# Any composers you only listen to at night?



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

I can't listen to Satie when the sun is up. Just doesn't fit. 

Scriabin is close to being the same for me.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Penderecki. Now can we do away with this absurd 25 characters minimum?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Bartok composed a lot of what most agree is "night music" and those particular pieces, or movements, anyway, just seem to be better at night. Some of that night music is clearly out of doors, insects, night fauna teeming in the landscape.

I never felt night time was the only time for a Chopin nocturne, oddly enough, though I suppose _since they are Nocturnes_....

)One thing about night time in most major urban areas -- it really gets much quieter after ten or eleven p.m. Less car movement, less overhead flights, all a constant sort of vibration during the day you get used to. If you take a moment to notice, though, from eleven into the far early a.m. "loud" and what you have your player system at to hear all well enough is a far lower number than during the daytime, when consciously or not, you have to crank it up to compete with all the sonic, subsonic etc. floating in the air about you.]


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Duh, yet another double copy. Sorry.


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

There are a few pieces I'll go to when it's night such as the Chopin nocturnes but more often I focus on pieces to avoid. Specifically, works with explosive horns out of nowhere when I'm trying to fade into sleep with my headphones on. Rachmaninoff..etc


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

I'll listen to Satie night or day--perhaps because I developed daytime associations with his music watching French New Wave movies.

Though now that you mention it I suppose it wasn't quite supposed to fit!


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

I quite agree with PetrB when he says that, in the big cities, after ten or eleven pm, can be very quiet. I take advantage of that for listening to music which is detailed and delicate, so I can hear all the nuances and feel the atmosphere. 
I love the quietness of night. I'm somewhat hypersensitive to loud noises and very bright light*. Nothing is more pleasurable for me like 1 am, with only the tenuous light of a desk lamp, listening to some of the music I mentioned (now it's 11 pm here and I'm listening to Takemitsu), and some tea.

*and yes, I don't like garlic either!.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Glenn Gould said he liked to play Prokofiev at night, that "I am Prokofiev and a virtuoso romantic modernist pianist / composer" feel of it all seemingly appropriate well after the sun has set


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Chopin's Nocturnes come to mind immediately .


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I only notice an aversion I have to rambunctious clashing music from late night until about mid-day. Very late night and early morning require more subtle music. By the same token, you might not want to watch an action adventure movie between midnight and noon the next day. 

Oddly for me the reverse isn't true. I can listen to subtle music any time of day as long as I am not already struggling to stay awake.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I agree: subtle is ok 24/7, but raucous is better toward noon and not after mid-evening. Of course, the exception proves the rule. Once in a blue moon, there's nothing quite as invigorating, and calming, as a full blast thrash session in the wee hours.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I almost exclusively listen to all music at night...it's just better for some reason.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

violadude said:


> I almost exclusively listen to all music at night...it's just better for some reason.


Same here! It never sounds as good during the day...maybe it's because my brain is working faster and thinking about too many things rather than just thinking about the music.


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

I listen to the vast majority of my CD's at night with the lights off or much dimmed. I work the night shift and am up all night on my nights off so it is natural for me but night time listening has always been my preference too for those factors of darkness and quietness.


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## KRoad (Jun 1, 2012)

Debussy (piano) and Satie for me, solely for the midnight hours...


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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

I had a good thing going with Faure nocturnes, Part solo piano music, and Pascal Roge's Nielsen and Ravel album at night. But now my wife is tired of all of them.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

This is a very broad generalization but I tend to prefer:

Baroque period works in the morning.

Classical period works during the day.

Romantic period or "heavily dramatic or very emotional" works in the evening.


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

For me, there is some music which is so affecting that I can scarcely listen to it at all. For example I only listen to Schubert's Winterreise during late night walks through the empty streets. I feel as if I would ruin it by listening too frequently. Gorecki's 3rd is another piece best kept for late-night solitude. (A non-classical piece would be Mike Oldfield's Songs of Distant Earth; this composition literally makes me feel as if I am floating through space).


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Not always, but Medtner's music is mostly fit for night.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I like to listen to J.S. Bach's WTC late at night when it is quiet.


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

Szymanowski works well at night. Try listening to his 3rd symphony in the middle of a dark field at midnight...beautiful!

I enjoy listening to Gorecki's _Symphony No. 3_ in complete darkness.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I listen to most of my music late at night.

If I play this stuff during the day, I fear my neighbors may circulate a petition to evict me from the neighborhood.

"If it ain't Taylor Swift.... "


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## adamrowe (Mar 19, 2018)

Goldberg variations! Also, Shostakovich's Preludes & Fugues.


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

Schumann. Wish I could play him during the night too.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

The organ works of Messiaen ... in total darkness. Eerie yet serene.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

All of my Medieval plainchant listening is done at night, usually with a few candles burning.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

What an interesting topic. And yes, I do have some. The first that came to mind was Gliere's Ilya Murometz. I listen to at night, always in the summer too, and seems fitting for a night when thunderstorms are out and about. Brings back extremely fond memories from long ago.

I also tend to listen to opera only at night, and the Elgar symphonies, too. And Tchaikovsky's Manfred. Just the way I like it. turn off the lights, grab a double of Maker's Mark and wallow in greatness.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Celloman said:


> I enjoy listening to Gorecki's _Symphony No. 3_ in complete darkness.


I thought I was the only one.....


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Turning this on it's head; I'd only ever listen to Scelsi during the day...


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Not as a rule in my case, but I do remember one occasion when I listened to Verdi's _Macbeth_ late at night in near darkness and thinking what a powerful experience it was - maybe the gloominess of the story in general and the spooky bits in particular helped to sharpen the senses. Pity there wasn't a storm happening at the same time.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Hugo Wolf. There is something about his lieder that requires being totally concentrated and relaxed at the same time - a state of mind only the night can deliver.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Brahms
Beethoven
Dvorak
Schubert
Schumann
Debussy
Ravel
Bartok
Nielsen
Sibelius

Are the ones that I can think of.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Mozart makes the best late night listening.Helps babies to settle too!


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

I just listen to stuff when I'm in the mood for it, whether that's in the day or night. Tbh, I don't listen to much at night as Mrs Merl prefers company whilst she's watching Britain's Got No Talent. BTW, I don't watch BGT. It's crap.


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