Malta Arts Festival - Fascinating array of musical instruments

Surely the Palace Courtyard in Valletta has never been exposed to so many different sounds in so short a timeframe as in this year's Malta Arts Festival - and there is much more in store.

The third concert to be held there so far within the space of four days was the second in the series dedicated to contemporary music. Hot on the heels of the first in the series, which was dedicated to contemporary Maltese music, was a totally different enterprise. Subtitled Music in Motion, this concert featured American avant-garde music performed by the Alter Ego ensemble made up of Manuel Zurria - flute, Paolo Ravaglia - clarinet, Oscar Pizzo - piano and keyboard and Fulvia Ricevuto - marimba and vibraphone, widely recognised across Europe as a completely pioneer ensemble of new and experimental music, which did away with the whim that modern music is complicated and unintelligible.

The stage sported a fascinating array of musical instruments including two pianos, marimba, vibraphone, clarinets, flutes, synthesiser and electronic music equipment. They were put to use in a dazzling programme of a genre of music for the most part new to the ears of the average Maltese concert-goer.

There was a highly versatile and exciting selection of new and experimental American music, drawing its inspiration from New York, performed by Italian musicians so that continents crossed borders, resulting in a common language. Michael Gordon's The Low Quartet was the first piece to give us a glimpse of what we were in for during the rest of the evening. Repetitive both rhythmically and thematically, it established the trend we were to be exposed to, but which allowed for the individual voices of the various composers to be expressed. The concert featured compositions by Steve Reich, David Lang, Alvin Curran, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, John Cage, Alvin Lucier and Gavin Bryars.

It was very enlightening to be brought into line with the very latest in American contemporary music technology such as Riley's Dorian Reeds for flute and delays, Lucier's 947 (2001) for flute and pure wave oscillations and Steve Reich's New York Counterpoint for clarinet and tape.

I was particularly touched by Alvin Curran's For Cornelius for piano solo which Oscar Pizzo introduced verbally to explain what had inspired the composition: the sad story of the composer's friend who had lost his life tragically in a hit-and-run car accident and who spent a night in the snow waiting for help before dying of hypothermia. For Cornelius is an elegy to its namesake, musically reflecting the thoughts which must have raced through his mind in his last hours spent reflecting on his life as he lay waiting for death.

Also interesting but on a different plane was a selection of sonatas and interludes by John Cage for prepared piano, i.e. a technique by which the sound of the piano is drastically altered by placing various objects such as nuts, bolts and rubber jammed between the piano springs, producing the sound which reflects the soundtrack of a metropolis.

All the pieces had a particular thrill and most of them were fresh and innovative and a definite eye-opener, but where were all our students of music? Let's hope that they will pluck up enough courage to expose themselves to the Sound of Diversity, the third and last concert in the contemporary music series which will feature the Ars Ludi, an Italian percussion ensemble which will join forces with the AFM band at the Opera House Ruins in Valletta in the grand finale of the Malta Arts Festival this evening.