Criticism of orchestra conductor (1)

I have been following the extended criticism that followed the opening concert at the Manoel Theatre conducted by Brian Schembri, with a mixture of amusement and disgust, to the point that as a Maltese musician, I now feel compelled to write. Firstly because I do not understand how people like Josephine Farrugia (October 17) and Amabile Galea (October 21) could even be allowed to write such outrageously incompetent yet heavily insolent criticism on any musician, let alone this being one of Malta's very best. Even Mario Calafato's letters (October 1 and 17) of seemingly professional critique contained serious errors and were laden with personal agendas. Secondly, because I feel that the numerous reactions to these negative and insolent letters have remained largely verbal or appeared only as online comments. If for nothing else, the public needs to hear the reaction of musicians on musical issues.

I was in Malta a few days after the concert in question, and in time to hear the fervent discussion triggered off by Mr Calafato's first audacious letter among the circles of my musician friends, many of who had been playing in the orchestra. As always, all of these musicians seemed to have enjoyed working and performing with Mro Brian Schembri, and felt that especially in Schubert's Great Symphony, a very high musical standard was achieved. Although there were a number of negative comments about the pianist's unfortunate performance of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, their general opinion was that since the orchestra and conductor where thoroughly familiar with the work, together they managed to save the moments of insecurity in this performance. It is therefore clear that Mr Calafato's comment that the orchestra was under-rehearsed and Mrs Farrugia's statement that the orchestra sounded like a "cacophony of car horns" and that they were not in rapport with the soloist, show a lack of understanding to what was happening during the performance. Even more outrageous was Mr Galea's hilariously stupid and unfounded assumption that these cacophonic sounds might have been the conductor's fault for having conducted the piece without a musical score - which was of course not true! Mr Galea, who claimed that he was sitting "way back in the pit", should perhaps also be told that it is the orchestra who sits in the pit, during an opera for example, audience members like himself would have been seated in the auditorium.

These self-declared 'non-musical" critics focussed their criticism on the conductor's hair and various physical gestures, with the music being obviously way too far out of their league to comprehend or comment on. To write about the conductor's hair, look for comical and insulting adjectives about one's physical description, compare a conductor to a sportsman and fictional characters, argue whether he conducted with or without a score, and even make a pun of the fact that he tripped and almost fell off the podium, is not only insulting to the conductor in question, but goes a long way to showing the level at which these critics themselves stand.

It seems that these "music lovers" go to a concert without a clue of what they should be looking out for, and can only appreciate the theatrical aspects of a musical performance. They should perhaps thank Mro Schembri for having kept them thus entertained, although I am sure, as are many other musicians involved in this concert, that his gestures were related to the performance, arising from the essence of the music itself.

I have seen Mro Schembri conducting a number of different orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, both in Malta and abroad, and each time his gestures were adapted, not only according to the music being performed but also to the particular orchestra he was conducting. There have been moments when Mro Schembri felt that he could conduct the musicians with only his facial expressions, and at other times with heroic gestures.

At any given moment, what mattered most was the musical result and the artistic moment shared between conductor and musicians, and in some cases also the discerning musically-sensitive members of the audience.

It is of course not necessary for me to defend Mro Schembri's musicality. The point I would like to make is that any musician who has spent his lifetime working on perfecting his artistic expression should never have to endure that kind of foul, derogatory and incompetent criticism on the Maltese press. Especially when the criticism is guided by an insatiable urge to be offensive and spiteful, even going as far as to unjustly mock and accuse a proper music critic. Yes, we should always strive for the highest possible artistic achievement, but what happens when this is presented to people who just do not recognise it?