Nine Lamentations at St Nicholas church.

The third edition of this now well-established extravaganza of baroque music is under way and in full swing. Within a span of 24 hours, performers from the Netherlands, Ukraine and Italy took centre stage.

The Nederlands Kamerkoor gave a splendid performance under the direction of Paul Van Nevel. It was a performance in the round, with the choir standing in a circle right under the cupola of St Nicholas church in Valletta.

In a very brief introduction, the festival’s artistic director Kenneth Zammit Tabona said that, after having had some doubts about presenting a programme dubbed Lamentations as the festival’s opener, the title proved to be uncannily apt in view of the terrible goings-on in Paris. There was an observance of a minute’s silence as tribute to the victims of senseless terrorism.

There were some odd things about this concert. One was that the only real lamentations were the items at either end of the programme. These were Gylbert Banaster’s Vos-saeculi iusti iudices and Robert White’s Lamentation a 5 & 6. The other was that the wonderful polyphonic choral music performed from 15th- and 16th-century UK was High Renaissance.

Still, this sort of prelude to the baroque went down well, was nigh impeccably sung with the choir formation changing smoothly varying in number and often reaching the full complement of 16 singers.

The vocal texture and cohesion left nothing to be desired, bar some isolated instances when a tenor voice did not quite sound right. There could be little choice as to what sounded best, whether it was the anonymous Tu cum virgineo mater honore, or Sturton’s Gaude Virgo Mater Christi à 6 or my personal preference for Robert White’s other piece, a magnificent Magnificat à 4, 6 & 8.

The only illumination resorted to was provided by tall candle stands with two or three candles each. In the last pieces these were gradually snuffed out with some of the final verses of White’s Lamentation sung in complete darkness. It was magical, eerie and very effective.

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Dmytro Sukhovienko at the Manoel.

The following morning, in his programme of transcriptions for piano of various J.S. Bach works, Ukrainian pianist Dmytro Sukhovienko emphasised the immortality and relevance to our time of such works. He too hoped that such music would bring much needed peace amid all the horrible things occurring in the world around us and dedicated his recital to the victims.

By means of transcriptions by some of the best in this art in its own right, the pianist reinterpreted some very well-known pieces by Bach. One of the best-known transcribers was Alexander Siloti, whose reworking for piano of the prelude from the Cello Suite No. 4 in E flat major, was the prelude to another of his transcriptions, that of the organ Prelude and Fugue in G minor, BWV 535. These, like other works and because of the pianist’s superb rendering, could easily convince one that, had Bach had that grand piano at hand, he would have hardly done less to make it sound like it did.

Giovanni Sgambati’s take on The Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice was one of the most profound tenderness and one of my favourites in this late morning recital was the Wilhelm Kempff transcription of the chorale prelude Wachet, auf BWV 645, which had a lovely drive and sweep.

This was offset by the gentle siciliano from the Flute Sonata in A, BWV 1031, another Kempff transcription. Immensely gratifying was Ferruccio Busoni’s of the famous chaconne from the solo violin Partita in D minor, BWV 1004. This is nothing but a deliberate assault on the senses, an amazing piece of musical architecture that whether in the original (always never far from one’s mind), or for piano, reaches the same goal.

Sukhvienko really did reach sublime heights in this and left me aghast. Rafael Joseffy may possibly be the least known of the transcribers in this recital, but his take on the prelude, aria and bourrée from another solo violin, Partita No. 3 in E minor, BWV 1008, provided a varied insight into the genre and for sheer power that reached great sonorous heights there was the Bach/Liszt Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor for organ, BWV 542.

Again from Liszt’s transcription the sarabande and chaconne from Handel’s Almira provided finely contrasting effects from the staid sobriety of the former to the grandiloquence of the latter.

Even more contrasting were the encores: a delicate, filigree-like sonata by Domenico Scarlatti and the famous Prelude No. 1 in C.

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Concerto dei Cavalieri, directed by Marcello di Lisa. Photos: PhotoCity

The late afternoon concert at the Manoel made me ponder for the nth time how lucky we are to have such a jewel as this theatre. More so when one listens to music by Italian composers who, except for Alessandro Scarlatti and Arcangelo Corelli, were alive and well when the theatre opened its doors in 1732.

Besides, this music was performed by Italian musicians directed by Marcello Di Lisa. His 14-strong Concerto dei Cavalieri took the audience along a musical grand tour of Italy such as that taken by the aristocrats of the 18th century. They always visited Venice, Bologna, Rome and Naples, and, being great centres of musical studies where different styles were generated and developed, they spread their influence far and wide.

Even though Corelli was just seven years older than the Sicilian Alessandro Scarlatti, the latter came more under the influence of Corelli. This was borne out in the performance of Scarlatti’s Concerto Grosso No. 3 in F major.

Corelli, who perfected the genre, was the composer whose music opened the concert, namely the Concerto Grosso in D major, Op.6, No. 4. This established the performers’ highly stylish delivery, crispness, smooth phrasing and dynamic vitality, traits which prevailed throughout the concert.

In the Concerto for Strings in G minor, Op. 2, No. 3 by Porpora (d. 1768), featuring violinists Antonio De Secondi and Paolo Perrone, one had a fine example of a work of the Neapolitan school.

The last to die of the concert’s featured composers and given his innovative streak, it is not surprising that here Porpora looks far ahead, and ends this work in a highly elegant flourish.

The other Corelli work heard was the famous Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8 ‘fatto per la notte di Natale’, the Christmas flavour coming out in this lovely work’s concluding pastorale.

There was also a touch of Giovanni Bononcini, who was so closely associated with Bologna. This came with the Sinfonia a tre in D, Op. 4, No. 12. The soloists here were again De Secondi and Perrone (with some highly virtuoso exchanges) and cellist Giovanna Barbati.

Three works performed were by the quintessentially Venetian Vivaldi.

His Concerto in B minor for 4 violins and strings, RV 580 had soloists Francesca Vicari, Perrone, De Secondi and Rossella Croce pitting their musical wits and prowess in lively exchanges.

Then, reduced to half the complement and without Di Lisi’s direction, Vicari took a bit of a lead in the brief two-movement Sinfonia in B minor, ‘al Santo Sepolcro’, RV 169.

She was also one of the soloists, with De Secondi in the closing and perfectly balanced Concerto for 2 violins in A major, Op. 3, No. 5, RV 519.

The enthusiastic audience would notlet go and an encore ensued: the first movement from Vivaldi’s La verità in cimento.

More clamouring brought about the same work’s second movement.