Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Sister of Night - DM/Rachmaninov Prelude in gm

I don't think I've blogged on Sister of Night by DM, but I may have, so I'll blog so that I can turn in my transcription and then blog shortly on another in case I've already done this one. As far as I can look back through the blogs I haven't done it so...

DM-Sister of Night. And who'd a thunk it was chock full of syncopation. I thought I'd do myself a favor with a DM song...not so. Not so. 4/4. The melody is funny cause it doesn't decide which key it's in--either relative major or minor--sometimes hangs around the major sometimes minor, but the accompaniment underneath is this cool haunting electronic and the harmonies are somehow very mellow. Can I just say again how frickin' syncopated this is? It is. Bah. Even the introduction with some electronic sound is syncopated: dotted quarter, quarter, eighth, eighth, eighth tied to a whole note in the next bar. See there you go, syncopated. Maybe that's what gives the melody such a nice text setting, since the melody itself is pretty limited.

Here are the words (I love them):
(Ultra) Sister Of Night

Sister of night
When the hunger descends
And your body's a fire
An inferno that never ends
An eternal flame
That burns in desire's name
Sister of night
When the longing returns
Giving voice to the flame
Calling you through flesh that burns
Breaking down your will
To move in for the kill
Oh sister, come for me
Embrace me, assure me
Hey sister, I feel it too
Sweet sister, just feel me
I'm trembling, you heal me
Hey sister, I feel it too
Sister of night
In your saddest dress
As you walk through the light
You're desperate to impress
So you slide to the floor
Feeling insecure
Sister of night
With the loneliest eyes
Tell yourself it's alright
He'll make such a perfect prize
But the cold light of day
Will give the game away
Oh sister, come for me
Embrace me, assure me
Hey sister, I feel it too
Sweet sister, just feel me
I'm trembling, you heal me
Hey sister, I feel it too


--Rachmaninov

This recording is old and has static. The recording is from 1920. Josef Lhevinne. I hear more static that music. a lot of repeated fast note, dotted rhythm, and guess what--more syncopation. It's really catchy though--very dance like in some parts, yet also a march feel, and then he has these more lyrical sections in the higher register. He then returns to the first march/dance feel--I would almost say russian tango thing going on. I would say it's some sort of ternary form, but the return of the march-like stuff gets more involved than the first time. Do I hear a little codetta at the end of this? Like it closes and then the piano decides to make one last crazy leap around the keyboard?

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