Robert Samut Hall Series (Concert 3)

The MPO’s third concert in the Robert Samut Concert Series features three works themed and aptly scheduled for the Lenten period.

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater is considered to be innovative in the field of sacred music in the way it offers a very personal response to the religious experience. The setting is very beautiful, with much use of suspensions – blending one chord into another gradually, as opposed to clean harmony changes. This personal and emotional approach is quite alien to the austere North European approach of Buxtehude, Bach and others.

Pergolesi’s masterpiece will be complemented by Hindemith’s Trauermusik (Mourning Music), a suite for viola and string orchestra, written on 21 January 1936 in memory of King George V who had died the previous night, and Australian composer Kelly’s Elegy for Strings. 

Programme:

Frederick Septimus Kelly - Elegy for Strings: In Memoriam Rupert Brooke Paul Hindemith Trauermusik with soloist Karl Mifsud.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi Stabat Mater with soloists Francesca Aquilina – soprano, Clare Ghigo – mezzo soprano.

Malta Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Christopher Muscat.