VIAF 2023

PROFOUNDLY PASSIONATE RECITAL

Nestling within the precincts of the basilica of St. George, there is this intimate recital space. Very often during the VIAFestival, chamber music is performed there. In this year’s edition no less than 13 of the total of 28 events will have been held at the Aula. I like that very intimacy which is such an important ingredient that makes a recital a very close encounter with the musicians and their music-making.

Bernice Sammut Attard (b.2000) has made great strides forward in her career and is becoming a leading light among pianists of her generation. She has a charming, appealing communicative manner matched by her undoubtedly formidable talent, which was amply proved during her recital. Her musicality and technique guaranteed this.

She started off the recital with a very brief piece by Joseph Vella. This late, very lamented and brilliant composer mastered all genres. That includes his miniatures such as his Six Preludes, Op. 70, (1994). She performed the second prelude marked “With a sway”. At the core is a rather melancholic melody, offset by various means to reach a point where it ends with an inexplicable sense of pathos. It flowed very easily and the sensation was that one wished it had lasted a tiny bit longer, even outside its compact confines. (Later, the young pianist said to me that one day she would like to perform all Vella’s Op. 70 Preludes.)

In the next choice Bernice Sammut Attard opened a window on the Romantic Chopin’s most famous of his three piano sonatas, N.2 in B flat minor, Op. 35. As all know it owes its fame and popularity to the longest of the sonata’s four movements. This is the third movement marked Marche funèbre. Countless arrangements of it are performed as separate concert pieces. Controversy also still reigns whether it was composed years before the sonata’s other movements. That, we may never know, but, what was certain is that after a very short-lived Grave introduction, the first movement swept along with a certain determination and a sense of urgency. Still it was one in which there was absolute articulation and clarity. A brief respite midway through the movement led back to the opening of the doppio movimento.

The Scherzo was not at all such a playful affair, immersed as it still was in that energetic whirlwind and sense of urgency. There was a rather emotional element here,when half-way through it sounded like a warm “Lied ohne Worte” like the ones Mendelssohn had started composing a decade earlier.

The solemnity of the beautiful Funeral March, and its measured pace rendered the atmosphere calm and serene. A much-needed respite resulted with the pianist’s touch, ever so good, reached a superbly expressive level. The plaintive mid-section projected a sense of consolation, dignified and far from sugary. In his very erudite programme note Francis Camilleri considers “…the bel canto writing akin to a Beniamino Gigli interpretation.” Even if that part of the score were not marked “con singhiozzo,” Gigli would have sung it like that in any of the many arrangements the March has spawned. Finale: Presto, the shortest of all the movements. More energy, unflagging youthful energy, in line with the basic tragic undertones running through the work. It was a very brief yet very effective conclusion.

The recital concluded with Beethoven’s Sonata in N.23 in F minor, Op. 57. A glorious work sandwiched between the undeservedly neglected Triple Concerto, op. 56 and the 4th Piano Concerto op. 58. It is considered second in difficulty only to the Hammerklavier, Op. 106. It is a feast of beautiful, heroic music which hits one with its wondrous sweep. A challenge to a young but well-prepared pianist eager to get a growling huff of approval from the Great Master himself. The work he referred to as La passionata became Appassionata to posterity and the name stuck.

Passion is its trade mark yet it does have those moments when with equal passion and controlled manner, he creates sublimely beautiful, heart warming music that is simply enchanting. This sonata possibly has one of the longest codas Beethoven ever wrote it concludes the opening Allegro assai which unfolds as a mosaic of contrasting moods .

The lovely central movement marked Andante con moto is a theme and a set of four variations which has a certain very determined sense of purpose, mostly very tender but with a portent of great things to come as it leads into the Allegro ma non troppo-Presto.

This was the recital’s culminating moment. It had those genial touches like the beautiful melody of the dominating theme. There was a projection of power and strength; defiance and high drama amid that cascading torrent of ever-articulate music which does not descend into hysteria. The Master is in control and lets his able interprter to let go in the coda. To a lot of acclaim too.

Bernice Sammut Attard conceded an encore, Prelude in C minor by Rachmaninov. She was warmly praised by VIAF Artistic Director Fr. George Frendo who described the pianist as a shining example of young talent in our Islands and worthy of all encouragement.

Indeed I add that with a pianist like Bernice Sammut Attard, who has successfully performed abroad two major piano concertos with our MPO, it would make a lot of sense were she to do the same here in, her home country. Not to mention a solo recital at the Manoel too.

Albert George Storace.