Recital
Patrick Bismuth, violin; Bruo Procopio, harpsichord
Bir Miftuħ Chapel

The 17th edition of the Bir Miftuħ festival opened last Friday with a superb concert of baroque music, featuring Patrick Bismuth from France on the baroque violin, accompanied by Bruno Procopio from Brazil on the harpsichord. The concert was organised by Din l-Art Ħelwa with the support of the Embassy of France and the Alliance Française de Malte – Méditerrannée.

The concert was unlike many other Maltese performances of baroque music in that the instruments used were authentically baroque, and even the musical approach and interpretation of the pieces followed pre-Classical conventions. Such practice is referred to as a historically informed performance.

The first work , Pièces pour le violon divisées par suites de tons by Jean-Féry Rebel, consisted of a series of dance movements in the lute tradition. This was followed by François Couperin’s first concert from the Concert Royaux series.

Although both works required no flights into the violin’s top register, which are very typical of later literature, Bismuth’s virtuoso technique magnificently exploited the Baroque violin’s potential. Vibrato was used sparingly but effectively, as required in historically informed performances, and there was a particular swing in his quaver runs which enhanced the liveliness of the pieces.

Jean-Marie Leclair’s Amusements for solo violin required excursions into the high register of the instrument, as well as numerous oscillations of the bow across the four strings. This was no mean technical feat, especially when considering that the baroque violin is not equipped with a chin or shoulder rest to keep the instrument steady.

Procopio made skilful use of texture to vary the sound of the accompaniment, adding more notes to chords to build up loudness or sparing them to give a more delicate sound. At other points, the two musicians employed slight variations in tempo to provide more impetus, a technique known as agogics.

Pièces de clavecin, by François Couperin, were played by Procopio on the harpsichord alone. It was touching to see that, despite having the score in front of him, his eyes rested for long whiles on the two beautiful paintings of St Mary behind the altar, as if he found his inspiration to play in them.

A particularly interesting inversion of roles happened with the extracts from Pièces de clavecin en concerts, by Jean-Philippe Rameau, where the violinist took over the role of accompanist from the harpsichordist. Very demanding virtuoso passages on the harpsichord were played effortlessly by Procopio, while Bismuth provided very sporadic comments on the violin.

Besides his musical prowess, Bismuth had a very commanding stage presence, at times verging on the comical. Procopio, on the other hand, showed a very deep emotional approach which is not expected at the harpsichord; indeed his playing had the same passion expected of a romantic pianist. But despite the evident differences in their characters, the two were perfectly together at all times. The synergy between the two musicians was more than evident.

Historically informed performances such as this are invaluable for music students. It was therefore a pity that such a rare concert was not targeted and marketed towards them.