Eleonor Sandresky to Celebrate Harvest Moon

Poster design for this month’s Lunar Landscapes program (from the Eventbrite event page)

My guess is that those that have been following Eleonor Sandresky’s Lunar Landscapes concerts have been confronted with a barrage of unfamiliar names for the full moons that appear during different months of the year. This month, however, the name of the full moon being celebrated is likely to be very well known to at least some readers, even if they are limited to those of my generation. That familiarity is due to Jack Norworth, who wrote the lyrics for “Shine On, Harvest Moon.” The music was written by Norworth’s wife, Nora Bayes; and the song was first performed as part of the 1908 Ziegfeld Follies. I took some comfort from the Wikipedia page for this song, since it listed a new recording made as recently as 2017 by the indie folk singer-songwriter Mree.

As usual, Sandresky will take a more adventurous approach to the music prepared to celebrate the Harvest Moon. Her guest artist will be composer Mary Jane Leach, whose approach to composition is based on how different acoustic properties interact with the space in which they sound. She is particularly interested in difference, combination, and interference tones, each of which involves the emergence of a tone other than the ones sounded by the performers. These phenomena are familiar to those with a basic understanding of acoustics; but The New Yorker was so impressed by Leach’s work that they described it as an “acoustic ‘Through the Looking Glass.’” Leach’s music will be preceded by the music of Philip Glass and followed by one of Sandresky’s own compositions.

The performance will begin at 6 p.m. (Pacific Time) on Wednesday, October 20. Admission is $10, and payment can be processed through an Eventbrite event page. Once the processing is complete, electronic mail will be sent providing the URL for connection to the video stream of this performance. Subscriptions are also available as part of membership, with membership fees of $5, $10, and $15 per month.