I decided to do a little night photography with my new camera, the Lumix G5, just to try out the different filters and test the video at night. Las Vegas really comes alive at night, the neon lights and glitz all looks better under the cloak of darkness. Most of the shots are around the Bellagio Hotel and Casino lake which has a beautiful water fountain show at night. I recorded four videos of the water show and a few night shots of Las Vegas.
The first is “Appalachian Spring” by Aaron Copland in HD. I dubbed the sound track over the video to get rid of background noise. This is from the 7th section of the piece, the calm and flowing/Doppio Movimento. Scenes of daily activity for the Bride and her Farmer husband. There are five variations on a Shaker theme. The theme, sung by a solo clarinet, was taken from a collection of Shaker melodies compiled by Edward D. Andrews, and published under the title “The Gift to Be Simple.” The melody borrowed and used almost literally is called “Simple Gifts.”
Appalachian Spring was the first dance commissioned by the U.S. Government, and premiered in 1944 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. It is widely regarded as one of the Martha Graham’s classics: a beautifully crafted ballet where the history of America is commemorated in the form of dance. Originally, Copland did not have a title for the work, referring to it simply as Ballet for Martha. Shortly before the premiere, Graham suggested Appalachian Spring, a phrase from a Hart Crane poem, “The Dance” from a collection of poems in his book “The Bridge.”
O Appalachian Spring! I gained the ledge;
Steep, inaccessible smile that eastward bends
And northward reaches in that violet wedge
Of Adirondacks!
Because he composed the music without the benefit of knowing what the title was going to be, Copland was often amused when people told him he captured the beauty of the “Appalachian Mountains” in his music. Little known is that the word “spring” denotes a source of water in the Crane poem; however the poem is a journey to meet springtime. The beloved score for which Copland received the Pulitzer Prize is a masterpiece and pairs beautifully with the water-show.
The next is Faith Hill doing “This Kiss”. If you look carefully, you can see fireworks to the left midway through. “This Kiss” is a song written by Beth Nielsen Chapman, Robin Lerner and Annie Roboff, and recorded by American country music singer Faith Hill. Released on March 10, 1998 as the first single from her 1998 album Faith, it became a crossover single, reaching #1 on the U.S. and Canadian country charts, in addition to reaching Top 10 on the US pop and Adult Contemporary charts, as well as Top Ten in Australia and Top 20 in the United Kingdom.
Next are two of my favorite singers, Andrea Bocelli with Sarah Brightman, singing “When I Say Goodbye”. This is the second version of the song, sung partly in English, released in 1996 as “Time to Say Goodbye”, pairing Bocelli with English soprano Sarah Brightman, topping charts all across Europe, including Germany, where it became the biggest-selling single in history. That version alone has now sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of best-selling singles of all time. Known as Timeless in Europe, it is Sarah Brightman's most popular album, released in 1997.
“Con te partirò” (literally meaning “With you I will leave”) is an Italian Classical crossover song written by Francesco Sartori (music) and Lucio Quarantotto (lyrics), for Andrea Bocelli, who first sang it at the 1995 Sanremo Festival and recorded it on his album of the same year, Bocelli. The single was first released as an A-side single with “Vivere” in 1995, topping the charts, first in France, where it became one of the best selling singles of all time, and then in Belgium, breaking the all-time record sales there.
Finally I have “Big Spender”, a song written by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields for the musical Sweet Charity, first performed in 1966. It is sung, in the musical, by the dance hostess “girls”; it was choreographed by Bob Fosse for the Broadway musical and the film. It is “set to the beat of a striptease” as the girls “taunt” the customers.
I tried a few different filters, this is a nighttime blue sky filter.
Here is a night picture of the Eiffel Tower and the balloon sign at the Paris Hotel and Casino.
HDR (high dynamic range) lets you capture scenes with large differences in light. Here the branch was almost invisible before I used the HDR. I am going to quit here, hope you enjoyed.
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