A slick and smooth performance

It has been a great month for music, and it’s still not over yet.

It takes a top-notch orchestra with an experienced and impassioned conductor to deliver this work. Luckily, the MPO and Mro Laus delivered both

After a long and dreary electoral campaign, which slowed down the start of the season, we now have a series of top-quality concerts back to back.

The latest concert by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) was a fitting end to their concert series at the Manoel Theatre.

The evening opened with Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite. I found this the weakest item on the programme, although competently played. The piece, a work extracted from a ballet of the same name, is scored for a reduced orchestra, which leaves each player exposed. I felt the MPO was being too cautious, opting more for neo-classical detachment than wit and humour.

One has to allow for the fact that Stravinsky himself was not particularly fond of the work, and that he took up the commission to write a ballet based on the music of Pergolesi rather reluctantly.

The opening Overture, although steadily paced, needed a bit more impetus. That same feeling pervaded the first half of the work, and it was not until the Tarantella that the work started to gather momentum.

By the time the work reached the Gavotta con Variazioni, the musicians had picked up the tempo and responded more easily to Mro Laus’ direction.

By the end of it, the performance settled down and the work was rounded off boisterously with a strong finale.

The piece also called for several solos from within the orchestra. Without being of disservice to any of the soloists, I must point out particularly Marcelline Agius (violin), John Mc Donough (oboe) and Maria Zahra (bassoon), who provided some very polished playing. Kudos to all the other soloists, whom I will not mention simply because it would mean going through the whole score bar by bar.

The first half of the concert consisted of a relatively unknown work by Villa-Lobos, namely the Fantasia for Soprano Saxophone. It is definitely a work worth listening to.

It was played impeccably by our very own Christine Dimech. She has a solid technique coupled with an attention to detail and a refined musical sensibility.

The work is full of lush, exotic orchestrations, combining the refined sound of the early 20th-century French school with the vibrant rhythms of Brazil.

The saxophone faded effortlessly in and out of the orchestration, and Dimech’s excellent communication skills held the piece together beautifully.

It was great to see both the soloist, as well as Mro Laus, having fun with the piece.

The second half was taken up by Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 in E minor. This colossal work is all you can expect from Rachmaninoff and more. It takes a top-notch orchestra with an experienced and impassioned conductor to deliver this work. Luckily, the MPO and Maestro Laus delivered both.

Rachmaninoff represents the end of the line for Russian Romanticism, a movement that had as its champions the likes of Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein. It focuses on large forces, soaring lyrical melodies, and a general intensity that can only be described as ‘Russian’.

The MPO was in top form right from the start, with a very strong string section. For a second, it seemed that the orchestra would wallow too much in melody, sacrificing dynamism.

However, things soon got rolling and the first movement finished off with a strong climax. The playful scherzo gave the MPO ample opportunity to demonstrate agility, as well as giving the strings some more broad lyrical playing.

The adagio is probably the most famous movement in the symphony. It is an unending stream of melody, one after the other, that is almost unbearably sweet.

Mro Laus launched himself with abandon and savoured every second. There was also some fine clarinet playing from Joseph Camilleri at the start.

The symphony closes with a slightly more up-beat and rowdy allegro that was performed with energy and gusto.

The MPO is looking slicker and smoother than ever, with a lot of great and innovative projects to its credit. This year saw the MPO produce great events, like the premiere of Karl Jenkins’ The Peacemakers, as well as many great education projects. All it needs now is your support and feedback. Just log on to www.maltaorchestra.com and keep updated.