I love our palaces and San Anton is so beautifully kept. Ambience matters so much as do taste and style in every aspect of life. Music sounds different in a room which is tastefully furnished and cared for and everything sparkling clean. I once asked someone how they clean the enormous crystal chandeliers in these palaces. Each piece is brought down carefully and cleaned separately with great attention, I was told.
The pianist on the evening of 9 February was Cornelia Herrmann, a young and gifted Austrian. She comes from a musical family and music is in her blood. Her curriculum vitae is truly impressive for one so young. Among the guests enjoying the concert were the Austrian ambassador , DDR Petra Schneebauer, and her daughter Christina. I suspect the Austrian Embassy sponsored this concert but I forgot to ask.
The pianist started off with J.S. Bach's Italian Concert in F Major which has three movements. J.S. is one of the two kings of Baroque, the other being Handel. This genius described music as being 'nothing remarkable', saying, 'All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.' But then he was part of a German musical dynasty that spanned many generations and music was in his blood. I am sure this remark did not go down well with those of his contemporaries who were not so gifted and indeed those reading it later on who have to work so hard at their instruments. His 48 Preludes and Fugues laid the foundations for so much of what was to follow in classical music history; so many great composers were inspired by them in some way. Out of his 20 children only nine survived and four of them were composers too but none as distinguished or indeed prolific, as their father.
The Italian Concert in F Major is the most famous and most frequently recorded of Bach's keyboard works. Much to my shame I am no great lover of Bach's works. I prefer the Romantics but this Bach concerto was handsomely handled by the pianist and is truly beautiful. He loved Maths and was very religious and it is evident that everything he composed was 'calculated' to the last note.
Mozart, one of the giants of classical music, was next and his Sonata in B flat major and its three movements gave the audience much pleasure. Mozart created intensely tuneful melodies from scratch. We are told that he did not spend hours working and reworking every note he wrote. The first movement - Allegro, is so Mozartian - playful and lively but all three movements in their variety were most enjoyable and played with such ease by Ms Herrmann. She must live by a piano.
Ah Schubert! The pianist played a piano piece from 3 Piano Pieces D 946 and also Schubert's Wanderer-Fantasy. Schubert, like Mozart died too early but like him, managed to compose so much in his short 31 years. He left behind more than 600 songs, eight (and a half) symphonies, 11 operas and around 400 other pieces. His Unfinished Symphony - Symphony No 8 is one of his most popular works to this day. It was one of the pieces our piano teacher tried to teach us to play as a duet together with the most popular of Schubert's Marche Militaires, Ketelbey Sanctuary of the Heart and others pieces. When Miss Abela could no longer bear the noises emanating from the school piano she would smack our hands and bang our heads together. None of us had the perseverance to spend our entire life - hour upon hour, days, months and years, thinking about music; practicing, studying scores and never ending learning. But certainly those years of lessons have taught me to appreciate the work of musicians. I am not so ready to criticize. I invariably sit there and listen with admiration.
Ms Herrmann also played Echoes from Austria by an Austrian composer Ernst Krenek composed in 1958. Krenek's first marriage was to Gustav Mahler's daughter Anna - a marriage which ended in divorce before their first anniversary. He died at the grand old age of 91 and managed to marry twice more before then. Echoes was played delicately. I am not a lover of contemporary music at all and at this stage of my life I simply do not want to spend whatever time I have left on this earth listening to new compositions. I like classical composers. But this Echoes from Austria struck a chord and was so delicately played; the composition itself is so pleasant that I did not blame it for having been composed quite recently.
I was delighted to meet the new French ambassador to Malta that evening Mme Béatrice le Fraper du Hellen, a lively lady. In the course of conversation she remarked that the term 'ambassadrice' is used for the wife of ambassadors. Lady ambassadors usually use the word 'ambassador' just like their male counterparts. Also present was the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance (reputed to be brilliant) Mr Alfred Camilleri. He loves music he told me, often takes a break from work and then returns home or to the office I suppose, and works until late at night. It is always encouraging to see members of the Government, or the Opposition and indeed the Civil Service at cultural events. However, on the whole I am disappointed to say that one rarely does.
We are so lucky to be able to hear such exquisite musicians like Ms Herrmann and in opulent surroundings too. These events do lift up the spirit and help us escape all that we do not like in our life.
Ian Tomlin Napier/Malta Music Scholarship Trust Scholarship
So many Maltese have benefitted from this scholarship. Those that come immediately to mind are Alex Vella Gregory, Giselle Grima, Claire Debono doing so well as a soprano abroad, Veronique Zammit, Lorraine Aquilina's daughter whose name escapes me and several others. If you know of a young gifted musican who wants to study abroad to pass this on to them. For further information please email: [email protected]. Closing date is 18th February and auditions will be held soon after.