Concert
Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Peter Stark (director);
Carmine Lauri, violin
Manoel Theatre

Carmine Lauri’s name and fame are enough to fill up the Manoel Theatre, as was the case last week.

At the end, the Manoel exploded in a well-deserved roar of applause and would not be mollified before Mr Lauri chose to concede an encore...- Albert G. Storace

It is a fully deserved reputation because Mr Lauri is not only a very accomplished musician and technical wizard but is also very matter-of-fact and establishes a full, warm rapport with both orchestra and audience.

He has by now performed the major concertos in the repertoire, always with resounding success and to widespread acclaim, both in Malta and abroad.

I remember his fine performance years ago of the better-known and more mature of Wieniawski’s two violin concertos.

This time Mr Lauri chose to perform the earlier Concerto in F# minor, Opus14, a youthful work.

He did well to bring to the audience this admittedly very beautiful work. It is more so, because it is not often performed due to the perceived weaknesses in its structure. The clear lack of balance in the distribution of virtuoso material is in that the opening allegro moderato is by far more brilliant and difficult to perform than the closing rondo – allegro giocoso.

A sensitive performer like Mr Lauri not only dealt with the technical difficulties of the opening movement but also gave it a lot of depth and feeling.

The central Preghiera: Larghetto was simply sublime and served as an interlude before the concluding movement where he projected to the full the innate nature and meaning of “giocoso”.

The orchestra was in fine fettle with Peter Stark’s direction eliciting clarity, warmth, tone and texture and well-controlled yet seemingly relaxed dynamic contrasts.

At the end, the Manoel exploded in a well-deserved roar of applause and would not be mollified before Mr Lauri chose to concede an encore with a capriccio also by Wieniawski.

In a completely different idiom but with formal links with a bygone age, the orchestra showed its versatility with the performance of Martin’s Overture, H. 345.

At times pungent, even piquant, the overture moved along smoothly. Great attention to detail was obvious in the delivery: tone and texture, clarity and precision, with a bow to the concerto grosso when groups of instruments alternated with the full orchestra for attention.

Even richer and certainly warmer in character was that other Czech work which flanked the concerto: Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Opus 88.

I must confess a weakness for Dvorák and was not at all disappointed with this reading, with the orchestra having a jolly good time.

Again, there was a lot of colour and warmth, great ebullience in the outer movement and of course a well-paced smoothly flowing adagio taken at just the right tempo.

Melancholic though most of the waltz-like scherzo could be, it provided a fine contrast of mood and was eventually steered to its expected happier finish.

The initial trumpet fanfare and tension of the turbulent finale brought about a very well-structured climax.

The movement is melodiously rich, the celli producing a lovely tone and then there was that long flute solo ambling along towards mid-movement.

Strings, wind and brass romped about along a path of frequently changing moods, underlined by shifts from major to minor and back.

All led to a most satisfactory finish. What an evening!