Yesterday’s Talisker Players concert Creature to Creature was a well balanced selection of music and readings inspired by the idea of a bestiary.

First up was a set of Poulenc settings of Apollinaire texts. These songs, for mezzo, string quartet, flute, clarinet and bassoon, are very short and deceptively simple being both textually and musically many layered. They were very beautifully sung by Norine Burgess. Her fairly bright mezzo seemed well suited and there was sensitive accompaniment from the band among whom clarinetist Peter Stoll was particularly impressive.Next we got Geoffrey Sirett singing Miriam Gideon’s Creature to Creature (texts by Nancy Cardozo). His big (seems to get bigger evertytime I hear him) baritone was very effective in these angular, even spikey, songs with their very lean piano and flute accompaniment.

Alexander Rapoport is the Taliskers’ composer in residence. His archy and mehitabel is a setting of texts Don Marquis’ column in the New York Evening Sun about a vers libre poet reincarnated as a cockroach and an alley cat whose previous incarnations include Cleopatra. It was a fun piece. The music is colourful and the texts quite witty. Burgess made a decent job of a New York alley cat accent and Sirett was convincing as the frustrated poet cockroach. Accompaniment this time was string trio, flute and what looked like some sort of bass sax.

After the interval we got the not-Rossini cat duet. It was fun. Burgess makes a very convincing cat. Sirett had the cat vocals down pat but curiously sheep like body language. Top notch accompaniment here from pianist Peter Longworth.
Lee Holtby’s Rainforest (texts by Elizabeth Bishop) is a rather sophisticated piece with complex accompaniment for horn, woodwinds and piano and a tough vocal line that was skillfully navigated by Burgess.

The final set was from Flanders and Swann. Sirett brought skill and wit to the poignant tale of the wallflower warthog, the enamoured armadillo and the dreamy sloth before being joined by Burgess for a rousing rendering of The Hippopotamus with audience joining in on the final chorus.  Ross Manson of Volcano Theatre read the linking passages.

This was a really enjoyable way to spend a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon. The revamped Trinity St. Paul’s itself deserves a mention. The acoustics are really good and it’s now quite a comfortable place to watch a performance. There’s a second chance to catch the show on Tuesday evening.