A Journey Through Early Baroque Music
The Utzon Room at the Sydney Opera House recently hosted a remarkable performance that took audiences from Prague to Tasmania, showcasing the vibrant world of early baroque music. This concert was a testament to the evolution of musical interpretation over the decades, highlighting how performers have refined their craft to bring out the depth and complexity of this historical repertoire.
When I first encountered early 17th-century music several decades ago, I found much of it intriguing but not always successful. The compositions often shifted unpredictably between different styles, such as sweet polyphony, plaintive recitative, or spirited dance, without fully developing any one direction. While part of this may stem from my anachronistic perspective at the time, there is no doubt that the sophistication of performers has significantly advanced since then.
CzechMate, a quartet led by Australian-born historical bassoonist Jane Gower, delivered a compelling program of Italian, German, and Austrian early baroque instrumental works. The ensemble includes Swedish harpsichordist Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Czech baroque violinist Helena Zemanová, and Melbourne-born violinist Julia Fredersdorff. Their performance combined a persuasive sense of rhythmic freedom, accent, and melodic direction with exquisitely coloured tonal focus, creating a stylish inner musical narrative that transformed the music’s hyperactive volatility into something almost dreamlike.
In Dario Castello’s Sonata 9, the violins produced lines of silvery luminescence, while Mortensen drew elegantly nuanced accents from the harpsichord. Gower, playing the dulcian—a rare, early bassoon-like instrument made from a single piece of cherrywood—provided richly textured lines with the subtly fuzzy finish of brown velvet. In Sonata Seconda by Giovanni Battista Fontana, Zemanová’s tone combined singing sweetness with bold expressive projection, along with impeccable intonation.
Mortensen played Toccata VII by Michelangelo Rossi as though his fingers were in direct contact with the harpsichord strings, shaping the articulation with the intimate expressiveness of a clavichord. In 2 Ricercares by Diego Ortiz, Gower explored the expressive range of her noble instrument further, giving emphatic resonance to its splendidly low bass in Dario Castello’s Sonata 10. Francesco Turini’s Sonata 19 blended serene polyphonic textures of radiantly clear string tone with brief eruptive moments of furious activity.
Moving to German music, Johann Balthasar Erben’s Sonata ut-re-mi was structured around mellifluous imitation, while in Philipp Friedrich Buchner’s Sonata 8, Fredersdorf adorned the flowing lines with suave ornamentation. As though to summarise and even parody what had gone before, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer’s Polnische Sackpfeifen mixed gracious contrapuntal passages with heavy dances, folk-like hijinks, and bagpipe drones, ending not with a thump, but an enigmatic question, left hanging.
Highlights of the Performance
Dario Castello’s Sonata 9: The violins created lines of silvery luminescence, while Mortensen’s harpsichord work added elegantly nuanced accents.
Giovanni Battista Fontana’s Sonata Seconda: Zemanová’s performance combined singing sweetness with bold expressive projection and impeccable intonation.
Michelangelo Rossi’s Toccata VII: Mortensen’s interpretation shaped the articulation with the intimate expressiveness of a clavichord.
Diego Ortiz’s 2 Ricercares: Gower explored the expressive range of her instrument, giving emphatic resonance to its low bass.
Francesco Turini’s Sonata 19: The piece blended serene polyphonic textures with bursts of intense activity.
Johann Balthasar Erben’s Sonata ut-re-mi: The structure revolved around mellifluous imitation.
Philipp Friedrich Buchner’s Sonata 8: Fredersdorf adorned the flowing lines with suave ornamentation.
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer’s Polnische Sackpfeifen: A mix of contrapuntal passages, heavy dances, and bagpipe drones, ending with an enigmatic question.
