Looking forward to seeing you I send my very warm wishes,
Anda Anastasescu
The composer describes his work: The title is derived from an 1870 wood engraving by Gustave Doré (an artist I associate primarily with his illustrations for Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner) called Folktales - A Voyage to the Moon, in which a sailing ship is lifted into the sky, it would seem by the gravity of a vastly enlarged moon. I wrote the following narrative for my own amusement and in order to enrich my store of images whilst composing:
A ship was once becalmed some leagues from the Azores. Lack of water and nourishment affects the mind of a mariner in the crow’s-nest and, bewitched by a full moon, he thinks he sees lakes and rivers and a city with a fair harbour. The ship seems to float clear of the sea with a strange creaking of planks and straining of ropes as if sailing before a following wind. In reality the ship with its crew reaches a safe haven but the sailor’s fantasy persists and for the rest of his days he believes he is living with people on the moon.
The sea looks quite choppy in the engraving and, although much of the piece is shadowy and mysterious, I imagine the moment the ship rises out of the water there is almost as much noise and excitement as a rocket lifting off a launch pad. But once she attains extraterrestrial orbit, she floats once again with a surreal serenity.
www.invitationtocomposers.co.uk
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