Authoritative, Engaging, Inspiring
One night last fall I scratched my head, thinking of music that's been written about moonlight. The first piece that came to mind was of course Beethoven's Sonata Number 14 in C-sharp minor (Quasi una Fantasia), whose haunting first movement probes the mysterious reaches of Earth's satellite a mere 138,000 miles away, but whose final movement bursts out of itself with fiery bravura. Next, I thought of the piano piece that evokes the place Neil Armstrong made one giant leap upon in July 1969, Debussy's ethereal "Claire de Lune."
After that my sublunary mind went blank. I Googled a few more moonlight-inspired pieces by a couple of classical composers, and then I hit a dead end with such pop faves as "Moonlight Serenade," "Moonlight and Roses" and "On Moonlight Bay."
Wouldn't you know it, Fred Flaxman has out-Googled Google with his recordings of music by such canonical classical masters as Faure and Saint-Saens, along with moon-mad stuff by such lesser known composers as Robin Milford, Hamilton Harty, and a New Orleans man with a magnificent moniker, Charles Lucien Lambert, Sr. For good measure Flaxman has even thrown in a Russian folk song.
Typically, Flaxman has compiled orchestral, piano and choral music you will want to hear, serious material that never descends into the yucky reaches of moon river schlock. Neither are Flaxman's selections ponderous. Far from it!
Sit back and listen to what one poet called "cold dresses of moonlight" draping themselves over the tables and chairs in your earthbound living room.
James Reiss
Wilmette, IL
July 11, 2008
Music inspired by moonlight throughout the ages.
