A HISTORIC PERFORMANCE
So “the Gozo miracle” is back with us, and, what a stunning inaugural concert it was! How pleased must Joseph Vella be to see how the festival which he founded is a legacy worthily carried on by his loyal, faithful close collaborators. They have been dedicating to him every edition since his untimely death in 2018. It is a very well-deserved honour.
If I were just to refer to the “VIAF” I am certain that by now all music-lovers in Malta know what it represents. So must the hundreds of performers who have graced the festival with their presence, both local and foreign.
Now what was so stunning about this concert. Like so many I had a certain sense of expectancy because of the choice of programame and the protagonists. There were very few vacant seats at the Astra. I felt too that the orchestra was r(e)aring to go and under the popular Philip Walsh’s baton the goods would be and certainly were delivered. Such was the reading of the overture to Vaughan Williams’s incidental music to a play, The Wasps, by the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was so crisp and well-shaped, sparkling with brilliance and sweeping lyrcism.
The wasps did buzz around at different points in the work, which is attractive and brought home very efficiently. So much so that one did not mind, as Dr. Maria Frendo put it in her note, “Overall the music has little to do with the insect or with Ancient Greece. Instead, it revels in the serene majesty of ‘England’s green and pleasant land ‘”.
Pianist Francis Camilleri’s performance of the Grieg piano concerto was a historic one. It was the first performance of a piano concerto in Gozo. To the pianist it was another important step in his career. It is not the first concerto that he performed because he performed at least two more in Malta. He has performed a number of solo recitals too. Here in Victoria, where he was born and still lives, he was very much at home. I think he must have felt that locals and ex-pats from both islands were rooting for him. His performance was little less than triumphant. There was no unnecessary bravado but a great, solid rapport with the orchestra via the excellent almost paternal guidance and direction of Philip Walsh. Francis Camilleri was decisive and well-prepared for the task. He was technically supported by the usual musicality he always displays in his performances. Yes indeed the piano sang Grieg’s hearfelt song(s) in wondrous melody which could charm the Trolls off their mountain slopes, especially in the magical Adagio. The frequent evocation of nature runs throughout the work. It is also an assertion of national pride which spread far out of Norway, which at the time of the concerto’s premiere in 1869 had already been in an unhappy, forced union with Sweden for 55 years . One feels happy that Grieg was still alive when Norway peacefully regained her independence in 1905.
The end of the concerto was greeted with the most explosive applause I could remember during a VIAF event. It was well deserved by pianist and orchestra and was very heart-warming. Leaves one a bit dazed but glad to experience such a high level of achievement.
It was no less in the concluding part of the concert . Philip Walsh, a conductor worth his every grain of salt, with his team rendered a fine reading of Dvořák’s Symphony n.7 in D minor, Op. 70. Considered the most Teutonic of his nine symphonies, Brahmsian even, the work stands very well on its own two feet. It is a work of great beauty, compact, a great piece of musical architecture. Dvořák was one who could not forget his Czech roots (Heaven be praised) and his special, distinctive harmonies and clear traces of colourful folk influence bear his indelible stamp. This is mostly evident in the Scherzo. Ever colourful the symphony was a great experience from beginning to end.
As Artistic Director Rev. George J. Frendo had said in his introduction to the concert, the VIAF is back, with new ideas too. He expressed justified pride in the VIAF’s recognition as a major festival in the international circuit. He thanked his hard-working committee, the public support and especially the many sponsors without whose help VIAF would be unable to exist. Neither could it continue with its basic, founding, principle of providing high-quality music absolutely free of charge.
Albert George Storace