PRESS PLAY Episode 77: Moonlight on the Bluff

May 14, 2026

Moonlight on the Bluff (2005)

Martin Arnold (CA)

Leslie Newman, flute
Anthony Thompson, clarinet
Carol Lynn Fujino, violin
Paul Widner, cello
Gregory Oh, piano
Michael Murphy, percussion
Ryan Scott, percussion
Brian Current, conductor

Moonlight on the Bluff: a different sort of title for me; but it’s more about (very oblique) reference than romance. It’s a bit of a nod to “Moonlight” by Benjamin Britten—an extremely (and maybe unexpectedly) psychedelic work. It might also bring to mind “Moonlight on Vermont” by Captain Beefheart, a composer whose ability to alter a mind is never unexpected.

And maybe there’s even a suggestion of the standard, “Moonlight in Vermont;” I always think of Willie Nelson’s waking-dream of a version. My piece doesn’t sound much like any of the above, but it would be some company it would like to keep. “Bluff” is one of those multi-meaning words that often show up in my titles. Of course, it implies various kinds of deception; but it can also mean “good-naturedly frank and hearty,” “a steep promontory, bank, or cliff,” or, most significantly here, “a clump of trees on the prairie.”