Three Moons

Description

Cello, Guitar — Three Moons was written for June Anderson's small dance company of New York, in collaboration with poet Christopher Millis. The dance was about attractions and polarities in intimate personal relationships, and the moon was ever-present, in various phases and shades of color, as both controller of these tides of emotion and as silent reflector. "Orange Moon" is a fugue. It is about Wonder, in both senses of questioning and of awe in the presence of mystery and magic. In "Pale Moon (Owl's Lullaby)," for violoncello solo, a gentle, lyrical song attempts to lull to sleep a bird that refuses to sleep in the dark. The lullaby is repeatedly interrupted by pizzicato plucks, like blinking the eyes or shaking oneself to stay awake, while both the lyrical melody and the pizzicatos grow from fragments at the beginning, to full phrases, and back again to fragments. "Red Mood" is music of confrontation; of anger, passion, and ecstasy all intertwined. Another piece of mine for solo guitar, Passacaglia and Toccata (also published by Merion Music, Inc.) provided the thematic material for all three movements.David Leisner