Din L-Art Helwa Violin Recital
Hideous yellow lines – how they ruin all our towns and villages. It is one of the things which you might suppose you would ‘get used to’, but who doesn’t find them a perpetual source of grief? I’m always dashing out of my little car to check if I am touching these lines, even slightly, when I park for fear some warden slips a piece of paper on my windscreen which will turn out to be expensive. So I steer clear of yellow lines. Even the few beautiful streets left, those which have not been mauled by the developers, are garishly splashed with yellow to prevent parking. A wise friend had a brilliant suggestion. Why don’t they paint lines where it is legal to park, rather than where it is illegal? In that way, the hateful yellow would be covered up, for much of the time by equally hateful cars. I doubt my friend will ever be employed by the Malta Transport Authority and be able to make his suggestion a reality.
And these thoughts lead me to the Bir Miftuh chapel where there are no yellow lines and parking is easy, one reason why I was encouraged to go to two of the three concerts. This violin recital by Paolo Tagliamento was supported by the Italian Embassy, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura and La Società Umanitaria di Milano. Ah! La generosità italiana! The young violinist is only 16 years old and is considered to be a child prodigy. Young Tagliamento started with JS Bach’s Sonata n.1 in sol minore. Franz Schubert has written of this composer: ‘Johann Sebastian Bach has done everything completely, he was a man through and through.’Alongside composing, Bach also found time to teach music to many of his children. He had twenty in total – so – an entire class of young musicians. He was the most famous of a large musical family. Orphaned as a child, he became a chorister when he was fifteen. Four years later, he walked from his home in Arnstadt to Lübeck to hear a performance by his favourite composer, Buxtehude. The teenager then walked all the way back to Arnstadt, a total journey of some 420 miles. (And I think it a great achievement if I walk from the Fortina to Manoel Island and back three times a week!). Bach was a fan of two things: coffee and numbers. Lots of his pieces play games with numbers, inaudibly and he wrote a whole cantata about coffee. No wonder Bach was the late Professor Edwin Borg Costanzi’s favourite composer, for although also an architect, the good professor was first and foremost a mathematician.
The young violinist played with confidence barely glancing at the score throughout the concert.
Next came Paganini: four Capricci. Paganini, the Italian musical genius, a superstar in his lifetime was himself a brilliant violinist. During his performances he was the consummate showman, able to perform all sorts of stunts using his violin. In the same way as Jimmy Hendrix could amaze audiences more than a century later as a rock guitar virtuoso.
Paganini’s childhood was completely centred on music and his father would punish him for not practicing by withdrawing food and water. As an adult, Paganini’s playing was so good that there were even stories suggesting that the only way anybody could possibly play the violin that well was if they had entered into a pact with the Devil! When he died, the Church initially refused to allow his body to be buried on its land for this reason.
At least we have come a long way from this kind of thinking although it still exists.
Paganini was in no doubt about the benefits of being seen as a showman, saying: ‘I’m not handsome, but when women hear me play, they come crawling to my feet.’
It is perhaps obvious to remark that some of the greatest pieces of classical music ever written for instrumental soloists were composed by people who could play that very instrument themselves: think Rachmaninov, Brahms, Liszt. The last, of Paganini’s 24 Capricci is the most famous and we all know it and love it. The audience was clearly impressed that this young violinist managed to play so well what is considered to be a very difficult piece of music – in fact one of the most difficult pieces ever written for the solo violin, with its arpeggios, fast scales, left hand pizzicato and so on. Tagliamento is technically very assured but is far from being a showman.
He then played the four movements of Eugène Ysa?e’s Sonata per Violino Solo Op. 27 No2 well and with a variety of colour. The four movements could easily sound like mere exercises if not interpreted in an interesting way by the violinist. The last piece was a Caprice composed by John Corigliano for the film The Red Violin.
After the concert the audience, the musician and his mother and father enjoyed the cool evening with wine provided by Marsovin, Coca Cola courtesy of General Soft Drinks and the delicious canapés by Infinitely Xara.
I spoke briefly to the young violinist whom I twice kissed as I felt moved to do so after hearing such a young boy play so well and with so much assurance. He did not flinch but smiled at me. He is obviously used to women of a certain age showing their admiration for his playing.
I asked his mother if theirs was a musical family. She has three children: one is studying agriculture “She brings a duck home for us to look after it but I am not allowed to cook it and it becomes a pet!” she told me. One son is studying medicine. ‘Paolo’s musical gift is from above,’ she said, pointing to the night, full of stars, full of mystery. I believe Tagliamento will be playing at the Baroque Music Festival next year. Do not miss his concert.
O’hea Opticians launch Blue Control lenses
The dress code on the invitation which was printed in blue, was ‘a touch of blue.’ An invitation to Palazzo Parisio is always a treat as they care for detail and have a sense of aesthetics. What it must take to keep those gardens looking so beautiful I dare not think. It was a cool evening so at the last minute I abandoned any thought of putting on a blue summer dress and opted for black but stuck a brilliant tourquoise flower on my lapel. Damask-napped tables were placed outside and the lighting too, was blue. It was chilly but Celia had sent lady guests a message reminding us that it was not yet summer.
I am always happy to meet young women whose aspirations run beyond a husband, a swimming pool and a family. I met two of them there: Dr Leanne Grech and Dr Gaby Schriha whose speciality is ophthalmology. They are still taking exams. I also met one of the busy ophthalmic surgeons at Mater Dei, Melvin J. Gouder. He is no showman either but a dedicated doctor who is probably overworked like many of his colleagues. He is another of life’s enhancers. We do have a great many clever people in Malta and I was impressed.
Sig. Silvano Larcher Product Manager of Hoya Lens Italy gave us a very well illustrated presentation about these new lenses. Most of us are constantly with our eyes glued to either a computer screen at work or at home; a smartphone, a tablet, television. How did we ever live without them? It seems that all these emit a blue light and as they improve their blue light emission is increasing. Excessive amounts of this blue light can have adverse effects and cause eye strain and fatigue and these blue lenses help to reduce glare for a more comfortable and relaxed vision. O’Hea are offering them at a promotional price during the month of July. (See photos of the occasion on page 36).
The reception afterwards was of a calibre we have come to expect of both Ms Melillo who does not cut corners and Baroness Ramsay Scicluna and her daughter Justine. These three ladies of life enhancers. A great pity that I had already made an appointment for a routine bloodtest the following morning so all I could do was watch helplessly as everyone was eating these delicious dishes. There was a coffee table afterwards and Blue Control cupcakes. Celia gave us one of these together with the press pack to take away with us. I ate it after the blood test the following morning. I have never enjoyed a cup cake so much.