This edition of the Victoria International Arts Festival marches on with the expected high quality performances on offer.

Dedicated to outstanding polymath Mgr. Giuseppe Farrugia (1852-1925) who died a century ago, this fourth event took place in the hall which bears his name. The VIAF dedicated this intimate space ideal for chamber music events.

The sole protagonist this even came over from Spain, from her Catalan home town Barcelona. She enjoys an international award winning reputation and she dedicated a good part of her performance to rather exotic piano music mainly from Armenia. All the works she performed, were all local premieres except for Debussy’ s Pour le Piano.

It was with music built on modes typical of this often harassed nation that she started her recital. It was a very brief 90-second song I am a Girl (1911). This work is by a multi-talented Armenian Soghomon Soghomonian (1869-1935) born an Turkish Ottoman citizen. He used a pseudonym Komitas by which his compositions are known considered as the founder of the Armenian national school of music. His studies in Western Europe took place with one Armenian genocide behind his people, that of 1894. He was to face another one at home in 1915 and as a result of which he lost his mind and was moved to France in 1919. He died there.

Also a pioneer of ethnomusicology, I am a Girl is one of Seven Songs for Piano based on Armenian folk songs. This work shows this national idiom projected sound based on Armenian folk instruments and lyrical influences of songs handed down several generations after their anonymous original creation.

The programme’s second choice was a Toccata composed in 1939 by Bulgarian composer Dimitar Nenov (1901-53). He too was in part influenced by the the resurgent Bulgarian National School in which he was not completely immersed. However he did he did resort to modes typical of Bulgarian folk tradition. He always maintained his own very personal style. The Toccata was performed with great clarity, agility with some fast virtuoso phrases. Generally very powerful piece, it was carefully planned in different stages extending from 1932 tob1939. Nenov created his Toccata in Sonata or even in sonata-rondo form.

Next was more music by Komitas which dates to about 1905. Dances: Shushiki and Het u araj are based on Armenian folk music. The composer having been familiar with the traditional songs, dances and instruments managed to create a piano sound which very clearly evoke these origins. The Shushiki is a female dance which evokes both sorrowful and joyful moods. Het u araj is a group dance is equally evocative and rich. As the usual erudite notes by Dr. Maria Frendo state, ” …contrasts in articulation: the timbre of the “blul” is very transparent, full of side overtones/microtones and vibration, and the “dohl” ‘s rhythmically beats are precise”.

The only non-premiered music was Debussy’s Pour le Piano composed between 1894 and 1901. In three sections marked Prélude; Sarabande; Toccata, this headings were rather anachronistic at the time. Many rightly attach such names to Baroque music. Debussy just felt an attraction to the form but did not mean to imitate, he simply used it as inspiration. The Prélude was performed characteristic energy and also a virtuoso touch. The Sarabande was ever so serene and elegant. The concluding Toccata had all the fire and energy required of the piece.

This was to be the longest work performed this evening.

Gayané Chetbotaryan (1918-98) was a very highly rated Soviet Armenian composer who in about 1950 composed a set of Six Preludes which are known for being influenced by the influence of the folklore music and rhythms and harmonies of the Caucasian region so close to Northern Armenia. Also far from our Mediterranean world.

Laura Farré Rozada chose to perform two of these Preludes, but, not consecutively. She chose Prelude n.4 which requires a technical virtuosity which the pianist has in very good measure. She performed Prude n.1 after having performed works by two other composers. The is marked Andante and performed with a quite passionate lyrical ardour.

The first work performed between Cherbotoryan’s two Preludes was a work The Butterfly Effect is dedicated to Laura Farré Rozada by Israeli composer Ofer Ben-Amots (b.1955). It was composed in 2021 it was when Covid-19 was raging. The composer is known for his interweaving of folk elements with contemporary textures.

The Butterfly Effect embodies a concept which suggests how small actions could lead to unimaginable results which is reminiscent of the chaos caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The so-called Fibonacci has a part in the work’s set-up. Ben-Amots says that this work “..is a musical story that moves from a sense of desperation to hope.” This was evident in the sombre earlier part which eventually led to an optimistic conclusion.

Tatev Amiryan (b.1983) is a well-known Armenian-American composer who has a pronounce live for folk music and composed her Six Pictures for Piano in 2015-16. N.4 of this set is titled Wingless and was performed this evening. The mood is restless and delves into themes of limitation or longing,one could even call it yearning. It is not a happy piece. A relentless ostinato on the right hand was countered at the same time by melody which came and went in very short pieces. This could be likened to “a shattered mosaic” presumably the shattered hopes yearned for.

Perhaps a story of disappointment, nervous collapse and delusional behaviour following upon Alexei Stanchinsky’s father’s death in 1910 led to his mysterious death. It has remained inconclusive because it could not be decided whether he died a natural death or whether it was suicide.

Stanchinsky (1888-1914) had started very well. He was an infant prodigy, excelled in his on and off studies. He also resorted to folk music for inspiration. His longish sonata in E flat minor (1906) is a single continuous sonata movement. In many parts there are dark undertones with little respite along the way and the concluding Allegro coda sums up all the contrasting moods of this still finely crafted work.

This was an enjoyable experience thanks to a pianist who is not only a gifted one but also a good communicator. Well done!

Albert George Storace