Soothing Stuff 9
Night and Day

Classical Music is rarely literal, but frequently evocative, of the real world. Nevertheless, composers have been intrigued with evoking the night time atmosphere and the changing shades of light across the day in their music.

There is the warm, dreaminess of Debussy’s afternoon, yielding to Mendelssohn’s and Grieg’s romantic evenings.

Chopin is the most famous early exponent of the Nocturne, an attempt to capture feelings of night in music, and he poured some of his greatest music into his seventeen or so nocturnes. For Schubert, the night is hypnotic, heavy with melancholy and memories. The twinkling of distant stars glitter through the light fog in Debussy’s music about moonlight.

Light begins to seep into the distant horizon, bells toll and activity stirs on Mussorgsky’s river Moscow, while Britten summons the evocative throb of a grey, tidal dawn. Finally, the sun pierces Ravel’s sky to reveal a joyous and bright new day, before Elgar sings its song.

1. Debussy – Prélude à l’après-midi d’un Faun
2. Mendelssohn – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, op.61 – Nocturne: Con moto tranquillo
3. Grieg – Lyric Pieces, op.54 – No.4.Notturno
4. Schubert – Adagio in Eb major, D897, “Notturno”
5. Chopin – Nocturne No. 2 in E-flat major, op.9, no.2
6. Debussy – Suite Bergamasque – 3.Claire de Lune
7. Mussorgsky – Khovanschina – Prelude. Dawn on the River Moscow
8. Britten – Peter Grimes - Four Sea Interludes – 1. Dawn
9. Ravel – Daphnis and Chloé (Part Three) – Lever du jour
10. Elgar – Chanson de Matin, op.15