Central Park in the Dark (1906), like many of Ives' works, is comprised of multiple independent layers of sound. As in its companion work, The Unanswered Question, strings provide a slow, impassive sonic layer. However, in place of The Unanswered Question's transcendental call-and-answer between trumpet and woodwinds, the woodwinds and pianos in Central Park slowly construct a collage of popular and pop-influenced tunes—the most recognizable being "Hello Ma Baby"—above this string undercurrent. As Ives writes in the notes that accompany the score, "This piece purports to be a picture-in-sounds of the sounds of nature and of happenings that men would hear some 30 years ago (before the combustion engine and radio monopolized the earth and air), when sitting on a bench in Central Park on a hot summer night." The ever-present backdrop of the strings embodies the silence and murmur of nature, interrupted by the trolley car, a casino, the fire engine, and a band of street musicians, all represented by the rest of the ensemble. As these sounds die away, the texture recedes to the hushed sounds and silence of the night.

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