The ‘GauLive’ series continued on Saturday 26th March with John Stainer’s famous oratorio, “The Crucifixion”, held at the Gharb Basilica, courtesy of Archpriest Trevor Sultana.
This meditation on the passion of the Holy Redeemer very prominently featured the Gaulitanus Choir, together with tenor Alan Sciberras and bass-baritone Louis Andrew Cassar. Accompanied on the organ by the festival’s artist-in-residence Alexander Frey and directed by Gaulitana artistic director Colin Attard, this was a most expressive and intensive rendition of a very poignant work. The strong musical performance was surely enhanced by the ambience of the beautiful and cosy Basilica – which was filled to capacity by a very appreciative audience.
Held in collaboration with the Gharb Local Council, this was a most-fitting third and final Lent-themed event for the series.
Photo credits: Lorne Cremona
Meanwhile, Albert G. Storace’s online review – Gaulitana’s penultimate event proves to be a soothing balm in an exquisite setting – reads:
Musical oasis on polling day
JOHN STAINER’S “THE CRUCIFIXION”
ALAN SCIBERRAS, tenor
LOUIS ANDREW CASSAR, bass-baritone
ALEXANDER FREY, organ
GAULITANUS CHOIR
COLIN ATTARD, director
BASILICA of THE VISITATION, Il-GĦARB, GOZO
XVth GAULITANA FESTIVAL’S penultimate event
Fast drawing to its close, Gaulitana Festival provided an oasis of heavenly peace on the very quiet polling day when the recent general elections were held. It was only the sound of voices and organ which took over in the lovely, unique basilica of the Visitation of Our Lady in Gozo’s quaint il-Għarb. It may be smallish in size, but, this marvellous baroque church is one of the MOST beautiful churches in our islands. It was also very appropriate that this church provided the ideal space, courtesy of the Rev. Archpriest, during this Lenten period, wherein the drama of Jesus Christ’s Passion and Death unfolded in words and music.
John Stainer (1840-1901), composed what is considered his masterpiece in 1887. The libretto is by J. Sparrow-Simpson. It was scored for solo tenor, bass, chorus and organ, as performed this evening. The Crucifixion is very popular especially in the UK where years ago I had my only live hearing of it in London. I stand corrected, but it seems that this may have been its first performance in our islands. If not, it must have been performed here during one of my many absences abroad in those far-off, pre-Covid days. I was so glad that in the company of a close friend we crossed over to Gozo in a not exactly benevolent sea because of which we arrived late at l-Imġarr harbour. It was barely 15 minutes before the time set for the performance. Our two worthy soloists were on the same trip and as we disembarked before they did we reached il-Għarb before them. Only to be thwarted by lack of parking space, which was eventually found some way away from the gorgeous basilica. I had to go ahead as meanwhile the two soloists were luckier with parking and I feared even losing a bar of music. We both managed to make it on time.
I have referred above to tenor Alan Sciberras and bass-baritone Louis Andrew Cassar in worthy terms. They both fully deserve it. The oratorio is divided into twenty sections alternating between recitatives, arias and one longish duet, punctuated regularly by the singing of various choruses with the continuous backing of the organ. I cannot make any kind of real distinction about the way this performance moved and developed. It was evidently very well-prepared and I think the first person I have to mention and congratulate is Colin Attard who with his incredible zest and energy put together a very good team. Alan Sciberras and Louis Andrew Cassar are two of the best voices around on these little rocks of ours. Cassar has been singing for a little longer and Sciberras is steadily making headway, growing in musical stature. (An evening of tenor and baritone duets and solos would not be amiss in the future). The tenor part covered the recitatives and other passages which were also of a narrative nature. The bass-baritone part is mainly based on the Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ. All the arias were high points, such as the tenor’s thrilling “The majesty of the Divine humiliation”, and the bass-baritone’s anguished “The agony”. That is just to mention a few but also worthy of mention was the duet, “So Thou liftest the Divine petition”. The singing was clear, articulate and evoked the message intrinsic in every line of a familiar story which year in year out in this and other sacred works for this season is always fascinating. Last but definitely not least is the chorus, which shared the work with the soloists either alone or with them. The choir emerged with flying colours: well-trained, disciplined, nice texture, balanced and homogeneous. There was a lovely majestic virtually an organ solo in the third number of the work, the” Processional leading to Calvary”, followed by a sturdy chorus,” Fling wide the gates”. All the choruses must be a joy to sing especially my favourite “God so loved the world”. This is often sung as an independent choral piece by many choral societies. The glorious choral finale “For the love of Jesus” was encored, this time with the soloists joining in.
During the performance some brief solo passages were sung by Annabelle Zammit and Anna Bonello (plus a very brief bit by Antonella Portelli). Young Jamie Buttigieg was the Bad Thief while Robert Xerri was the Good Thief/ the High Priest. Maybe ‘Repentant’ would be a better epithet!
N.B. Editor’s note: While there might have been previous performances in the older days, the work was performed in Malta by the St Paul’s Choral Society under the direction of Dr Hugo Agius Muscat in first years of the millennium and in Gozo (at the Xaghra Basilica) by the Gaulitanus Choir itself directed by Colin Attard in 2009.
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