I was searching for Mark Delicata's emails as he had sent me photos of his daughter Daphne's Prize Winner's Concert of the Bice Mizzi Vassallo's Music Competition which took place at the Sala Isouard, Teatru Manoel on 13th December. At last I managed to hear her play. Well, apart from Mark's emails an email from April 2016 surfaced as well. This was from Daphne's mother Nadine. She had sent me a photo of Daphne at the piano. "This is photo of Daphne when she was little and did not know how to play the piano yet. But the interest was evidently very much there already," she wrote. Anyway, it was a conversation which also included our magazine's able photographer Joe Demanuele. (Joe where are you now?) Nadine was trying to trace a photo of her daughter which had appeared in my Diary. Finally the photo was found.
For some reason on another I never managed to hear Daphne play. By now she is a well known pianist, who has won so many awards and has travelled far and wide thanks to her gift. I am not going to give you her curriculum vitae interesting as it is, as it would take up a great deal of this page. Anyway, our friend Google will yield all the information you need about her.
Suffice it to say that she started her piano studies at the age of 4 under the guidance of her father, Marco, LRSM. She showed exceptional talent from an early age, achieving the ARSM Diploma in Piano Performance at age 10, followed by the LTCL Diploma at 11. Let me jump a whole lot of life and awards to what she is doing now: reading a BMus Tripos at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University. She is a scholar of the BOV Joseph Calleja Foundation.
I was very happy to be at the Sala Isouard that lunchtime, at last to listen to the much praised Daphne Delicata play.
After a couple of preliminary introductions she started with JS Bach's Prelude and Fugue No 3 in C Sharp Minor. It is the third prelude and fugue in the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier, a series of 48 preludes and fugues by the composer.
Franz Schubert wrote of JS 'Bach has done everything completely, he was a man through and through.' Alongside composing, Bach also found time to teach music to many of his children. He had 20 in total - so an entire class of young musicians.
Daphne was totally composed and mistress of her instrument. I felt that right from the start. Here is a true 'pro' I said to myself.
Taking a bow Daphne then went on to the Sonata in G minor by the revered Austrian composer Joseph Haydn. This is a captivating piece "that showcases his mastery in crafting intricate musical textures and innovative harmonies. Written in the key of G minor, a key often associated with emotional depth and intensity, this sonata stands as a testament to Haydn's ability to express a wide range of emotions through his music." Daphne was able to handle all these 'moods' and played with a certain amount of elegance.
Thence to Chopin's Impromptus, four of them, including the hugely popular, No 4 in C sharp minor (Fantasie-Impromptu). This was one of the 8 tracks, out of the film The Pianist soundtrack's of 11 tracks. Yes, 8 of those tracks consisted of music by Chopin.
There is no question that Chopin's pieces do have a general mood and that Chopin's temperament weighed very heavily on the substance of his music. A large portion of his writing and performing was done in the throes of a serious personal depression, during which he could "only groan, suffer, and pour out [his] despair at the piano!" Aptly enough, one of the principal causes of this depression was Chopin's Polish nationalism and his sorrow at the Russian invasion of his country.
I listened, enraptured, as Daphne gave us one Impromptu after another each with its own mood, all loved but most loved the Fantasie-Impromptu. When I got home I listened to it for the rest of the afternoon. I simply love Chopin. But, then, who doesn't.
Last on the programme were three of Debussy's Estampes: Pagodes, La Soirée dans Grenade and Jardins sous la Pluie. Spanish composer Manuel de Falla said of Jardins..: "There is not even one measure of this music borrowed from the Spanish folklore, and yet the entire composition in its most minute details, conveys admirably Spain." Daphne brought a genuine poetic feeling to these pieces. Her playing is distinguished by a keen musical intelligence and sympathy. She must receive the warmest welcome wherever she plays.
Thank you to the Bice Mizzi Vassallo competition for young musicians and all those who manage it... and of course to Daphne, bound to become world-famous.
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