Clair de Lune

"Bisaccia brought the audience to their feet with genuine spontaneous cheers erupting out of sheer joy." Steinway Society of the Bay Area (CA)

Clair de Lune
inspired by the poetry of Paul Verlaine:
Your soul is like a landscape fantasy,
Where masks and Bergamasks, in charming wise,
Strum lutes and dance, just a bit sad to be
Hidden beneath their fanciful disguise,
Singing in minor mode of life’s largesse
And all-victorious love, they yet seem quite
Reluctant to believe their happiness,
And their song mingles with the pale moonlight
The calm, pale moonlight, whose sad beauty, beaming,
Sets the birds softly dreaming in trees,
And makes the marbled fountains, gushing, streaming –
Slender jet-fountains - sob their ecstasies.

The poem quoted above was used by Debussy as the inspiration for Clair de Lune.

I prepared for the recording of this music in Provincetown MA under the inspiration of the gorgeous physical beauty of Cape Cod Bay. How many times have I looked up in wonder to observe the huge pale moon rise over the bay. The very cover for this CD by painter Tim Saternow is of the beach that I constantly view as I sit at the piano.

So much of this music such as the Ravel, Debussy, Chris Haynes’ Contemplation, Philip Glass’ Morning Passages, and even the Chopin Ballade have the feeling of moving, shimmering light and water. Indeed when Michael Cunningham, a Provincetown writer, began his Pulitzer prize winning masterpiece “The Hours”, he would play the streaming and hypnotic music of Philip Glass to find his inspiration. Later by coincidence (or not) when his book was turned into a celebrated movie with Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, the very music that Michael Cunningham used as his inspiration was obtained for the movie soundtrack. Tim Saternow bought a copy of the Philip Glass sheet music and left it on my piano in Provincetown. I first played this music while overlooking the bay – the very bay which he so beautifully captured on this CD front cover.

Whether it is a book, a movie, a poem, a painting, or even a feeling, this cross fertilization in the arts is a wonderful point of departure for the continuous inspiration of the artist. Beethoven referred to himself not as a composer, but as a tone poet, further linking this connection of poetry and music. The “Pathetique” Sonata was the name given by Beethoven himself to this work where he poured out all his feelings into the music in a way never before attempted in piano music. Louis Biancolli says “Beethoven has transmuted a state of mind into a state of art – human heartache surmounted and re-anacted in lasting terms of beauty and strength.”.

Paul Bisaccia, Provincetown MA

Check out excerpts from Paul Bisaccia's PBS television shows on youtube.com

more info at pianowithpaul.com

"A magical evening which just got better and better... completely passionate in his performance."
The Barrie Examiner Ontario

'Delivered with power, poignancy, authority and aplomb"
Worcester Telegram Gazette

"His fabulous encore with plenty of scintillating, puckish fingerwork on the ivories." The Straits Times, Singapore

"Bisaccia is a serious artist with a compelling presence at the piano."
Connecticut Life

"For Gershwin interpretations Bisaccia wins hands down." American Record Guide

"You really must hear him!" Brasilia Super Radio FM Brazil

"Earnest vivacity and sparkling virtuosity... infectious excitement." Union-News Springfield (MA)

"George Gershwin would have joined the audience in the standing ovation at the conclusion of 'Rhapsody in Blue'. " The Hartford Courant (CT)

"Prepare to be dazzled!" OnCenter Arts Quarterly,
Hilton Head SC

"It just proves that talent always prevails in these times of mediocrity.Consummate musicianship. " Michael Feinstein