Words and Music - Sleep

A giraffe only needs two hours sleep a night, an African elephant just over three. We humans like to think we need a good eight. Regular sleep is essential for our survival, however, its purposes are not completely clear. Napoleon, Florence Nightingale and Margaret Thatcher only had four hours a night, whilst Thomas Edison said it was a complete waste of time. It’s said that it gives the body chance to recover from the day’s hard work, yet scientists say we barely save any energy sleeping. What we do know is that without sleep our memories fail, we have problems thinking, and our mood suffers. Descending into slumber has proved a topic of rich pickings for this edition of words and music. In Shakespeare’s 27th Sonnet, sleep gives us respite from life’s toils. In his essay, ‘On Dreams’, William Hazlitt says we are honest with ourselves in our sleep. Debussy's faun rests on the sensual edge of waking and sleeping in the 'Prelude a l'apres midi d'un faune', whilst Laurence Binyon asks where those visions come from in the shadowy land ‘Before Sleep Comes’. Musically there’s Peter Warlock haunting settings of John Fletcher's 'Sleep'. There's the sublime 'September' - the second of Richard Strauss's 'Four Last Songs', as Summer closes its weary eyes. And John Lennon ruminates on the joys of staying in bed with The Beatles' 'I'm Only Sleeping'. Getting to sleep proves troublesome for many. John Updike in ‘Tossing and Turning’ describes how with each turn we believe with fresh hope that sleep will visit us. Meredith Monk’s percussive cello solo ‘Pine Tree Lullaby’ accompanies Elaine Feinstein’s ‘Insomnia’, whilst the white hot intensity of Sylvia Plath’s Californian desert followed by the austere opening of Cecilie Ore’s ‘Schwirren’ leads us slowly though the sensual pleasures of sleep to its unhappy bedfellow, death. Jeremy Evans (producer) Readers Lisa Dillon (LD) & Adrian Rawlins (AR) Chopin Berceuse in D flat major Op 57 M. Pollini [piano] Dg 431 623-2 To Sleep - John Keats AR & LD Warlock Sleep A. Kennedy The Pavao Quartet Landor Records LAN279 Sleep - John Fletcher LD Aaron Jay Kernis Before Sleep and Dreams A. Russo [piano] Black Box BBM1107 Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream Judi Dench [narrator] Tanglewood Festival Chorus Boston Symphony Orchestra DG 439 897-2 Aaron Jay Kernis Before Sleep and Dreams A. Russo [piano] Black Box BBM1107 ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in Regent’s Park – Derwent May AR Elgar Dream Children Op 43 BBC Symphony Orchestra A. Davis TELDEC 4509 923-2 John Playford Nightpiece M. Emerson [violin] T. Harries [double bass] A. Cutting [accordion] Beautiful Jo Records BEJOCD 33 From On Dreams – William Hazlitt AR Faure Après un rêve V. Gens [soprano] R. Vignoles [piano] Virgin 7243 5 45360 2 1 Dreams – Ann Bloch LD Before Sleep Comes - Laurence Binyon AR Debussy Prélude a l’après-midi d’un faune The Cleveland Orchestra P. Boulez DG 435 766-2 John Cage Dream for Piano J. Pierce [piano] Wergo WER 60157-50 Sonnet 27 - Shakespeare LD John Dowland Care Charming Sleep J. Potter [voice] S. Stubbs [chitarrone] J. Surman [sax] M. Homburger [baroque violin] B. Guy [Double bass] ECM 476 052-2 J. Lennon and P. McCartney I’m Only Sleeping The Beatles Apple CDP 464412 Tossing and Turning - John Updike AR Meredith Monk Dolmen Music – Pine Tree Lullaby R. Een [cello] ECM 825 459-2 Insomnia - Elaine Feinstein LD Salvatore Sciarrino Cruel Nocturne No 2 – Rage M. Formenti [piano] Col legno WWE 1CD 20223 Philip Glass Resource from Koyaanisqatsi The Philip Glass Ensemble Nonesuch 7559 79660 2 Macbeth III, 2 Come Seeling Night – Shakespeare AR Sleep in the Mojave Desert – Sylvia Plath LD Cecilie Ore Schwirren Nordic Voices Aurora ACD 5055 Gershwin Lullaby Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Leonard Slatkin EMI CDD 7 64084 2 Britten Sonnet from Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings Sop 31 I. Bostridge [tenor] Bamberg Symphony Orchestra I. Metzmacher EMI 7243 5 56871 2 8 Variations On The Word Sleep - Margaret Atwood LD Morten Lauridsen Sa nuit d’été from Nocturnes Polyphony M. Lauridsen [piano] S. Layton [conductor] Hyperion CDA67580 Touch - Thom Gunn AR The Sleepers - Sylvia Plath LD Howard Skempton Toccata J. Tilbury [piano] Sony SK 66482 Before Sleep - Anne Ridler AR Herbert Howells Nunc dimittis (Collegium Regale) Choir of Kings College, Cambridge S. Williams [tenor] P. Barley [organ] S. Cleobury [Director] Argo 430 205-2 Pipe Dream – Brian Patten LD Carlos Salzedo Song in the Night Y. Kondonassis [harp] Telarc CD-80418 Richard Strauss September from Four Last Songs R. Fleming [soprano] Munich Philharmonic C. Thielemann [conductor] Decca 478 0647 Sonnet XLV from Delia - Samuel Daniel AR John Tavener Song for Athene Westminster Abbey Choir M. Neary [conductor] Sony SK 66613