Malta Philharmonic Orchestra Trio: Cantilena
Navona Records

Soprano Gillian Zammit, harpist Britt Arend, and cellist Frank Camilleri receive equal billing on this encompassing collection of art songs, but with all due respect to the other two, it's Zammit who's most responsible for the recording's powerful impact. Her rich, resonant voice is front and centre on all but one piece, the exception a harp-cello duet midway through the programme. That said, Arend and Camilleri distinguish the material with exquisite performances of their own and hardly merit lesser acknowledgement (for the record, the cellist appears on seven tracks, whereas the harpist is on all nineteen).

In short, all three of these associates of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra are pivotal to the trio project. Zammit's a versatile soprano who's starred in numerous opera productions and is highly regarded as a recital singer. Admired as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player, Arend was appointed Principal Harpist of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, two years after Camilleri joined the orchestra as a full-time cellist. Arend and Zammit also have performed together for many years, and the strong connection they've developed is evident throughout the release.

Recorded in October 2019 at Blagoje Bersa Concert Hall in Zagreb, Croatia, Cantilena's focus is the art song, in essence an intimate, poetry-based setting performed by solo voice and instrumental accompaniment. The genre receives a broad temporal and cultural representation on the release, with four French composers partnered with Richard Strauss, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Francesco Tosti, and Alexander Vella Gregory. Enhancing the well-curated set-list is carefully considered sequencing that sees the recording open with Debussy and advance organically until resolving with Villa-Lobos. The genre's flexibility is reflected in how much the individuating traits of the composers are reflected in their respective pieces.

An evocation of day's end, Debussy's “Beau Soir” is actually a teenage composition, though one wouldn't know it from the refinement of the writing. The composer's unmistakable touch is all over the material, its sensuality deepened by Zammit's heartfelt expression and Arend's sympathetic accompaniment. As elegant is Henri Duparc's “Chanson triste,” where the singer's immaculately poised rendering of Jean Lahor's words is moving. Delivered at an effervescent clip, Fauré's “Notre amour” is playful by comparison, the singer and harpist showing they can handle lighter-spirited material as effectively as something solemn. Rounding out this opening French spotlight, Camilleri joins the two for Jules Massenet's “Élégie,” the cello an ideal conduit for the song's sorrow. Cantilena travels to Italy next, with four lyrical, folksong-inspired pieces by Tosti and the aforementioned instrumental duet by Luigi Maurizio Tedeschi featured. Zammit excels in the Tosti material, her voice tailor-made for the passionate outpourings of “Sogno” and “Tristezza” and the exuberant delight of “La Serenata.”

From Italy, the tour moves to Germany for six songs by Strauss, a prolific lieder composer in addition to being the creator of seminal opera and orchestral works. Zammit navigates the daring melodic trajectories of his writing with aplomb, from the light-hearted “All mein Gedanken” to comparatively darker fare such as “Die Nacht” and “Allerseelen.” Cantilena progresses into contemporary territory with Tluq by Alex Vella Gregory (b. 1984), a short song cycle based on texts by John Aquilina who, like the composer, hails from Malta. Though the material was written decades after the other composers' works, it sits comfortably alongside theirs, in large part due to the trio's committed execution of its three songs; that feeling of connectedness is also attributable to the naked emotional character of Tluq, which ranges from anguish and loneliness to the delicate hope conveyed in the closing “Meta titghallem titlaq.” One could do worse than choose “Aria (Cantilena)” from Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 as an album-ender, the allure of its fusion of Brazilian folk, popular music, and Baroque idioms undiminished by familiarity, especially when the trio's arrangement features the singer and cellist delivering its melodies in unison.

As noted, Camilleri makes fewer appearances on the release than his partners, but the pieces on which he performs are memorable. During Tedeschi's “Elegia,” his lead turn essentially assumes the role of vocalist, and, suitably, the cellist's emotionally wide-ranging playing is as expressive as a singer's, words hardly needed to communicate the sorrow in play; his lyrical intro to Strauss's “Morgen!” also sets a superb scene for Zammit's tender expression. Her command of pitch and dynamics is unerring throughout the release, and beyond the pleasures the songs themselves afford, one of the recording's primary satisfactions derives from her performances. Among other things, Cantilena provides a wonderful showcase for her magnificent vocal abilities.

July 2020