Late last week a very well-attended concert was that featuring the National Orchestra, directed by Michael Laus at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. This was part of the second Malta International Choir Competition. I missed last year's initial edition and to me this was a novelty... the National Orchestra and some of the competing choirs in a joint concert. All in all it was the orchestra which emerged as the star of the performance. This was very much the case in the work which closed the first half, Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No.1. The very evocative Morning was little short of magic and Ase's Death, scored for just strings had a warm yet appropriately melancholic tinge with a reiterated ascending theme and a decisive responsive descending one. Anitra's dance was jauntily exotic while the concluding In the Hall of the Mountain King there was a very finely wrought and exciting crescendo.
Well apart from this year being the first centenary of Grieg's death, it is also the 50th anniversary of Sibelius's. The performance of his two most popular concert pieces must be taken as a form of tribute to him. In the Valse Triste, it all began in a slow, tense statement in the build-up to the rather bitter-sweet waltz theme. This was a very well-controlled exercise and led to a very effective climax only for the music to fade away again to end on that small note of initial sadness and resignation. That magnificent Finlandia was colourful and stirringly exciting. There is a noble and dignified chorale well into the second half of the work. Before the performance proper started, the director held a little exercise. This was to rehearse the audience in the singing of lyrics set to the chorale. The audience by then included the choirs taking part earlier in the concert. Considering the combined numbers the effort was rather tame and the choirs did not seem to arouse many of the audience to sing along. When it comes to collective singing, local audiences tend to be far too reticent!
Long before that came about there were various works involving choral singing with two works including some solo work by baritone Kevin Caruana). The first of two Elgar works was Psalm 48: Great is the Lord. The combined Koebenhavns Kantatekor from Denmark and Non Silentium from Sweden barely made an impact, being only clearly audible in the climax towards the end. Mr Caruana's voice is not big enough for the size of the MCC which is a pity for it is pleasantly warm voice and better appreciated in more suitable environs. He fared a bit better in the Finale of Act III of Carmelo Pace's I Martiri and in the next piece below, but on the other hand, the usually competent St Monica Choir is not really one which is cut out for opera.
One was again surprised that the almost 50-strong combined Chor Meski w Wyrzusku from Poland, and Non Silentium did not produce much sound except in the climax of the stirring and martial Landerkennung by Grieg. Non Silentium (dir. Urban Westerlund) sang Grieg's rather nice Ave Maris Stella, unaccompanied, upfront and more audible while Koebnehavns Kantatekor (dir. GT.H.S. Svendsen) sang Elgar's Ave Verum Corpus. The choir coming out best was the Finnish Addictio Kuoro (dir. Anna Toivakka) singing a cappella Sibelius's difficult Rakastaava.
The concert ended with Elgar's rousing Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 and an improved audience participation in singing not Land of Hope and Glory but Glory In The highest to the God of Heaven. It was better still in Verdi's VÃ pensiero, which ended up being encored.
Well apart from this year being the first centenary of Grieg's death, it is also the 50th anniversary of Sibelius's. The performance of his two most popular concert pieces must be taken as a form of tribute to him. In the Valse Triste, it all began in a slow, tense statement in the build-up to the rather bitter-sweet waltz theme. This was a very well-controlled exercise and led to a very effective climax only for the music to fade away again to end on that small note of initial sadness and resignation. That magnificent Finlandia was colourful and stirringly exciting. There is a noble and dignified chorale well into the second half of the work. Before the performance proper started, the director held a little exercise. This was to rehearse the audience in the singing of lyrics set to the chorale. The audience by then included the choirs taking part earlier in the concert. Considering the combined numbers the effort was rather tame and the choirs did not seem to arouse many of the audience to sing along. When it comes to collective singing, local audiences tend to be far too reticent!
Long before that came about there were various works involving choral singing with two works including some solo work by baritone Kevin Caruana). The first of two Elgar works was Psalm 48: Great is the Lord. The combined Koebenhavns Kantatekor from Denmark and Non Silentium from Sweden barely made an impact, being only clearly audible in the climax towards the end. Mr Caruana's voice is not big enough for the size of the MCC which is a pity for it is pleasantly warm voice and better appreciated in more suitable environs. He fared a bit better in the Finale of Act III of Carmelo Pace's I Martiri and in the next piece below, but on the other hand, the usually competent St Monica Choir is not really one which is cut out for opera.
One was again surprised that the almost 50-strong combined Chor Meski w Wyrzusku from Poland, and Non Silentium did not produce much sound except in the climax of the stirring and martial Landerkennung by Grieg. Non Silentium (dir. Urban Westerlund) sang Grieg's rather nice Ave Maris Stella, unaccompanied, upfront and more audible while Koebnehavns Kantatekor (dir. GT.H.S. Svendsen) sang Elgar's Ave Verum Corpus. The choir coming out best was the Finnish Addictio Kuoro (dir. Anna Toivakka) singing a cappella Sibelius's difficult Rakastaava.
The concert ended with Elgar's rousing Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 and an improved audience participation in singing not Land of Hope and Glory but Glory In The highest to the God of Heaven. It was better still in Verdi's VÃ pensiero, which ended up being encored.