Concert
Gillian Zammit, soprano;Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by Brian Schembri,
Manoel Theatre
The house was practically full. It was a concert not to be missed and with the misty atmosphere evoked by the young Felix Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides and subsequent shifts in other descriptive, Romantic imagery, one felt that the way ahead was clear.
Nothing and no detail were spared to project so well this marvellous youthful piece.
The same care was lavished by soloist and orchestra in what is rightly seen as the musical testament of Richard Strauss in his late and posthumously premiered Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs). These beautiful settings of three poems by Hermann Hesse and one, the last performed, by Josef von Eichendorff, are very personal statements.
The first, Frühling (Spring), is the only song which does not deal with death while the other three do it in varying degrees of depth and reflection.
In September, the soaring joy of Spring gives way to more sober thoughts. It is not yet autumn, still less winter, but, days get shorter as they do for all of mankind. It becomes more pronounced in Beim Schlafengehen (Going to sleep) in which awareness of impending death is everywhere with Abendrot (Sunset) ending the journey with total resignation.
The overall result is one of calm, serenity and completeness.
The MPO and their live wire director deserved all the plaudits they were accorded
Soprano Gillian Zammit, who is a finely accomplished Liedersängerin (mezzo-soprano) projected and evoked the many different facets of the basically very dominant ‘twilight’ theme with great ability and fine musicianship.
Her diction was very good and was very telling as it gave full meaning to each word. The phrasing was effortless and the voice soared with the orchestra. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra was indeed in very fine fettle and Brian Schembri skilfully maintained an admirable balance between singer and orchestra.
The orchestration was very lush and the reading and its handling ensured that while none of its impact lost lustre, the singer was never overpowered.
Even tiny details like the flutes, evoking the larks at the end of the day, stood out for their effective intervention, not to mention earlier fine violin obbligato work by the MPO’s leader, Marcelline Agius.
The almost exhilarating conclusion of the above work made one expect as if “by right” that the performance of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony would be nothing but of the best. With a Beethovenian-like maestro, one tends to expect that Schembri would deliver.
Zammit exquisitely sang an encore, namely Sergei Rachmaninov’s haunting Vocalise.
The MPO and their live wire director deserved all the plaudits they were accorded after an even more exhilarating symphonic journey.