HEART OF WINTER – Studio Recording (Auburn Jam Records – AJR2624)
Created by Lia Buddle with music and lyrics by Stiles & Drewe Best New Song finalist Tim Connor, this is a one-woman tour de force about a northern primary school teacher called Kate who’s recently split up with Adam, her partner of three years. The story follows her journey through life after Adam and how she plans to move on.
Reading that, and learning that it is a one-woman song cycle, you could be excused from thinking Song and Dance but there really is no similarity musically or dramatically. The title of the piece, Heart of Winter, and the cover of the CD immediately give thought to a lovely festive album full of songs for the long winter nights drawing in. Don’t be fooled! Pay attention to the ‘Explicit Language’ sticker and don’t give this as a stocking filler to Great Aunt Mary.
However, you could give it to anyone who has an interest in strong, no-nonsense musical theatre. This doesn’t mean to say that it is ‘doom and gloom’ – far from it. The switch between being melancholy and humorous is deftly treated by the writers and brought to magnificent, gritty life by Corrine Priest, who won the Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year 2014. Compare her contemplative ‘Wide Awake’ to the hilarious ‘The Driving Lesson’ to see how she was the perfect choice for the project.
The production relies solely on piano accompaniment, and could work extremely well in a cabaret setting, but you can almost hear the orchestrations that will eventually be written for it when it gets a full-blown production. It may have been ten years in the making, but those ten years have obviously been spent honing this piece down to the well-polished bones – not one ounce of superfluous fat is to be found.
Nick Wakeham
* The Heart of Winter will be available to download via all major online retailers including iTunes and Amazon MP3.
www.heartofwinter.auburnjam.co.uk
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.