For all our close ties with the UK it is very rarely that in the field of classical music local bodies go in for an all-English or British event such as this one. Well, the National Orchestra is "ours", the rest - conductor, mezzo-soprano, choir and works performed - were from Britain. Ralph Vaughan Williams was performed in the first half and Edward Elgar in the second.
Vaughan Williams's Toward the Unknown Region must have been remembered by the few in the audience in what was probably its only performance in Malta more than four decades ago. This evening's must have been the only other one since. It is a pity that the acoustics at the Grand Master's Suite are far from ideal. It all depends where one sits: From the back of the hall it is not that easy to follow as many others voiced, confirming my impression, as I followed the first half from there.
The male section, especially the tenors, sounded weak in the more hushed parts... and there was little back-up from the basses.
Vaughn Williams's Symphony No.5 in D is a work which is mainly one of restrained radiance if such a term were possible, and thus not all that appealing at a first hearing to a local audience. The sound of the orchestra carried well, with the Preludio's truly inner glow in the climax easily discernible within that sombre majesty. One could even catch a recurring three-note phrase identical to that to which "No map there" occurs in Toward the Unknown Region. The scherzo floated by most relaxingly, maybe quite unlike the scherzi one is used to in other works and the dynamic effects in the romanza accentuated a certain nobility that seems to be in keeping with the general concept of the whole work. Such it was and continued to be in the closing Passacaglia.
While following Elgar's The Music Makers Opus 69 from a different part of the hall, one could reach a certain conclusion.
One must remember that it was RVW that they had sung earlier and that Elgar's Opus 69 was to be their concluding foray. No matter, it was mainly in the forte passages that the chorus, in its totality, sounded reasonably assertive.
I was immediately struck by solo mezzo-soprano Wendy Dawn Thompson's warm and beautiful timbre. Her delivery was at first marred by a slight tremolo of which she eventually rid herself to give a finely polished rendering of her part.
Vaughan Williams's Toward the Unknown Region must have been remembered by the few in the audience in what was probably its only performance in Malta more than four decades ago. This evening's must have been the only other one since. It is a pity that the acoustics at the Grand Master's Suite are far from ideal. It all depends where one sits: From the back of the hall it is not that easy to follow as many others voiced, confirming my impression, as I followed the first half from there.
The male section, especially the tenors, sounded weak in the more hushed parts... and there was little back-up from the basses.
Vaughn Williams's Symphony No.5 in D is a work which is mainly one of restrained radiance if such a term were possible, and thus not all that appealing at a first hearing to a local audience. The sound of the orchestra carried well, with the Preludio's truly inner glow in the climax easily discernible within that sombre majesty. One could even catch a recurring three-note phrase identical to that to which "No map there" occurs in Toward the Unknown Region. The scherzo floated by most relaxingly, maybe quite unlike the scherzi one is used to in other works and the dynamic effects in the romanza accentuated a certain nobility that seems to be in keeping with the general concept of the whole work. Such it was and continued to be in the closing Passacaglia.
While following Elgar's The Music Makers Opus 69 from a different part of the hall, one could reach a certain conclusion.
One must remember that it was RVW that they had sung earlier and that Elgar's Opus 69 was to be their concluding foray. No matter, it was mainly in the forte passages that the chorus, in its totality, sounded reasonably assertive.
I was immediately struck by solo mezzo-soprano Wendy Dawn Thompson's warm and beautiful timbre. Her delivery was at first marred by a slight tremolo of which she eventually rid herself to give a finely polished rendering of her part.