Liquid Pearls
Hannah Lane – Baroque triple Harp, Laura Vaughan – Violas Da Gamba, Lirone
Friday, 16 February 2024, Tempo Rubato, Melbourne
A mainly 16th century programme with works by Diego Ortiz, Antonio de Cabezon, Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Ricccardo Rognoni, Giovanni de Macque, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Giovanni Bassano, Luiz de Ribayaz and two anonymous works from a manuscript in Rome.
Tempo Rubato is a live classical music venue in Brunswick, not so far north of the Melbourne CBD, but nowhere near any of the established classical music venues. A recently instituted venue, it strives to support smaller groups and local musicians and supports a number of projects that give free music tuition to young students. There is a bar open one hour before the concerts with a range of indoor plants for sale all looking very healthy and well cared for. Their website is reasonably informative and details ways to philanthropically support their ventures. The décor is very minimalist and somewhat industrial.
In this setting on the small stage, it worked very well to hear two experienced and refined musicians playing music redolent of one of my favourite CD’s Luz Y Norte by the renowned Harp Consort. These two instrumentalists feature mostly in what is known as the continuo group, musicians playing and filling out the bass line of baroque music so it was a pleasure to hear them featuring on the front line.
As Hannah mentioned later in the programme it was wonderful to see such a full room of people that chose not to go to the Swift concert! Instead, the audience were treated to music that explored 16th century and some early 17th century music in arrangements by the two musicians reflecting that much of the music of this time was for any instrument that was available. After the concert Hannah explained to me that there really was not much repertoire for triple harp and as so many of the harpists were also keyboardists the music performed on harp was often from the keyboard repertoire. This was ably demonstrated by the work by Frescobaldi immediately after the interval. Lane performed this with beautiful flexibility in the tempi just as Frescobaldi recommended in his preface to the toccatas where the performer has full license to speed up and slow down at will as the spirit of the music dictates (my paraphrasing). The difficult passaggi were managed very well and led the listener inexorably to their dramatic conclusions. Hearing all this in quarter comma mean tone tuning was a treat to the ears as the harmonies are so much more pleasant than in our modern equal temperament due to the perfectly in tune major thirds. On the triple harp it is possible to even have a distinction between Eb and D# as well as G# and Ab.
I cannot but help noticing details such as who is using a digital device to read their music and who is not. Vaughan was using her device in contrast to Lane who had a folder with four or five ribbons streaming down the music stand; quite a delightful touch. Despite having to turn her pages and manage her music the different sets moved on in logical segues such that the concert was kept moving. This is important with music from this era as so much of it is relatively short. A particularly good example of this continuity, was the set of two pieces “Ancor che col partire” prefaced by “Aura Soave” . The following set of pieces also did this and featured two ciacconas prefaced by the second Stravaganza by Giovanni de Macque. This piece stood out with its curious similarity to some very curiously 19th century sounding harmonic shifts and chromaticism. The mean tone tuning made these harmonic shifts even more startling and beautiful. These pieces, again, were wonderfully managed through their vigour yet balance and poise.
After the interval the second work was performed by Vaughan on the dessus, that is the small viola da gamba. Dessus is a word that signifies the top therefore the highest sounding gamba in this case. This instrument has a particularly sweet yet incisive sound compared to the much larger bass viol. The ricercata by Bassano flowed well and the flow from the singing start to the virtuosic diminutions was dramatic and well handled by Vaughan. Possibly intended for the cornetto (a sort of sweet sounding wooden trumpet) the transition to the dessus made just as much sense both being very agile instruments.
Diminutions are the improvisations upon the original opening theme and get progressively faster reflecting the performer’s incredible technical prowess. Much of this concert was about diminutions and yet neither of the performers simply played a lot of scale-like passages as an etude. There was always a sense of the drama unfolding within the structure of the music and indeed the structure itself as being a logical progression to contain the whole.
Both musicians transited from soloist to accompanist throughout the concert and this dynamic exchange offered much to the listener, very much due to the performers’ musical ability and in no small part due to the very well thought out programme. Vaughan was masterly in providing a beautiful smooth and harmonic texture on the lirone, a feature of this instrument as well as providing a bass line on the bass gamba. I noted that on the final note of the second work in the programme where an open string was played that she immediately and subtly tuned the note to be in tune with the harp simply and almost instantly placing a finger on the string beyond the fingerboard to slightly sharpen the note. Changing from bowed to pizzicato the variety of texture across all the music was very much evident in what could have been a very same sounding concert (but was not!).
The danger of many concerts exhibiting this repertoire is the seeming sameness to the audience and our expectations in a modern world where we have much in the way of louder music, but once your ears are attuned to this dynamic range, this music delights, especially the way it was represented here.
Mention must also be made to the role of the harpist in accompanying the many difficult and rapid passaggi on the gamba. Lane was always exact with her accompaniment being “right there” for Vaughan and in addition providing musical texture always appropriate for that very moment in the music. The art of a continuo player was very well displayed in her reliable and imaginative accompaniment.
The only quibble I have for this evening of delightful music is that I would have liked a bit more information in the programme which simply listed the pieces being played. This was ameliorated however by the informative chats between pieces. However, I found this to be a most enjoyable concert hearing two musicians performing with integrity, creativity, imagination and dramatic force. This programme of entirely short pieces was kept moving by beautifully managed segues with well paired works. This concert was a joy for me.
