It was a pleasure to be back for a concert in such a lovely ambience, restored to its full glory. Gone are the days when the necessary scaffolding filled most of St Catherine of Italy church in Valletta; or when bits of old paint flaked off and floated down from the unique, now splendid grisaille and gilt painting of the cupola’s interior.
A compact, balanced and well-coordinated ensemble whose fine music-making is undoubtedly the result of excellent teamwork
The church is once more a much appreciated concert venue. One hopes that concerts will be resumed with regularity; another one is in the offing in October.
Malta Artevents presented a quartet of string players, Classical Ensemble, who happen to be members of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. They are Spanish violinists Inmaculada Muñoz and Ana Martínez, Maltese viola player Matthew Fenech and Czech cellist Lucie Kucherová. They are a compact, balanced and well-coordinated ensemble whose fine music-making is undoubtedly the result of excellent teamwork. Taking part in this concert was Bulgarian soprano Andreana Yordanova-Fenech who delighted the audience with her superb singing.
The pieces performed were mainly quite popular ones, yet no matter how many times one hears them, when the performance is a good one they never cease to please. It was definitely the case with the final, bouncy allegro from Vivaldi’s Autumn from The Four Seasons (in which Martínez had a prominent role), the charming favourite Boccherini’s Minuet and the serene Air from J.S. Bach’s Suite N.3 in D minor.
Yordanova-Fenech’s contribution to this Baroque section of the concert was the immortal Lascia ch’io pianga from Handel’s Rinaldo. It was sung with great feeling, pathos and a lovely legato. In her next piece, the soprano changed style completely and launched into Mozart’s equally famous Alleluja. She possesses all the technical and musical attributes which thrilled the audience with high-flying and articulate coloratura runs to the fore.
Dvorák’s Humoresque in G made a fine contrast, as did the next vocal piece sung in the original German, Vilja, from Léhar’s Die Lustige Witwe. Again, this was a beautiful rendering thanks to a warm timbre, great attention paid to dynamics, breath-control and overall expression. The string quartet performed two lively pieces, a Fantasia on Bizet’s Carmen and Hungarian Dance N. 5 by Brahms.
In sharp contrast was the Nocturne from Camilleri’s Malta Suite, at first dominated by the cello to eerie upper string accompaniment, then allowing the viola to have its say, with the violins coming into the limelight to produce the haunting effect which makes this movement the suite’s best. The soprano was in yet another mood in the vivacious Le filles de Cadiz by Delibes, projected with great verve and panache.
The strings terminated the concert with Monti’s popular Csárdás in which Muñoz had the leading role, backed very ably by the other performers.