Night Music

[pjme]

"I am mostly looking for modern and contemporary music, but I am interested to hear any 'night music,' including early music."

Camille Saint Saêns:
"La nuit", for soprano, female chorus and orchestra: https://youtu.be/wDO6EnqDIhM

Charles Koechlin wrote many works that reflect/were inspired by the night:
Hymne à la nuit :
https://youtu.be/sjkipI5cIKI
Vers la voûte étoilée: https://youtu.be/ctPTaigcRTE

Silvestre Revueltas: La noche de los Mayas: https://youtu.be/gRwExCe6iFc

Henri Dutilleux: Ainsi la nuit - string quartet: https://youtu.be/n5OES3j8284

J.P.Rameau: O, Nuit (Hyppolyte et Aricie) : https://youtu.be/H3wxBIHLw90

Mahalia Jackson: Silent night, holy night : https://youtu.be/cxDr-KCcQGA

Luigi Dallapiccola: Piccola Musica Notturna: https://youtu.be/-1h2PFKLjNQ

Arthur Meulemans: May night : https://youtu.be/IDfyBQSeav0

Simeon Pironkov: Night music: https://youtu.be/PMlpfI1Vmro

Alphons Diepenbrock: Lydische nacht ( for orchestra) : https://youtu.be/PMlpfI1Vmro
and "Die Nacht" (alto & orchestra) : https://youtu.be/8AypRUaXuRs (Janet Baker + Haitink/ A'dam.)
+ "Hymne an die Nacht" (soprano & orch.) : https://youtu.be/XmgOEdc8-sk (Arleen Auger / Chailly)

Enescu: Carillon nocturne : https://youtu.be/ruhW-B8YLQs


Etc.
P.

[Christo]

Night Flight Op. 19a, a reworking of the slow movement of the discarded Second Symphony by Samuel Barber, after the novel 'Vol de nuit' (Night Flight) by Saint Exupéry, based on his own experiences flying over Patagonia in the 1930s. 'The work is slow and subdued, and sounds like an elegy for the doomed flyers, pulled to climb up by the calm of the starry night above but trapped by the unforgiving storm below. A repeated piano note suggests the radio beacon calling helpless in the night.' (Hector Bellman)
Great performance:

[bwv 1080]

Schumann - Nachtstücke op 23

Britten - Nocturnal after John Dowland's Come Heavy Sleep

[relm1]

I have a stupid question but how exactly do you define "night"?  Would a sunset qualify such as the dawn and sunset sequence in Strauss's Alpensymphonie?  What about On the Beach at Night Alone? https://youtu.be/6qw-3jdtfro?t=1213  Should a work inspired by outer space quality like Whitacre's Deep Field? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnvFLlWSAYU

[Mirror Image]

Night Flight Op. 19a, a reworking of the slow movement of the discarded Second Symphony by Samuel Barber, after the novel 'Vol de nuit' (Night Flight) by Saint Exupéry, based on his own experiences flying over Patagonia in the 1930s. 'The work is slow and subdued, and sounds like an elegy for the doomed flyers, pulled to climb up by the calm of the starry night above but trapped by the unforgiving storm below. A repeated piano note suggests the radio beacon calling helpless in the night.' (Hector Bellman)
Great performance:

And what a beautiful work (second movement in Symphony No. 2) it is! I never have understood some listener's disdain for this symphony. While I do agree it's not on the level of some of Barber's well-known masterworks, it certainly is an enjoyable work. The first and second movements are my favorites. This work is just about as underrated as his later output. The works composed after the failure of Antony and Cleopatra are truly fascinating.

[ritter]

More about "sleep" than "night" as such, but this jewel (from Lully's Atys) may qualify:

https://www.youtube.com/v/nFgyzGhxLLw

[Mirror Image]

https://www.youtube.com/v/Ux2l7bZYdyg

Gorgeous stuff.

Indeed. I quite enjoy Takemitsu's piano music. (Of course, I'm incredibly biased since he's one of my favorites.)

[Spineur]

A nice "night music" CD with

- Debussy clair de lune (suite bergamasque)/les soirs illuminé par le charbon/ feux d'artifices
- Satie Gymnopédies/Gnossiennes
- Abel Decaux Clairs de lune
- Fauré Nocturnes
- Ravel Gaspard de la nuit

[asin]B015WORG0K[/asin]

Also listened earlier to Mompou Musica Callada, la quintessence de la musique de nuit

[prémont]

Try dipping into these

https://www.youtube.com/v/qJrclYubteg

I suppose this is the Alla Francesca recording.

[blablawsky]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6WjS7Wp1b0

I really liked this. Do you have anything similar in feel?