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A Country House Weekend – March 4, 2012 | Convocation Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton
20th century English songs from the period between the two World Wars

date: March 4, 2102

The concert was presented as part of a week’s residency at the University of Alberta, Department of Music, in Convocation Hall.  Subtitled “An English idyll, in four days and a prologue”, the concert depicted the relationships of a group of characters over one weekend in a country house.  Most of the personalities were taken from Aldous Huxley’s novel Crome Yellow(1921), with a few from P.G.Wodehouse’s Blandings Castle (1935).  (Huxley’s work is a thinly disguised description of life at Lady Ottoline Morrell’s Garsington Manor.)  The songs and piano-duets, mostly by Ireland, Gurney, Warlock and Britten, followed a time line from Friday afternoon through to Monday morning.   Extracts from the novels provided the dialogue delivered by the five performers.

SONG ARTIST COMPOSER POET
Fanfare (Façade) Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Walton, Sir William, arr. Lambert, Constant n/a
The Journey Wilkinson, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano Ireland, John Blake, Ernest
Gavotte Turnbull, Elizabeth, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano Howells, Herbert Newbolt, Sir Henry
Love’s Philosophy Abele, Catherine, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano Delius, Frederick Shelley, Percy Bysshe
An Aside (Five 16th Century Poems) Wilkinson, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano Ireland, John anon.
Sleep Abele, Catherine, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Gurney, Ivor Fletcher, John
Nine of the clock Abele, Catherine, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Gurney, Ivor Doyle, John
It was a lover and his lass (Let us garlands bring) Turnbull, Elizabeth, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Finzi, Gerald Shakespeare, William
The Trellis Wilkinson, Mark, baritone; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Ireland, John Huxley, Aldous
Tordion (Capriol Suite) Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Warlock, Peter n/a
The Contented Lover Abele, Catherine, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Warlock, Peter Mabbe, James
Sleep Turnbull, Elizabeth, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Warlock, Peter Fletcher, John
A Thanksgiving (Five 16th Century Poems) Wilkinson, Mark, baritone; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Ireland, John Cornysh, William ?
Earth’s Call (A Sylvan Rhapsody) Turnbull, Elizabeth, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano Ireland, John Munro, Harold
Old Sir Faulk (Façade) Abele, Catherine, soprano; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Walton, Sir William, arr. Lambert, Constant Sitwell, Dame Edith
INTERMISSION
Polka (Façade) Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Walton, Sir William, arr. Lambert, Constant n/a
Tell me the truth about love (Cabaret Songs) Wilkinson, Mark, baritone; Ubukata, Bruce, piano Britten, Benjamin Auden, Wystan Hugh
Underneath the abject willow (Two Ballads) Abele, Catherine, soprano; Turnbull, Elizabeth, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano Britten, Benjamin Auden, Wystan Hugh
Beethoven’s Binge (Two Cod-Pieces) Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Warlock, Peter n/a
The Old Codger (Two Cod-Pieces) Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Warlock, Peter n/a
So Perverse Wilkinson, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano Bridge, Frank Bridges, Robert
Nocturne, Op.11/4 (On This Island) Abele, Catherine, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano Britten, Benjamin Auden, Wystan Hugh
The Sweet Season (Five 16th Century Poems) Wilkinson, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano Ireland, John Edwardes, Richard
Love went a-riding Turnbull, Elizabeth, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano Bridge, Frank Coleridge, Mary
Thank you so much, Mrs Lowsborough-Goodby   – ENCORE Abele, Catherine, soprano; Turnbull, Elizabeth, mezzo; Wilkinson, Mark, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano Porter, Cole Porter, Cole