Lunacy was commissioned by pianist Ron Levy, who asked for a piece inspired by the moon. The madly virtuosic rant I gave him was perhaps not what he originally had in mind! The piece bursts out like a crazy man right from the start, then proceeds through various states of insanity, with seemingly incongruous instructions along the way. An attempt to regain perspective in the middle of the piece is ultimately overcome by the inevitable descent into madness, and the piece drives toward its joyously deluded finish.

A poem accompanies the piece:

That silent, howling light…

 

…that mirrors burning white,

its cool glare searing,

its distance nearing,

its watchers hearing

only what they see.

 

…that hovers on the night,

grants its glow,

the world below,

lingers, slow,

broods, floats low

over mountain, over sea.

 

…a frenzy may incite.

Its bending form,

each month reborn,

a shape transformed

to vex, to rave, inflame,

disturb, confuse, pervade,

entrance, enrapt, enrage,

 

disquiet.

 

Along its rhythmic arc,

It drifts without remark,

eternal, glaring, stark.

With stoic disregard

the orb somehow imparts

 

Lunacy.