Britten: Nocturne

[Mandryka]

Like other contributors to this thread, I'm not as familiar with the Nocturne as with Les Illuminations or the Serenade, so I intend doing some homework with the score and the section on the work in Peter Evans' book The Music of Benjamin Britten.

A big difference/contrast with the other cycles is that it is a continuous work: indeed the BBC MM and Nimbus (Hadley) versions give it only one index point on their respective CDs.

Evans makes much of the jarring clash between the tonic C and a D flat major third that appears.
But it gets even more interesting than that: the vocal line at 'Nurslings of immortality' in the first section 'passes through various tonal fields, touching on every pitch of the chromatic set except A natural, a note promptly thrown into relief as the open-string irritant against the B flat minor of 'The Kraken''.

Lots to explore, then!

Thanks for that. And thanks for starting this thread. Pregardien/Vanska has it as one continuous track too, and I was wondering why. How do we know that it’s a continuous work?

I may buy Peter Evans’s book - it sounds interesting.

[Pulcinella]

Thanks for that. And thanks for starting this thread. Pregardien/Vanska has it as one continuous track too, and I was wondering why. How do we know that it’s a continuous work?

I may buy Peter Evans’s book - it sounds interesting.

No double bar lines along the way: only at the very end.

[Mandryka]

No double bar lines along the way: only at the very end.

Thanks

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks to you people for bringing Nocturne to my attention, not having previously known about this work. With Britten I think one should try and at least engage with as much of his output possible. I am not generally a fan of music Britten composed after Grimes, finding it forced, as if the composer felt obliged to try and keep "modern" to conform with critical requirements, but there are a few works that resonate with me. He was a strange figure (Britten), basically at his best (like the stylistically dissimilar Tippett) using a simplified neo-tonal language (cf A Boy Was Born), but sometimes beneficially challenged when adopting more advanced means. In between these extremes, where most listeners are encouraged to hear him by broadcasters and concert promoters, to my ears he too often seems to flounder into absurdities. Nocturne may be more my thing; I am listening to a sensitive performance on Youtube as I write.

[richardfinegold]

It's a sort of sequel to the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. Whereas the Serenade has the theme of night, the Nocturne's theme is sleep.

I still haven’t gotten a chance to listen; is there a prominent French Horn part in this work? If so I think I once heard this paired with the Serenade at a CSO concert, eons ago

[Belgrove]

I still haven’t gotten a chance to listen; is there a prominent French Horn part in this work? If so I think I once heard this paired with the Serenade at a CSO concert, eons ago

The fourth section, a setting of Middleton’s ‘Midnight Bell’ has horn obligato.

[silvestrione]

The Nocturne used to be a favourite of mine, so it was good to be prompted to listen again, after a gap of many years. It was always the Pears/Britten version, and I loved it all over again (except I now worried about whether 'the Lovely Boy' bit was slightly creepy), such wonderful writing for the voice and the obligato instruments (the tympany, gosh!), such intelligent singing from Pears. At his best, as here, Britten gives you an insight into the texts, even suggests new depths in them (especially that closing sonnet, one of the most intricate).

[silvestrione]

Thanks for compiling the list Pulci, a few there I’m tempted to explore further. Like hmvman, I find the Nocturne more interesting than the Serenade, not least in being through composed rather than a collection. That rocking motif, a lullaby, threads through the entire work, connecting the verse settings. The obligato structure shows off Britten’s considerable skills as an orchestrator to fine effect. It’s contemporaneous with the Midsummer Night’s Dream, and has a similar feel to it. The final sonnet setting is magnificent, making transparent the elliptical verse. It’s Britten and Pears for me, but both Tear versions and Landridge/Bedford are very fine. I’m a bit allergic to Bostridge (like many are to Pears).

Thanks for this: puts better part of what I was trying to say. I am allergic to Bostridge for a different reason: at a West Road concert in Cambridge with the Britten Sinfonia, after he'd sung Les Illuminations, he took all the applause, facing out front, and ignored conductor and orchestra. Went off and came back, the same, leaving orchestra sitting. Eventually the conductor raised them to their feet behind his back. Such bad manners! I suppose they'd clashed in some way, but inexcusable. Their contribution was at least as good as his!

But I would like to hear the Berliners, in all the obligatos.