An invitation to a Christmas concert at St Patrick's in Sliema, a church which is so much part of my childhood and teenage years, was most welcome as all I had to do was walk down a few metres from home. I had never been to a concert there before so I was very curious as to how this was going to be organized.
The place looked lovely especially the church, bright and Christmassy with the poinsettia pots and garlands round the doors and along the railing of the balconies. The creation of a festive ambience was most successful.
Guests had been sent a programme with the invitation so that we knew what was in store that evening. No Christmas carols I immediately noticed. Seven young musicians from the Orchestra da Camera Italiana a Malta were going to play.
The first piece played was the Ouverture from Handel's Messiah. What could be more familiar? This is the famous composer whose father wasn't keen on his son becoming a musician. The only way the young composer could practice was by playing on a clavichord hidden in the attic of his house. Thank goodness for his mother who encouraged him.
Handel's speciality was the oratorio and many of us remember our singing lessons at school and the extracts from the Messiah, which we eventually sang for our parents. This is among the most famous oratorios in history and made its debut in Dublin. One can say that Handel, though born in Germany, was adopted by the English and it was in England that he died and is buried.
On the programme was another Handel piece - excerpts from Water Music - easy on the ear and jauntily life-affirming.
I pass by Gustav Holst's house in Cheltenham almost every day when I am there on holiday. It is on Clarence Road and has been turned into a museum mostly run by volunteers. This house dates from 1832 and is typical of the many smaller Regency terraced houses built in Cheltenham at the time.
Holst was born here on 21st September 1874 and that is where he lived until 1882. His most famous work must be The Planets which was performed by our Philharmonic Orchestra a few months ago. That evening we enjoyed his St Paul's Suite a jolly folksy piece for strings. It is named after the St Paul's Girls' School in the United Kingdom where Holst was Director of Music from 1905 to 1934. He wrote it in gratitude to the school, which had built a soundproof studio for him. This was not the only piece he wrote for the students of St Paul's but it is the most famous.
Ennio Morricone was on the programme and who is more Italian and indeed at the same time more international than Morricone who inspite of his successes in Hollywood never wanted to move there. We love his music, always easy on the ear and the piece we enjoyed that evening was Gabriel's Oboe from the film The Mission.
Another Italian composer, Ottorino Respighi and his Aria Italiana were on the programme. I am familiar with the name of the composer but I have only ever heard his popular Fountains of Rome played. This was a most pleasant aria.
Who is really the composer of The Toy Symphony? Is it Joseph Haydn, his brother Michael, Leopold Mozart or the Austrian Benedictine monk Edmund Angerer? It looks as if we shall never have the correct answer. The musicians really had fun playing this for each of its three movements features the sounds of actual toys. The musicians rattled and the cuckoo and nightingale called out mischievously and in the most playful manner. This piece is not only popular with children but even grownups cannot resist a bunch of noisemakers cranking in time with the first violin.
Franz Danzi's First movement from his Trio per violino, corno e fagotto gave unexpected pleasure.
We were not going to allow these young musicians to escape to the sacristy without an encore. They generously gave us two. The first the popular Joy to the World said to be 'The most published Christmas hymn in North America.' The words are by the English hymn writer Isaac Watts and the music is attributed to Handel.
The second encore was Sleigh Ride first recorded in 1949 by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra. This delightful piece was familiar to me as it would be to some of you, way back from Rediffusion days. (yes, I'm that old!) Since then it has been a popular light orchestra standard. The version of Sleigh Ride that evening was arranged by Maestro Giacomo Cella who is not new to Malta. In 2013 with some members of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra he participated in the Baroque Festival. His speciality is the bassoon and his repertoire is versatile. He is not from Handel's era but my young daughter's age, as he was born in 1979.
Throughout the concert the young musicians played with such joy, enthusiasm and also humour when appropriate. Most of them are Italian but there are two non-Italian performers: one from Hungary and one from Poland. All the pieces were stunningly played by this gifted conductorless ensemble and they were enjoying themselves as much as we were.
A reception downstairs in the lobby where too, a festive ambience, had been created, followed.
As far as I am concerned there was another big plus that evening. I did not have to travel to Valletta to the Istituto, hunt down a parking place often somewhere in the bowels of our City of Culture and arrive for the concert exhausted and breathless. I do hope there will be further events in Sliema.
His Excellency the Italian ambassador, Mario Sammartino said a few words. Him and his wife have already established themselves firmly and are now part of the Maltese scene - social, cultural and diplomatic.
SEASONAL REQUEST
Please do not forget to send Sister Agnes Azzopardi some money for her refugees who now number more than 100.
Her address is Good Shepherd Convent, Idmejda Street, Balzan.
I wish my readers a 2018 full of blessings to you and your loved ones.
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