They came from as far as South Korea, China, the US, Armenia, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Italy and Malta. They ranged in age from two seven-year-olds to mature and highly experienced concert pianists and professors. What linked them is the piano and this festival, behind which is the energetic and enthusiastic Evelina Batey, whose work provided an opportunity for piano master-classes, recitals, lectures and workshops. Activities were spread over an eight-day period, and the venues were varied, mainly in Valletta or very close by.
I couldn’t go to all the events. I missed the opening one at St Paul’s Anglican Pro-Cathedral, where by all accounts Yuri Didenko gave a much acclaimed performance of works by Franck, Ravel, Tchaikovsky and Rakhmaninov. But I was fortunate to hear him perform Rakhmaninov’s Etude- Tableau in E Flat Minor as a surprise offering at the end of a February concert at Le Meridien Hotel, St Julian’s.
That concert, which had begun with Mary Jane Bellia’s Ballet School’s presentation of The Tales of Beatrix Potter to choreography by various teachers of the school, continued with a number of young pianists taking part in the festival.
Two outstanding 17-year-olds amazed me with their performance, with Ukrainian Valentin Kirilenko performing very lyrical works by Chopin (a polonaise and a nocturne) and then launching into Prokofiev’s Obsession Diabolique with aptly demonic energy. Dmitry Sin from Russia went a bit further with his stunning performance of Rakhmaninov’s monumental Piano Sonata N. 2. No more need be said.
The recital by Antonio Di Cristofano at St Paul’s Anglican Pro-Cathedral was a mainly romantic and delightful journey which began with Schumann’s wistful and ethereal Arabesque, Op. 18 and was followed by Brahms’s Ballades Op. 10, with every possible attention to detail and style. This versatility within more or less the same idiom continued shining in Chopin’s Scherzo N. 2 in B flat minor Op. 31, with well contrasted dramatic passages and more relaxing, lyrical ones.
During the interval, seven-year-old Dmitry Ishkanov, a Russian living in Malta, gave another of his marvellously precocious displays of musicianship and technique, playing Poulenc’s Village Scenes from memory.
This, too, could be said of the 11-year old wunderkid, for she is no less, Laetitia Amodio. With the greatest of ease and precocious sensitivity she performed Debussy’s Claire de Lune, after which she gave a display of virtuosity with the Liszt-Paganini Étude-Caprice N. 5.
Di Cristofano returned to complete his recital with Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasie in A flat, Op.61, with drama and virtuosity increasing to very high levels in Liszt’s Valle d’Obermann and concluding with Skryabin’s Sonata Fantasia in G sharp minor Op. 19, with its fine touches reminiscent of Chopin as well as that of impressionism.
There were lunchtime recitals at the Franciscan Oratory, Republic Street, Valletta, and at the Grand Hotel Excelsior just outside the city walls.
The Russian Centre for Science and Culture and the Malta Society of Arts at Palazzo De La Salle hosted some of the concerts, as did the Gozo Ministry in Victoria. The grand finale was held at the Grand Hotel Excelsior, in which festival participants of various age and tutors/lecturers took part.
Piano at its best
The concert started with the youngest, Ishkanov, who began the concert performing with assurance J.S. Bach’s two-part Invention N. 13 in A minor, the Poulenc Village Scenes and finishing with the colourful In Folk Style by Khachaturian.
Amodio then performed Danza do Indio Branco by Villa-Lobos, leaving everybody almost breathless.
Kirilenko performed Prokofiev’s Obsession Diabolique again and contrasted it with Rakhmaninov’s Prelude in D, Op. 23, N.5.
Seventeen-year-old Michela Galea gave a very fine rendering of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody N. 5 in E Minor and was followed by the very comely 23-year-old Armenian Sona Barseghyan, with Chopin’s Ballade N. 1 in G minor, Op. 23.
This was a dizzy mix of lovely music performed in a most accomplished way. On the other hand, the last of the younger pianists to perform, Dmitry Sin, did not fail to impress with two comparatively brief but very compact and expressive works by Blumenfeld (Etude Fantasia) and a Prelude by Liadov.
Nikita Fitenko punctuated his performance with anecdotes and comments, and performed Chopin’s famous Nocturne in C Sharp Minor, an energetic excerpt from Prokofiev’s Sonata N. 6, the Bach-Siloti Prelude in B Minor, the sinister Baba Yaga from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and that cycle’s superbly rendered Great Gate of Kiev.
Arkady Zenziper’s Préambule from Schumann’s Carnaval was a pleasure, but I found his tempo in Chopin’s Scherzo N.2 was much too fast, even if remaining very articulate. That momentum threatened Schumann’s Arabesque in the same way, but restraint was applied to keep the piece on course.
Joined by his wife Tatyana in a four-hand display, his performance ended with Debussy’s Petite Suite and Rakhmaninov’s charming Italian Polka.