I played many a piano duet in my time. At school it was one good excuse for getting away from horrid Rounders and Netball and having to wear our unflattering gymslip even on a cold day. Instead, a small group of us were given permission to stay indoors during recreation, with the excuse that we had to practice our piano including duets.
I remember banging away at the most popular of Schubert's three Marche Militaire, La Danza del Diavolo, Ketelby's In a Monastery Garden (I have left instructions that it is to be played at my forthcoming funeral. It is one event which I cannot miss).
When living abroad there was no time for playing anything at all. All I could do was listen to music, even Indian music on the radio.
Once back in Malta in the last ten or so years I found a duet companion, a real pianist not an amateur like myself, and we started playing again which we both enjoyed in spite of the fact that I was more of a pupil than a collaborator as my piano skills nowhere match hers. She rewarded my efforts by playing for me Liszt Consolation No 3 and Liebesträume
and a Chopin Nocturne or two. Then Covid 19 arrived and that was the end of that.
Recitals of duets aren't common here. The most memorable are those of Jennifer Micallef and her performing partner Glen Inanga. That partnership is now gone and Jennifer is married to the celebrated Wayne Marshall and a mother.
Lately in the sixth of the MPO's Chamber Series organised by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, which take place on a Sunday morning at the Robert Sammut Hall, we were spoilt when Natasha Chircop and her husband, Marco Rivoltini, played a number of duets for us.
The recital started with Paul Hindemith's (1895-1963) 8 Walzer Op 6. Wikepedia tells us that among his students was the rocket scientist Werner von Braun. Germany's Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels publicly denounced Hindemith as an "atonal noisemaker". That certainly was not the experience the audience had last Sunday morning. It was not Chopin or Liszt. No romance in those walzes but I was bewitched by the technique of these two artists. It is evident that they are not just good friends but also each other's principal sounding-boards and confidants.
This was the start of an excellent recital where the pianists showed their artistry and collaboration which continued throughout the concert.
Next came Antonin Dvořák's Slavonic Dances, Op. 72 Nos. 5-8 (1886). This is the composer of one of the most popular symphonies of all: Symphony No 9 in E minor From the New World, which he composed during his three-year stay in the States where he was homesick most of the time but very successful.
Dvořák originally wrote his Slavonic Dances for piano four hands. It was only at the request of his publisher, who liked them immediately, that he produced an orchestral version and then more Slavonic Dances. "I simply write music that I feel in my heart. Music should be an expression of our emotions, our hopes and our dreams. Music it the language of the heart, a universal language that everyone can understand."
He was a composer with a big heart. We know that through his music.
The talented duo then played John Corigliano's Gazebo Dances which were followed by Three Dance Portraits by Allen Shawn.
The recital ended with Maurice Ravel's (1875-1937) Le Valse arranged by Lucien Garban.
Ravel's best known work is Boléro commissioned by a dance ballerina and impresario. While on holiday he first developed a Spanish-sounding melody that he could not get out of his head. And as anyone who's ever heard Boléro will know, Ravel certainly succeeded in ensuring that the insistent, repeated tune is almost impossible to forget.
The recital ended and we did not expect an encore after that demanding programme. At last the pianists gave the audience a smile. It is obvious that if one of them makes a single mistake they will both suffer. Such a recital with crossing hands and everything else needs complete concentration. No time for smiles. It is impossible not to become tense in spite of goodness knows how many hours of study was behind every piece. I hope they went off on a relaxing holiday after such a success.
The adjectives for these two artists, come tripping off my keyboard. Their playing appears to drift and ripple effortlessly past.
Among many others at the recital was Christopher Muscat CEO of MPO, whose most recent composition, the Oratorio Hawn f'Nofs l-Għar Musbieħ qed Jixgħel was such a success. He was there with his wife and son.
I was unable to be present at the inauguration of the Oratorio in Rabat but watched it all on television and loved it. Malta may be a small place but it is full of industrious and talented people. There were several in that audience last Sunday.
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