A sequence of poetry and music taking Richard Dehmel's poem Transfigured Night as a starting point for a theme around night and dreams.
Simon Russell Beale and Emma Fielding read a selection from Longfellow, Poe, Milton, Gerald Manley Hopkins with archive readings from Dylan Thomas and Michael Longley. Music includes Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht, Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit and Takemitsu's Dreamtime.
Transfigured Night
Emma Fielding (reader)
Simon Russell Beale (reader)
Producer's note
This sequence starts and ends with Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht (Transfigured Night). Night becomes the thread for the programme which is at times a comfort (as in Longfellow's 'Hymn to the Night'), terrifying (Grave's 'A Child's Nightmare'), threatening ('Macbeth'), mysterious (Auden's 'This lunar beauty'). But it is also at night that the truth will out (Larkin's 'Lying in bed' and Richard Dehmel's poem 'Transfigured Night').
I selected music which for me complemented the poetry. Lawes' hymn-like fantasy seemed to match Longfellow's praise of night and the purity of Holborne's lullaby for cittern reflected Blake's 'Cradle Song'. The menacing nature of night (Pushkin's 'Rememberance') and the "dark agents" of 'Macbeth' are reflected in Honneger's brooding third symphony. Restless sleep (as in Whitman's poem) seemed to lead naturally to the ebb and flow of Bach's solo violin sonata and the seductive poem of Auden, 'This lunar beauty', reminded me of Miles Davis' dark and smokey Round Midnight. Finally, I ended with the rich orchestral version of Verklaerte Nacht with Richard Dehmel's programme and you hear in words and music a man and woman walking off into the moonlight.
Jessica Isaacs (producer)
Details of Readings and Music
Times are from start of programme
00:00:00
SCHOENBERG
Verklaerte Nacht (string sextet version)
Members of Ensemble Intercontemporain
Pierre Boulez (director)
SONY SMK 48 465
Track 5
00:02:11
LAWES
Fantasy (Consort Sett a 6 in F major)
Concordia
Mark Levy (director)
METRONOME MET CD 1045
Track 1
00:02:28
HENRY LONGFELLOW
Hymn to the night
Simon Russell Beale (reader)
00:06:05
BERG
Nacht (7 early songs)
Brigitte Balleys (soprano)
German Symphony Orchestra Berlin
Vladimir Ashkenazy (conductor)
DECCA 436 567-2
Track 1
00:09:40
WILLIAM BLAKE
Cradle Song
Emma Fielding (reader)
00:10:13
HOLBORNE
Lullaby
Dowland Consort
Jakob Lindberg (director)
BIS CD 469
Track 18
00:12:41
ARTIE SHAW
Nightmare
Artie Shaw and his Orchestra
NIMBUS NI 2008
Track 2
00:13:12
ROBERT GRAVES
A Child's nightmare
Simon Russell Beale (reader)
00:14:58
MESSIAEN
Canyon des etoiles (extract)
Orchestre Philharmonique de France
Myung-Whun Chung (conductor)
DG 471 617-2
Track 1
00:16:58
RACHMANINOV
Night is sorrowful (Op.26 No.12)
Joan Rodgers (soprano)
Howard Shelley (piano)
CHANDOS CHAN 9644
Track 17
00:19:18
PUSHKIN
Remembrance
Emma Fielding (reader)
00:20:26
SHAKESPEARE
Come seeling night.(extract from Arden edition of Macbeth)
Simon Russell Beale (reader)
00:21:01
HONEGGER
Symphony No.3 'Liturgique' (last movement)
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra
Mario Klemens (conductor)
HARMONIA MUNDI PR 250 000
Track 7
00:30:41
CHOPIN
Nocturne in F major (Op.15 No.1)
Murray Perahia (piano)
SONY SK 64399
Track 7
00:31:30
POE
Dream within a dream
Emma Fielding (reader)
00:36:08
DYLAN THOMAS
In my craft and my art
Dylan Thomas (reader)
00:37:27
MILTON
Methought I saw
Simon Russell Beale (reader)
00:38:29
HANDEL
Oh Sleep why dost though leave me? (Semele, HWV 58)
Kathleen Battle (Semele)
English Chamber Orchestra
John Nelson (conductor)
DG 435 782-2
CD 2 Track 6
00:41:39
MICHAEL LONGLEY
Insomnia
Michael Longley (reader)
00:42:03
LIGETI
En suspens (Etudes pour piano)
Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)
SONY SK 62308
Track 11
00:43:10
WHITMAN
In midnight sleep
Emma Fielding (reader)
00:44:35
BACH
Adagio (Violin Sonata in C major, BWV.1005)
Thomas Zehetmair (violin)
TELDEC 9031 76138-2
CD 2 Track 6
00:48:07
SIDNEY
With how sad steps, O moon
Simon Russell Beale (reader)
00:49:06
SCHUBERT
An den Mond (D.259)
Matthias Goerne (baritone)
Andreas Haefliger (piano)
DECCA 452 917-2
Track 8
00:51:46
AUDEN
This lunar beauty
Emma Fielding (reader)
00:52:50
MILES DAVIS
Round Midnight (extract)
Miles Davis (trumpet)
John Coltrane (tenor saxophone)
Red Garland (piano)
Paul Chambers (bass)
Philly Joe Jones (drums)
PRESTIGE OJCCD 347-2
Track 3
00:54:53
BYRON
So, we'll go no more a roving
Simon Russell Beale (reader)
00:55:21
LAWES
Drink tonight on the moonshine
Hilliard Ensemble
HARMONIA MUNDI HMC 901153
Track 4
00:57:13
SHAKESPEARE
Sonnet 27
Simon Russell Beale (reader)
00:58:12
GERALD MANLEY HOPKINS
I wake and feel the fall of dark
Emma Fielding (reader)
00:59:30
IVES
The Unanswered Question
Michael Sachs (trumpet)
The Cleveland Orchestra
Christoph von Dohnanyi (conductor)
DECCA 443 172-2
Track 6
01:05:29
BRAHMS
Ballade in B major (Andante con moto) (Op.10 No.4)
Daniel Barenboim (piano)
ELATUS 0927 49562-2
Track 4
01:12:48
WORDSWORTH
The Prelude (extract)
Simon Russell Beale (reader)
01:14:02
MARGARET ATTWOOD
Night Poem
Emma Fielding (reader)
01:15:30
TAKEMITSU
Dreamtime (extract)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Hiroyuki Iwaki (conductor)
ABC 8.77000 6
Track 1
01:18:57
RAVEL
Le Gibet (Gaspard de la nuit)
Artur Pizarro (piano)
LINN CKD 290
Track 3
01:25:55
COWARD
The Dream is over
Noel Coward (singer)
Carroll Gibbons (piano)
ASV CD AJA 5126
Track 5
01:29:30
LARKIN
Lying in bed
Emma Fielding (reader)
01:30:34
LORCA (trans. MERRYN WILLIAMS)
Ballad of the moon
Simon Russell Beale (reader)
01:32:02
SCHOENBERG
Verklaerte Nacht (arr. for string orchestra)
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra
Iona Brown (director)
CHANDOS CHAN 9616
Track 1
01:34:26
RICHARD DEHMEL (trans. DAVID GALLAGHER)
Transfigured Night
Simon Russell Beale (reader)
