Preface
A live performance of Verklärte Nacht is always a special occasion, to be looked out whenever possible. I have also been lucky enough to hear the piece rehearsed over a period of several days, at the IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music seminars in Cornwall. It is one of the most expressive and intense works in the repertoire. And although in this essay I am rather rude about the composition on which it is based, the concept at least of Dehmel’s poem is rather touching, even if the verse is not.