Concert
Dejan Bogdanovich, violinist; MPO
St George’s Basilica

The splendid baroque basilica of St George in Victoria was, as always, the venue for the initial concert of the 17th Victoria International Arts Festival. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, leader Roberta Attard, was conducted by Joseph Vella who is the festival’s artistic director. The programme was a most attractive one, featuring a number of late Romantic works and performed to a packed basilica.

The strings established a very warm tone which lasted throughout the evening

Violinist Dejan Bogdanovich was soloist in one of the evening’s two main works, performing Henryk Wieniawski’s delightful Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 22. His was a nigh impeccable performance, warm and articulate, passionate andpoetic, reflective as well as with that inevitable dose of virtuoso playing.

The latter is expected in such a work but is not an end in itself, which is why the work as a whole is an extremely valid and valuable fixture in the repertoire. Perhaps the best and most balanced moments with the orchestra was the central Romance – andante non troppo where the right restraint was exercised with the MPO in an ideally discreet accompanying role. In the more agitated moments that balance was not so well maintained. This was mainly due to the overpowering brass element.

It was undoubtedly precise and crisp but the basilica’s acoustics,if ideal for Mozart and Haydn, could be tricky for a larger orchestra to maintain balance.

This was evident in the evening’s opening work, Bedrich Smetana’s beautiful Vltava, which is No. 2 from the six-part cycle Má Vlast. Here the strings established a very warm tone which lasted throughout the evening, with the sparkling woodwinds bubbling away in no uncertain manner only for the brass to be quite over-dominant in most of the climactic moments.

In the briefer Pas de deux from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, the strong brass element performed very well in an excerpt the nature of which is a mix of lyricism and drama.

The Tchaikovsky was a brief interlude before the next and final main work of the evening, Dvorák’s Symphony in G Major, Op. 88. This was projected with the typically warm glow it requires. Colourful at all times, imbued with often bouncy Czech folk tunes, their accents and rhythms built up a lovely symphonic edifice. The performance was marked by some fine teamwork and balance, more discernible in the inner movements.

All in all, the concert did not fail to leave me with an inner glow.