Abraham Borg
The President's New Year Concert, held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre on Sunday, 3 January, drew a sizeable and appreciative audience to an excellent performance by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO), very ably conducted by Joseph Debrincat, and to the equally successful recital by young tenor Nico Darmanin. The interesting selection of music included a variety of musical traditions and styles, from strictly orchestral works, to arias from operas and zarzuelas and a number of popular songs.
The MPO introduced the evening with a truly rousing rendering of the stirring music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's (1840-1893), grand Polonaise, the ball scene of Act III from his opera Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, written in 1878. Other pieces included the intermezzo from Gerónimo Giménez y Bellido's (1854-1923) popular Zarzuela La boda de Luis Alonso, Charles Camilleri's (1931-2009) Maltese Dances, and the Overture from the operetta by Jacques Offenbach, (1819-1880), Orpheus in the Underworld. The MPO's performance was nuanced and sounded sumptuous.
I was looking forward to the performance by Tenor Nico Darmanin who started his recital with 'Una furtiva lagrima' from Gaetano Donizetti's (1797-1848) comic opera L'elisir d'amore, and followed it with the romanza and cabaletta, 'De' miei bollenti spiriti', and 'O mio rimorso! O infamia' from Act II of Giuseppe Verdi's (1813-1901) La traviata. Darmanin did not disappoint; his middle and lower register were rich and bright; his voice warm with good enunciation, and his breathing under control. There was the right emotion in his voice in the two romanze, contrasting with his spirited account of the cabaletta.
From Italian opera to the Spanish zarzuela and the popular aria 'No puede ser', from Pablo Sorozábal's La tabernera del Puerto, followed by José María Lacalle García's (1860-1937) song 'Amapola', ('Pretty Little Poppy'). Darmanin gave an animated and beautiful rendition of both pieces, earning merited and vociferous applause. The young tenor rounded his performance with the famous 'Mattinata', which composer Ruggero Leoncavallo, (1857-1919), had dedicated to famous tenor Enrico Caruso, followed by Nicholas Brodszky's (1905-1958) evergreen 'Be My Love', both of which were sung with great sensitivity. In all the pieces there was splendid coordination between the orchestra and the singer.
Joseph Debrincat displayed a thorough knowledge of the scores and under his direction the orchestra played with excellent balance and uniformity of sound. It appeased the audience's prolonged applause at the end of the concert by an enthusiastic rendition of Paul Lincke (1866 -1946), Berliner Luft (Berlin Air).