WA Opera soprano Rachelle Durkin and Australian Baroque bring Un Bellissimo Fuoco to WA Museum Boola Bardip

Rachelle Durkin brought vocal pyrotechnics to Australian Baroque’s Un Bellissimo Fuoco (A beautiful fire) at WA Museum Boola Bardip on Thursday, invoking the agony and ecstasy of distant ages. Slow rhythmic harpsichord from James Huntingford set a stately scene with intricate elaboration to release a bright wave of strings as Durkin processed imperiously up the aisle. Red robes matched the florid fury of Vo’ far Guerra (I shall wage war), from Handel’s Rinaldo, as the WA Opera soprano dramatically shaped the ambience under Otto the whale in Hackett Hall. The repeated challenge of the spurned sorceress Armida in voice and demeanour rivetted the audience, in sharp contrast to the laid-back style of the light instrumentation. Violist Christian Read took the microphone to expound on the fiery theme, tying it back to Indigenous tradition and the legend of Prometheus, replete with creativity and suffering. Urgent fury in violins announced the next episode, L’empio rigor del fato (The cruel harshness of fate), from Handel’s Rodelinda, as repeated defiance in lyric and expression projected a drama of love and deception. Harpsichord traced the vocal line as violins highlighted salient strains in the lead, raw and anguished in railing against destiny. Se’l mio duol non e si forte (If my grief is not so strong), from the same opera, brought reflection as flautist Andy Skinner picked out cooler passion in Durkin’s voice and a deeper, more nuanced ensemble lent richer harmonies. Durkin’s fire was now a slow burn, caressing the air and suffusing the high ceiling and galleries, gently keening with grace notes aplenty and an emotive send off. Skinner stayed on for an instrumental interlude, a dolorous Chaconne (modere) from Telemann’s Paris Quartet No. 12, duetting with director Helen Kruger’s violin and guest musician Kinga Gaborjani’s cello. Playful phrases emerged from the minor mode then subsided as harpsichord gently laboured beneath. The mood was subtle preparation for the central work, Vivaldi’s In furore iustissimae irae (In the fury of most righteous wrath), a motet on hellfire and repentance. Vibrant lines in violins (Kruger and Kathryn Lee), viola (Read), cellos (Gaborjani and Josie Fountain), bassoon (Joanne Littlely) and bass (Ebony Lim) buoyed a vital vocal attack in the opening aria from Durkin, now clad in quasi-liturgical purple. Harpsichord calmed the air and penitence loomed large in the following recitative, with flute and strings drifting in as accompaniment. A second aria, Tunc meus fletus evadet laetus (Then my weeping will become happy), lifted the mood as Durkin probed the heights and depths of the register. Delicious moments of discord lent relief to a brilliant timbre before joyfully rocking out to energetic Alleluias. Gaborjani next took centre stage for Vivaldi’s Cello Concerto in G minor. Fugue-like strings led in the opening Allegro movement; a masterclass of understated technique, virtuosic and expressive down to a featherlight cadence. A lugubrious Largo followed, tapping the melancholy soul of the cello before the Allegro finale reprised gymnastics of bow and fingerboard, with deeply resonant passages and antique motifs richly rewarding in the conclusion. Finally, Durkin was joined by mezzo Brigitte Heuser for Handel’s Bramo aver mille vite (Had I 1000 lives), from Ariodante; a song of friendship pealing out among the museum’s treasures lining the walls. Dazzling displays from both singers articulated a scintillating series of trills, frills and flourishes to finish — well, almost. Durkin returned to settle the crowd with a soothing English encore, Purcell’s Music for a While. Gaborjani, visiting from Europe, will play a second concert with Australian Baroque on Friday, September 6, from 7pm, at Midland Junction Arts Centre. Heuser returns with AB to Hackett Hall on November 28, 6pm, for Le Belle Imagini (Beautiful Imagination). australianbaroque.com