Nightsongs (1997–1999)
for solo piano
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Published in: Collected Shorter Piano Pieces Vol 1 (2008) – Bardic Edition BDE 917
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Duration: 4 minutes
Recordings
Recorded by Jill Richards on ‘Michael Blake: Complete Works for Solo Piano 1994-2004’ (MBED001)
Première
First performance: Thursday 5 August 1999; Beethoven Room, Grahamstown, South Africa; Michael Blake piano.
Further performances: 25.09.2007; Baxter Concert Hall, Cape Town; Jill Richards piano 18.11.2007; ZK Matthews Hall, Pretoria; Jill Richards piano 14.05.2013; Endler Hall, Stellenbosch, South Africa; Michael Blake piano 24.07.2013; Gentsche Festspielen, Belgium; Michael Blake piano (European premiere) 9.03.2018; Woordfees, Stellenbosch, South Africa; Michael Blake piano 9.04.2019; Fismer Hall, Stellenbosch, South Africa; Michael Blake piano 3.09.2019; Beethoven Room, Grahamstown, South Africa; Michael Blake piano
Programme note
Nightsongs takes apart, and then puts together differently, all the Cole Porter songs I know with “night” in the title as well as the very chromatic I Concentrate on You. The music inhabits a strange, almost expressionist world, unlike anything I’d written in more than twenty years, with fragments of Porter sometimes fleetingly remembered. I started it in London in March 1997 to play on a concert tour, but only managed to reach the double barline two years later in Grahamstown.
for solo piano
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Published in: Collected Shorter Piano Pieces Vol 1 (2008) – Bardic Edition BDE 917
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Duration: 4 minutes
Recordings
Recorded by Jill Richards on ‘Michael Blake: Complete Works for Solo Piano 1994-2004’ (MBED001)
Première
First performance: Thursday 5 August 1999; Beethoven Room, Grahamstown, South Africa; Michael Blake piano.
Further performances: 25.09.2007; Baxter Concert Hall, Cape Town; Jill Richards piano 18.11.2007; ZK Matthews Hall, Pretoria; Jill Richards piano 14.05.2013; Endler Hall, Stellenbosch, South Africa; Michael Blake piano 24.07.2013; Gentsche Festspielen, Belgium; Michael Blake piano (European premiere) 9.03.2018; Woordfees, Stellenbosch, South Africa; Michael Blake piano 9.04.2019; Fismer Hall, Stellenbosch, South Africa; Michael Blake piano 3.09.2019; Beethoven Room, Grahamstown, South Africa; Michael Blake piano
Programme note
Nightsongs takes apart, and then puts together differently, all the Cole Porter songs I know with “night” in the title as well as the very chromatic I Concentrate on You. The music inhabits a strange, almost expressionist world, unlike anything I’d written in more than twenty years, with fragments of Porter sometimes fleetingly remembered. I started it in London in March 1997 to play on a concert tour, but only managed to reach the double barline two years later in Grahamstown.
