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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
Â鶹Éç 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

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