A very good turnout at the Manoel during a recent concert by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra could have left few (if any) un-affected by the overall sheer zest and vigour which marked the evening. This time the MPO was directed by the very energetic Swiss conductor Kaspar Zehnder.

For sure it was not only the sweep and freshness of most of the music but also the various points which were in total contrast and thus made the projection of the fiery moments stand out even more. It was also evident that soloists and orchestra were thoroughly enjoying themselves with a fine balance between sober concentration and the more relaxed moments.

Although composed in 2012, it was only this evening that Alex Vella Gregory’s Rythmii Vitae was given its world premiere. A programme piece based on an eponymous Sciortino sculpture, this work comes in one movement in three distinct sections. It came across with drive and energy in the outer movements but reflective and more sinuous in mid-section.

The latter was introduced by a haunting cor anglais motif taken up by first violin. All in all this attractive work, in a very approachable idiom, reveals the composer as a deft handler of the orchestra.

It was also evident that soloists and orchestra were thoroughly enjoying themselves

Maltese-Italian piano duo Natascha Chircop and her husband Marco Rivoltini gave two splendid performances. These were Poulenc’s Double Piano Concerto in D minor and Britten’s Scottish Ballad, Op. 26 for two pianos and orchestra. Here was musical and performing harmony with complete absorption, concentration and mutual rapport, helped no doubt by a strong degree of marital harmony.

Then the duo as one were in a constantly flowing rapport with the orchestra in frequently difficult sharp exchanges in the very rhythmically adventurous outer movements of the Poulenc concerto.

As in many of his other works, Poulenc easily endears himself with the rather mischievous sweep of his outer movements. These could sound rather naughty and wayward but then makes the central movement stand out as more serious yet disarmingly lyrical. In this work its central movement is an open homage to Mozart and it was really very beautifully projected before going back to the ebullience of the concluding movement.

Britten’s only work for two pianos and orchestra may be a little less known than Poulenc’s. Here the duo lavished the same kind of attention to it as they did with the latter. In a way, its opening part was far more sonorous and foreboding, even menacing, a portent of what could be lurking in the mountain mists of the north.

Lip service to Scottish folk music appears here and there but more a la Britten. After some episodes of excessive sobriety the work was brought home with a great, all-round energetic flourish.

The concert concluded with a mostly exhilarating, warm reading of Dvorák’s Symphony N. 6 in D Major, Op. 60. While Dvorák was to pay a more direct tribute to Brahms in his most Teutonic of his symphonies, the Seventh, in the Sixth there is more than a nod to Brahms especially in the outer movements. Yet the predominant musical language is Czech, vintage Dvorák, as was perceptibly evident in the Adagio and even more in the boisterous Scherzo. The work went through its various phases and stages smoothly, crisp and brilliant, under great yet relaxed control and culminating in a thoroughly exciting finale.

This was the last MPO concert for this season in the series presented at the Manoel.