Northern Lights
Duration: 13’
Scoring: 2 (ll=picc.): 2 (ll =c.a.): 2 (ll = bass clar.): 2
4:3:3:0
Timps: Perc (4)
Harp
Celeste
Strings
Information: Commissioned by the BBC Concert Orchestra for Nordic Connections
Publisher: Buffalo Music Ltd
Availability: Rental
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Audio samples:
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Score sample:
Programme note:
This piece depicts a night spent on a frozen lake waiting for the lights to appear. After an exhilarating day of dog sledging we ventured out into the freezing night. At first it seemed as if nothing much was going to happen – it was incredibly quiet, cold, still and dark. Then gradually out of the blackness a few glimmers of colour began to appear.
In my piece the “cold” string chords are interrupted by a flourish on the harp and celesta and tremolos appear throughout the violin section.
Back on the lake the sky began to clear and a constant yellowish light appeared. The melody which emerges on the violins and flute is the traditional Norwegian folk song “Bla Tonar Fra Lom. The colours began to develop and the lights started to form patterns in the sky. The folk song becomes more ornamented and becomes a lively dance movement. Not for long though – it seemed as if it might be over as soon as it had begun and the colours faded and almost disappeared.
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But it wasn’t finished yet: a new pattern appeared, single colours flitted across the sky interweaving like the lines in a fugue. For a short while a vivid and complex pattern filled the sky. And then- darkness once again. But, ambition fulfilled, this was a darkness transformed – just as cold and still as before but now full of potential.
Reviews:
“The surprise treat of the concert was its premiere, a (BBC) Radio 3 commission from Anne Dudley, and her final act as the orchestra’s composer ion association. “Northern Lights” is a tone poem that follows the form of an aurora borealis display Dudley had seen. Dense string chords shift in regular groups, the rhythm gradually loosening until the pace increases with touches of harp, solo violin, celesta, timpani roll and eventually woodwind. A folk tune sings out, lines intermix…..the ending, with timpani and string chords, had a quiet, compelling atmosphere that rounded out the sense of wonder.”
The Independent 22.2.05
“And in Anne Dudley’s “Northern Lights, the last new piece to emerge from her term as the orchestra’s composer in association.
Sluggish cold strings suggested the dark on a frozen lake. Then glints from the harp and celesta led towards the aurora borealis, the fiesta of light, conjured up in brilliant orchestrations. For 13 minutes you felt yourself in Norway itself.”
The Times 22.2.05
“A finely scored and imagined tone poem in which dancing delicacy is given depth and perspective by surrounding evocations of darkness. The simple but magical ending, which revisits the start with a quiet underlying rumble of drums, is one of the best moments in recent British music.”
The Independent 29.11.06
Recent performances:
Hallé Orchestra Bridgewater Halls Manchester December 2023
BBC Concert Orchestra Watford Town Hall December 2018
BBC CO Royal Festival Hall November 2006
BBC CO Queen Elizabeth Hall February 2005