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Toronto: A Musical Century | Walter Hall, Toronto
Toronto: A Musical Century | Walter Hall, Toronto
A celebration of song in Toronto through the 20th century
date: April 30, 2000
This concert was our millennium project. Not feeling capable, however, of dealing with a thousand years of song, instead we told the story of song as it flourished in our city through the 20th century, following three lines of discovery: firstly, by presenting a hundred years of song, from Ambrose’s “Die Lotosblume” (1901) to “A Man and his Flute” (2000); secondly, we remembered a number of great performers who either resided here or visited repeatedly; thirdly, we boasted of some of the Aldeburgh Connection’s commissioned pieces, particularly A Toronto Songbook, commissioned for the new century by the Aldeburgh Connection through the generosity of several individual friends. Five Toronto composers contributed to the Songbook their settings of five of Toronto’s most gifted poets.
| Song | Artist | Composer | Poet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Die Lotosblume, Op.19 | Whicher, Monica, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Ambrose, Paul | Heine, Heinrich |
| The Whitethroat | Whicher, Monica, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Manning, Edward B. | Rand, Theodore Harding |
| The hour has come to part | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Broome, Edward | Oxenford, Edward |
| Oh! you Canadian town | Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Brown, Nils, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Allan, Norman Fraser | Bennett, Stan K. |
| Ariadne Waking | Brown, Nils, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Smith, Leo | Hunt, James Henry Leigh |
| Sonnet to Sleep | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Willan, Healey | Keats, John |
| I sing of a maiden (Two Christmas Carols) | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | MacMillan, Sir Ernest | anon. |
| Take me to a green isle | Brown, Nils, tenor; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | MacNutt, Walter | Foster, H. E. |
| Cheerio! | Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Brown, Nils, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Faith, Percy | Faith, Percy |
| Ich atmet’ einen Lindenduft | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Mahler, Gustav | Rückert, Friedrich |
| The Salley Gardens | Brown, Nils, tenor; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Irish folksong, arr. Britten, Benjamin | Yeats, William Butler |
| Everything is black (The Confession Stone) | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Fleming, Robert | Dodson, Owen |
| I love the jocund dance | Brown, Nils, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Morawetz, Oskar | Blake, William |
| Abschied (Mörike-Lieder) | Whicher, Monica, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Wolf, Hugo | Mörike, Eduard |
| The owl and the pussycat | Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ainsworth, Colin, tenor; Ubukata, Bruce, piano; Ralls, Stephen, conductor | Somers, Harry | Lear, Edward |
| Toronto: Ramble (Studies and Rambles of Wasagewanoqua) | Whicher, Monica, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Greer, John | Jameson, Anna |
| Venus and Pomona (A Toronto Songbook) | Brown, Nils, tenor; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Holman, Derek | Finch, Robert |
| Blue Heron near the Old-Mill Bridge (A Toronto Songbook) | Whicher, Monica, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Kulesha, Gary | Souster, Raymond |
| Brunswick Avenue (A Toronto Songbook) | Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Ross, Erik | Lee, Dennis |
| Spinnaker (A Toronto Songbook) | Brown, Nils, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Bergs, Roger | Outram, Richard |
| A Man and his Flute (A Toronto Songbook) | Whicher, Monica, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano | Beckwith, John | Waddington, Miriam |
| Won’t you meet me at Murray’s? – ENCORE | Whicher, Monica, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Brown, Nils, tenor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano | Eckstein, Willie | Eckstein, Willie |