Frederick Delius (1862-1934)
Summer Evening Summer Evening was composed and premiered in 1890, and was not heard again until 1949 when it was rescued from almost total obscurity by Sir Thomas Beecham, Delius's interpretive champion. The work's arabesque-like, gently swirling melodies are plangently scored and lushly harmonized with the yearning nostalgia so characteristic of the composer. It is rich and full bodied in its romantic expression and perfectly sets the meditative mood for a summer evening.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Nocturne from A Midsummer Nighfs Dream
This lovely fairy music evokes the mist of the wooded scene in which the characters in William Shakespeare's comedy all find rest from their silly quarrels.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikvosky (1840-1893) Elegy from Serenade for Strings
The autumn of 1880 was a relatively serene period in Tchaikovsky's life. It was at this time that he composed his elegant Serenade for Strings, a work that he maintained was "written by chance." The Serenade was very close to the composer's heart, and the haunting Elegy exhibits great harmonic richness and intensity of emotion as it invites us into the composer's inner soul.
Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) Dream Children
Dream Children is a pair of brief idylls, composed in 1902, which take their title from an essay by Charles Lamb titled, 'Dream-Children; a Reverie/ from which Elgar quotes in the score: "...And while I stood gazing, both the children gradually grew fainter to my view, receding, and still receding till nothing at last but two mournful features were seen in the uttermost distance, which, without speech, strangely impressed upon me the effects of speech: 'We are not of Alice, nor of thee, nor are we children at all....We are nothing; less than nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have been'..."
Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) Nocturne from Love's Labours Lost
Finzi originally composed incidental music to Shakespeare's comedy for a BBC broadcast in 1946. In 1952, he created a Suite for the Cheltenham Festival based on the little snippets he composed in 1946. The following year an open air production of Love's Labours Lost was produced with the Southend Shakespeare Society. The Nocturne was added for this production to allow a scene-change from the park outside the King's to the Princess's dwelling. The hushed mood of evening is perfectly evoked in this tender excerpt.
Aaron Copland (1900-1990) Quiet City
Our retrospective of the sounds of a summer evening ends with the mournful sounds of a trumpet being played into the haunting stillness of the night. Quiet City was drawn in 1940 from incidental music written the previous year for a play by Irwin Shaw. Like Barber's Adagio for Strings, which recalls Bach in its broad melodic lines, this short piece contains echoes of the Baroque in the rhythms of its central solo for English Horn. Yet the spirit is uniquely of our time and uniquely American. It evokes a potent image of urban America and the sounds of a great city on a sultry summer evening.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Nocturne from A Midsummer Nighfs Dream
This lovely fairy music evokes the mist of the wooded scene in which the characters in William Shakespeare's comedy all find rest from their silly quarrels.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikvosky (1840-1893) Elegy from Serenade for Strings
The autumn of 1880 was a relatively serene period in Tchaikovsky's life. It was at this time that he composed his elegant Serenade for Strings, a work that he maintained was "written by chance." The Serenade was very close to the composer's heart, and the haunting Elegy exhibits great harmonic richness and intensity of emotion as it invites us into the composer's inner soul.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Adagio and Rondo from The Firebird The Firebird, dating from 1910, was the first in the trilogy of scores composed for the Russian Ballet - the other two being The Rite of Spring and Petrouchka. The scenario in six scenes is based on the Russian legend of the magical Firebird and the Prince who captures him and extracts a feather. He later encounters a group of maidens and falls in love with one of them. Captured by the evil fairy, Katschei, the Prince summons the Firebird with the magic feather. The Firebird arrives to break the spell and free the Prince to marry the maiden.
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) Larghetto from Serenade for Strings
Dvorak's Serenade for Strings is a work in five movements written at a time of great happiness for the composer. It reflects his joy during the early years of his marriage and is reflected in the beautifully serene fourth movement - the Larghetto.
Frederick Delius (1862-1934) At Night from the Florida Suite
The Florida Suite is a vivid evocation in music of Delius's memories of the sights, sounds and impressions of the Solano Grove in Florida, where the young composer had been sent by his father to grow oranges, and where instead he rebelled by studying and composing music. In the final movement of this work, At Night, Delius celebrates a time when feeling and passion are at their most poignantly individual and unrestrained.
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) Larghetto from Serenade for Strings
Dvorak's Serenade for Strings is a work in five movements written at a time of great happiness for the composer. It reflects his joy during the early years of his marriage and is reflected in the beautifully serene fourth movement - the Larghetto.
Frederick Delius (1862-1934) At Night from the Florida Suite
The Florida Suite is a vivid evocation in music of Delius's memories of the sights, sounds and impressions of the Solano Grove in Florida, where the young composer had been sent by his father to grow oranges, and where instead he rebelled by studying and composing music. In the final movement of this work, At Night, Delius celebrates a time when feeling and passion are at their most poignantly individual and unrestrained.
Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) Dream Children
Dream Children is a pair of brief idylls, composed in 1902, which take their title from an essay by Charles Lamb titled, 'Dream-Children; a Reverie/ from which Elgar quotes in the score: "...And while I stood gazing, both the children gradually grew fainter to my view, receding, and still receding till nothing at last but two mournful features were seen in the uttermost distance, which, without speech, strangely impressed upon me the effects of speech: 'We are not of Alice, nor of thee, nor are we children at all....We are nothing; less than nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have been'..."
Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) Nocturne from Love's Labours Lost
Finzi originally composed incidental music to Shakespeare's comedy for a BBC broadcast in 1946. In 1952, he created a Suite for the Cheltenham Festival based on the little snippets he composed in 1946. The following year an open air production of Love's Labours Lost was produced with the Southend Shakespeare Society. The Nocturne was added for this production to allow a scene-change from the park outside the King's to the Princess's dwelling. The hushed mood of evening is perfectly evoked in this tender excerpt.
Aaron Copland (1900-1990) Quiet City
Our retrospective of the sounds of a summer evening ends with the mournful sounds of a trumpet being played into the haunting stillness of the night. Quiet City was drawn in 1940 from incidental music written the previous year for a play by Irwin Shaw. Like Barber's Adagio for Strings, which recalls Bach in its broad melodic lines, this short piece contains echoes of the Baroque in the rhythms of its central solo for English Horn. Yet the spirit is uniquely of our time and uniquely American. It evokes a potent image of urban America and the sounds of a great city on a sultry summer evening.
01. Delius - Summer Evening (6:08)
02. Mendelssohn - A Midsummer Night's Dream - Nocturne (6:40)
03. Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings, Op. 48 - Elegy (9:29)
04. Stravinsky - The Firebird - Adagio (5:01)
05. Stravinsky - The Firebird - Rondo (4:48)
06. Dvorak - Serenade for Strings in E, Op. 22 - Larghetto (5:44)
07. Delius - Florida Suite - At Night (7:49)
08. Elgar - Dream Childre, Op. 43 (8:00)
09. Finzi - Love's Labours Lost - Nocturne (3:19)
10. Copland - Quiet City (9:09)
mp3, 320kbps, artwork
02. Mendelssohn - A Midsummer Night's Dream - Nocturne (6:40)
03. Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings, Op. 48 - Elegy (9:29)
04. Stravinsky - The Firebird - Adagio (5:01)
05. Stravinsky - The Firebird - Rondo (4:48)
06. Dvorak - Serenade for Strings in E, Op. 22 - Larghetto (5:44)
07. Delius - Florida Suite - At Night (7:49)
08. Elgar - Dream Childre, Op. 43 (8:00)
09. Finzi - Love's Labours Lost - Nocturne (3:19)
10. Copland - Quiet City (9:09)
mp3, 320kbps, artwork
Dvorak - Serenade for Strings in E, Op. 22 - Larghetto
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