DESCRIPTION:
Painting: "Mortlake Terrace" by Joseph Mallord William Turner.

History (based on the Sondheim notes by Larry A. Brown): "A little night music" was developed from Stephen Sondheim and Hal Prince's desire to write a chamber work about romance and foolishness, an idea first conceived during "West Side Story". For source material they decided to use Ingmar Bergman's film "Smiles of a Summer Night" (1956). Prince, Sondheim and book-writer Hugh Wheeler did not, however, agree entirely on the direction the new piece should go. Sondheim began composing dark music in keeping with the mood of the film, while Prince, in Sondheim's own words "wanted the darkness to peep through a whipped-cream surface". Prince conceived the show as "a kind of Chekhovian musical". "A little night music" opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on the 25th of February, 1973, and ran for a respectable 601 performances. The show was met with great acclaim, receiving both the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and the Tony Award for Best Musical.

Narrative: The libretto by Wheeler, writer of Bernstein's "Candide", is a delightful mixture of light comedy and remarkably serious overtones: a middle-aged lawyer, Fredrik Egerman (baritone), has recently married to a much younger woman, Anne (soprano), who has a genuine affection for the man but refuses to share a bed with him. As a result, Fredrik's encounter with an old romance, the actress Desiree Armfeldt (mezzo-soprano), reignites many repressed feelings to the discontent of Anne and the anger of Count Carl-Magnus (baritone) who continually mistreats his wife, Charlotte (mezzo-soprano). The machinations of Madame Armfeldt (contralto), Desiree's mother, brings the whole lot to the country for a weekend which culminates in Fredrik duelling with the Count who finally opens up to his wife, Anne eloping with Fredrik's initially overcautious son, Henrik (tenor), whose father, after some reluctance, admits his feelings to Desiree.

Music: Though not as musically rich or emotionally mesmerizing a work as "Sweeney Todd" which is, arguably, Sondheim's best musical, "A little night music" is a much more genteel piece: the basic style recalls the idealistic world of the mid-century musical theatre, in particular, the works of Lerner/Loewe and Hammerstein/Rodgers where tragedy is suggested but is avoided (somewhat) by a sentimental ending. Thus, the music is mostly cheerful, seemingly lightish fare, and even the darker numbers (such as the borderline suicidal "Every day a little death") remain subdued. While the work's best number is undoubtedly the bitter "Send in the clowns", in the Act One finale Sondheim presents the listener with an instantely appealing atmosphere, as the cast, after a bit of frenzied deliberation, excitedly prepares to depart for Madame Armfeldt's country estate. The musical interest is sustained through the repeated use of a key motive, the "A weekend in the country" melody, while some of the material from the initial reading of the letter is varied for the subsequent secondary music. Jonathan Tunick, Sondheim's orchestrator, elaborates the melody each time in accordance with the situation or the character: while Anne and Petra's dialogue is set to giggling wind figures, triangle and light string pizzicatos; Fredrik's entrance is graced by the addition of the cello and horns; Charlotte's manipulation of Anne is pictured through an effective combination of bassoon and oboe, while her forced conversation with Carl brings out a suitable coldness from the orchestra, with percussion taking a central role in the proceedings. With the quintet's motivations for going to the estate firmly established, a short transitional section leads to a full reprise of the main theme, at last given in full form. Henrik's late entry breaks the flow of the music once more, as bells, symbolizing his religious overzealousness, transform the melody into a pensive mediation which, however, quickly dissipates as the other singers restate the transitional section over the tenor's heady line. Finally, the melody is heard once more as a sextet before the final breathless coda, uniting a number of lines from the previous sections into a hurried patter, brings Act One of Sondheim's charming work to an end.

Recording: The original 1973 Broadway cast Sony recording is, as it is usual with musicals, a benchmark rendition of great charm with each singer seemingly congenial to his/her character.

Henrik Egerman - Mark Lambert,
Anne Egerman - Victoria Mallory,
Fredrik Egerman - Len Cariou,
Petra - D.Jamin-Bartlett,
Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm - Laurence Guittard,
Charlotte Malcolm - Patricia Elliott.

Hope you'll enjoy :).