Mindful and sensitive

It is not uncommon for the Malta Cultural Institute to collaborate with foreign musicians and institutions.

Michela Galea’s amazing virtuosity never obscured the details in Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6- Albert Storace

In a concert held recently, a selection of students of Franco Foderà of the Conservatorio di Trapani were in Malta, where Foderà conducted a series of master classes at the end of which five of his students took part in this concert.

Joining them was the very gifted Maltese pianist 16-year old Michela Galea, a student of Dolores Amodio. Galea set the ball rolling with Gina-stera’s Danza Del Gaucho Matrero, a piece distinguished for its great articulation and fiery sweep. She also closed the concert’s first part with the no less fine interpretation of Chopin’s Polonaise in A flat, Op.53, no mean feat for one so young.

Annamaria Savona was the first of the young Sicilian pianists to show her worth. This she did with Liszt’s arrangement of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A minor. She was mindful of style in her playing and produced the necessary divergent contrasts presented by the prelude section and the following fugue.

Monica Mello tackled and projected equally well the different sound world of Ravel in the Prelude from Le Tombeau De Couperin. When the tempo became more briskly energetic the music still came across replete with alot of serenity.

Ippolito Parrinello came across as a more mature pianist and proved this well in the Bach-Busoni Prelude and Fugue in D. It is not an easy task to project this monumental work with its strikingly robust and quite magnificent opening and with the prelude maintaining a certain solemnity, which contrasted so well with the easy flow coursing throughout the fugue.

He was to perform a second work at a later stage, Chabrier’s Bourrée Fantasque. This very sprightly and sparkling work has a contrasting calmer mid-section which makes the outer sections stand out even more and he managed to make the piano sound like an orchestra.

Antonino Virgilio was the other more mature pianist taking part, playing with great taste and sensitivity Liszt’s Sonetto Del Petrarca, Op. 123. Two popular mazurkas by Chopin were competently performed by Veronica Mello. The rather grand finale was entrusted to Michela Galea, whose amazing virtuosity never obscured the details in Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6.