Lithe Voices and Versatile Pianoforte
9 November 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010, brought with it a sunset concert that I would not have missed for the menacing rain and ominous thunder that kept a larger audience from making it to the renowned aula of St George’s basilica.Soprano Letizia Colajanni and tenor Leonardo Alaimo regaled the appreciative audience comprising locals and foreigners with songs and voices that pianist Roberto Moretti not only masterfully accompanied but also complemented with a brilliant paraphrasing of Verdi, compliments of Franz Liszt. Many still recall Ms Colajanni, from nearby Sicily, giving a splendid recital to a highly admiring audience during the 2004 edition of the Victoria International Arts Festival.Before then she had already performed in several European cities as well as in the United States and the Middle East.Since then she has increased her repertoire which ranges from concert to opera, including at Teatru Astra. This young, vivacious soprano was a joy to listen to on Sunday, singing Gioacchino Rossini’s wonderful “Ecco ridente il cielo”, Leonard Bernstein’s “Glitter and be gay” and especially Gaetano Donizetti’s beautiful “Il dolce suono” from the ever popular Lucia di Lamermoor.Colajanni’s voice is sure, skillful and according to requirement sensitive and potent. Mr Alaimo’s voice is also a known in Gozo, both in concert and opera.He tackled with impressive verve Joseph Vella’s Symphony No 3 “The Apocalypse Verses” during the Victoria International Arts Festival edition of 2007.His high limpid notes returned on Sunday in Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide’s Lament” and in Rossini’s wonderful “Si trovarla io guiro”.Nature has made sure that his future in classical music is secure. Soprano and tenor joined their balanced voices in several numbers – most gorgeously in the impish “Duetto dei gatti”, Gioacchino Rossini’s cheeky duet, as in the sparking “Brindisi” from Verdi’s favourite La Traviata. Pianist Roberto Moretti, who bridged the two parts of the concert with a relatively brief piano concerto, was “bravo” all around.His bravura emerged especially in Franz Liszt’s “Miserere” from Variations from ‘Il Tovatore’ by Giuseppe Verdi which he performed with exquisite sensitivity and powerful impact on the audience. Hungarian-born Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow duet that Colajanni and Alaimo performed in Italian sounded unfamiliar in most of the audience’s ears, accustomed as they are to the English original of the text, but it was no less lovely to hear “one of the surest box-office attractions of all time” - to quote from Dr Maria Frendo’s excellent notes to all the entries in this concert which, I repeat, I would have been unlucky to miss. The Vocal Duo Recital, presented in the warmly decorated Aula Monsignor Giuseppe Farrugia, the venue of so many cultural events throughout the year. photos: Joe Attard (Teatru Astra) 8-11-2010
