The church of Santa Marija ta’ Bir Miftuħ is one of Din L-Art Ħelwa’s most prestigious properties and for the best part of two decades has been the venue of a small but always popular summer music festival.
The church is largely associated with the almost legendary personage of Bettina Moscati Sceberras Dorrell, Marchesa of Xrobb L-Għaġin, who built and embellished the lovely Palazzo Dorrell in nearby Gudja. It was restored by DLĦ in the 1970s, and along with Ħal-Millieri is indelibly associated with the Malta equivalent of the National Trust.
Last week’s concert consisted of a guitar and violin duo playing Italian music by Paganini, Carulli and Giuliani; the type of music that requires great virtuosity to perform effectively and which is extrovertly appealing and of no special profundity.
The violin, of course, most of the time took the leading role. Marco Misciagna performs with precision but not gusto. He engages very little with his audience possibly because his concentration is total.
The pyrotechnical technicalities are played more or less perfectly but without the panache necessary to wow the audience, which is precisely what Paganini and co intended their works to do.
The scanning of certain passages led to a diminution in expressiveness and loss of articulation but overall the performance was enjoyable enough, and even if the dead pan delivery was in stark contrast to the spirit of the music there were many moments of wonderment especially during the Paganini sonatas, which like the Scarlatti ones are two-movement affairs; delightful miniatures that are far more musically satisfying than his capriccios, for instance, which most of the time are far too technically demanding to make musical sense.
The guitar accompaniment enhanced these melodious sonatas in a completely inimitable style that conjured up the ancien regime type of atmosphere that the Marchesa Dorrell may have known more than the more Sturm und Drang type of music typical of Paganini’s time. One must not forget that Paganini was also a virtuoso guitarist besides violinist in his own right. I loved Vito Vilardi’s more full-blooded and sonorous playing very much.
I enjoyed the Fantasia con Variazioni from Rossini’s Gazza Ladra by Fernando Carulli the most. Full of Rossinian effervescent charm the variations pranced and sang their way in a kaleidoscope of variations on the theme of this hilarious opera buffa which to this day ranks among Rossini’s best.