I have just recorded this piece by English composer Peter Carr which I believe is the first time it has ever been recorded. Written in 1977, The Moth was inspired by the poem of the same name by Walter De La Mare. The text of the poem is:
Isled in the midnight air,
Musked with the dark’s faint bloom,
Out into glooming and secret haunts
The flame cries, ‘Come!’
Lovely in dye and fan,
A-tremble in shimmering grace,
A moth from her winter swoon
Uplifts her face:
Stares from her glamorous eyes;
Wafts her on plumes like mist;
In ecstasy swirls and sways
To her strange tryst.
The imagery presented in this poem is perfectly captured by Peter Carr in his composition. The erratic behaviour, swirling and swaying, shimmering and wafting just as moths seem to do in their ways.
There are tremolo sections, both on the treble strings and the bass, bringing to mind the fluttering of wings, shifting time signatures highlighting the erratic behaviour as well as pauses and bursts mimicking the behaviour of the moth in flight.
I hope this piece finds its way into the classical guitarist’s repertoire as I think it is wonderfully evocative music and in my opinion is easily on a par with comparative pieces from the period.
Here is the link to the video, hope you enjoy it.
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