Music: Stylisation

Note on the use of music in Sunset Song
By Dougal Lee, musical director of the Prime Productions production

The wedding is the most obvious and extended episode in the play where the music Gibbon mentions in the novel is used in an apparently naturalistic manner. In fact, of course, the music is to a considerable extent stylised: 'Ladies of Spain' and 'Up in the Morning Early' are longer songs than we have the leisure to perform. In a film one might use jump-cuts to shift from one performer to another to give an impression of many people singing longer songs. That would not work in a stage play. We therefore try to create the same effect by shifting from song into dance, by using a song whose familiarity to those on stage has been reflected by the way it has been introduced to the audience, by adapting a tune to more than one purpose and by associating certain tunes with connected moods.

Music: