Who would have told Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Sultan, the corsair Dragut and indeed the whole Turkish Armada that in the 21st century, Turkish musicians would be coming to Malta to entertain the Maltese and that Maltese and Turks would be marrying each other.And moreover that Shish kebab would become a favourite take away. I find it all so completely fascinating. Yesterday's bitter enemies, today's friends. It is often the other way round.
So, last month we had more great Turkish musicians, this time in the form of the Bursa Symphony Orchestra. The concert, at the Mediterranean Conference Centre was in celebration of fifty years of Turkish-Maltese Diplomatic Relations and was held in collaboration with the European Foundation for Support of Culture.
One can only but imagine the difficulties encountered to coordinate such an event. Apart from the Bursa musicians the orchestra included three horns from Sicily and seven musicians from Malta. The Mediterranean Conference Centre is doing excellent work in support of culture.
The star of the evening was Brahms. Never mind the order in which the pieces were played. I have mislaid the programme and anyway it is of no consequence. We were treated to Symphony No 1 in C minor which took Brahms some 15 years to compose. The four Brahms symphonies which weren't written until the composer was into his forties, are sublime from start to finish. However I have to confess for all my enthusiasm about the Brahms symphonies nothing beats his Hungarian dances.
As a teenager Brahms would earn money by playing the piano in brothels around his native Hamburg. He would have gone down well in the bars of Strait Street when this 'famous' street, was in its hey day. He had his fans but not all were in awe of his music. The great Tchaikovsky was far from being an admirer of Brahms. He once wrote: 'I played over the music of that scoundrel Brahms. What a giftless bastard! It annoys me that his self-inflated mediocrity is hailed as genius." There you are, it is not only politicians and columnists who are nasty to each other. Yet no matter what Tchaikovsky thought of this great composer, Brahms composed the Violin Concerto in D Major (the second Brahms piece to be played that evening) which would end up in every great violinist's repertoire.
The conductor that evening, was Alexei Galea Cavallazzi. This young man has had a very solid and long musical education in Britain and Russia and for conducting in Dresden and Vienna. He knows and understands music (and philosophy too!). I remember him playing the violin in his early teens. He has since switched to piano and conducting. But his knowledge of two such important instruments have given him an excellent background to conduct.
He spent six days in Turkey, rehearsing with the Bursa. There they rehearsed and played works by Brahms and Turkish composer Rey as well as other pieces of a more 'popular' nature. In fact he returned to Malta with the orchestra on the 3rd March two days before the concert was to take place
. The President, members of the cabinet and diplomatic corps turned up that evening. I hadn't met the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Mario Vella and his wife Pauline for some time and I took advantage of the occasion to plant a kiss on their cheeks in the middle of the dress circle. I told them "I bet this is a first time for you as it is for me!" They are such sports.
Galea Cavallazzi's conducting was clear and though emotional, with no pathos. The orchestra responded well. I hope to see Alexei conduct our philharmonic orchestra in the not too distant future. Local conductors need to be groomed and encouraged. 'Practice makes perfect' after all.
The violinist who so brilliantly played the violin concert was Fedor Rudin who played on the original 1680 Paganini D Annunzio Stradivarius generously loaned to him by the Rin Collection of Singapore. Fedor is the son of Alexander Rudin, professor of cello at the Moscow conservatoire and who was also the chamber music teacher of Galea Cavallazzi in Moscow. I was to learn later on that this gifted violinist was sick that evening running a high fever and only rehearsed the concerto with the orchestra and conductor for half an hour because of this. Nevertheless his performance was flawless.
Gozitan composer (and educator) Mariella Cassar-Cordina's piece January, a tribute to Charles Camilleri was very well received by the audience. She seems to have boundless energy and is involved in all kinds of activities related to music. A hardworker.
There were several curtain calls at the end of the concert and the audience demanded an encore and in spite of the fact that the musicans and conductor must have been quite exhausted they obliged and appropriately played something Turkish, the last movement of the Turkish composer Cemal Resit Rey's symphonic poem, Turkey. The spontaneous standing ovation at the end of the concert was a reflection of the high standard of all the facets of this concert which had so many multi-cultural elements in it. Thank you Turkey. What would Grand Master de Valette have to say to this?
The world of books
Occasionally a newly published tome arrives in the post at home or on my desk at work asking for publicity. I have to say that I had a thorough browse of Karl Scicluna's book (illustrated here) and published by BDL and wished that there had been something similar when my daughters were strenuously trying to learn the language after years of attending a French Lycée and speaking English at home.
The manual Nikteb il Malti Tajjeb encompasses a comprehensive set of established orthographic rules presented in themes. Each theme highlights the main rules related to the subject, with various examples that help for a better understanding. There is also a section where one can find an answer to particular difficulties related to a number of words which are often misspelt by many when writing in Maltese.
This manual is published in two formats: a paperback version and a large deluxe hardback. It offers clear guidelines to the correct spelling of Maltese, with highlighted key elements, making it easy to understand and follow. I particularly love the section il-kitba tal-kliem mill-Ingliz fil-Malti. So we have skorja, ittowja, ippolixja and so on. There is also a useful appendix and an index. It is a well-presented book. I have to say that I learnt a thing or two from this useful book, even if it is too late for me.
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