Nightly music

[fnork]

I'm planning the program for a one-hour recital in the beginning of may that I got recently, and have been thinking about different 'themes' the recital could have. Something I want to include in the concert is Gaspard de la nuit, which immidiately gave me two ideas - one, to have a recital consisting of "night music" like nocturnes etc and end it with playing Gaspard. The second idea was to play music with some kind of connection to litterature/poetry and having a poet friend of mine read, for instance, the poems that Gaspard de la nuit is based upon. Something like Schumanns Kreisleriana would of course be really nice to play in that context, including some of Hoffmans stories, probably inbetween the pieces. Problem is that it might be too much with two so big pieces in a one-hour program.

Any ideas about other pieces that would fit any of the two program ideas?

[fnork]

forgot to add another piece I'd play with the "night" theme - a composition by the swedish composer Anders Nilsson ( https://www.andersnilssoncomposer.com/ ) called "Les cloches de la nuit" - it's rather impressionisticsounding and a sort of hommage to Debussy in a way - the title is written in paranthesis at the very end of the piece, just as in Debussys preludes.

The first piece from Schumanns fantasiestucke op 12 is also perfect - a nice concert opener I'd say.

[rob47]

Schumann Kreisleriana and then Elliot Carter "Night Fantasies" would be awesome.

[Petter]

 

[ahinton]

Schumann Kreisleriana and then Elliot Carter "Night Fantasies" would be awesome.

Even more so with that extra "t" in the latter's forename; seriously, however, be warned - Carter's Night Fantasies, wonderful though it is, is considerably less of a walk in the park than even the Schumann. Fascinating idea, though...

[gerryjay]

dear fnork:
what about liszt's three sonetti del petrarca?
best!

ps: i'm actually not a fan of the kreisleriana, but a carter-ravel recital would be such a tour de force...

[quantum]

2nd Mvt from Andre Jolivet's 1st sonata.  Sort of a tropical nocturne.

I'd also see Scriabin's 10th Sonata working for such a subject.

[gerryjay]

2nd Mvt from Andre Jolivet's 1st sonata.  Sort of a tropical nocturne.

interesting suggestion. this composer is more related to woodwind music (isn't he?) but his piano music deserves attention.
best!

[retrouvailles]

Peter Sculthorpe has 5 short pieces called 'Night Pieces' which would suit your program perfectly. Also, he has many other night-like pieces, such as 'Nocturnal', which is a free transcription of his own Piano Concerto, and 'Mountains'.

[mikey6]

There's plenty of 'night music' by bartok - I'm learning out of doors at the moment and the 4th movt is great!