Music you enjoy falling asleep to

[Guest]

I wrote on my blog yesterday about the joys of falling asleep to classical music - not because the piece you are listening to is boring, but because there is a certain glorious state of concentration that is found in intense listening. For me Elgar's Dream of Gerontius is a particular favourite - I love it, but I've never managed to get through the whole thing without nodding off. And while I sleep, what dreams! I tend to drop off as soon as it gets to 'Jesu, Maria - I am near to death, And Thou art calling me...' before lurching awake at the moment our hero is placed before his Judge and being led away by the Angel (a bewildering figure to me, having heard none of the rest of her part). I've resisted all attempts to find out what happens while I'm snoozing - I assume it's pretty good, but again - what dreams!

Does anyone else have pieces of music they enjoy in this way, or pieces they put on to sleep to?

[eighthobstruction]

My person favourite is : Shri Rudram....a Sanskrit hymn to Rudra, the Lord of all creatures.

Found at the centre of the Krishna Yajur Veda, it is one of the oldest scriptures known to mankind.

[Wheels of Cheese]

Listening to it now eighth... Making sure I'm sitting up...

[eighthobstruction]

Mine is sung by Vedamurti Shri Vivek Godbole of Masarashtra....

[MrBear]

Last night I fell asleep to Mozart, piano sonatas played by P Katin, a real charity shop gem at 99p.
My favourite is Bachs flute sonatas.
Unfortunately Elgar wakes me up just never been a fan of his music and don't understand why.

[Serial_Apologist]

Sacred Renaissance polyphony - almost any of it.

[Wheels of Cheese]

A good couple of hundred years of snoozing there... Forgot to mention Debussy's Pelleas and Melisande, which I even fell asleep to at the proms (I blogged about it here (http://www.peter-salmon.co.uk/peters...-et-melisande/) and Schubert's Winterreise - never knew it was a whole song cycle :-) !

[Serial_Apologist]

A good couple of hundred years of snoozing there...

I should have added Bruckner symphonies - not having managed to stay awake for the duration of any of them, not even the 9th!

[teamsaint]

I should have added Bruckner symphonies - not having managed to stay awake for the duration of any of them, not even the 9th!

are you in fighting mood, S_A?
That is a brave comment round here !!

[MrBear]

When I am feeling ill I like to sleep to Bruckner, especially 8th by Knappertsbusch.
Wish my Bruckner cd's weren't in another city.
Read the last few entries of your blog really enjoyed it, often fall asleep to Handel operas, luckily not in the theater.

[Serial_Apologist]

are you in fighting mood, S_A?
That is a brave comment round here !!

I rarely turn my back, TS!

[Black Swan]

Sacred Renaissance polyphony - almost any of it.

Same for me....

[Wheels of Cheese]

When I am feeling ill I like to sleep to Bruckner, especially 8th by Knappertsbusch.
Wish my Bruckner cd's weren't in another city.
Read the last few entries of your blog really enjoyed it, often fall asleep to Handel operas, luckily not in the theater.

Thanks Mr Bear. I feel like falling asleep to Handel operas is quite niche, what with the colour, the movement... the bombast!

[Wheels of Cheese]

I should have added Bruckner symphonies - not having managed to stay awake for the duration of any of them, not even the 9th!

I also love falling asleep to Bruckner - one glass of wine and those solid blocks of sound... It's what he would have wanted, him and his crippled sense of self worth...

[gurnemanz]

I read somewhere that Gustav Mahler once nodded off during a scene break in the opera he was conducting. When the next scene was due to start an orchestra member nudged him awake and the startled Mahler (a coffee addict who spent a lot of time sitting around in cafés) called out: "Herr Ober, die Rechnung, bitte" (Waiter, the bill please!)