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A Country House Weekend – May 1, 2005 | Walter Hall, Toronto
A Country House Weekend – May 1, 2005 | Walter Hall, Toronto
20th century English songs from the period between the two World Wars
date: May 1, 2005
Subtitled “An English idyll, in four days and a prologue”, this concert (first presented on May 12, 1985) 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 | McGillivray, Peter, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Ireland, John | Blake, Ernest |
| Gavotte | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Howells, Herbert | Newbolt, Sir Henry |
| Love’s Philosophy | Huhtanen, Carla, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Delius, Frederick | Shelley, Percy Bysshe |
| An Aside (Five 16th Century Poems) | McGillivray, Peter, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Ireland, John | anon. |
| Sleep | Huhtanen, Carla, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Gurney, Ivor | Fletcher, John |
| Nine of the clock | Huhtanen, Carla, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Gurney, Ivor | Doyle, John |
| It was a lover and his lass, Op.18/5 (Let us garlands bring) | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Finzi, Gerald | Shakespeare, William |
| The Trellis | McGillivray, Peter, baritone; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Ireland, John | Huxley, Aldous |
| Tordion (Capriol Suite) | Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Warlock, Peter | n/a |
| The Contented Lover | Huhtanen, Carla, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Warlock, Peter | Mabbe, James |
| Sleep | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Warlock, Peter | Fletcher, John |
| A Thanksgiving (Five 16th Century Poems) | McGillivray, Peter, baritone; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Ireland, John | Cornysh, William ? |
| Earth’s Call (A Sylvan Rhapsody) | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Ireland, John | Munro, Harold |
| Old Sir Faulk (Façade) | Huhtanen, Carla, soprano; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Walton, Sir William, arr. Lambert, Constant | Sitwell, Dame Edith |
| Polka (Façade) | Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Walton, Sir William, arr. Lambert, Constant | n/a |
| Tell me the truth about love (Cabaret Songs) | McGillivray, Peter, baritone; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Britten, Benjamin | Auden, Wystan Hugh |
| Underneath the abject willow (Two Ballads) | Huhtanen, Carla, soprano; Burgess, Norine, 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 | McGillivray, Peter, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Bridge, Frank | Bridges, Robert |
| Nocturne, Op.11/4 (On This Island) | Huhtanen, Carla, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Britten, Benjamin | Auden, Wystan Hugh |
| The Sweet Season (Five 16th Century Poems) | McGillivray, Peter, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Ireland, John | Edwardes, Richard |
| Love went a-riding | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Bridge, Frank | Coleridge, Mary |
| Thank you so much, Mrs Lowsborough-Goodby – ENCORE | Huhtanen, Carla, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; McGillivray, Peter, baritone; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Porter, Cole | Porter, Cole |