Nocturnes

Contents:
(i) night camp
(ii) some nights there are no words

Program note:
The poems paired together for Nocturnes each have their home deep in the South-West corner of Western Australia. This region stands in sharp contrast to the vast, arid majority of the state. It has an abundance of unique native flora and fauna, and rivers wind their way through its ancient granite hills. The longest of these rivers is the Blackwood and Kevin Gillam’s Some Nights There Are No Words (the second of the two Nocturnes) has it’s home on its banks near Bridgetown. Musically, it is based on the interval of the third, with trills, glissandi and long descending vocal lines emulating the duality of the languid river’s (and also the lovers’) inexorable journey. Preceding this, Barbara Temperton’s Night Camp describes a moment of deep spiritual connection with the country but also with the night sky above. This is reflected musically in an initial accompaniment figure that moves from a stretched interval into a single note – a horizon point The neo-romantic musical language of the settings has its heart in the music of the late 19th Century, hence the consciously old-fashioned title Nocturnes.

Note : Iain Grandage 2009

Related Works: Night Camp for Soprano and Piano
Night Camp for SSAATTBB Choir and Piano
Blackwood for Soprano, Clarinet and Piano

2009

Nocturnes

for Soprano, Clarinet and Piano