by Richard Todd

I don't know about you, but when the heat of summer arrives, my erotic interests shift a little. A good tumble in the dewy grass can be a lot of fun, for instance, and a hand-holding walk in the moonlight can be a wondrous prelude to a night of love.

There is something about the summer that calls for lightness and whimsy, though, and with that in mind, I've selected three pieces this month that are not specifically erotic. Rather, they are good mood setters for three kinds of erotic impulse: the innocent, the exotic and the mystic.

The Innocent

There have been many musical treatments of the Romeo and Juliet story, but none so beautiful or suggestive as Prokofiev's ballet score. Although some of the individual numbers are dark and dramatic, perhaps even anti-erotic, more of the score evokes the wide-eyed wonder of a first love. The first few numbers are particularly soft and lovely, as is the later segment Juliet's Bedroom.

This is one you'll want to audition before you use it for romantic purposes, however. If you have a programmable CD player, so much the better. You can arrange the numbers in whatever order strikes you as best, and eliminate some altogether. Nothing would destroy "the mood" more quickly than the Dance of the Knights or Tybalt's Death.

The Exotic

If you've ever studied classical literature, you'll know the pastoral novel Daphnis and Chloë by an otherwise obscure writer named Longos. It has been considered pornographic throughout most of the 18 centuries since it was written because it contains an oblique description of "the sex act." I'm sure none of our readers would want to read such a disgusting piece of literature, even though it is available as a low-priced Penguin Classic.

Actually, the offending passage is so mild by today's standards that I would not blush to read it to my mother. It is a good novel, however, light and engaging. It would make excellent summer reading.

So you thought this was a column about music, right? Well, I'm getting there. In 1912 Maurice Ravel, he of Boléro fame, wrote a ballet score to the story. It is one of his finest and most popular works, and can be heard in any number of fine recordings. My favourite is that of Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony, but if you can't find that one, many others are nearly as good.

The music is infinitely colourful and persistently evocative. It sings of far away times and places and of timeless passions and desires.

The Mystic

So far our Philharmonic Phantasies have dealt mainly with orchestral music, leaving the vast wealth of chamber repertoire untapped. You may think that there could be little of the erotic in a piece for violin and piano, but have a listen to Frank's Violin Sonata. Or, if the sound of the violin really doesn't do it for you, there's a setting of the same sonata for cello and piano.

There's a sensuous mystery to this work, and a feeling of rapture, particularly in the slow movement and the finale. Yet there is a lightness to it as well, and a radiance that can help illuminate the wonder of love.

A brief sample of the Frank Violin Sonata (1.29 MB)