Baroque group treat the senses

COMPETING shows in town on Saturday sapped audience numbers for a second run at baroque music in as many weeks at the Glenroy Auditorium, but attendees made their applause count.

Van Diemen’s Band, Tasmania’s baroque ensemble, produced a polished performance where the dance pieces highlighted the ensemble’s communication and their visible devotion to baroque.

Staggered melodic lines travelled between the players as smoothly as a breath of air, yet each player was absorbed in the lyricism of their own lines.

Each work was beautifully performed and the performers were charming to watch. The title, a contrived ‘‘Borderlands’’, is forgiven in these riddled days.

Baroque works introduced by band leader Julia Fredersdorff included two from composers Becker and Scheidt and one each from SainteColombe, Erlebach, Albinoni and Muffat.

Only Biber’s whimsical representation of sounds heard along the silk road broke through the unified sound world. Perhaps the selection tells us that the European courts of the day thrived on presenting a unified voice. Expressions of malaise are necessarily subsumed by dance.

The second half was a refreshing dive into contemporary use of baroque instruments.

Sigfusdottir’s Clockworking (Reykjavik 2013) was a stunning transportation via forces, gut strings and electronics, hitherto considered worlds apart. In a freshly ethereal world, the music emerged as if from a great distance. It grew in strength and vigour over its length when the electronic lines predominated.

Donald Nicolson’s Spirals (Melbourne 2022) took a leaf from both sides. Commissioned for the tour and dedicated to Ukraine, it opens with a scale passage passed seamlessly between players. The line further escalates into a powerful and beautiful crossing of Baroque and modernity where the harpsicord is gloriously released from harmonic functionality. Its bell quality gets the final word.

A charming evening of exquisite phrasing and sumptuous sonority.