vintage

I just want to post a little note about a recital I attended today at the University of Toronto’s Walter Hall. It was put on by The Aldeburgh Connection, named for the town in England where Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Eric Crozier founded a music festival that still runs today. You might recognize Britten from his operas Peter Grimes and Death in Venice, among other things; Pears was his life and artistic partner, as well as the Aldeburgh Connection’s founding patron.

The afternoon was the final one in the AC’s Sunday series of concerts, all of which feature afternoon tea at the intermission, and included soprano Allison Angelo, baritone Jason Nedecky, and pianists Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata, as well as two students from the University of Toronto’s opera studio. Here’s what they say about it on their website:

As all of you know, the cup that cheers but not inebriates is one constant feature of our Sunday concerts. We discovered, surprisingly, that many songs focus on the theme of tea and, as a result, we have been able to create an anthology which also includes references to other events of the afternoon and to the eastern homelands of the tea-bush. Musical sources range widely, from Roussel and Debussy to Donald Swann and Vincent Youmans.

I highly recommend the AC’s performance — the whole afternoon was cheeky and full of laughter, gaiety, and other things that most people do not generally associate with “classical music” (more accurately Western art music, as nearly all the pieces on the program date from the Romantic and Modern periods, but that’s something for another day)! Between pieces they also featured humorous readings by both pianists, Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata, including excerpts from Henry James’ Portrait of a Lady, part of a “very pink” manual called Taking Tea, and also a hilarious staging of the tea-party scene from Alice in Wonderland. Performances were all masterful, and incredibly collaborative — the communication between the performers was magnificent, and the three piano duets (including a great arrangement for four hands of Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) were delightful changes of pace.

One of the best moments of the program came near the end of the second half when Nedecky sang Donald Swann’s hilarious “Have some Madeira, m’dear!” — the audience was roaring with laughter throughout, partially due to the lyrics and partially to Nedecky’s theatrical performance. Angelo, for her part, was beautifully lyrical and agile, particularly in her performance of Erik Satie’s “Le Chapelier” (from Trois Mélodies de 1916) and in the tutti rendition of “Tea for Two” (Youmans) in the finale.

Who knew tea could be this interesting? I will certainly be checking out the Aldeburgh Connection further and I suggest you do too; their season is coming to a close, but I’ll keep an eye out and post their next schedule when it becomes available. Browse the past Sunday concert programming here.