Cantata Singers’ “All Britten”

[The preview for this review can be found here.]

A bit late for the review, but I did end up attending the Cantata Singers’ “All Britten” concert a couple of weeks ago. To recap, the program was as follows:

Friday, January 16, 8:00 pm – Jordan Hall
Lachrymae: Roger Tapping, viola
Five Flower Songs
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings: Michael Slattery, tenor; Michael Thompson, horn
Phaedra: Janna Baty, mezzo-soprano
Rejoice in the Lamb, orch. Imogen Holst: First Boston performance of chorus-orchestral version

The reviews in The Boston Globe and the Phoenix were both highly complimentary. As for me, I fully enjoyed “Lachrymae”, the opener. I found the orchestra to be a bit subdued (although their performance could be interpreted as “subtle” I suppose), but the violist, Tapping, was an expressive and agile performer. “Phaedra” was also beautifully and intensely performed. The soloist was soprano Janna Baty, and her performance was fully (and appropriately) dramatic and operatic. The works for chorus were also highlights: the “Five Flower Songs” were nicely presented, and the chorus especially revelled in the rollicking “Ballad of Green Broom”. Likewise they brought out all the humor of “Rejoice in the Lamb” and, if not quite convincing me it was more than a curio, enabled me to enjoy it nonetheless.

The biggest disappointment was the concert’s centerpiece, the Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, which is too bad since the work seems to be done far more rarely than it should. I found the young tenor Michael Slattery’s performance to be mannered, on-the-surface playacting that lacked any real depth. His sotto voce, breathy melodramatics grew wearying, despite ample and strong support from the orchestra. A significant dip in an otherwise enjoyable evening, but regardless it was an attractive program overall and I’m looking forward to enjoying more of the Cantata Singers Britten season. More reviews to come, as the performance of Noye’s Fludde on February 7 is fast approaching.

Heroes: 80’s night at T.T.’s

I’ve been meaning to post about a dance night I go to regularly called “Heroes”. It’s an 80’s/new wave type of night, but don’t be surprised if you hear some newer retro tunes by the likes of Cut Copy or some classic helium-voiced Madonna thrown in. The tunes are courtesy of my favorite DJ in Boston, Chris Ewen, of Figures on a Beach and Future Bible Heroes fame, among other things. He used to spin at ye olde Manray, now defunct, which I used to frequent all too regularly in college, even on weeknights when I had a class at 9 a.m. the following day. I blame my less-than-stellar GPA entirely on him.

The 80’s night was homeless and floated around town when Manray closed, but has since found a semi-permanent home at T.T.’s where they put it on at least a couple Saturdays a month (be sure to check the website to see if they’re on for a given week). The music is as good as ever, although the crowd has definitely been a bit hit or miss at times. The crowd at Manray used to be pretty consistent, and although some regulars such as myself have made the transition and kept the scene relatively indie there are some nights that are almost painfully fratty and “girlfriends’ night out”. Which isn’t me being a snob, honest. I’m all for people appreciating good music, but it’s just that it kind of kills the dreamy Joy Division mood when drunk girls and guys are grinding on the dance floor and/or spilling beer on me. Anyway, I’m definitely not complaining too much and fully appreciate Heroes’ new home. Long live Heroes at T.T.’s!

And if you’re looking for some links, Heroes has a page at MySpace. I also came across this set of photos from maybe early last year at Boston.com.

The Smittens and Cotton Candy at The Middle East

[The preview for this review is here.]

On New Year’s I caught Cotton Candy upstairs at The Middle East. Their set was pretty good. The setlist was very similar to the performance I’d seen at The Plough and Stars, although there the duo benefited from the intimate setting. At The Middle East their quirkiness and sparse presentation didn’t quite fill the space, and it took awhile for the audience to really “get” their unique brand of humor. But M and I both enjoyed their set (although I found myself wanting to hear more of their own songs instead of the jingles and covers, enjoyable as they are), and the addition of a drummer on one song was a welcome surprise. We also both finally got around to looking up the origins of their closer song, which is actually entitled “Freelove Freeway”. Turns out it’s from the British The Office. A video of the uncut version of the song from the show can be found here. M also did some research and found a nice preview of Cotton Candy and the show at the Weekly Dig and a rough-around-the-edges-but-endearing performance of theirs from May 22 of last year for WMBR’s “Phoning It In”.

Part of the reason it took a while for the crowd to settle into Cotton Candy’s set was because they had been preceded by the much more rollicking and freewheelin’ group The Smittens, from Vermont. I’d heard a bit of them beforehand online and had found them to be a bit too twee for me, but live I was won over by their humor and easygoing stage presence. I’ve gotten a bit tired of boy/girl vocals, but I really enjoyed how the three vocalists in The Smittens work in tandem, at times trading verses within the same song, and the fun and memorable vocal arrangements they come up with. One highlight in particular was “Half My Heartbeats” which featured band member Dana Kaplan making the best of the circumstances and playing a single castanet, and ending up making it look like nothing so much as some strange sort of miniature Muppet. It was pretty great.

So that was a big win for the night, and it’s great to start the year with another band to add to my list of bands to keep track of. Their official site is here and there’s a fair amount of other audio on their Last.fm page as well. [Edited: Can I just say I'm totally digging their recordings now? I'm definitely going to pick up a CD or two when they're next in town.]

Missed the first band and stayed for just a bit of the final band One Happy Island. Unlike The Smittens I was pretty much completely turned off by OHI live, who on mp3 sound fine, but live just came across as really fratty. Which is not to my taste, but if you’re a fan of bands like Neutral Milk Hotel or ones that feature trumpet you may enjoy them.

Upcoming for January

A bit worn out from the holidays, so don’t have much set for January. Tonight I’m going to the Cotton Candy concert I mentioned previously, part of their “4th Annual Indie Pop New Year’s Day Night”, upstairs at the Middle East. Here’s the schedule, courtesy of M:

8:45 Cathy Cathodic
9:30 Smittens
10:15 Cotton Candy
11:30 One Happy Island
Doors 8:30, $9

The Cantata Singers is in the midst of a season focusing on Benjamin Britten. Hadn’t managed to catch any of their concerts in the fall, but I’m a pretty big fan of Britten and there are three concerts this spring that I’ll definitely be making an effort to get to. The first concert is being presented as part of The New York Times’ 2009 Arts & Leisure Weekend, and you can use the promotional code “NYT09″ to get two tickets for the price of one. (The Times’ site also has other arts-related promotions listed in MA for that weekend as well.)

Here’s the info on the Cantata Singers concerts I’ll probably be checking out, taken from their website:

Friday, January 16, 8:00 pm – Jordan Hall
All-Britten
Lachrymae
Roger Tapping, viola
Five Flower Songs
Phaedra
Janna Baty, mezzo-soprano
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Michael Slattery, tenor
Michael Thompson, horn
Rejoice in the Lamb, orch. Imogen Holst
First Boston performance of chorus-orchestral version

Saturday, February 7, 2 pm — All Saints Parish, Brookline
Benjamin Britten Noye’s Fludde
David Hoose, Music Director
Lynn Torgove, Stage Director
Members of Cantata Singers and PALS Children’s Chorus
Alysoun Kegel, Artistic Director
Young instrumentalists from Boston area arts organizations

Friday, May 8, 8:00 pm – Jordan Hall
Benjamin Britten Psalm 150
Boston Children’s Chorus
Anthony Trecek-King, Artistic Director
J.S. Bach Cantata BWV 149,
“Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg in den Hütten der Gerechten”
Classroom Cantatas Cantata
First performance
Student composers from Neighborhood House Charter School
and Boston Children’s Chorus
Andy Vores Natural Selection
First performance
Britten The Company of Heaven
Karyl Ryczek, soprano
William Hite, tenor
James Petosa, speaker

While I’m at it, here’s The Phoenix’s preview of the spring classical music offerings. Also, the Boston Metro has a pretty concise listing of the theater and special events for January.