, without exception, were at their best: hardly a note was out of place throughout the evening, though, admittedly, the most impressive part of the evening was Ms Gauci's performance.

Gauci's bright, clear soprano is as rich in colour and expression as ever. So is her gorgeous tone, while her unaffected command of the text and her heart-rending involvement in whatever she sang combined to produce one of the loveliest experiences at the Cathedral. She was outstanding in Pergolesi's Salve Regina with its heart-bending and perfectly judged pianissimos. Her fortes retained a pure unforced tone and virtuosity was never an excuse for pyrotechnics.

Her Laudate Dominum from Mozart's Vesprae Solemnes was tender and affectionate, the Amen section providing a beautiful ending to the work. She showed throughout an immaculate sense of line, her legato was superb and her top notes in pieces like Verdi's La Vergine degli Angeli and Ave Maria sounded easy and perfectly pitched.

Galea's singing may not have the refinement of Gauci's: his legatos are not as smooth and his diction not as clear, but he has a fine voice that he puts to good use. Without having to push at either extremity of his range, he projected effortlessly into the heights of the Cathedral. His Pro Peccatis from Rossini's Stabat Mater sounded aptly dramatic while there was plenty of colour in his Lord God of Abraham from Mendelssohn's Elijah.

The Collegium Musicum choir too was in top form, whether supporting the soloists, as in the Mozart Vespers, or in the splendid Theresien Te Deum by Haydn that introduced the vocal part of the evening. This was full of verve and vitality. In the unison passages the choir served as another section of the orchestra, while good intonation and flowing phrases characterised the part singing.

Towards the end of the work, the fugue sounded secure and both the singing and the playing of the orchestra had great energy, with the few pianissimo sections providing the right contrasts to create an overall effect of jubilation.

Supreme musical playing came throughout from the orchestra under the direction of Laus. They showed versatility in dealing with such different styles like those of Mozart and Pergolesi on the one hand and Rossini and Verdi on the other.

It is rather telling that Verdi, whose Requiem Mass is often criticised for being too operatic, should have composed two such moving prayers as the Ave Maria (in Othello) and La Vergine degli Angeli (in La Forza del Destino).

The programme also included two purely orchestral works: Paolino Vassallo's Marcia Religiosa that opened the programme, an elegiac composition built out of a simple motif that is passed on from one section of the orchestra to the other, and Tchaikovsky's arrangement of Mozart's Ave Verum, a work that joins the genius of Mozart's singing melody in Tchaikovsky's colourful orchestration.

In a brief address at the beginning of the concert, Dr Pascal Demajo, on behalf of the organising committee, outlined the main achievements of Dr Fenech Adami's term of office both in the political and social spheres, emphasising his and Mrs Fenech Adami's commitment to the Community Chest Fund, in aid of which this concert was held.

Exultate, Jubilate!

As far as I could tell, a concert held at St John's Co-Cathedral last Monday week received nary a mention in the columns of the local press. Surprising. It was a fine performance. A largely German audience was of the same mind and gave musicians and singers a standing ovation once the last sounds of Mozart's Mass in C-Minor, KV 317 rose to the once bare vaulted ceiling Mattia Preti transformed into a pictorial story of the Baptist.

St John's is an enchanting place. The ongoing restoration and the excellent lighting system that illuminates the interior of the Cathedral at evening time have added greatly to its artistic charm and to an atmosphere that is nothing short of magical. It was here, that evening, that the fine choir and splendid orchestra of the Collegium Musicum, under the confident baton of Dion Buhagiar, and an impressive quartet - Joan Mangion (soprano) Connie Frances Zerafa (mezzo-soprano) Noel Galea (bass) and Charles Vincenti (tenor) - delighted us with a programme of song from works by Mozart and Haydn; all this courtesy of the Travel and Incentive Agency, Terramundi.

It may be invidious to pick out Mangion's rendition of Exultate, Jubilate, from an evening that offered a great deal, but I could not help wondering why we have not seen this soprano singing with the National Orchestra at the Manoel Theatre since 1995, or thereabouts?

Only last year, Fr Peter Serracino Inglott acknowledged that an aria from the opera The Maltese Cross, for which he wrote the libretto, was sung by internationally famous sopranos and recorded by Greek and German singers of world repute. Yet he had never heard it sung more to his satisfaction than on the first occasion in a pre-production performance by Mangion.

Her thrilling Exultate, Noel Galea's rich Qui tollis, Connie Frances Zerafa's melodious Laudamus Te and Charles Vincenti's Quoniam, the choir's Ave Verum, were of a high standard. Why are they not heard more often at the Manoel? Why are Mro Buhagiar and the gifted Collegium Musicum not entertaining us more often in the national environment provided by the national theatre?

Who decides these things? More to the point, who decides against? These singers and musicians deserve better and we, the audience, deserve more of them.

 

Any reference to St Paul rings out with a particular echo in Maltese ears. No surprise given the dramatic shipwreck in which the feisty saint was caught on his way to be tried and eventually executed in Rome and how a violent storm soon led to the island's wholesale conversion to Christianity. Even in these secular times, this brief story told in the Acts of the Apostles makes fascinating reading.

Of course if you want to see the fervour the national saint evokes in Malta, look no further than the way February 10 is celebrated in the heart of the baroque capital with inimitable Valletta flamboyance. After all, the gilded wooden statue carved by Melchiore Gafà  is housed in the church dedicated to St Paul's Shipwreck (aptly standing in St Paul's Street). Given World Heritage status five years ago, it's worth elbowing your way to the front to catch a close look of the splendid statue whose face and body language capture a mesh of emotions beneath a strong personality. For each masterly chisel stroke ingrains the crosscurrents between heroism and humanity, egocentricity and selflessness. Even if religious devotion is just a spectacle for you, this sculpted work of genius spells out the ritual need to believe in something larger than life.

But it's the much more modern Birkirkara church dedicated to St Theresa that's providing the venue for the upcoming performance of Charles Camilleri's Pawlu ta' Malta, the oratory composed in 1985; Oliver Friggieri penned the lyrics. Unfortunately, a variety of reasons prevented both St Paul's Shipwreck Church and St John's co-Cathedral from fitting the bill. For the record Pawlu ta' Malta is the first oratory to be written in Maltese and was also aired on the Vatican Radio.

Performing Camilleri's Pawlu ta' Malta is no mere coincidence because the Catholic Church has decided to dedicate 2008 to
St Paul. Yet it was Mro Dion Buhagiar who took the initiative and got the ball rolling. "As soon as the Catholic Church announced that she was dedicating 2008 to 'the Apostle of the gentiles or of all people'," Mro Buhagiar confirms, "I wrote to the Cathedral Chapter letting them know that as Maestro di Cappella of both Maltese Cathedrals, I was planning that Collegium Musicum, the resident choir of the said cathedrals, should set an example and celebrate this important event by performing this unique work written by a Maltese composer." Besides, Mro Camilleri has long been regarded as the national composer.

Rehearsals kicked off back-to-back with the choir's Christmas busy schedule and also in parallel with a Mozart and Haydn concert which will soon be performed exclusively for a German audience at St John's.

But these particular choristers seem to thrive on hard work, for anyone who hears them sing is immediately struck by their enthusiasm. A sneak peek into the countdown preparations leaves little doubt that they are enjoying the Oratorio. "The soloists, soprano Claire Caruana, tenor Frans Mangion and baritone Alfred Camilleri are also well prepared and will be handling the rhythmic challenges very effectively. One of the main features of the work is the typical Charles Camilleri orchestration which includes strings, brass, woodwind and different percussion instruments."

It's actually a third time round for Collegium Musicum performing Pawlu ta' Malta.

It was performed at the Mdina Cathedral with the composer conducting the first performance while the second was under Mro Buhagiar's baton. The latter will conduct choir and orchestra once more on Friday. The leader of the orchestra is Mario Bisazza while Philip Farrugia Randon will narrate the unfolding of the dramatic events.

What is the audience in for? "Camilleri's music in general is set in a 20th century idiom which means that it aspires to exploit the notions of harmony, melody and rhythm in a completely different, but not necessarily in a completely original, way," Mro Buhagiar states in his idiosyncratic soft tones.

"For example, the idea of the atomisation of rhythm had already been divulged by the Clangfarbenmelodie of Berg, Webern and later by Eliot Carter and others."

"Basically, the music of Charles Camilleri is 'improvisatory' but more disciplined as one tries to find some technical traits that are characteristic of the 20th century. For instance, his Missa Mundi (based on Fr Peter's comments on Teilhard de Chardin's 'vision') is a recreation in sound of the author's ideas that inspire a musical journey from the complexities of atonality to the final simplicity of the final chord of C major (although the acoustical properties of such a chord are not simple at all - only the way it sounds). On the other hand, the Oratorio Pawlu ta' Malta is based on a different plan altogether. It's 'tonal' although the harmonic plan is still typical of the 'freedom' adopted by Camilleri and not tempered by the aesthetics of the 'common practice period'... that's Bach. In the Oratorio, Camilleri uses the music of the people - the folk idiom. This idea permeates the whole - both the choral and solo sections."

The folk idiom is therefore highly apt to celebrate the coming of the Apostle of all people. Christianity certainly took Malta by storm. Let's hope we'll be spared stormy weather on Friday. Last week's destructive gale winds were more than enough.

The performance, under the patronage of the Prime Minister, begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are available from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the MTA, in Valletta.