I have known Gisèle since around 2002 when she had applied for an Ian Tomlin Scholarship to study music at Napier University in Edinburgh. I am proud to say that I have been associated with this scholarship scheme since its inception. It has given a unique chance to a good number of students to further their music studies abroad. Most have returned and now have successful and rewarding careers. Those who remained abroad, the soprano Claire Debono immediately comes to mind, are also doing extremely well.

I cannot recall which year but Gisèle was one of the awardees. She graduated from Napier with a First Class Honours degree and continued to win scholarships to further her studies abroad. She comes from the large and talented Grima family – her father is one of ten children  – and has always struck me as  hardworking, committed and a no-nonsense girl who will do her thing. Regrettably I have missed a couple of her recitals but I know that she merits her status as “one of the leading Maltese pianists of her generation” as one music critic put it. I have watched her blossoming over the years but she had a natural talent for music to begin with.

Her choice of programme that evening at San Anton Palace, was centered around her affinity for music that intends and strives to either tell a story, create an image, depict a poem or painting or indeed reveal some of the composer's innermost thoughts and experiences. She told me that she finds that as a musician it is important to know and understand the 'extra-musical' aspects of a piece in order to decipher its meaning and scope. She commented: “This, at least, I find to be extremely helpful in that it takes the notes off a page much easier and puts the work in context.”

There was no one to compère the recital that evening. This is because the young pianist had chosen to present each work herself. So, with great confidence the self-assured Gisèle introduced us to one of Beethovan’s 32 piano sonatas: Piano Sonata No 27 in E minor, Opus 90 with which she started the concert, to a ‘full house.’   “We know that the Beethoven Sonata Op. 90, although not a programmatic work, contains anecdotes made by the composer himself,” she commented. Written in the summer of 1814, this piano sonata belongs to Beethoven’s late middle period and is one of the composer’s shorter sonatas.

We all know that Beethovan is one of the Top Ten of the Classical period of Music. He had a tough childhood as he was often beaten by his alcoholic father who, nevertheless, recognized his musical talent and was determined that he would become the ‘new Mozart’.. Unluckily for him Beethovan began to have trouble with his hearing in his twenties. By his forties he was completely deaf. But he refused to be defeated and continued to create works which have stood the test of time without being able to hear a single note played. No one, especially a gifted musician who relies on his hearing,  could come to terms with this huge disability easily. Ludwig Van is said to have thumped his piano in an effort to hear the notes and became increasingly difficult, often drinking heavily. Our vision of this extraordinary composer is that of a man with unkempt hair. You can imagine that he was in no mood to look after his appearance having to come to terms with such a huge disability.

Sad to say that by the time that what is perhaps his biggest triumph, his final Symphony No 9, composed in 1823, was first performed in public, he was completely deaf. We are all familiar at least with the magnificent final movement of this symphony, the ‘Ode to Joy,’ first adopted by the Council of Europe as its anthem and in 1985 as the official anthem of the European Union.

At the end of the recital I congratulated Gisèle on her playing but, woman to woman, also commented on her elegant dress. She told me that as a performer her work is not to just sit and play and please with pretty music. Neither is it to look good or to put on a beautiful dress (quite often it would be the last thing she sorts out!). She believes that connecting with an audience is imperative. It is so important to invite audiences to listen and understand and this is why she enjoys speaking about the pieces before she plays them.  “It somehow removes the barrier between the audience and performer. The beauty of listening to live music is that it can touch some people in one way, it can relax others, it can engage others on a more intense level. And when they are informed beforehand it may help them in understanding the music better.”   Of course music can just speak for itself, she emphasized,  but not everybody finds listening to music all that easy without any information on the works to be played. “I find that this can work very effectively. Introducing works briefly before playing was something that was encouraged during my studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester,” she told me.

Speaking about her teachers – so crucial in all our lives – Gisele told me that as

 a student in the UK, she was very lucky to have had excellent tutors who were all quite different. At Napier University, her piano tutor Nicholas Ashton gave her so much motivation and drive through his teaching. “He is a highly passionate musician with a memory like an elephant (a very, very clever man) and was able to bring the best out of my playing.” Gisèle recalls that he was able to make the student feel like the most important person in the teaching room and he was always responsive and sympathetic to her sensitivity towards the music she my playing. “Mr Ashton was a great pillar of support, I treasure his teaching each time I sit at the keyboard,” she told me in her enthusiastic way. 

At the Royal Northern College of Music this young pianist  was coached by Paul Roberts, a pianist and author whose focus has been and still is on French piano music particularly that of Debussy and Ravel. So of course Gisèle has acquired her teacher’s taste for these two French composers too. “Apart from just loving both composers, it was never imposed upon me to play their works but I do feel that Paul opened up a whole new world to understanding music. He has bags of energy when teaching and makes lessons fun and interesting. My interest towards late Romantic to early 20th century music – especially those works that carry inspirational elements – is probably a result of his own ongoing fascination with music of that era.”

After Beethovan Gisèle played excerpts from Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage which Liszt composed following his travels. The pianist played three out of the 26 demanding pieces from Book 1 – based on Liszt’s travels in Switzerland: Au Lac de Wallenstadt, Le Mal du Pays and Cloches de Genève. Her playing is authoratitive and free of empty display. She showed imaginative colour and flair in Les cloches de Genève. I enjoyed the watery evocations and serenity of Au Lac de Wallenstadt.

The last piece before the encore was Debussy’s masterpiece L'isle Joyeuse which is closely linked to Debussy's personal life at the time and is also inspired by Antoine Watteau's gorgeous painting titled L'Embarquement pour Cythere. Giséle commented that “the music and painting are a heavenly match in many ways.” Debussy, an innovator, took the inspiration for his music from paintings, works of literature and from the artists who lived around his flat in the Montmartre district of Paris. He had a complicated private life, with two of his lovers attempting to shoot themselves when he began relationships with new women. Imagine dying for a serial adulterer!

Gisele’s recital was enthusiastically received by President Abela and two former presidents, several ambassadors, friends and relatives.

After such a demanding repertoire she generously gave us an encore – a short miniature taken from a late collection by Liszt titled 5 Klavierstucke S. 192.  She played No. 3.

Throughout the recital Gisèle showed her complete command of the keyboard. The feeling throughout was very much of the spontaneity of live musicmaking. She was enjoying it all as much as her audience.