Exciting but difficult music

RecitalConcert of Symphonic MusicMCC Three days after performing to a full house at home on the night the World Cup kicked off in Russia, the world-famous Saint Petersburg Capella Symphony Orchestra presented a delightful concert at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta. For the concert, held in collaboration with the European Foundation for Support of Culture, the orchestra was under the baton of Alexei Galea Cavallazzi, with renowned Arkadi Zenziper as guest piano soloist. Rehearsals were held in St Peters-burg and the whole lot travelled toMalta on the morning of the concert that consisted of over one-and-a-half hours of some of the most exciting and difficult music. The programme started with the Helios Overture by Carl Nielsen, followed by Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2. After the interval, the orchestra rendered the Linz Version of Symphony No. 1 in C Minor by Anton Bruckner. Nielsen composed the Helios Overture in Greece, inspired by the sun’s journey over the Aegean Sea. His sculptress wife, Anne Marie, was there at the time, making copies of the bas reliefs/sculptures of the Acropolis. The overture is a mellow piece, opening gently and melodiously...