The Malta Independent on Sunday
The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra’s desk job
When the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra organises its next concert on Saturday, 25 March, its principal percussionist will be sitting at a desk and typing away.
But percussionist Daniel Cauchi – who also leads Big Band Brothers and forms one half of duo Kafena – is not planning to trade music for an office job. He will, instead, be treating the typewriter as just another percussion instrument to play with.
Together with the MPO, Daniel will be performing The Typewriter, composed by Leroy Anderson in 1950 and immortalised by comedian Jerry Lewis through his ‘invisible typewriter’ routine.
This work will be rounding off Instruments of Innovation, a concert which seeks to highlight works of music characterised by innovation.
Joseph Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, for which trumpeter Stephen Murphy will be joining the orchestra, was composed in 1796 to showcase his friend Anton Weidinger’s invention of a keyed trumpet, the forerunner of the modern-day valved trumpet, which allowed far greater musical freedom than its predecessors.
On the other hand, the Harpsichord Concerto composed in 2002 by American composer Philip Glass, primarily known for his numerous film scores, highlights how an instrument which was once dismissed as the obsolete ancestor of the piano can easily find its place in contemporary music.
The concert, which also features Haydn’s Clock Symphony, developed from a piece of music he had composed for an elaborate musical clock, is being conducted by MPO resident conductor Michael Laus, who will also be playing the harpsichord. The performance starts at 7:30pm, and tickets can be acquired through www.showshappening.com.