This concert is generously supported by Nicola Coldstream

8 –– 2 3 O C T O B E R

2 0 2 1

NATURE’SSONGBOOK

THE 20TH OXFORD LIEDER FESTIVAL

PROGRAMME

ISOLATIONSONGBOOK Helen Charlston mezzo-sopranoMichael Craddock baritoneAlexander Soares piano

Tuesday 12 October | 10pm Jacqueline du Pré Music Building

Part of Oxford Lieder's Song Futures programme

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OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO:

SUPPORTING OXFORD LIEDER’S ARTISTIC PROGRAMME

The Beeching Trust

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Merton College, Oxford

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SUPPORTING SONG FUTURES

The Nicholas John Trust Founder Supporter

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Oxford Botanic Garden

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SUPPORTING OUR YOUNG PERFORMERS' PROGRAMME & MASTERCOURSE

The Adrian Swire Charitable Trust

The Cecil King Memorial Foundation

The John S Cohen Foundation

The Derrill Allatt Foundation

The Fenton Arts Trust

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The Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship Fund

The Kirby Laing Foundation

The Rainbow Dickinson Trust

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SUPPORTING OUR SCHOOLS PROGRAMME

The D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

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The John Thaw Foundation

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD COLLEGE PARTNERS Merton College | The Queen’s College | St Stephen’s House | St Hilda’s College

Wadham College | Wolfson College

This concert is generously supported by Nicola Coldstream

Programme

Owain Park (b. 1993) 18th April Helen Charlston

Richard Barnard Early Stroll 28.3.2020 Ian McMillan (b. 1956)

Andrew Brixey Williams Abat jour Pierre Reverdy (1889–1960), trans. Mary Ann Caws

Héloïse Werner (b. 1991)

The Orange Vendor Ali Lewis (b. 1990)

*****Alex Ho two connected souls: (i) the loneliest spot Kwan-Ann Tan (b. 1999)

Alex Ho's two connected souls was commissioned by Oxford Lieder as part of the Song Futures programme

Kerensa Briggs (b. 1991) Melancholy (and Buttercream) Gareth Mattey

Matthew Ward (b. 1958) Concerning Cows William Topaz McGonagall (1825 - 1902) Ogden Nash (1902 - 1971) Eddie Braben (1930 - 2013)

Gerda Blok-Wilson I’m Nobody Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Terence Charlston Endless Song Terence Charlston

Alex Ho two connected souls: (ii) in another july Kwan-Ann Tan (b. 1999)

*****

This concert is generously supported by Nicola Coldstream

Joshua Borin Nature is Returning Sophie Rashbrook

Derri Joseph Lewis (b. 1997) A Moment Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861 - 1907)

Nathan James Dearden the way we go Katharine Towers (b. 1961)

Ben Rowarth The King’s Breakfast A A Milne (1882 - 1956)

To be a musician is to be a social creature. We need each other to express, connect and make music. As the UK went into lockdown at the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, those avenues of connection were torn away from us. We were told to stay in our homes and wait. The Isolation Songbook is a collaborative outcome of this period: without normal outlets for creative expression, I sought a new way of making music and connecting with artists. Through an open call for scores I reached 4 poets and 15 composers looking for that impetus to turn their creativity into something tangible. It has been an extraordinary privilege to be invited into the composers’ and poets’ own experience through these songs which are by turns witty and melancholic, brash and joyful.

Tonight, we perform selections of the 15 songs that make up the Isolation Songbook, alongside a new addition to the set: Alex Ho’s two connected souls. When Sholto approached me about the idea of adding to the songbook with an Oxford Lieder Commission it seemed like the perfect way to mark the time that has passed since these songs were first written. Alex and I both felt that we wanted to zoom in on a particular Oxford experience of and recovery from lockdown. Kwan-Ann Tan’s text encapsulates this perfectly, tracing the realities of distance and connection as restrictions changed.

The songs in the Isolation Songbook have had the unique experience of being created in a time in which they could not be shared with a live audience. We have given performances online, and recorded the set on Delphian Records, but for many of the songs we will perform this evening you are the first audience to sit in the same physical space with them. Thank you for being a part of this next stage of life for these songs. Art, love, joy, and friendship are all around us: in the everyday as well as in celebration and loss. That is what I hope we have captured here.

Helen Charlston

Joshua Borin Nature is Returning Sophie Rashbrook

Derri Joseph Lewis (b. 1997) A Moment Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861 - 1907)

Nathan James Dearden the way we go Katharine Towers (b. 1961)

Ben Rowarth The King’s Breakfast A A Milne (1882 - 1956)

TextS

18TH APRIL

Park / Charlston Suppose they had chosen another date,Suppose it had gone ahead as planned,Celebration, commitment, hand in hand.Satin in silence hangs, hidden for now.Vows unreached yet lived out in delight.In their cushioned box the golden spheresHibernate patiently, untouched.Today they sit in quiet communionSharing looks and books and cups of coffee.Foreheads brush through unkempt hairThe smallest smile, the deepest care.For in love’s light they have daredIts reflection will be their glory.

EARLY STROLL 28.3.20

Barnard / McMillan The sky has put weight on overnight. Tapestriesof unusually well-tended gardens. Thosepigeons on a rooftop date seem very wellsuited. Spilled paint outside the paint shop,as if it were trying to find its way home.

from Three Early Stroll Songs

 

THE ORANGE VENDOR

Lewis / Werner Oranges on her head and oranges in her hand,flowers on a yellow poncho.She’s so much smaller than her clothes.I don’t know why she’s in my houseapart from I put her there.Is it the one free hand,or the way she stacks so many thingsthe wrong shape for balancing?Or how she shifts her weight when she makes a saleand an orange, or many oranges, are taken away? (after Natalia Goncharova) *****

two connected souls

 

I. THE LONELIEST SPOT

Ho / Tan the loneliest spot in a crumbling world is here:an abandoned cloister in an unattended chapel,where even the wind does not blow.travelling silently through the passages of Oxford,the city has forgotten the sound of singing –of gossip, of the shutter-click tourist camera,of warm laughter spilling out of evening halls.nothing but the soft sludge of leaves underfoot,the fast-fading memory of the way your shoes echoin the corridors of a library with its breath held.

 

ABAT-JOUR

Williams / Reverdy, trans. Caws

Around the tableOn the shadow’s edgeEach one of them quite motionlessAnd someone abruptly speaksIt’s cold outside but here it’s peacefulAnd the light holds them togetherThe fire cracklesA sparkThe hands have come to restBluer on top of the tableclothBehind the beam of light, a head readsNearly holding its breathEverything’s falling asleepThe silence drags onBut still it is not time to goThe windowpane mirrors the scene, the familyFrom a distance the lips all seem to be fervent and praying

 

THE ORANGE VENDOR

Lewis / Werner Oranges on her head and oranges in her hand,flowers on a yellow poncho.She’s so much smaller than her clothes.I don’t know why she’s in my houseapart from I put her there.Is it the one free hand,or the way she stacks so many thingsthe wrong shape for balancing?Or how she shifts her weight when she makes a saleand an orange, or many oranges, are taken away? (after Natalia Goncharova) *****

two connected souls

 

MELANCHOLY (AND BUTTERCREAM)

Briggs / Mattey

I. THE LONELIEST SPOT

Ho / Tan the loneliest spot in a crumbling world is here:an abandoned cloister in an unattended chapel,where even the wind does not blow.travelling silently through the passages of Oxford,the city has forgotten the sound of singing –of gossip, of the shutter-click tourist camera,of warm laughter spilling out of evening halls.nothing but the soft sludge of leaves underfoot,the fast-fading memory of the way your shoes echoin the corridors of a library with its breath held.

 

”HER” VOICE “HIS” VOICE To begin the recipe She cracks a single egg, slowly Item one: two handsWith nails –Worn and red and torn and bled She cracks another egg, quickly She misses the bowlItem two: two lipsSweet enough She adds far too much flour and sugar She doesn’t care She whisks, furiouslyItem three: two grey eyesWith borrowed lids She drops in a packet of chocolate flavouring

Item four: my hair She expects me to pick it upOne item but thousands reallyI should count them individually She doesn’t know I won’tBut I won’t. She acquires a baking trayItem five: two armpitsWith a forest of hair She pours the thick mixture unevenly She doesn’t careItem six: a heartUnlucky for some She doesn’t intend to eat itItem seven: a voice She intends for me to eat itHello? Can you hear me? She doesn’t know I won’tRaw until the last… She puts the mess into the ovenItem eight: two legsPacing its wallsOver and over and over and over… She sets a timerThey understand me. She waits She waits for me

Item nine: two armsThat wish they hadn’t broken so many eggs in my time.Broken eggs make a burnt cake.

ABAT-JOUR

Williams / Reverdy, trans. Caws

Around the tableOn the shadow’s edgeEach one of them quite motionlessAnd someone abruptly speaksIt’s cold outside but here it’s peacefulAnd the light holds them togetherThe fire cracklesA sparkThe hands have come to restBluer on top of the tableclothBehind the beam of light, a head readsNearly holding its breathEverything’s falling asleepThe silence drags onBut still it is not time to goThe windowpane mirrors the scene, the familyFrom a distance the lips all seem to be fervent and praying

 

She hears the timer She withdraws the burnt cakeItem ten: something between my legsAn alien object She decorates it with chocolate buttercream frostingItem eleven: an empty stomachWith a solutionFor the future She finishes the cakeAndItem twelve: my mindWeathering the storm She spies my hungerItem after item after item after item until: She eats me in one biteI waitI eat I eat the cake.

CONCERNING COWS: A RURAL SONG CYCLE

Matthew Ward

i. The chicken is a noble beast.The cow is much forlorner,Standing in the pouring rain,A leg at every corner. William Topaz McGonagall

ii. The Cow is of the bovine ilk:One part ‘Moo!’The other milk. Ogden Nash (slightly altered)

iii. I saw three cowsOn a warm sunny hillock.I thought, ‘TomorrowThat grass’ll be millock.’ Eddie Braben for The Morecambe & Wise Show, (slightly altered)

 

CONCERNING COWS: A RURAL SONG CYCLE

Matthew Ward

i. The chicken is a noble beast.The cow is much forlorner,Standing in the pouring rain,A leg at every corner. William Topaz McGonagall

ii. The Cow is of the bovine ilk:One part ‘Moo!’The other milk. Ogden Nash (slightly altered)

iii. I saw three cowsOn a warm sunny hillock.I thought, ‘TomorrowThat grass’ll be millock.’ Eddie Braben for The Morecambe & Wise Show, (slightly altered)

 

I’M NOBODY

Blok-Wilson / Dickinson

I’m nobody! Who are you?Are you nobody, too?Then there’s a pair of us – don’t tell!They’d banish us, you know.How dreary to be somebody!How public, like a frogTo tell your name the livelong dayTo an admiring bog!

III. ENDLESS SONG

Charlston / Charlston

Why keep from singing?My life also is an ‘endless song’,A tumult of calm,Bejewelled and fragrant.Hear me above the dull din of fear.Listen to my bitter-sweet, sanguine elegy.Join me, unceasing!Join my unending flow of time!Why keep from singing?

two connected souls

II. IN ANOTHER JULY

Ho / Tan

in another july, the cobblestones wake from sleepwildflowers pushing their way through the crackslike an open window: fresh air making its roundsaround even the depths of the underground libraries.in the streets, clumsy smiles from mouths unusedfor grinning, for sly smirks, for stolen kisses –turned out into the world to relearn how to walk.a man hugs his mother for the first time in months,they both weep, ignoring the soupthat has overboiled onto the stove.

*****

NATURE IS RETURNING

Borin / Rashbrook

The days are longbut the months are shortOn our walk last night,We saw a man playing frisbee on his ownThen, on our way home9 pm, Blackheath ParkWe were dodging joggers,dancing the pavement tango, when …Did you hear that?It can’t be …There it is againIt’s an owlAn owl in Blackheath!Hooo-hooo-hoooo!It’s a miracle!Did I get it?NoI’ve seen sparrows, blue tits, long-tailed tits,All manner of titsCollared doves, pigeons,burbling nonsense on our window-sillAnd the less said about the news, the betterNew neighbours downstairs,their stories unspokenNew babies, uncuddledFinal goodbyes, unbiddenBut my house plants, cherished, thriving,like never beforeGoldfinches! Woodpeckers!Mother nature is returning to our citiesIt’s there!By the window! Get it!Kill the bastard! Quick!Oh, bloody moths!They’re cleverer than they lookThey know where to hideThey are watching usas we carry on our new livesour new, gentler livesAn empty bus rolls byAnd through the windowSpring turns to summer …Moth! Moth! I see you!Got you! Ha!High five!The months are shortbut the days are long …

NATURE IS RETURNING

Borin / Rashbrook

The days are longbut the months are shortOn our walk last night,We saw a man playing frisbee on his ownThen, on our way home9 pm, Blackheath ParkWe were dodging joggers,dancing the pavement tango, when …Did you hear that?It can’t be …There it is againIt’s an owlAn owl in Blackheath!Hooo-hooo-hoooo!It’s a miracle!Did I get it?NoI’ve seen sparrows, blue tits, long-tailed tits,All manner of titsCollared doves, pigeons,burbling nonsense on our window-sillAnd the less said about the news, the betterNew neighbours downstairs,their stories unspokenNew babies, uncuddledFinal goodbyes, unbiddenBut my house plants, cherished, thriving,like never beforeGoldfinches! Woodpeckers!Mother nature is returning to our citiesIt’s there!By the window! Get it!Kill the bastard! Quick!Oh, bloody moths!They’re cleverer than they lookThey know where to hideThey are watching usas we carry on our new livesour new, gentler livesAn empty bus rolls byAnd through the windowSpring turns to summer …Moth! Moth! I see you!Got you! Ha!High five!The months are shortbut the days are long …

A MOMENT

Lewis / Coleridge

The clouds had made a crimson crownAbout the mountains high.The stormy sun was going downIn a stormy sky.Why did you let your eyes so rest on me,And hold your breath between?In all the ages this can never beAs if it had not been.

THE WAY WE GO

Dearden / Towers

the way we go about our livestrying out each empty roomlike houses we might owneavesdropping for clues in corridors untilstanding at a gate or attic windowseeing beauty in a flag of skywe’re gone, leaving the doors openall the lights burning

THE KING’S BREAKFAST

Rowarth / A A Milne

The King askedThe Queen, andThe Queen askedThe Dairymaid:"Could we have some butter forThe Royal slice of bread?"The Queen asked the Dairymaid,The DairymaidSaid, "Certainly,I'll go and tell the cowNowBefore she goes to bed."

The DairymaidShe curtsied,And went and toldThe Alderney:"Don't forget the butter forThe Royal slice of bread."The AlderneySaid sleepily:"You'd better tellHis MajestyThat many people nowadaysLike marmaladeInstead."

The DairymaidSaid, "Fancy!"And went toHer Majesty.She curtsied to the Queen, andShe turned a little red:"Excuse me,Your Majesty,For taking ofThe liberty,But marmalade is tasty, ifIt's veryThicklySpread."

The Queen said"Oh!:And went toHis Majesty:"Talking of the butter forThe royal slice of bread,Many peopleThink thatMarmaladeIs nicer.Would you like to try a littleMarmaladeInstead?"

The King said,"Bother!"And then he said,"Oh, deary me!"The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"And went back to bed."Nobody,"He whimpered,"Could call meA fussy man;I only wantA little bitOf butter forMy bread!"

The Queen said,"There, there!"And went toThe Dairymaid.The DairymaidSaid, "There, there!"And went to the shed.The cow said,"There, there!I didn't reallyMean it;Here's milk for his porringer,And butter for his bread."

The Queen tookThe butterAnd brought it toHis Majesty;The King said,"Butter, eh?"And bounced out of bed."Nobody," he said,As he kissed herTenderly,"Nobody," he said,As he slid down the banisters,"Nobody,My darling,Could call meA fussy man -

BUTI do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"

THE KING’S BREAKFAST

Rowarth / A A Milne

The King askedThe Queen, andThe Queen askedThe Dairymaid:"Could we have some butter forThe Royal slice of bread?"The Queen asked the Dairymaid,The DairymaidSaid, "Certainly,I'll go and tell the cowNowBefore she goes to bed."

The DairymaidShe curtsied,And went and toldThe Alderney:"Don't forget the butter forThe Royal slice of bread."The AlderneySaid sleepily:"You'd better tellHis MajestyThat many people nowadaysLike marmaladeInstead."

The DairymaidSaid, "Fancy!"And went toHer Majesty.She curtsied to the Queen, andShe turned a little red:"Excuse me,Your Majesty,For taking ofThe liberty,But marmalade is tasty, ifIt's veryThicklySpread."

The Queen said"Oh!:And went toHis Majesty:"Talking of the butter forThe royal slice of bread,Many peopleThink thatMarmaladeIs nicer.Would you like to try a littleMarmaladeInstead?"

The King said,"Bother!"And then he said,"Oh, deary me!"The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"And went back to bed."Nobody,"He whimpered,"Could call meA fussy man;I only wantA little bitOf butter forMy bread!"

The Queen said,"There, there!"And went toThe Dairymaid.The DairymaidSaid, "There, there!"And went to the shed.The cow said,"There, there!I didn't reallyMean it;Here's milk for his porringer,And butter for his bread."

The Queen tookThe butterAnd brought it toHis Majesty;The King said,"Butter, eh?"And bounced out of bed."Nobody," he said,As he kissed herTenderly,"Nobody," he said,As he slid down the banisters,"Nobody,My darling,Could call meA fussy man -

BUTI do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIESHELEN CHARLSTON

Hailed “a rather special mezzo” (Music Web International), Helen is a young artist increasingly in demand in the UK and abroad. Recent concert highlights include debuts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and at the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona; a worldwide tour of Handel Messiah with the Seattle Symphony; performances as part of Barbican Sound Unbound 2019 and recitals at York Early Music Festival, Leicester International Music Festival and Fitzrovia Festival. Helen is a BBC New Generation Artist (2021-2023). Helen won First Prize in the 2018 Handel Singing Competition, was a Rising Star of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for 2017-19 and is a 2018 City Music Foundation Artist. This season she will make debuts with Academy of Ancient Music, Cambridge Handel Opera Company, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Concertgebouw Kammerorchestra, as well as joining Fretwork for a solo recital programme at Wigmore Hall and York Early Music Christmas Festival. She will premiere the role of Anna in the newly completed opera Blue Electric by Tom Smail and will continue her commissioning project of lute songs with duo partner Toby Carr. Often heard on BBC Radio 3 in live concert relays, Helen features on recordings of Bach B Minor Mass (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Trinity College Choir), and Bach ActusTragicus & Himmelskönig sei willkommen (Amici Voices/Amici Baroque Players), both available from Hyperion. This season she will record John Eccles Semele (Juno) with Cambridge Handel Opera Company and the Academy of Ancient Music. Helen began singing as chorister and head chorister of the St Albans Abbey Girls Choir. She then studied music at Trinity College, Cambridge where she held a choral scholarship for four years and was a scholar on the Pembroke College Lieder Scheme, led by Joseph Middleton.

MICHAEL CRADDOCK

Michael Craddock started his formal musical education with the choir of Trinity College Cambridge, with whom he sang for four years, whilst studying Mathematics, and now combines his time as a regular member of the Gesualdo Six

with a busy schedule of freelance oratorio, operatic and song perfomances in the UK and further afield. Operatic performances include Walton The Bear (Smirnov) for Opera Anywhere, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bottom) in Aldeburgh, sharing the role with Matthew Rose, Donizetti Don Pasquale (Dr. Malatesta) for Opera Minima and Verdi’s La Traviata (Marchese) for Regent’s Opera at the Bermuda Festival. He sang the dual roles of Alfio/Tonio in Hampstead Garden Opera’s performances of Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci and gave the role of Dandini in the Bedford Park Festival production of La Cenerentola. Most recently he performed the part of the Usher in Sullivan's Trial by Jury, with the OAE and John Wilson. He has a particular affinity for the music of JS Bach, and has given many performances with the group Amici Voices, who specialise in one-voice-per-part performances of Bach's vocal works. In their performance of the St Matthew Passion ‘Michael Craddock … deserve(d) special mention’ (Early Music Review). He was singled out by Opera News magazine for 'beautifully shaped' solo singing, with 'comforting tone' in Amici Voices CD release of BWV 106 and 182 (Hyperion). Recent oratorio solos include bass arias in the St Matthew Passion with the Auckland Philharmonia and Messiah with Hereford Choral Society. Other freelance consort work include engagements with The Tallis Scholars, Vox Luminis, The Gabrieli Consort, Polyphony, Contrapunctus, Le Concert D’astree, The Cardinall’s Musick, and the Choir of the Enlightenment.

ALEXANDER SOARES

A BBC Music Magazine Rising Star in 2021, pianist Alexander Soares has garnered a reputation as an authoritative soloist, sensitive collaborator, and dynamic recording artist. In recital, he has been praised for his performances that are “brilliantly

unbuttoned” (The Sunday Times) with playing of “huge intensity” (The Telegraph) and “diamond clarity and authority” (BBC Radio 3). He came to international attention in 2015, performing the solo and chamber music of Pierre Boulez in a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast at the Barbican Centre; in the same year he also won the Gold Medal in the prestigious Royal Overseas League Competition and was selected as a solo artist by City Music Foundation. Alexander has since performed in major venues and festivals across the UK, Europe and USA, with regular radio broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, FranceMusique, WDR, SWR2 and RTP.

In 2019 he signed with Rubicon Classics to release his debut solo album Notations & Sketches. Praised for its captivating programme — the piano solo works of Boulez, Dutilleux and Messiaen — the disc was selected as ‘Editor’s Choice’ by Gramophone Magazine (May 2019) and received widespread critical acclaim as “a stunning album” (FranceMusique) with playing of “style and sophistication” (BBC Music Magazine). In 2021, following the release of his second solo CD – Threnodies – Alexander was noted as “a thoughtful programmer” (BBC Music Magazine), with Gramophone affirming his dynamic performance: “Soares is in his element again, conveying the immensity of the emotional journey”. He has also recorded with critical acclaim for KAIROS and Delphian Records. He combines a busy and varied performing schedule with doctoral supervision at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and research of musical memorisation.

WAGNER SIEGFRIED

BIZET CARMEN

KORNGOLD DIE TOTE STADT

(THE DEAD CITY)

Emerging Artist double bill:

FREYA WALEY-COHEN SPELL BOOK

FRANCESCA CACCINI LA LIBERAZIONE DI RUGGIERO

DALL’ISOLA D’ALCINA(THE LIBERATION OF RUGGIERO FROM THE ISLAND OF ALCINA)

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Wednesday 20th October 2021 OXFORD

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Circle of Caspar Netscher (1639-1684) Lady at a clavier with a man singing £2000-3000