These tapes were first
issued circa 1994 on a Unicorn CD which
was then deleted. It's satisfying to
welcome these stirring and provocative
recordings back to the catalogue.
The Maltese composer
Charles Camilleri was at first drawn
to improvisation and nationalism. There
was for example a Malta Suite in
1946. It was a visit to London in 1951
that began a pilgrimage through music
which has taken him around the world.
The folksy tonal joyous
first movement of the First Concerto
includes a recurring tarantella which
is to return in the flighty tambourine-punctuated
finale. There is a brooding nobility
about the crystalline second movement
with its mildly oriental flavour. The
whole effect can perhaps be compared
with the Malcolm Williamson Piano Concertos
2 and 3. Fifteen years later and the
single movement Second Concerto has
taken on an angular serious Bartókian
edge mixed with voices from North Africa.
The accents now are forthright, uncompromising
and modernistic whether in pugnacious
mode or querulous and thoughtful. The
single movement Third Piano Concerto
was written at the request of Tikhon
Krennikhov. The result is provocative,
again angular and sometimes truculently
dissonant. The engaging accessible manner
of the first concerto has been left
far behind. It is perhaps a good match
for Camilleri's concern to portray the
terror of man's downfall in the face
of his own misdeeds and an awareness
of the need for redemptive meditative
concentration. In this work the composer
shows a clear influence from Olivier
Messiaen (5:43, 17:38) in both flight
and repose.
Three stimulating piano
concertos the last two of which are
as dissonant as the first is melodic-tonal.
Rob Barnett