Night and Day and Delius
by Maureen Buja , Interlude Frederick Delius: Summer Night on the River and A Song Before Sunrise Frederick Delius (1907) Two works written in close proximity give us two different times of day. Frederick Delius (1862-1934) was a quiet master of the tone poem. Summer Night on the River (1912) is part 2 of his Two Pieces for Small Orchestra (part 1 is On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring ) and conveys us to a quiet night scene. The river flows by, with occasional leaves or flowers, on the sound of woodwinds. In its quietness and need for dynamic shading, it’s regarded as one of the most difficult of Delius’ scores to perform. His tone painting is done at a whisper, with small colours appearing in the shadows to the side and just catching your ear as they disappear. It takes all the colours of the day and begins to dilute them. The matching piece, A Song Before Sunrise , was written in 1918. From the beginning, with his ma...