VoxCarnyx

Perth Concert Hall

It was billed as ‘Carolyn Sampson sings Bach’, but that only happened at the end of the programme and perhaps undersold the rest of it, not least the remarkable modern work by Canadian composer Jocelyn Morlock which was the singer’s contribution to the first half.

Golden is the completion by Morlock of a piece begun by her late teacher Nikolai Korndorf. As she herself died in her early 50s last year, the work, based on an image of rebirth inspired by swimmers in a mineral pool in Manitoba, is doubly poignant. It is an extraordinary 10 minutes, beginning with percussive noises and breathy whispering (from the instrumentalists as well as Sampson) and growing through an incrementally developing strings part – with first violin Matthew Truscott to the fore – to a denouement in which the soprano’s wordless vocal was followed by her playing of two precisely tuned/filled wine glasses.

It was a world away from Bach’s cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, except that virtuoso technique was required for both, from the singer and from trumpeter Paul Sharp, whose baroque instrument was her foil in the outer movements, the two soloists backed by the 14-piece ensemble of strings and keyboards.

The music in the middle, however, is very different: a lovely aria with spare continuo that showcased Sampson’s expressive voice, her precise articulation over her full range, and breath control that seemed effortless. Tellingly, she rarely consulted the score on the music stand in front of her.

The piece culminates in a glorious Alleluia aria that is not just a showpiece for the singer – although it is very much that – but also a wonderful eruption of ensemble sound.

The instrumental works on the programme, by Handel and Locatelli, were equally core repertoire for this outfit, and the current personnel seemed particularly well integrated. Truscott shared much of the direction with John Butt, and not only when the latter swapped places with Stephen Farr from harpsichord to chamber organ to be soloist on Handel’s Organ Concerto in B flat, HWV 290, playing the intricate top line that was a party piece for the composer himself. It was followed after the interval by a Concerto Grosso in which the Largo was a highlight with a lower strings and organ underscore gradually taken up by the violins.

The Locatelli was a perfect opener for the programme, Truscott making an early mark with his soloing and the whole band concluding the work with a perfectly poised last few bars. On this sort of form there is no debate that the Dunedin Consort is one of the finest Baroque ensembles in the world, and Sampson could hardly be heard in finer company with her own superb vocal instrument.

Keith Bruce