The Alphabet Series - Letter W is for Water, Water Everywhere

The Sing Song Club Presents

The Alphabet Series: W is for Water Water everyWhere Rebecca Li, Soprano Adrian Poon, Tenor Shane Thio, Piano

With the kind support of

Friday, 25 October 2019 8pm Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall Music Studio PROGRAMME

Bernard Tan (1943-)—Water Ned Rorem (1923-)—Clouds Ivor Gurney (1890-1937)—The Quiet Mist Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)—The Rainbow Malcolm Williamson (1931-2003)—Rain Edward Elgar (1857-1934)—As Torrents in Summer Maury Yeston (1945-)—December Snow Elliot Carter (1908-2012)—Dust of Snow Roger Quilter (1877-1953)—Come Lady Day Arthur Bliss (1891-1975)—The Return from Town Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881-1946)—From the Land of the Sky Blue Water Gerald Finzi (1928-1958)—Ferry Me Across the Water Kelly Tang (1961-) —Where Go the Boats [Solo version, World Premiere] John Alden Carpenter (1876-1951)—On a Screen Traditional, arr. by Helen Hopekirk (1856-1945)—By Yon Bonnie Banks Michael Head (1900-1976)—The Estuary Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947)—My Ship and I Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)—Mermaid Song John Ireland (1879-1962)—Full Fathom Five Roy Teed (1928-2017)—April Morning Ernest Moeran (1894-1950)—The Roving Dingle Boy Noël Coward (1899-1973)—Bar on the Piccola Marina Kelly Tang (1961-)—Song of the Fisherfolk Kelly Tang (1961-)—One by One

PROGRAMME NOTES Welcome to the Alphabet Series, a cycle of 26 recitals, each themed around one letter of the alphabet. This evening, we feature one of the essential building blocks of life, that perfect combination of hydrogen and oxygen—water. More than that, this recital of 24 songs in English is about human interaction with water. We revere and personify it because we need it, and it supports the life of everything else that nourishes us. We surround it with mythology because there is so much about it that we still do not know. We fear its destructive power. We philosophize over it. It cleanses us physically and spiritually. Its beauty inspires us and we immortalize it in our art. Just as it covers the surface of our planet, and runs through our entire body, it pervades every single aspect of our being.

Bernard Tan’s Water, to the text of Lee Tzu Pheng, proclaims this evening’s theme proudly; water here is presented in all three states of solid, liquid and gas. The next group of three songs move on to water droplets suspended in the atmosphere as seen in billowing clouds and enveloping mists, as well as the miraculous rainbow that appears when these droplets reflect, refract and disperse light. The next group of four songs gives you precipitation with rain and snow, and with just as many varieties of mood—A child’s innocent observation gives way to an overflowing reverence for the Almighty, and how snowfall can mean different things to different people. In the next quartet of songs, we see this snowfall melting high in the mountains and, fed by rainfall, form streams and rivers in which we wash ourselves and hope for new, beautiful things to come. Charles Wakefield Cadman’s palour favourite, based on an old tribal love song from Omaha, references the Minnesota River, and Gerald Finzi’s Styx brings the terrestrial into the underworld.

At the midpoint of the recital, we present the solo version of Kelly Tang’s Where Go the Boats, the keystone of tonight’s recital. A child launches paper boats down the river, not knowing where it will end up; similarly, we launch our life decisions down the river of our ideals and values, and hope that we will be brought to favourable places.

Our rivers eventually meet the sea, but not before forming bodies of water, ponds and lakes over which we can ponder our lives. We make a pit stop at the meeting point of land drainage and sea to admire the estuary before launching ourselves into open waters. Through songs 17 to 20, we meet the people who brave the oceans, seeking adventure and a better life, and we explore the sea’s depths to find mythical creatures and other worlds.

Back on land for the last four songs, we meet the people who pine for those out at sea, lovers who stay true and who pray for calm waters that will bring their partners safely back home. We meet also holidaymakers who are out to have a good time, and who perhaps take these calm waters and bright sunshine for granted.

If Where Go the Boats is the keystone, our first and last songs of this recital have a similar architectural equivalent; both form the springers of tonight’s musical arch. Bernard Tan’s Water is an educational song from the 1980s—dry, scientific, didactic. Kelly Tang’s One by One, composed to the text of Aaron Lee in 2017, is humanistic and hopeful. We are encouraged to look after our resources, and to take only what we need. The rivers we seek are of our own choosing, down which we can launch the paper boats we’ve been given. It is up to us to choose wisely.

OUR NEXT CONCERT The 9th SINGAPORE LIEDER FESTIVAL

Love, Poulenc

Friday and Saturday, 15 and 16 November 2019 8pm Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall Music Studio Teng Xiang Ting, Soprano Adrian Poon, Tenor Daniel Fong, Baritone Shane Thio, Piano

Francis Poulenc was born 120 years ago, and he has left us with some of our favourite songs. In 2013, we performed the complete works for voice and piano over seven evenings. This year, in honour of the 120th anniversary of his birth, we have chosen our favourite cycles to perform again. His music is timeless for us, and we are ever grateful to have them to behold and share. Join us for two evenings of love for and from Poulenc.