Yes, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra's concert All About The Brass which was held at St James Cavalier's Music Room last week was fun and put a smile on our faces. This was the last concert of the season for MPO.
The hits that evening were Gabriel Fauré's Pavane arranged by Stephen Roberts and Suite from Bizet's famous opera Carmen, arranged by Peter Franks. Those were top of the pops for me.
The concert opened with Renaissance Dances by Tylman Susato (c1510 - c 1570), arranged by John Iveson. Composer and music were all new to me but the programme notes were very helpful. This is early music. I am not much into this kind of music. No drama, no touching your soul. No passion. Pleasant enough if not very exciting.
Presenting the programme was Brenden Ball who was also playing the trumpet. I like it when someone presents the programme and gives us information. He spoke clearly from a podium. Murmuring something from the piano stool when you are about to play an encore is really of very little use.
Brendan has a distinguished career in music. "He has performed all the major concertos and is an internationally regarded recitalist. His output in the recording industry is equally prodigious. Brendan joined MPO in March 2017."
The musicians on the stage at any one time were five: two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba. Some musicians changed for some of the pieces. One of the horn players was Bernardette Vella, who started playing with the Beland Band Club of Zejtun at the age of seven. I love our local bands, I love their marches and the colour they bring to towns and villages. It is the local band clubs we have to thank for training young musicians and instilling in them a love of music. Bernardette went well beyond Beland. She has travelled to many countries playing with MPO.
Looking at the cv of the musicians that evening gives us stories of hard work, effort, endless studies. Ambition. Musicians don't just happen.
Etienne Cutajar became associate principal horn of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in 2006, which position he kept for ten years. That is quite an achievement.
Manuele Catalano hails from Messina. He specialised in French horn at the National Academy of S. Cecilia and the J. Haydn Konservatorium of Eisenstadt, Austria. He also played with Riccardo Muti's famed orchestra. Manuele has been holding the position of low horn with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra since March 2017.
Kevin Abela plays the trumpet and is very versatile. He is involved in various productions and projects as an arranger and producer. He even has his own band, Brass House Unit. He has also been invited to conduct the MPO.
Dennis Camilleri plays the trombone. Again he is exceedingly well qualified and is a graduate of the London College as well as Trinity College. He also qualified as a baritone. He experimented with hundreds of different mouthpieces and together with another musician "brought about the creation of a masterpiece, the K & G mouthpiece." I noticed that mouthpieces were being inserted in the instruments occasionally.
Trombone player Jesmond Azzopardi started playing euphonium at a young age with L'Isle Adam Band Club, Rabat. He continued studying and won a scholarship on euphonium to the London College of Music, winning the Young Musicians Competition in 2001, organised by the Malta Society of Arts. He is well qualified in trombone playing, too, and moreover an active brass instrument teacher at L'Isle Adam Band Club where he had started. He has played with MPO since 2003 as sub-principal trombone/bass trombone.
Emmanuel Giordimaina started his musical studies on the B flat baritone at the age of 14 with Aurelio Belli. His second instrument was the viola. He also studied conducting and is currently assistant band conductor of St Anthony Band Club. He started studying the trombone in 2018 and played for the Malta Youth Orchestra transferring to the MPO in December 2021. He has attended master classes and continues his studies in Berlin, coming and going there, this under the MPO internship programme.
Chris Spiteri played the tuba in all the pieces that evening. He was, after all, the only tuba player around.
He was granted a scholarship to the Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Verdi. This gave him the chance to play with Italian orchestras and to perform at La Scala and other important theatres. He is also a soloist and was chosen as one of the best students from all the Italian conservatoires.
I am giving you these snippets from the programme notes as we have to be impressed with the quality of our musicians and how much our national orchestra has improved in the last 25 or so years.
The Renaissance dances were followed by Pezzo per Quintetto d'Ottoni by Gozo's Joseph Vella (1942-2018). Is it a daring innovation in which case I don't like it. Maybe my ears need retuning but I said to myself "What on earth is that supposed to be?" None of it lingers in the memory. I felt sorry for the musicians who had to spend time learning it. Thankfully it was only six minutes long and followed by Fauré's lovely Pavane. I had never heard it played by just brass but it was as beautiful as ever.
The musicians maintained their energy throughout the programme. The last piece was Carmen Suite, the famous Carmen by Georges Bizet (1838-1875) who died so young. These were highlights from the popular opera. Goodness knows what else Bizet would have written had he lived. I would not blanch at the prospect of wall to wall Bizet in one evening. His entire reputation is founded on just two works: Les Pêcheurs de perles and Carmen. His relationship with the musical establishment in Paris was acerbic and unfruitful. Both operas were badly received and attended during his lifetime. Only after his early death, and a successful production of Carmen in Vienna did Paris recognise the genius of his work, finally reviving Carmen in 1883.
The MPO musicians after a standing ovation, played another highlight from Carmen. I noticed Alfred Camilleri, the fairly new chairman of MPO who attended the concert, shot up to clap and we all went out smiling. I said to myself, if only these musicians had the time to visit schools once a year and play for the children a programme such as this, Malta would never lack an audience.
Photographer: Darrin Agius
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