A Lark Ascending Posted January 13, 2013 Report Posted January 13, 2013 (edited) Another thread aimed to focus on the pleasure in the music rather than who is playing it. Night Music - lots of tremendously atmospheric pieces. Which ones get you and why? What got me thinking about this was watching a DVD of Tristan and Isolde a couple of weeks back - the whole of Act II takes place at night with night having all sorts of symbolic allusions (the usual Romantic death obsession). But the music is extraordinary - from the early part where the main action is ofset with the sound of the night hunt in the distance, to the love scene with Brangane singing her warning from a tower nearby. Also Britten's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' has a magical night Act II where everything is turned upside down, all accompanied by evocative music. The three middle movements of Mahler 7 has some extraordinary night music - I love the Italianate 4th movement with it's serenading mandolins. And several of Bartok's central movements evoke the eerie business of the night. There's some of mine. Which night music pieces do you particularly enjoy? Edited January 13, 2013 by A Lark Ascending Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted February 23, 2013 Author Report Posted February 23, 2013 I'm not sure if the middle movement of Mahler 5 was intended as night music, but listening to it last night it had that serenade-like feel. The following Adagietto also sounds like night-tryst music (although I have Dirk Bogarde being rowed round daylight Venice lodged in my mind). The last movement certainly sounds like the brash return of day. Act II of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg also has some glorious night music (interrupted by a brawl!). Quote
RiRiIII Posted February 23, 2013 Report Posted February 23, 2013 Howard Swanson (1907-1978): Night Music for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn and strings (1950), as recorded by Mitropoulos and the New York Ensemble of the Philharmonic Scholarship Winners on October 4, 1950. A rarity strangely reissued by DGG in a fascinating double CD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Swanson http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stokowski-Mitropoulos-Leopold/dp/B000M05VMA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361649538&sr=8-1 Quote
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