Nightfall: Luxor by J. Foulds

Seeker

This is what I wrote in the description.

"Written 12/15/2025: What a horrible weekend: massacre on a beach in Sydney, another mass shooting in the USA at Brown University, and Rob Reiner and his wife allegedly murdered by their adult son. I'd be lying if I told you none of this affected me. It is STILL bothering me, but for about an hour this afternoon I found some respite playing this short, but exquisite, piece by a very unknown composer, John Foulds. (Thank you, dear colleague and fellow Feuchtwangerian, Bernd Sandner for introducing me to Foulds' music!) This piece is titled "Nightfall: Luxor" with a notation beneath the title "after Cameron". Some research led me to who "Cameron" was, and he was David young Cameron (1865-1945), and it is his painting "Nightfall, Luxor" that is the inspiration for the piece. You can view that painting here: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/nightfall-luxor-96962. Listener reactions so far have included: "contemplative", "moody", "melancholy", "Peaceful", "Calming".

Paraphrasing what II wrote when I started my #respite playlist during the pandemic lockdown, "playing this piece has brought me respite. My hope is that, if only for a few minutes, it can do the same for you"
#respite #Nightfall:Luxor #J. Foulds #JulesRyukebusch #Endora

ShiroKuro

Seeker that was a little bit of beauty in the ugliness of these days. Thank you.

keff

Music for contemplation. I also noted the painting is in the Walker Gallery, Liverpool.

Ornstein

I thought to try and imagine the painting, just by listening, I hear a bleak beauty and a vast/broad landscape in this recording (this impressionist quality I've felt from parts in Ravel where the spacing of the chords across different registeers etches out what feels like a very large sound stage), and also a sense of 'searching'.

Seeker

Ornstein Perfect! Me, too, as I play it. Did you notice the very tiny human figure?

Ornstein

I looked at the painting just now after listening and see that figure. (I wanted to hear the piece first then look at the painting to avoid influencing my reaction to fit any expectations).

Now I feel comfortable in saying the ideas and images conveyed in the sound cohere so well with the visuals. The vastness of the sky and the tallness of the structures I think is very connected to the spacing of chords, the vertical harmony I associate with verticality, like tower imagery.

I didn't specifically imagine the human figure but I think I still felt it, because when listening and imagining the images, it was my own perspective, myself, looking at the imagined images. And definitely this is connected to the 'searching' feeling, the person in the painting must be looking to the sky for answers or just trying to think through things.

Seeker

I just posted a new version of my playing this piece - same audio, but different video, on YT.
I'm interested in what folks think of the way I did this.
Watch it on YT to see my comments about what I've done differently and why.

For the record, working on it brought me respite today. Don't know 'bout you, but I needed a break.