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Contemporary Colours Vol 2

New Music by Maltese Composers

Malta Philharmonic Orchestra
Miran Vaupotić conductor

Release Date: November 8, 2024
Catalog #: NV6664
Format: Digital
21st Century
Orchestral
Orchestra

Lauded by Gramophone Magazine for the “well-drilled performances” delivered in their first installment, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra returns with CONTEMPORARY COLOURS VOL 2, the long-awaited follow up to their 2020 Navona Records release. A keen promoter of Maltese composers, the orchestra brings to life works that explore themes of Greek tragedy, religious symbolism, existential philosophy, struggles that shape the human experience, and more. Conductor Miran Vautopić leads the celebrated ensemble through this exhilarating display of Maltese virtuosity.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Longing Kris Spiteri Malta Philharmonic Orchestra | Miran Vaupotić, conductor 3:57
02 Elegy Steven-Joseph Psaila Malta Philharmonic Orchestra | Miran Vaupotić, conductor 4:51
03 Crux Josef Bugeja Malta Philharmonic Orchestra | Miran Vaupotić, conductor 8:04
04 Adagio No. 2, Op. 40 Joseph Sammut Malta Philharmonic Orchestra | Miran Vaupotić, conductor 6:43
05 Two Episodes from Antigone: I. The Illegal Burial Albert Pace Alexandre Razera, solo viola; Malta Philharmonic Orchestra | Miran Vaupotić, conductor 4:21
06 Two Episodes from Antigone: II. Determination, Doubt, and Remembrance of Things Past Albert Pace Alexandre Razera, solo viola; Malta Philharmonic Orchestra | Miran Vaupotić, conductor 5:27
07 The Forbidden IV Ruben Zahra Malta Philharmonic Orchestra | Miran Vaupotić, conductor 5:04
08 Cataclysmus Kristian Schembri Malta Philharmonic Orchestra | Miran Vaupotić, conductor 10:41
09 Waiting for Godot Reuben Pace Malta Philharmonic Orchestra | Miran Vaupotić, conductor 9:03

Recorded November 14-17, 2023 at the Catholic Institute in Floriana, Malta
Session Producer & Engineer Jan Košulič
Recording Engineer Bernard Camillieri
Microphone & Sound Technician Maria Galea
Rigger Mario Axiaq, Ludwig Cole, Blazhe Jovanovski
System Engineer Aaron Galea
Sound Technician Eftimija Jovanova, Andrew Camillieri, Fernando Castro
Editing Jan Košulič

Mastering Melanie Montgomery
Immersive Audio Engineer Brad Michel

Executive Producer Bob Lord

VP of A&R Brandon MacNeil

VP of Production Jan Košulič
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
Production Manager Martina Watzková
Production Assistant Adam Lysák

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Aidan Curran
Digital Marketing Manager Brett Iannucci

Artist Information

Malta Philharmonic Orchestra

Orchestra

For half a century, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) has been Malta’s leading musical ensemble. The orchestra was founded in April 1968, when musicians from the defunct Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) orchestra of the Malta-based British Mediterranean Fleet regrouped as the Manoel Theatre Orchestra. It continued to serve as the theatre’s resident orchestra until September 1997, when it became an independent orchestra, taking up the name National Orchestra of Malta. The orchestra became the MPO in 2008 when it expanded to a full-sized symphony orchestra, bringing together the best of Maltese talent and musicians from Europe and beyond.

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Miran Vaupotić

Conductor

Acclaimed as “dynamic and knowledgeable” by the Buenos Aires Herald, Croatian conductor Miran Vaupotić has worked with eminent orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Russian National Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Argentina, and others, performing in major halls around the globe such as Carnegie Hall, Wiener Musikverein, Berliner Philharmonie, Rudolfinum, Smetana Hall, Victoria Hall, Forbidden City Concert Hall, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Dubai Opera, Tchaikovsky Hall, International House of Music, CBC Glenn Gould Studio, and more.

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Kris Spiteri

composer

Kris Spiteri is a music director, pianist, and composer. After graduating in music studies from the University of Malta, he co-wrote Porn – The Musical, which won Best New Musical at the Off West End Theatre Awards in London and was critic’s choice in Time Out London. He directed Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You, Matilda, La Cage Aux Folles, Grease, Oliver, and numerous pantomimes. Other theatrical shows he co-wrote include Daqsxejn ta Requiem lil Leli and Il-Qfil u l-Ħelsien Skont Manwel Dimech. Spiteri wrote music and lyrics for Kafena’s album Lukanda Propaganda, Tbissem, sung by Ira Losco and Matthew James Borg, and the album Till you switch off the Lights by Noir.

Steven-Joseph Psaila

composer

Steven Joseph Psaila, born on April 19, 1984, is a Maltese composer and music educator. He began his musical journey at the age of 6, studying piano under Antoinette Borg. During his time at St. Edward’s College, he actively participated in school concerts and started performing his original piano compositions. Psaila later pursued a degree in Music Studies at the University of Malta, specializing in musicology and studying composition with Christopher Muscat.

Psaila’s compositions encompass various genres, including short works for strings, piano compositions such as Silhouette and Enlil, sacred and liturgical compositions, and an orchestral suite titled Katrin Tal-Imdina. His works have been performed by renowned artists like Tricia Dawn Williams and the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.

Psaila’s compositions often reflect his love for nature and history, as seen in pieces like The Storm, Whispering Winds, and Il-Misteru ta’ Hagar Qim, inspired by the megalithic temples. Notably, Psaila’s composition Elegy for String Orchestra was selected for recording during the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra’s CONTEMPORARY COLOURS VOL. 2.

Apart from his composition work, Psaila is a music teacher at St. Benedict’s College and has taught at the Johann Strauss School of Music. He continues to contribute to the Maltese music scene with his engaging and expressive compositions.

Josef Bugeja

composer

Following initial studies in piano, Josef Bugeja furthered his musical studies at the University of Malta, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and Philosophy (1998) and a Master of Music degree in Composition (2020), studying with Michael Laus, John Galea, as well as leading composers Charles Camilleri and Joseph Vella.

Bugeja’s passion for sacred music thrived through his involvement with his uncle’s a cappella musical, which provided fertile grounds for Bugeja to hone his skills as composer, conductor, organist, and singer. Over the years, Bugeja worked regularly as choirmaster and maestro di cappella in a number of parishes around Malta and, occasionally also as chorus master for National Orchestra of Malta concerts. In 2004 he was appointed Cantor and Assistant Music Director of the Jubilate Deo Choir, the Metropolitan Cathedral Choir of Malta.

As a composer, Bugeja draws constant inspiration from the biblical and sacred sources. His oeuvre consists of chamber, choral, and orchestral works, as well as a large number of liturgical compositions. In 2008 Bugeja was a finalist in the 1st Euromed Festival for Composers with his orchestral composition Crux performed at the Manoel Theatre by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.

Joseph Sammut

composer

Born in Valletta in 1926, Joseph Sammut first studied with his father, Vincenzo Sammut, a bassoonist at the Royal Opera House and a cellist with the Orchestra of the Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy.

He then joined the orchestra in 1942 as a bassoonist but he ended up conducting and composing. He would spend 16 years as the conductor of the Orchestra of the Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy. In 1968, the orchestra was disbanded and he decided to form the Manoel Theatre Orchestra.

He would lead the orchestra until 1993 and the orchestra would develop into the National Symphony Orchestra and then the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.

Throughout his career, Sammut was also Musical Director of the Societa’ Filarmonika La Vallette and conducted such organizations as the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra and the Aurora Opera House.

Albert Pace

composer

Albert Pace was born in Hamrun, Malta, in 1958. Pace studied composition with the Maltese composer Charles Camilleri, both privately and at the University of Malta, where he graduated in Music Studies in 1994, with a dissertation entitled Texture in late Twentieth Century Music. In 2007 Pace was the first one who was awarded Doctor of Music in Composition from the same university.

Pace’s compositions include Tidwir for piano (1991), Lu-Cam… for flute and piano (1993), …for the millennium… for clarinet and piano (1999), as well as other instrumental, chamber, and orchestral works. In 1998, Pace was awarded an M.Mus. degree in Composition with distinction by the University of Edinburgh. His final submission was Overlapping Backgrounds for solo piano, a challenging complex work, about 20 minutes long, performed by Scottish pianist Murray McLachlan in Edinburgh in February 2001.

The works submitted for his D.Mus. portfolio are: Trio for clarinet, violin, and piano (2003), Un reste de suite for harp (2004 — partly performed by the world-renowned German harpist Florence Sitruk — including in Malta in 2019, where it was performed along with Ruminations, composed in 2018, also for solo harp), the clarinet quartet Repliements et depliements (2005), Flute Concerto (2006), and Psalms for Today (2007).

Pace was the first prize winner of the 2007 APS Bank Music competition. His entry was the highly acclaimed Għanjiet ta’ bniedem solitarju (Songs of a Solitary Man), which sets to music seven poems by the Maltese poet Rużar Briffa. This was premiered in 2009 and recorded on CD. Other compositions of his have been performed in Malta (including the 2015 orchestral piece In Amore illo ardeas, as well as his Concertino Grosso for Maltese traditional instruments and orchestra — dated 2017), London, Wales, and Germany. His major unperformed works include a Piano Concerto (1994 — revised 2016), a Clarinet Concerto (2016), an Organ Concerto (2022), as well as the the music-scenic representation of Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone (2012), out of which the composer also extracted the chamber-orchestral Antigone Episodes in 2016 and Mill-Qalba ta’ Antigone (From the Heart of Antigone) for mezzo-soprano, harp, viola, and chamber orchestra in 2023. His String Quartet No. 2 (Haunted by B.) (2017) has been awarded the Mullord Award by the 2016–2017 ACO Composition Competition ”As you like it.” It premiered in the 2021 edition of the Malta International Spring Festival. Also, his Salve Regina profugorum (2018) was a finalist in the Sacrarium Composition Competition for religiously inspired works in Lviv, Ukraine (2018).

Currently, Pace is a Visiting Senior Lecturer in Music at University of Malta. His main areas of specialization include Composition and Contemporary Music, Spirituality and Music, History, Harmony, and Analysis. He also formed part of several adjudicating panels in several local and international competitions.

Ruben Zahra

composer

The music of Ruben Zahra carries fragments from a variety of musical cultures. Influences from classical music, rock, folk, and jazz are transformed within the fabric of his individual contemporary aesthetic. Zahra is also committed to interdisciplinary expression connecting his music to film, dance, video art, theater, animation, and other artforms. Zahra studied music composition in Malta with Pawlu Grech and was awarded a scholarship by the Italian Cultural Institute to pursue his studies in Rome. He studied composition and orchestration with Azio Corghi at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, electronic music with Giorgio Nottoli, and film music with Ennio Morricone. In 2002 he moved to Los Angeles and spent two years working for the Hollywood film industry. Since 2004 he has been based in Malta and works internationally as a freelance composer and producer.

rubenzahra.com

Reuben Pace

composer

After beginning his musical journey at the age of 8, Reuben Pace went on to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Music at the University of Malta, followed by a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education.

In September 2001 he completed a Master of Arts in Creative Music Technology and Music for Film, Media, and the Arts at the University of Wales, Bangor (United Kingdom). Subsequently, he worked for a Ph.D. in composition at the University of Wales, graduating in 2012.

His music is performed regularly in Malta as well as in the U.K. by Ensemble Cymru, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Painting Music, and the Duke String Quartet.

He has also had performances in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia as well as in Rome. Some of his scores have been included in the prestigious Schumanhauss museum in Bonn, Germany. Pace has composed for a wide range of ensembles including for symphonic orchestra as well as ensembles combining acoustic and electronic elements.

One of his most prominent works is the multimedia opera Il-Kantilena, Karba ta’ Hames Mitt Sena, Karba ta’ Zmienna. This work was commissioned for the national celebrations of the 40th anniversary of Malta as a republic and is the first ever Maltese multimedia opera.

He currently lectures at the University of Malta, as well as working regularly on commissions in his own recording studio in Siggiewi.

Notes

Longing is like the Seed
That wrestles in the Ground,
Believing if it intercede
It shall at length be found.

The Hour, and the Clime –
Each Circumstance unknown,
What Constancy must be achieved
Before it see the Sun!

— Emily Dickinson

Longing is an orchestral adaptation of a composition Kris Spiteri originally conceived for the Jazz Trio Noir and it features in their album Till you Switch off the Lights. The original piece has undergone a metamorphosis, emerging as a cinematic and emotionally charged orchestral work.

The music is deeply evocative and visual, transporting the listener to a dystopian landscape where emotions are raw, and the human spirit yearns for something beyond reach. The orchestra paints a vivid picture of this desolate world in which the melody is shifting and struggling to find a way out.

The orchestral arrangement invites the audience to contemplate their own desires and the myriad forms of longing that shape the human experience, whether it be for freedom from external circumstances or liberation from one’s inner struggles.

— Kris Spiteri

Elegy is a heartfelt and contemplative original composition for string orchestra, composed in 2021. This moving piece serves as a musical meditation on the themes of friendship and the critical importance of conservation.

The composition begins with a delicate melody performed by the first and second violins, creating a melancholic yet hopeful mood. However, as the piece continues to unfold, and because of a wave-like melody and dynamics, the music expresses a sense of hope, longing, and loss for both human connections and the natural environment.

The composition concludes with a hopeful and resolute tone as the music gently fades away, leaving a lingering sense of contemplation and a call to action. Elegy aims to evoke emotions and inspire the audience to reflect on the profound connection between friendship and the preservation of the natural world.

Through its expressive melodies and evocative harmonies, the piece serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of nurturing relationships and working together to safeguard the environment for future generations.

— Steven-Joseph Psaila

Josef Bugeja’s Crux evokes instrumentally the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the Golgotha. Various imaginary elements of this dramatic and crucially spiritual event, like the hammering of the nails, racing heart beats, discomfort, suffering, and the joy of spiritual salvation, are represented by the orchestra in an abstract idiom. A repeating chromatic figure throughout the composition highlights the rising of the cross and the crucifix as a symbol of Christ, the saviour king of all humanity, based on the theology of the passion of Saint John. Crux is a short musical journey which represents the crux of the focal spiritual event of Christianity, which through suffering, humanity is donated with hope of eternal joy and peace.

Albert Pace completed the as yet unstaged Antigone in 2012. It is a big musical-dramatic representation of Sophocles’ tragedy. The story concerns Antigone’s defiance of Creon’s order not to give a proper burial to one of her brothers and the tragic events that followed.

These two episodes consist of excerpts from the work. The second episode, in particular, does not include a full scene, but includes selections without any chronological consideration. Episode 1, “The Illegal Burial,” is taken from the scene of the said burial, with a cut of a few bars. The solo viola conveys the anguish of Antigone at the discovery of her brother’s body and the agonizing decision she has to face. It rises to a big climax and subsides again resignedly.

The second episode begins with the scene where Antigone faces Creon, and is a mixture, as its name (“Determination, Doubt, and Remembrance of things past”) suggests, of determination and anguished doubt. The second part relates to a previous scene, where Oedipus, Antigone’s father, recalls his birth (represented by a tender theme), the omen that predicted he would kill his own father (a dark-colored dialogue between brass instruments), the eventual struggle between them (an angularly rhythmic passage), his unknowingly incestuous love to Jocasta (a waltz), followed by the final stroke of fate.

Orchestrated in 2021, The Forbidden is the final movement of a chamber music cycle composed in 2008 for a music theatre performance portraying the mythological figure of “Pan the Goat-God” within the realm of archetypal psychology. The music is characterised by strong rhythmic patterns in the lower register which set the aggressive tone for the whole piece. Melodic strands surface over the hammering bass ostinato — interrupted by unpredictable rhythmic motives in the higher register. A contrasting middle unveils a soft pointillistic texture that is eventually prodded by complex melodic shards, reminiscent of Paganini’s Capricci — adding a Faustian brushstroke to the canvas. The music resumes its rhythmic character, pounding its way to a frenetic vortex.

— Ruben Zahra

Waiting for Godot is not only inspired by the play by the same name by Samuel Beckett. It is based on the philosophies that this monumental 20th century theatrical work presents.

In the Godot philosophy, the 2 main characters Estragon and Vladimir are constantly waiting for a certain Godot — a pun word for God — but this Godot never appears. Thus the music constantly has a sense of expectation. There is also a personal stroke to this, as at the time of composition my wife was pregnant with our first born and the expectation of such an event inevitably found itself into the music.

Godot also presents us with the idea that people have different lives through faith and luck hence characters are interchangeable. Thus the two main themes in this musical work are constantly morphing, changing slowly, into each other. Although the two tramps in Godot seem to talk about mundane things, sometimes strong images are evoked, like when one of them decides to hang himself from a tree.

The piece was first performed in 2007 in Cardiff by the National Orchestra of Wales under the direction of Jak van Steen.

— Reuben Pace

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Contemporary Colours