Vim, vigour and virtuosity marked WA Symphony Orchestra’s Masters of the Baroque: Heavenly Arias recital at His Majesty’s Theatre on Thursday, with director-harpsichordist Chad Kelly and soprano Prudence Sanders.
Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus overture opened in martial tones to match Kelly’s muscular gestures, rippling across the stage; a celebration of Jewish military success composed to mark the Battle of Culloden.
A racy second theme in violins lit a wildfire through the ensemble as stark strings and incisive oboe “moved, engaged and delighted” the audience, in Kelly’s words, down to a gracious cadence.
Staying with Handel, Sanders emerged robed in gold to match the filigree finery of two vocal highlights.
Tu del ciel ministro eletto (You elected ministers of heaven) from the oratorio Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (The triumph of time and disillusion) unleashed agile, effortless phrasing from Sanders and violinist Alexandra Isted.
Drama in voice and gesture complemented Isted’s silky skills as Kelly chimed in on harpsichord, the harmonic heartbeat of Handel’s era, towards another gracious conclusion.
Cooling the mood, gentle pizzicato and sylph-like melody led in ethereal soprano for Un pensiero voli in ciel (Let a thought soar into the sky) from the cantata Il delirio amoroso (The delirium of love); looping then sustaining through the upper register over delicate strings and harpsichord.
Immersive silences offset the inexorable beauty of the music as Kelly shaped sound with deftly minimal direction to coax a crystalline cadence.
“You see what I mean about sopranos from Perth?” Kelly quipped in admiration before jagged orchestral chords snapped the mood to Corelli’s Concerto Grosso in G minor.
Isted featured again, with fellow violinist Kylie Liang; the pair spinning lithe melodic lines over Rod McGrath’s constantly striving cello in a dazzling trio display.
Broader rhythms prevailed briefly, breaking again to a frenzy and back to calm reflection underscored by a perpetuum mobile in cello before settling in unity across the stage.
Renewed drama from the ensemble sustained constant energy from the trio, relaxing into a pastoral interlude full of euphony before the many moving parts coalesced to close in perfect synch.
Kelly took the lead after the interval with JS Bach’s Concerto for Harpsichord in D minor; a compelling peal of notes from the keyboard ebbing and flowing in understated elegance through the opening Allegro movement.
Kelly stood to conduct the mysteriously sinuous introduction to the Adagio second stanza, alternating hands on the keyboard with breaks to encourage his charges amid scintillating solo exposition.
Robust ensemble and harpsichord set a stimulating pace for the Allegro finale. Lightning flashes on the keyboard matched quicksilver digital page turns as Kelly flipped between 18th and 21st century technology; sprinting through cadenzas to launch one final collective flurry and hearty applause.
A much bigger group took the stage for Pergolesi’s Sinfonia from Adriano in Siria, an operatic overture by turns athletic and lyrical, giving way to stately dance.
That framed Sanders’ return for Carl Heinrich Graun’s programmatic portrayal of a storm-battered ship in Tra le procelle assorto (Tossed by the tempests) from Cleopatra e Cesare.
Florid in ornament, laced with wit and wiles, Sanders seemed to glide through the demanding yet beguiling narrative with commanding poise and presence.
Heinrich Biber’s Battalia a 10 passed the baton back to the orchestra; a return to martial themes echoing through harsh “col legno” beating of bows on strings in another programmatic vignette.
Chaotic carousing ensured as the warriors wet their whistles in reckless revels giving way to distant drums in double bass.
Biber never let the mood settle, driving the ensemble through episodic outbreaks elegiac and ebullient, wistful and warlike, spicing the mix for a fiery parting salvo.
Closing out, Telemann’s Overture-Suite in G major, “La Bizarre: Rossignol” cooled the mood, first in sorrow then in joy, to finish on a dramatic dismount.
Masters of the Baroque is repeated on Friday, April 24.
