Of folk music and ariettas

Concert
Hugh Tinney, piano; Fionnuala Hunt, violin; Christopher Marwood, cello
Bir Miftuħ Chapel

The Academy Chamber Ensemble, three of Ireland’s leading musicians, took part in the third delightful concert of the 17th edition of the Bir Miftuħ festival, organised by Din l-Art Ħelwa in collaboration with the Embassy of the Irish Republic.

The performers’ mutual rapport was superb and they conveyed their committed delight in performance to the very appreciative audience

Pianist Hugh Tinney, violinist Fionnuala Hunt and cellist Christopher Marwood performed some highly-varied music, with Tinney also performing a couple of solo piano pieces, including the enchanting Nocturne in B flat by John Field, the very man who invented the form.

Before this, he played Ian Wilson’s For Eileen, After Rain, a contemporary work which ranged in mood from the sombre to the very evocative and exquisitely dreamy. The trio started the performance with Astor Piazzolla’s vibrant Summer, from The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, which, of course, was mainly dominated by the very well-evoked atmosphere of the sultry tango – not only weather-wise but also in its pungently rhythmic richness.

The concert was punctuated with a number of vocal pieces sung by Maltese mezzo-soprano Vanessa Magro, accompanied at the piano by Romina Morrow.

The singing had a very straightforward sincerity of interpretative approach and was delivered with clear diction. The vocal range is rather wide and a certain variety in timbre and texture made adapting to the different styles seem quite easy.

Piaf, Monnot and Louiguy’s La vie en rose came first, and good as that was, it was even better in one of Vincenzo Bellini’s most popular ariettas, Vaga luna, che inargenti. Quite amusing was Frank and Marie-Therese Vassallo’s Bit-tlikki tlikki, with a changeover to the Maltese folk idiom.

Remaining in the world of folk music, it was all but inevitable that the traditional Irish Londonderry Air, popularly known as Danny Boy, would be included in all its warmth and pathos.

At the end of the concert, the musicians launched into the gorgeous Dumky Trio by Antonin Dvorˇák. This long and rather unconventional work for a trio is a treasure trove of warm melodies, of sheer exuberance, alternating with long, reflective episodes before the music breaks out again in joyous outbursts.

Dvorˇák is at some of his most heart-warming best in this work, a factor which explains its appeal and popularity. It is also excitingly rich in rhythmic vigour and does not exclude a few moments of drama.

It did take some time for my ears to get used to the sound, because with the lid fully raised, the piano was too overpowering in the small space of the chapel.

Still the performers’ mutual rapport was superb and they conveyed their committed delight in performance to the very appreciative audience.