Picture imperfect

It could have been a perfect evening at the exquisite, medieval chapel of Bir Miftuħ, so lovingly and immaculately kept by the organisers Din l-Art Ħelwa. It could have been the ideal evening for a classical guitar recital by Ulrich Rasche. It was not.

The church itself is an ideal space for such a recital. It is intimate enough without being claustrophobic and its acoustics lend themselves very well to the guitar.

It is therefore with great regret that I say that most of the concert was marred by additional disruptions from within the audience present.

In a church where even the slightest shuffling of feet is perfectly audible, it is not OK to check your mobile phone or to barge in late halfway through a piece. To add insult to injury there was an event photographer who insisted on taking photographs as the guitarist was playing, complete with a handheld flash held by his assistant on the other side of the chapel.

A review should ostensibly be about the music, but because of all the above I practically missed the first half of the programme. It was a great pity, since the programme was an extremely interesting and well crafted one, consisting of German Baroque music for the guitar.

It combined music by relatively obscure lutenists Reusner and Weiss with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, thus giving the listener a complete historical perspective. The music itself was exquisite, especially Weiss’ Fantasia in D minor.

I was not particularly convinced by the performance. I found it rather dry and unfocused. Then again, given all the distractions during the concert, it would be unfair to criticise without taking that into consideration.

The performing arts depend on a specific moment in time which, once lost, cannot be retrieved. Din l-Art Ħelwa has been offering the public not only the preservation of the past but also the luxury of fantastic performances by means of the Bir Miftuħ International Music Festival.

Let us ensure that our present transforms itself into memories worth preserving.