![\"Event](\"https:\/\/www.oxfordlieder.co.uk\/images\/_cache\/xKittyWhately_IMG_4796_square.jpg.pagespeed.ic.u9p8909c6g.jpg\")
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Kitty Whately
\nNeil Balfour (emerging artist)
\nAnna Tilbrook (piano)<\/p>\n
This imaginatively programmed all-American concert moved from Copland and Barber to an entertaining selection of Sondheim moments including several from the titular Into the Woods.<\/em> Along the way we also got Rogers and Hammerstein, songs by William Bolcom and in the crassly obvious token woman position, one by Margaret Bonds.<\/p>\n Whately, now at the top of her game can do pretty much anything. There was real tenderness, for example, in her rendering of Barber\u2019s Nocturne<\/em> and Sleep Now<\/em> \u2013 unfussy performances in which she simply stood, sang and let the music do the work. Half an hour later she was bobbing up and down behind the piano for a hilarious series of mini cameos in wigs and furs during Buddy\u2019s Blues<\/em>.<\/p>\n Billed as an \u201cemerging artist\u201d, Neil Balfour worked adeptly with Whately in several duets as well as delivering a warm account of O What a Beautiful Morning<\/em> and a very accomplished one of William Bolcom\u2019s Black Max<\/em> – a compelling minor key swing number which Balfour really made his own.<\/p>\n There was lots of chemistry between the two of them in Sunday in the Park with George<\/em>, which like most Sondheim numbers is quite long and needs careful sustaining and balance. Whately really nailed the model\u2019s frustration and Balfour had Seurat\u2019s irascibilty perfectly. I admired the way Balfour and Whately did Happiness<\/em> too \u2013 with two sets of thoughts going in different directions and then coalescing musically.<\/p>\n The best moments of the evening though were Whately singing Mr Snow<\/em> from Carousel<\/em> \u2013 all coy, pragmatic love \u2013 and her well judged rendering of Could I Leave You in which she makes it clear that yes she could and she isn\u2019t going to miss those \u201cdinners for ten \u2013 elderly men \u2013 from the UN\u201d.<\/p>\n All this was greatly enhanced by Anna Tillbrook\u2019s sensitive work on piano. And some of the piano writing here is complex and subtle \u2013 or witty. I loved the \u201cknitting needle music\u201d in Black Max, for instance.<\/p>\n Susan Elkin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kitty Whately Neil Balfour (emerging artist) Anna Tilbrook (piano) This imaginatively programmed all-American concert moved from Copland and Barber to an entertaining selection of Sondheim moments including several from the titular Into the Woods. Along the way we also got … Continue reading