The Happenstancers ended their 2023/24 season last night at 918 Bathurst with a concert called Babes in Toyland.  It consisted of mainly late 20th and 21st century chamber works with one unusual Mozart piece (K617 for glass harmonica (Kevin Ahfat), viola (Hee-Soo Yoon( ,cello (Peter Eom), oboe (Aleh Remezau) and flute (Tristan Durie) to spice things up.

The main interest for me was that there was plenty of vocal music featuring soprano Reilly Nelson who not only sang some highly technical music but played bells, scattered playing cards and carried a boom box.  The first substantial vocal work was Unsuk Chin’s acrostic-wordplay which is in seven movements with texts created from fragments from Michael Ende’s The Never Ending Story and Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. (Chin seems to have a bit of an Alice fixation).  It’s a complex piece for soprano and a fairly large chamber ensemble with no clear musical structure.  The textures vary from spooky and ethereal to aggressively loud and dissonant.  Great work here from Reilly and the ensemble conducted by Simon Rivard.

After the break we got two 2024 pieces by Matthew Ricketts.  Song of  the Prophet/Liar sets a text by Edna St. Vincent Millay which is about as weird as even the Irish get.  The accompaniment came from oboe (Aleh Remezau), flute/piccolo (Tristan Durie), harp (Zane Mallett) and celesta (Kevin Ahfat).  The mood here is playful and very, very weird.  It was followed by another Millay text; Song of the Sleep Thief with accompaniment by oboe/cor anglais (Aleh Remezau), clarinets (Brad Cherwin), harp (Zane Mallett), cello (Peter Eom) and percussion (Louis Pino).  This is a much darker piece with a real sense of doom.  Wonderful singing and playing on both pieces skilfully directed by Simon Rivard.

Finally Ryan Chase’s 2013 seven movement work carroll madrigals setting poetry by Amy Sarah Carroll.  This is also complex with major changes of mood/texture from ethereal to wildly percussive to something almost Tudor in feel and even sections with almost a jazz aesthetic.  Reilly Nelson handled the fragmentary, repetitive text with great skill while playing bells and there was more excellent instrumentalism using cello, violin (Sienna Cho) clarinets, percussion and assorted harmonicas.

A special mention for a most unusual piece that opened the second half.  I think this was a mash up of John Cage’s imaginary landscape no.5 and Anna Clyne’s just as they are.  In any event it blended live playing by piano, flute, clarinet and percussion set against a mix tape created by Louis Pino using fragments from multiple recordings including an interview with Cage and “I am the Wife of Mao Tse-Tung” from Nixon in China.  Intriguing.

Also appearing in the Chin piece but not otherwise credited; Lenny Ranallo (mandolin) and Travis Harrison (double bass).

One never knows what to expect with the Happenstancers and last night was no exception.  It was rewarding and fun and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Reilly Nelson.