The St Paul Chamber Ensemble recently presented two fully-fledged orchestral and choral works, Missa Solemnis Sancti Martiri by Mro Mark Agius, and the oratorio The Canticles of St Luke by Mro Joseph Sammut at St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta.
The concert, organised by the Medina Foundation for Music, was presented to a well-attended audience and opened with a rendering of the Missa Solemnis Sancti Martiri (2016) composed by the conductor himself.
The Mass set to the traditional Latin text consists of four main movements: Kyrie (andante e solenne), Gloria (andante maestoso), Sanctus et Benedictus (adagio con devozione) and Agnus Dei (adagio con devozione). The work is a sacred choral composition for soloists, SATB and chamber orchestra and was performed on this occasion by sopranos Karen Gatt Darmenia and Annalise Psaila, mezzo sopranos Christine Dalli and May Caruana, tenor Charles Vincenti, baritone Ivan Vella and bass Noel Galea, all of whom diligently and with great professionalism excelled in their performance.
The work was originally premiered on October 21, 2016, at the church of the Monastery of the Gerosolimitan Cloistered Nuns of St Ursula in Valletta, on the day of the feast of St Ursula. The work is reminiscent of the Roman School 16th-century representative stile antico style, displaying intricate and complex polyphonic textures.
Agius’s style of composition has led him to employ interchanging unrelated modulations between the sections, producing elaborate and lyrical melodic contours between the vocal parts. The composition also employs 16th- and 17th-century imitative counterpoint, doubling of voices between the sopranos and tenor, and also incorporates dissonant textures, which led the whole composition to a whole dimensional sphere of sounds.
The second part of the concert presented a 45-minute oratorio composed by Mro Sammut – The Canticles of St Luke (2007). The work, scored for chamber orchestra, female choir, tenor and contralto, was awarded the Jury Prize by an international adjudicating panel at the 2007 APS Bank Music Competition for local composers. It was later premiered at St John’s Co-Cathedral in 2010.
By special request, Mro Sammut took the podium to conduct the opening of the first part of his oratorio with assurance and panache
In the midst of today’s avant-garde music, oratorios are a genre that are not so conventional among the present contemporary musical repertoire, but was considered to be the music for the elite – performed in highly respected places, reminiscent of the Baroque era.
The oratorio featured two well-established singers who performed with utmost professionalism – tenor Charles Vincenti and mezzo-soprano Claire Massa, with the participation of the female sections of the Marija Assunta Choir of Attard.
Although the oratorio is presented in the traditional tonal system, Sammut’s style of composition reflects strong constituents of the late-Romantic style where he utilises elements extracted from post-tonality in his overall harmonic framework. He presents melodious thematic materials distinctively enunciated in the main instrumental solo parts, such as the flute, clarinet, French horn and cello, constantly supported by intricate contrapuntal textures by various sections of the orchestra and choir.
Sammut’s style of writing presents itself by a continuous accumulation of tension, transpired by generating different harmonic and melodic textures that are developed from one section to another, and which ultimately reach the climax with a grand and majestic atmosphere of resounding harmonies.
He was inspired from the text of the three canticles found in St Luke’s gospel, where the work got its name. The work opens with a Prelude (lento), an instrumental introduction which starts with a solo theme on the French horn, delicately accompanied by the harp and strings. With a brief introductory Prelude, the work is followed by four distinctive movements.
In the first movement, the Magnificat (molto lento) – dedicated to the Canticles of Mary, Sammut introduces a new theme, firmly executed by the solo violoncello, which serves as a short introduction before the female choir and the orchestra join forces to create intrinsic and intricate symphonic textures.
In the second movement, Nunc Dimittis (andante) (Luke 2: 29-32), starts with agitated passages on the upper strings’ section, while a short thematic piece is introduced on the French horn. The movement continues to develop into more complex contrapuntal textures, culminating in a climax where the orchestra, choir and soloists are fused together to display intense atmosphere of sublime harmonies.
In the last two movements, the third Benedictus (andante) and the fourth movement Alleluja Finale (allegro) are the longest movements, displaying a culmination of intense and complex contrapuntal textures throughout each section of the movements.
At the end of the concert, Mro Sammut was presented with an Honorary Patronage of the Medina Foundation for Music for his lifetime dedication to music and his contribution to the development of music in Malta. Mro Agius, chairman of the Foundation, presented Mro Sammut with a certificate and a memento of the occasion.
By special request, Mro Sammut then took the podium to conduct the opening of the first part of his oratorio with firm assurance and panache. Witnessing Mro Sammut, at the age of 90, conduct the orchestra for a few minutes was truly a privilege that evoked a profound feeling among the musicians and guests and brought the evening to a conclusion with an emotional and tearful standing ovation.
I have to say that it was a moment of great joy to witness one of the foremost Maltese conductors who had initially instigated the National Orchestra of Malta.