Orchestra (Score)
SKU:
HL.14005410
Composed
by Geoffrey Burgon. Music
Sales America. Classical.
Book [Softcover].
Composed 2002. Chester
Music #CH55781. Published
by Chester Music
(HL.14005410).
'Acquainted
with Night', is a cycle
of six songs, for alto
and strings, harp and
timpani. The texts are
all concerned with
different aspects of
night. The first song,
'Lullaby' to a poem by
Beaumont and Fletcher,
seeks to evoke the
'care-charming' powers of
sleep. The second, a
setting of Robert Frost's
'Acquainted with the
night', is concerned with
the lonely world of a
strange city at night and
the music is
characterised by an
insistently repeated
figure in the
accompaniment. The third
song contrasts the
calmness of the night
with the turbulence in a
lover's mind - the poem
is by the Earl of Surrey.
'Out in the dark' a poem
by Edward Thomas, is the
text of the fourth song.
It is in the form of a
scherzo and deals with
the mystery and
strangeness of night,
and, as the poet puts it,
the 'might' of night. It
is, as the poet says, a
hymn to night and the
chordal nature of the
accompaniment suggests
this quality. This song
leads directly into the
last, which is in fact a
reprise of the opening
'Lullaby' so completing
the cycle.