The third in a series of concerts within the Malta Arts Festival dedicated entirely to the music of our times, Sound of Diversity brought the festival to a grand end in the Opera House ruins in Valletta.
Featuring the 40-strong band of the Armed Forces of Malta under the direction of Ivan Borg, which teamed up with the Italian percussion ensemble Ars Ludi, who have performed here three times previously, the concert was an Italian initiative which supports the mobility of musicians to foster trans-cultural collaboration.
The project was first implemented in 2003 in Kenya and followed by 2007 in Algeria. The Malta edition was held in collaboration with the music conservatories of Latina, L'Aquila, Frosinone, the Italian Cultural Institute and the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts. It came full circle following the first two concerts of contemporary music, Maltese Contemporary Music and Music in Motion.
John Williams's Olympic Fanfare and Theme established the presence of both musical entities with a blazing introductory fanfare of brass to a percussive background which eventually became more prominent; melody and rhythm were very steady throughout. For the second item, Steve Reich's Drumming, the members of Ars Ludi proceeded from the back of the band to the front where their instruments were limited to two rows of drums and on which they performed an impressively intricate interplay of rhythms.
This was followed by Frank Zappa's The Black Page, specifically commissioned by Ars Ludi for this event and arranged especially for the occasion by Fulvio Maras. This encompassed a wide range of instruments and consequently diverse clashing and colliding sounds of the percussion and brass as if caught in battle.
Although I prefer Ruben Zahra's Ħalel in its orchestral version, I considered the interpretation of it that evening the highlight of the performance, possibly of its catchy original theme which precedes a gamut of rhythmic effects and then proceeds to the original motif. John Cage's Third Construction was a very long journey on the wide variety of percussion instruments available which produced a remarkably magnetising sound.
Another fanfare announced the beginning of the second half of the programme, this time Aaron Copland's Fanfare of the Common Man, immediately followed by Hans-Gunter Brodman's Greetings to Herman, which commenced with a short fanfare by the band, soon to move to the percussion section with its contribution of a very precise, incisive quality, and consequently returning to the band for a grand climax.
A "traditional" arrangement of Maltese folklore by Anthony Chircop trod on familiar ground before we were taken into a totally different world depicted by a chant-like melody with an Eastern twist in W. Francis MacBeth's Chant and Jubilio.
A number of encores entertained an apparently insatiable audience further.
Featuring the 40-strong band of the Armed Forces of Malta under the direction of Ivan Borg, which teamed up with the Italian percussion ensemble Ars Ludi, who have performed here three times previously, the concert was an Italian initiative which supports the mobility of musicians to foster trans-cultural collaboration.
The project was first implemented in 2003 in Kenya and followed by 2007 in Algeria. The Malta edition was held in collaboration with the music conservatories of Latina, L'Aquila, Frosinone, the Italian Cultural Institute and the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts. It came full circle following the first two concerts of contemporary music, Maltese Contemporary Music and Music in Motion.
John Williams's Olympic Fanfare and Theme established the presence of both musical entities with a blazing introductory fanfare of brass to a percussive background which eventually became more prominent; melody and rhythm were very steady throughout. For the second item, Steve Reich's Drumming, the members of Ars Ludi proceeded from the back of the band to the front where their instruments were limited to two rows of drums and on which they performed an impressively intricate interplay of rhythms.
This was followed by Frank Zappa's The Black Page, specifically commissioned by Ars Ludi for this event and arranged especially for the occasion by Fulvio Maras. This encompassed a wide range of instruments and consequently diverse clashing and colliding sounds of the percussion and brass as if caught in battle.
Although I prefer Ruben Zahra's Ħalel in its orchestral version, I considered the interpretation of it that evening the highlight of the performance, possibly of its catchy original theme which precedes a gamut of rhythmic effects and then proceeds to the original motif. John Cage's Third Construction was a very long journey on the wide variety of percussion instruments available which produced a remarkably magnetising sound.
Another fanfare announced the beginning of the second half of the programme, this time Aaron Copland's Fanfare of the Common Man, immediately followed by Hans-Gunter Brodman's Greetings to Herman, which commenced with a short fanfare by the band, soon to move to the percussion section with its contribution of a very precise, incisive quality, and consequently returning to the band for a grand climax.
A "traditional" arrangement of Maltese folklore by Anthony Chircop trod on familiar ground before we were taken into a totally different world depicted by a chant-like melody with an Eastern twist in W. Francis MacBeth's Chant and Jubilio.
A number of encores entertained an apparently insatiable audience further.