Music on Thursdays - Online
Thursday 12th November 2020
Music of the Musicals
Artistes: Betty Hutton ♦ Howard Keel ♦ Frank Sinatra ♦ Ethel Merman ♦ William McAlpine ♦ June Bronhill ♦ Peter Glossop ♦ Monica Sinclair ♦ Patricia Kern ♦ Howell Glynne ♦ The Williams Singers ♦ Michael Collins & His Orchestra ♦ Peter Dawson ♦ Michael Parr ♦ Helen Westley ♦ Irene Dunne ♦ Hattie McDaniel ♦ Paul Robeson ♦ Gordon MacRae ♦ Gloria Grahame ♦ Gene Nelson ♦ Charlotte Greenwood ♦ James Whitmore ♦ Jay C Flippen ♦ Original 1955 Oklahoma! Chorus ♦ Hugh Jackman ♦ Maureen Lipman ♦ Josefina Gabrielle ♦ Jason Danieley ♦ Jessie Mueller ♦ Donald O'Connor ♦ John Warner ♦ Eleanor Drew ♦ Julie Andrews
Composers: Irving Berlin ♦ Oscar Hammerstein II ♦ Sir Edward German ♦ Victor Herbert ♦ Jerome Kern ♦ Julian Slade
Available: from Thursday 12th November
♫ ───────────────────────────────────
Music of the Musicals
Programme
Irving Berlin (music & lyrics) (1888-1989)
ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1946)
Anything you can do
performed by Betty Hutton and Howard Keel
The Girl that I Marry
performed by Frank Sinatra
There's No Business like Showbusiness
performed by Ethel Merman
Sir Edward German (1862-1936)
Libretto: Basil Willett Charles Hood (1864-1917)
MERRIE ENGLAND (1902)
Oh! Here's a To-Do to Die To-day!
performed by William McAlpine, June Bronhill, Peter Glossop, Monica Sinclair,
Patricia Kern, Howell Glynne, The Williams Singers, Michael Collins and His Orchestra
Who Were the Yeomen of England
performed by bass-baritone Peter Dawson (1882-1961)
Victor August Herbert (1859-1924)
Libretto: Glen McDonough (1870-1924)
BABES IN TOYLAND (1903)
Song of the Poet (introducing Rock-a-bye Baby)
performed by Michael Parr
Jerome David Kern (1885-1945)
Libretto: Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (1895-1960)
Book: Edna Ferber (1895-1968)
SHOW BOAT (1927)
Can't help lovin' dat man
performed by Helen Westley, Irene Dunne, Hattie McDaniel and Paul Robeson
Ol' Man River
performed by Paul Robeson
Richard Charles Rodgers (1902-1979 )
Libretto: Oscar Hammerstein II
Book: Rollie Lynn Riggs (1899-1954)
OKLAHOMA ! (1943)
The Farmer and the Cowman Ballet
performed by Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, Charlotte Greenwood,
James Whitmore, Jay C. Flippen, Original 1955 Oklahoma! Chorus
The Surrey with the Fringe on Top
performed by Hugh Jackman, Maureen Lipman, and Josefina Gabrielle
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Book: Ferenc Molnár (1878-1952, Hungary)
CAROUSEL (1945)
Carousel Waltz (orchestral)
When the Children are Asleep
performed by Jason Danieley and Jessie Mueller
Music & lyrics: Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
Book: Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse
CALL ME MADAM (1950)
Duet: You're just in Love
performed by Ethel Merman and Donald O'Connor
Julian Penkivil Slade (1930-2006)
Libretto: Dorothy Reynolds & Julian Slade
SALAD DAYS (1954)
We said we wouldn't look back
performed by the original 1954 London stage cast, John Warner and Eleanor Drew
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Book: Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse
THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1959)
The Lonely Goatherd
performed by Julie Andrews and the children
from the musical La Novicia Rebelde The Rebel Novice
Respuestas a María How do you solve a problem like Maria
So Long, Farewell
performed by Julie Andrews and the children
Concert duration: 55-60 minutes
♫ ───────────────────────────────────
Music of the Musicals
Are you in the mood for an argument? Well I am, so this is how we are going to open this week's concert selection, with a famous argument song sung by the sharpshooter Annie Oakley (from Buffalo Bill's Wild West) and love interest and fellow sharpshooter Frank Butler, from, of course, the 1946 Broadway hit musical Annie Get Your Gun.
|
Irving Berlin (music & lyrics) (1888-1989) (3m13) from the musical Annie Get Your Gun (1946) Anything you can do performed by Betty Hutton and Howard Keel, in the 1950 musical film (remember though, neither of them can bake a pie!) |
Annie Get Your Gun is literally packed with Irving Berlin's wonderful show tunes.
Which shall we hear next? How about the gentler, The Girl that I Marry.
How does your situation match up ?
Let Frank Sinatra run through the list of requirements:
Which shall we hear next? How about the gentler, The Girl that I Marry.
How does your situation match up ?
Let Frank Sinatra run through the list of requirements:
|
Irving Berlin (music & lyrics) (3m03) from the musical Annie Get Your Gun (1946) The Girl that I Marry performed by Frank Sinatra |
You don't want me to make this an Annie Get Your Gun concert, do you? Those who do want more of Annie and Frank I suggest you look up the musical on wikipedia, and then search for each number on youtube
I'll just offer you one more hit here. You Can't Get a Man with a Gun? Doin' what comes Natur'lly? My Defenses are Down? No, I'm going to pick the one that catches people out in quizzes because they forget it comes from Annie Get Your Gun.
It sums up everything we'll hear on this page: There's No Business Like Showbusiness.
And here comes Ethel Merman who played Annie in the original 1946 Broadway production. It looks like this is from the first Broadway revival in 1966, which was broadcast on NBC in 1967 - although wikipedia claims the tapes for that production were lost and only the audio still exists. Let's not worry and just enjoy the wonderful sound of a great musical actress, Ethel Merman:
I'll just offer you one more hit here. You Can't Get a Man with a Gun? Doin' what comes Natur'lly? My Defenses are Down? No, I'm going to pick the one that catches people out in quizzes because they forget it comes from Annie Get Your Gun.
It sums up everything we'll hear on this page: There's No Business Like Showbusiness.
And here comes Ethel Merman who played Annie in the original 1946 Broadway production. It looks like this is from the first Broadway revival in 1966, which was broadcast on NBC in 1967 - although wikipedia claims the tapes for that production were lost and only the audio still exists. Let's not worry and just enjoy the wonderful sound of a great musical actress, Ethel Merman:
|
Irving Berlin (music & lyrics) (2m38) from the musical Annie Get Your Gun There's No Business like Showbusiness performed by Ethel Merman, at the Music Theatre of the Lincoln Center (1966) and broadcast on NBC the following year |
I have decided to restrict this selection to 20th century compositions. That does mean, no Gilbert & Sullivan, yet their influence is to be felt in much of the early 20th century writings in both the UK and the USA.
Here is an example. Sir Edward German actually finished off Sir Arthur Sullivan's The Emerald Isle after the composer's death in 1900, and thus earns the epithet 'successor to Sullivan'. We will hear a number from his Merrie England which has all the linguistic complexities of true G&S and which demands the same precise enunciation to make it work. This is Oh! Here's a To-Do to Die To-day! This has to be a re-release of a much earlier recording. Sir Edward German (1862-1936) (1m23)
Libretto: Basil Willett Charles Hood (1864-1917) from the comic opera Merrie England (1902) Oh! Here's a To-Do to Die To-day! performed by William McAlpine, June Bronhill, Peter Glossop, Monica Sinclair, Patricia Kern, Howell Glynne, The Williams Singers, Michael Collins and His Orchestra |
Let's hear one more song from Merrie England, I have set aside Every Jack should have his Jill, Dan Cupid Hath a Garden, and several other lovely songs which you will find on youtube. Instead we shall hear the song that harks back to one of the G&S titles: Who Were The Yeomen of England: Sir Edward German (3m13)
Libretto: Basil Hood from the comic opera Merrie England Who Were the Yeomen of England performed by bass-baritone Peter Dawson (1882-1961) |
In 1903 Victor Herbert and Glen McDonough wrote a follow-up to their successful stage musical The Wizard of Oz. Their next 'family musical' was Babes inToyland. This brought together the familiar characters of children's stories and songs, much as Sondheim would do some 70 years later with Into the Woods. Although the titles say 'introducing Rock-a-bye Baby' in fact the song had been know since the 1750s when it is supposed to have been the first English poem written on American soil (Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes.) The original Babes in Toyland was a long and lavish spectacle, with two heroes and two heroines. The Comic Opera Guild condensed the show to a more practical plotline and the dialogue was rewritten by Thomas Petiet. The orchestration was reduced to keyboard and wind quintet, for performances in schools and small venues. Although aimed at young audiences, the show is amusing enough for adults to enjoy. |
This performance is from the Comic Opera Guild's 2004 production.
Tom-Tom, the Pipers Son (Michael Parr), arrives in Mother Goose Land and claims to be a poet. He regales the children in a song to prove it. For more comic operas and operettas, visit comicoperaguild.org Victor August Herbert (1859-1924) (4m03)
Libretto: Glen McDonough (1870-1924) from the operetta Babes in Toyland (1903) Song of the Poet (introducing Rock-a-bye Baby) performed by Michael Parr, as Tom-Tom the Piper's Son, with the Comic Opera Guild, in a 2004 revised production |
In 1927 Jerome Kern wrote the music and Oscar Hammerstein II the words for a musical about performers, stagehands and dockworkers on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat. Based on a book with the same title, the musical was Show Boat.
The musical told a story, in sequence, that ran from 1887 through the forty years to 1927. It didn't shy away from themes including racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. Let us listen to two of the classics that come from Show Boat.
Can't help lovin' dat man, which here includes the strangest of dance movements, has the Captain's wife Parthy Ann Hawks (Helen Westley), Magnolia, her daughter, (Irene Dunne), the ship's cook, Queenie (Hattie McDaniel ) and they are joined by her husband Joe (Paul Robeson.)
Hattie McDaniel was an actor, singer-songwriter and comedian. She goes down in history as the very first African-American woman to win an Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress as Mammy in the 1936 film, Gone with the Wind.
And then we turn to Paul Robeson in solo as he sings Ol' Man River. Although Kern and Hammerstein wrote the part specifically for him, giving extra scope for his magnificent voice, Paul Robeson was not available for the original 1927 Broadway production. He did perform in the West End premiere and here he is in the 1936 film.
The musical told a story, in sequence, that ran from 1887 through the forty years to 1927. It didn't shy away from themes including racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. Let us listen to two of the classics that come from Show Boat.
Can't help lovin' dat man, which here includes the strangest of dance movements, has the Captain's wife Parthy Ann Hawks (Helen Westley), Magnolia, her daughter, (Irene Dunne), the ship's cook, Queenie (Hattie McDaniel ) and they are joined by her husband Joe (Paul Robeson.)
Hattie McDaniel was an actor, singer-songwriter and comedian. She goes down in history as the very first African-American woman to win an Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress as Mammy in the 1936 film, Gone with the Wind.
And then we turn to Paul Robeson in solo as he sings Ol' Man River. Although Kern and Hammerstein wrote the part specifically for him, giving extra scope for his magnificent voice, Paul Robeson was not available for the original 1927 Broadway production. He did perform in the West End premiere and here he is in the 1936 film.
Jerome David Kern (1885-1945) (5m09)
Libretto: Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (1895-1960) Book: Edna Ferber (1895-1968) from the musical Show Boat (1927) Can't help lovin' dat man performed by Helen Westley, Irene Dunne, Hattie McDaniel and Paul Robeson, in the 1936 James Whale film for Universal Pictures ▼ click on the poster to expand it ► |
Jerome David Kern (5m09)
Libretto: Oscar Hammerstein II Book: Edna Ferber from the musical Show Boat Ol' Man River performed by Paul Robeson |
In 1943 Oklahoma! earns its place in history as the first collaboration between Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers.
They based the musical on the 1931 Lynn Riggs play Green Grow the Lilacs. Like Show Boat, this is a 'book musical' with a strong storyline, and songs that move the story forward and deal with emotions beyond comedy.
The show is packed with hits, including:
My pick is another tune, The Farmer and the Cowman, which is unusual in this musical because it does not really advance the plot. I will let wikipedia explain:
They based the musical on the 1931 Lynn Riggs play Green Grow the Lilacs. Like Show Boat, this is a 'book musical' with a strong storyline, and songs that move the story forward and deal with emotions beyond comedy.
The show is packed with hits, including:
- Oh, what a Beautiful Mornin'
- The Surrey with the Fringe on Top
- People Will Say we're in Love
- Oklahoma!
My pick is another tune, The Farmer and the Cowman, which is unusual in this musical because it does not really advance the plot. I will let wikipedia explain:
In contrast to the rest of the musical, "The Farmer and the Cowman" does not further the plot but does allow the audience to witness the tension between the farmers and the cowmen, a tension that comes from the farmers' desire to protect their crops with fences while the cowmen prefer the freedom to move cattle over a wide open range.[1] Carnes, Aunt Eller and Ike act as peacemakers and attempt to reconcile the two sides. The song appears to have no effect, and the two sides start fighting. Aunt Eller then shoots a gun in the air to stop the fighting, and conducts both groups – preaching peace with the lyrics of the song, but threatening violence.
At the end of the song, however, there is a resolution. Both sides agree to act hospitably toward each other after receiving a bit of advice from Aunt Eller:
"I don't say I'm no better than anybody else,
But I'll be danged if I ain't just as good!"
The song resolves a minor subplot, although the conflict between Jud and Curly (a farmer and a cowman) has yet to be resolved at that point.
|
Richard Charles Rodgers (1902-1979 )
Libretto: Oscar Hammerstein II Book: Rollie Lynn Riggs (1899-1954) from the musical Oklahoma! (1943) (5m52) The Farmer and the Cowman Ballet performed by Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, Charlotte Greenwood, James Whitmore, Jay C. Flippen, Original 1955 Oklahoma! Chorus |
Substituting Democrats and Republicans for the original agricultural trades, would it bring Americans together if they were to sing this song today?
Oklahoma! was the only musical Fred Zinnemann ever directed. It was the first feature film made using the modern Todd-AO 70mm widescreen process, but was also made in 35mm CinemaScope as few theatres were equipped for widescreen at the time.
The 1955 film cost US$6.7million to make (Show Boat had cost $1.2million.)
Let's pick one more song from Oklahoma!. Don't worry, you will be going out in the Surrey, but the production is more modern as it had Hugh Jackman, Maureen Lipman and Josefina Gabrielle. This comes from the 1998 National Theatre production which won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production.
Oklahoma! was the only musical Fred Zinnemann ever directed. It was the first feature film made using the modern Todd-AO 70mm widescreen process, but was also made in 35mm CinemaScope as few theatres were equipped for widescreen at the time.
The 1955 film cost US$6.7million to make (Show Boat had cost $1.2million.)
Let's pick one more song from Oklahoma!. Don't worry, you will be going out in the Surrey, but the production is more modern as it had Hugh Jackman, Maureen Lipman and Josefina Gabrielle. This comes from the 1998 National Theatre production which won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production.
|
Richard Rodgers
Libretto: Oscar Hammerstein II Book: Rollie Lynn Riggs from the musical Oklahoma! (3m04) The Surrey with the Fringe on Top performed by Hugh Jackman, with Maureen Lipman and Josefina Gabrielle, from the 1998 National Theatre, London, production |
The Rodgers & Hammerstein team begin to appear unstoppable as their second collaboration, in 1945, was the enormously successful musical Carousel, (pictured left on PC/laptop, or at the top of the page on mobiles) about the 'barker' of a funfair attraction we'd prefer to call a merry-go-round.
What to choose from all the hits in this show? Well you can't beat the opening scene of the 1956 film with the famous Carousel Waltz. I shall pair that with a number about married life that suggested to me, as a child in the 50s, a reply that went: "so that's when the sherry comes out!" It takes a while for the song to get going, but when Jessie Mueller joins in you are in for a real treat. |
|
We have reached the 1950s, a very fruitful time for musical theatre, before TV had truly taken off and most people had only one, and then two channels, and they were both monochrome.
The colour of a stage production must have had an appeal then that it lost for a while after colour came to TV. But eventually, even with colour TV, people began to crave live performance and that brought a further revival.
We are not there yet, we are still in the 1950s.
The colour of a stage production must have had an appeal then that it lost for a while after colour came to TV. But eventually, even with colour TV, people began to crave live performance and that brought a further revival.
We are not there yet, we are still in the 1950s.
The decade opens with a number of great musicals. Here is a favourite of mine, Call Me Madam, and my favourite song from it is this one, You're just in Love.
The first time I heard it, in a TV showing of this 1953 film, the counterpoint really got to me. I remember thinking: wow, it's two people singing different songs. Irving Berlin wrote the number because the second act of the musical was flagging. Ethel Merman is supposed to have said "let me sing something with the boy," meaning the lovelorn character Kenneth Gibson. Did Berlin write it in a single night? That's the story. He also wrote two more of these 'two people singing different songs' - Play a Simple Melody (1914, Watch Your Step) and An Old-Fashioned Wedding (1966 revision of Annie Get Your Gun.) |
Music & lyrics: Irving Berlin (1888-1989) (3m04)
Book: Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse from the musical Call Me Madam (1950) Duet: You're just in Love performed by Ethel Merman and Donald O'Connor in the 1953 film adaptation for 20th Century Fox |
Do people talk about their 'salad days' any more? It's a term I have not heard for a long time. If you've seen or read Antony and Cleopatra you may remember the line from there. A musical came along in the 50s with exactly that title - Salad Days. The show opened in Bristol in 1954 before coming to the West End. I have had cause to do a lot of reminiscing of late, much of it linked to my student days. Which means this song has a particular appeal at the moment. We said we wouldn't look back! |
Julian Penkivil Slade (1930-2006) (3m38)
Libretto: Dorothy Reynolds & Julian Slade from the musical Salad Days (1954) We said we wouldn't look back performed by the original 1954 London stage cast, at the Vaudeville Theatre,with John Warner as Timothy and Eleanor Drew as Jane |
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Book: Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse from the musical The Sound of Music (1959) (3m20) The Lonely Goatherd performed by Julie Andrews and the children, in the 1965 film adaptation |
Rodgers & Hammerstein (3m33)
Book: Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse from the musical La Novicia Rebelde The Rebel Novice Respuestas a María How do you solve a problem like Maria This comes from the same film, dubbed into South American Spanish, and renamed the Rebel or Rebellious Novice. I have selected this version because so many of the English versions on youtube are cut disappointingly short - at both ends! |
And here is this week's farewell, which leaves us plenty of later material for another
Music of the Musicals in 2021.
So Long, Farewell, Auf wiedersehen, Goodbye !
Music of the Musicals in 2021.
So Long, Farewell, Auf wiedersehen, Goodbye !
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Book: Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse
from the musical The Sound of Music (1959) (3m20)
So Long, Farewell
performed by Julie Andrews and the children, in the 1965 film adaptation
Book: Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse
from the musical The Sound of Music (1959) (3m20)
So Long, Farewell
performed by Julie Andrews and the children, in the 1965 film adaptation
♫ ───────────────────────────────────
We hope you have enjoyed our Music of the Musicals concert selection
Watch your email and this website
for next week's Final Organ selection of 2020 which is also to be
the final concert of the 2020 Season
If we can slip in a special here and there we will, otherwise it's farewell until
a piano selection for AGM week at the end of February and
the return of concert selections in April 2021
comments welcome: musiconthursdays@gmail.com
Watch your email and this website
for next week's Final Organ selection of 2020 which is also to be
the final concert of the 2020 Season
If we can slip in a special here and there we will, otherwise it's farewell until
a piano selection for AGM week at the end of February and
the return of concert selections in April 2021
comments welcome: musiconthursdays@gmail.com
♫ ───────────────────────────────────
We still need your help to fund the FIVE recent concerts
recorded 'as live' by professional musicians
► Did you listen ?
►Did you remember to give afterwards ? Here is a further chance to do so If the concerts cover their costs we will be able to do more. We already have ideas for several 'as live' concerts through next year. We don't have to wait until October's Festival. Please donate now ! Many thanks to those who did donate during the Arts e-Live Festival. You set us all a great example ! |
These concert recordings remain online
click on the buttons below to Listen (and watch) Again
and please tell your friends about them too !
click on the buttons below to Listen (and watch) Again
and please tell your friends about them too !
Oct 1st
|
Oct 8th
|
Oct 15th
|
Oct 22nd
|
Oct 29th
|
♫ ───────────────────────────────────────
♫ ───────────────────────────────────────
Listen to the words and music of Noel Coward, as Stephen Fry introduces this celebration of his work.
Performances by Derek Jacobi, Dame Judi Dench, Robert Lindsay, Alan Cumming and Patricia Routledge - among others! Sit back and enjoy A Marvellous Party |
|
♫ ───────────────────────────────────────
South of England Concert Managers Group supporting
Wimbledon International
Music Festival 2020
LCAS are members of this regional group of concert managers who meet annually to discuss matters of mutual interest.
Wimbledon International Music Festival are going digital this year with their 10 Festival Concerts.
WIMF are offering discounts on Festival Passes - or you can still book for individual performances.
Click on the image above for full details.
Special Discount: 25% off the Director’s Pass [includes a Paul Lewis exclusive, & 4 week access] Promo Code: DIRECTOR
15 % off Festival Pass [allowing 2 weeks access] Promo Code: FESTIVAL
Here's this year's Festival Programme
showing the period each concert can be viewed
♫ ───────────────────────────────────────
Concert Selections Still Available
for your listening on this Website: Please click on a title to go to the concert webpage • Marina Kan's AGM Piano Concert • Concert for St George's Day and Shakespeare's Birthday • Music on May Day • Music for VE Day 75th Anniversary • Piano à Deux - Linda Ang Stoodley & Robert Stoodley, 4 hands on 1 piano • Clocks & Cathedrals (musical clocks, that is) • Guitars & Friends - a guitar medley • Beethoven & Haydn String Quartets • Cello Tango - from solos to multi cellists • Organs of Paris ♥ Les Orgues de Paris • Flute Fest • Virtual Viola, hosted by Lynda Chang • Multi Piano - pianos from two to 12 at a time • From Sackbutt to Trombone • Harp Haven - our President's 100th Birthday Concert • Oboe Omnibus • Gentle Guitar • Music for Unusual Instruments • Viola da Gamba, hosted by Ibrahim Aziz • Music & the Military • Choral Music • Clarinet Compilation, hosted by Lynda Chang • The Voice, hosted by Lynda Chang • Beethoven 250, hosted by Peter Horsfield • Eddie Lee's Jazz on Thursday - recorded as live for Arts e-Live • Diphonon viola & accordion Duo - recorded as live for Arts e-Live • Marion Bettsworth & organ of St Michael's Highgate - recorded as live for Arts e-Live • CarmenCo - Carmen's Story in flute, voice & guitars - recorded as live for Arts e-Live • Phil Hopkins, harmonica, Stuart Whatton, piano, From JS Bach to film music composer John Barry - recorded as live for Arts e-Live • Musical Fireworks - a musical selection |
♫ ───────────────────────────────────
Livestream: Stephen Hough plays Mendelssohn Thursday 12 November 2020, 7.30pm Anna-Maria Helsing – conductor Stephen Hough – piano Jessie Montgomery Strum Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4, Italian click here for details & tickets |
♫ ───────────────────────────────────────
♫ ───────────────────────────────────────
INTRODUCING THE TRUMPET MARINE | The Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments ♦ If you haven't heard or seen a trumpet marine you haven't lived! The Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments, who have saved this 17th-century instrument from extinction, take us on a whirlwind tour.
"That was amazing! What a sound" - https://www.bremf.org.uk/event/introducing-the-trumpet-marine/
BIRD CHARMER | Piers Adams, with James Duncan of Sussex Wildlife Trust
Take a trip into the woods with passionate naturalist James Duncan, of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, and recorder player Piers Adams to explore the songbirds of Sussex and some music inspired by birds.
"This is utterly delightful." - https://www.bremf.org.uk/event/bird-charmer/
REBELLION! | Joglaresa
Join subversive artists Joglaresa for a trip through songs of protest from medieval times, and a timely reminder that authority figures have always been the subject of satire, protest and ridicule.
"This is exactly what I needed today." - https://www.bremf.org.uk/event/rebellion/
SWEET AYRES OF ARCADIA | Musicke in the Ayre
Escape into a perfect Arcadia of Tudor lute songs by Byrd, Dowland, Campion and others. Filmed in the stunning house and gardens of St Mary's House, Bramber.
"This is lovely." - https://www.bremf.org.uk/event/sweet-ayres-of-arcadia/
THE FOUR FACES OF GAIA | Music from around the globe
Our final event of 2020 brought together musicians from Africa, India, The Middle East and Europe in celebration of the vibrant cultural connections which stretch through time and space to connect us all. An uplifting and memorable way to round off the festival.
"Beautiful! Congratulations!" - https://www.bremf.org.uk/2020/index.htm
PROGRAMME
PROLOGUE : Thomas Tallis Spem in alium - sung by 40 singers from across Australia
AFRICA: From The Gambia: Sura Susso voice, kora
ASIA: From India: Debipriya Sircar voice, sitar • Jaymini Sahai kathak dance • Sanju Sahai tabla
THE MIDDLE EAST: From Azerbaijan: Ramin Qarayev voice, saz • Malik Mansurov tar • Gochaq Askerov voice • Elshan Mansurov kamanchaFrom the Jewish Sephardic tradition: Jeremy Avis voice • Rebecca Askew bass
EUROPE: From Italy: La Fonte Musica • Michele Pasotti directorFrom the UK: BREMF Consort of Voices • The Lacock Scholars • The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble • Deborah Roberts director
FINALE: Jeremy Avis The Whispering Dome WORLD PREMIERE
First performance of an original work commissioned specially for the Finale of this year’s festival • Debipriya Sircar voice, sitar • Sura Susso voice, kora • Jeremy Avis voice, harpsichord, composer • Rebecca Askew voice, bass, arranger • BREMF Community Choir ♦ Click this link for full details of each concert: https://www.bremf.org.uk/2020/index.htm
You may be wondering: Why is this page so blasted long?
Recently we received a complaint from a professional musician and tutor saying we were not helping struggling musicians by showing youtube selections. Having explained some of our less derivative work to him, we realised that we tell you about lots of things in our newsletters that never make it to the webpages.
In future we will show here: our regular support for the Wigmore Hall and the Philharmonia, for some of our regular musicians who have been recording or releasing work during the lockdowns, this week's offer from the Wimbledon International Music Festival, and our regular work with the Brighton Early Music Festival. Our promotion of local live events such as MAIASTRA and of the Dorking Concertgoers will also reach the page.
Leatherhead Concert & Arts Society is a small group, but one that tends to be noticed more widely than we have any right to expect.
♫ ───────────────────────────────────────