There was more than a hint of history, along with a bracing dash of the contemporary, when Berlin-based Irish viola da gambist Liam Byrne and Australian gambist Laura Vaughan appeared in a duo recital of fragile beauty for the latest in the Utzon Music Series at Sydney Opera House.

Branded Liquid Threads, this enchanting meeting of two instruments first heard 600 years ago cast a quiet spell over the audience as the duo cherrypicked pieces from the 16th and 17th centuries mixed with works by four contemporary composers, three of whom were in the room.

Liam Byrne and Laura Vaughan, Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House. Photo © Cassandra Hannagan

The opening Fantasia by keyboardist and madrigalist Orlando Gibbons, with its delicately interlacing parts and ethereal echoing phrases, illustrates the fragile voice-like qualities of bass viols.

The fuller tone of the seven strings, tuned like a guitar in fourths and ideal for chord playing, is a nice contrast as it segues into a Galliard and Corranto by Alfonso Ferrabosco II, the son of Elizabeth I’s madrigalist (and possible Italian spy) Alfonso the Elder.

True to the liquid theme of the program the world premiere of Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Stimm Melody of Unknowing brings in sighing rising close-harmonies before melting into a Fantasia and Sarabande by Matthew Locke, who composed works for the stage for Charles II.

This smooth transition continues with excerpts from two of Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe’s Concerts a deux violes egales – works which underpin the afternoon recital. This 17th century bass viol player, immortalised in the 1991 movie Tous les matins du monde, was teacher to Marin Marais.

The concerts performed are contrasting in character, Le Tendre being for the main part ornate and elegant with a melancholic twist, while Les Regrets shows the composer in a more impressionistic mode with a funeral piece followed by church bells and the sighing lament of Les Pleurs (The Tears) before consolation in  Les Joyes des Elizées (The Joys of Elysium).

Liam Byrne and Laura Vaughan, Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House. Photo © Cassandra Hannagan

The water theme of the afternoon is strong in two of the home-grown compositions. Laura Vaughan’s The Velvet Deep imagines a ship on a dark ocean beneath a black star-filled sky and depicts the rocking motion with cross-bowed rhythms and a folky melody, alternatively bowed and plucked – gentle at first then getting more powerful.

Sydney composer and gambist Brooke Green takes a river as a theme for her work, Djeeban and the Moon, which was commissioned by Vaughan for this recital. Djeeban is the Dharawal word for Port Hacking and its river system in Sydney’s south.

Slides, harmonics, glassy bowing and modern cello effects follow the river’s course as it bubbles out of the ground, growing wider and stronger as it supports fish and wildlife, eventually to return to the earth, its descent marked by both players detuning their bass strings.

The recital ends with another world premiere, by another Sydney composer Alice Chance, specially written for the duo and appropriately title Dovetail – A Sonic Poem. This is a charming piece with a bobbing rhythm and some fine interplay and delicate cross-bowing, making a neat ending to a delightful 70 minutes. 

For more information on the Utzon Music program, visit sydneyoperahouse.com/utzon-music