By Request is the third album from New Jersey flutist duo, Steve Markoff and Patricia Lazzara. A handful of singles have been released and the latest is the odyssey-like hit “Nights In White Satin”. A staple in the late 60s and early 70s pop and progressive rock scene, The Moody Blues first fused together pop rock and symphonic instrumentation with this hit in 1967. All these years later, the timeless theme of yearning for a love that will never be haunts the listener in a way that seems just as new as if we were walking down to the corner record store to buy the original 45 pressing. Markoff and Lazzara, along with frequent accompanist, New York’s Allison Brewster Franzetti, a celebrated pianist, have outdone themselves in this riveting rendition.
One doesn’t need lyrics to understand the intent of this song. The flutes communicate to the listener a poem that sounds like Mother Nature brought together all the four seasons. This song congers up the idea of a far-away, ships in the night passing each other kind of storyline. And I loved the way the flutes and the piano run alongside each other. The soundscape is ethereal, almost translucent. I imagined this to be the same sound as The Milky Way. It propels the listener to another dimension. You seem different after listening – calmer, relaxed or tranquil. I could feel the energy of the song whisk me away into another corner of the mind that felt more sentimental. I think you can feel such love emitting from the instrumentation.
What the piano arrangement in this song did for me was capture the longing, the frustration of a love that will never come to fruition. The tones are mysterious and that unknowing is where you really get the heartache. I think the combination of the flutes – above the piano music bed – makes for that night and day, opposite sides of the spectrum vibe. These are two people in love but one can’t reciprocate that love. I think it’s also about balance. The idea of wearing a different mask during the day and revealing your true intentions in the evening. That yin-and-yang feeling comes to the surface when it comes to the piano and the flutes fusing together. It makes the song have so much more drama and interest wavelengths. It surpassed my expectations.
No one is telling you to jettison The Moody Blues’ original version. I think in a perfect world these songs can stand next to each other. And they really do. The instrumental version calls to mind a time for reflection and the nuances of being sentimental and quiet. I think The Moody Blues’ version is more of a concert, live music or crank up the stereo kind of listening experience. The instrumental “Nights In White Satin” feels more intimate and maybe, just maybe save it for a concert of your own mind. It’s wildly beautiful. “Nights In White Satin” is one of Markoff, Lazzara and Franzetti’s best releases to date.
Jodi Marxbury