Concert
Last Night
Mediterranean Conference Centre
Many factors contributed to the successful last concert of this year’s Malta Arts Festival held last Saturday – the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra’s members’ commitment to give their best (which was very good), the soloists who gave lively, spectacular, colourful interpretations, the amalgamated choirs who maintained very good pace and control, the bright, sparkling sound and acoustics in the hall (usually nothing to write home about), the choice of the music itself, but above all Wayne Marshall’s direction – taut and unrelenting yet very, very humane and approachable.
It inspired all forces on stage to give their best. Mro Marshall’s seemingly easy approach and manner kept the music flowing for about two hours during which the audience could follow and appreciate his very detailed reading of the score as well as admire the response he got from the musicians and singers.
The concert started with Ravel’s Bolero. This work is built over a snare drum ostinato (played by Daniel Cauchi) that remains constant throughout the whole work. Above this ostinato, a simple theme is presented by various instruments thus creating the tension and contrast between the steady percussive rhythm of the drum and the intriguing melody played by different instruments (most of them were in excellent form). This theme is continually re-orchestrated providing interest and variety. The flute, the clarinet, the bassoon, the trumpet and the saxophone (including the tenor and soprano sax) all took it up as did the horn, the oboe, the trombone, the excellent strings and most of the other instruments, such as the harp, the cor anglaise and percussive instruments. They created a crescendo that left everyone breathless, thus preparing us for the work that followed.
This was Carl Orff’s extremely well-known Carmina Burana, a cantata built on 24 of the poems found in the mediaeval collection – The Songs of Beuern “secular songs for singers and choruses meant to be sung together with instruments and magic images”. Divided in three parts, subdivided into five sections, these are O Fortuna, which opens and ends the cantata, Primo Vere, Uf Dem Anger, In Taberna, Cour d’Amour, Blanziflor et Helena and again Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi.
The songs offer a wide range of topics, illustrating that human nature never changes and that what irked or gave pleasure in the 13th century still constitutes a preoccupation in the 21st.
Orff’s cantata starts very powerfully with an ode to fortune and wealth described as ruling the universe. The fact that this ode opens and closes the cantata can be understood as an indication of how we are ruled by fickle fortune, how love can turn into bitterness, or hope into sorrow. Different rhythms, which for Orff are the main musical elements, illustrate the varied concepts and feel of the songs. Also, it is important to remember that Orff intended this work to be accompanied by dancing, movement and speech and a great desire for accessibility and plain speaking.
The three soloists, in this case Maureen Brathwaite (soprano) David Allsopp (tenor) and Kevin Short (baritone) face challenges not usually found in other works. The lyric soprano has extremely high notes to interpret, the tenor’s only aria Olim Lacus is sung in falsetto to illustrate the pain of a burning swan, while the baritone too (such a beautiful voice) has some very high notes to sing, including the aria Dies nox which is also sung in falsetto.
The choirs that participated – the St Monica Choir (Malta) the Pavillion Chamber Choir (UK) and the Mirabitur Youth Choir (Malta) were well prepared by their respective directors. Except for the Youths, the choirs were involved throughout the whole work, a task they evidently executed with great enjoyment.