ABSTRACT
For all their unevenness of quality, the 'rappresentazioni da concerto' are Malipiero's most important group of works of the period 1957-60. Yet it would be wrong to ignore his miscellaneous other compositions of these years, which include some notable and distinctive achievements. First and foremost we should consider the Notturno di canti e balli, completed on 31 January 1957 and therefore earlier than any of the 'rappresentazioni' though later than the true Dialoghi. The composer declaredl that this suite of four strongly contrasted orchestral pieces, though it lacks an extramusical programme in the true sense, was dominated in his own mind by 'the climate of a nocturnal Venice'. Throughout the work, brooding melancholy 'canti' are juxtaposed with pugnaciously vigorous 'balli': the former pervade the first piece's outer sections and the whole of the third piece, while the latter take over in the first's middle portions, before dominating the second and erupting explosively in the fourth.
