Bay of Poets – The New York Second

The Bay of Poets, or Golfo dei Poeti, is near the Italian town of Lerici, and is named after actual poets. Byron, for example, who used to swim across the bay, and his colleague Shelley, who drowned in it during a storm. Lerici is a wonderful place for vacationing. Several factors combined (by design or by chance, I can’t tell) keep the Northern Europeans out: the train through nearby Cinque Terre does not go as far as Lerici, parking is for locals only, and accessing the beach requires the purchase of a rather expensive ticket. The early mornings in Lerici are excellent for a run along the empty beaches, with the temperatures cool and repetitive Steve Reich patterns on the headphones.

All this combined must have been inspiration for this peaceful composition, featuring Pawel on the double bass, and Frank creating a little tempest on the soprano. But fortunately, just like in real life, the Bay of Poets is soon back to its peaceful, poetic, self.