Malta Arts Festival - Poet at the piano

Where were the myriads of Maltese piano students during Pietro De Maria's superb piano recital July 7? And where were all our string players during Enrico Dindo's likewise supreme performance with the Solisti di Pavia string ensemble at the same venue a couple of days earlier? And what were our voice students doing while world celebrity Ian Bostridge was singing his beloved lieder to an ecstatic audience also at the Palace Courtyard a couple of days later? When are they going to wake up from their slumber of inertia and realise that these were yet another set of golden opportunities, this time forming part of the Malta Arts Festival to be counted along with several others which have gone with the wind?

Certainly the audiences who made it to the performances were regaled by music of the highest order. Pietro De Maria started his recital with six of Scarlatti's more than 550 sonatas - Sonata K45 in D Major, Sonata K98 in E Minor, Sonata K44 in F Major, Sonata K394 in E Minor, Sonata K13 in G Major and Sonata

K425 in G Major. Though deceptively simple, the sonatas demand a high degree of technical skill which they found in abundance on the part of the pianist who sailed seemingly effortlessly through their wide range of keyboard techniques.

Brilliant scale passages, thirds and sixths, double octaves, rapidly repeated notes, wide keyboard leaps and agile crossing of hands resulted in a showcase of sound effects achieved with none other than technical perfection. Most of the sonatas are practically virtuoso pieces and as exciting to watch as they are to listen to. Written in brilliant fashion for single-manual harpsichord Scarlatti's sonatas transfer to pianoforte without much loss of effect and found in Mr De Maria an interpreter who endowed them with the vitality and brilliance which they deserve.

Mr De Maria had in fact much more to contend with than that which meets the ear on a first hearing. For instance, the germs of the Beethoven scherzo were distinguishable in the sparkling and witty patterns, so that when he came to perform the Clementi Sonata in F Sharp Minor Opus 25 No. 5, we were prepared for the clearly distinguishable characteristics that Beethoven's early sonatas owed Clementi, whose distinctive style shone in different ways in Mr De Maria's hands according to the exigencies of the three movements. The first of these Piuttosto allegro con espressione was hallmarked by an exquisite expressiveness combined with an astounding agility. In total contrast the second movement Lento e patetico was just that, until the right hand indulged in an ascending flight of fancy before settling down to a heartfelt pleading. The final movement Presto immediately started in a very fast vein which delved into a minor mode for a short while before returning to its original theme with a very forceful left hand and ending on a very melodious right.

Mr De Maria is a champion of Chopin and is at the moment in the process of recording his entire works for Decca. We were fortunate enough to being exposed to a sample of these works, Impromptu in C Sharp Minor Opus 66, Valse in A Flat Major Opus 42, Ballade No. 4 in F Minor Opus 62 and Scherzo No. 4 in E Major Opus 54. He was stunning in his interpretation which was characterised by languor of indescribable beauty and an extraordinary expressiveness which never resorted to mawkish sentimentality. All was delivered by a virtuosity which befitted Chopin's often revolutionary harmonic writing and a creative versatility emphasised by the colour effects, sonority and dynamics.

A set of the three most popular of the five Preludes which Gershwin wrote for the piano transported us into the 20th century. The first of these preludes was an excursion into abandoned rhythm with suggestions of the tango and the charleston; the middle one emerged as a throbbing blues reminiscent of the sweet abandon of "Summertime", and the third gave vent to an uninhibited feeling through exciting rhythms and changing metres evoking the "American in Paris".

It was back to Chopin with his most taxing Polonaise in the encore, an impressive end to a truly superb evening.