(2014)
Impresiones y Paisajes – Impressions and Landscapes is inspired by the writings of poet and playwright Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) and by Lorca’s first book under the same name. The work was originally published in the year 1918 and describes the young poet’s travels through Spain with a group of student fellows under the guidance of Martin Domínguez Berrueta.
The present work uses the last chapter of the book, Temas (Themes), as its basis and it is written for the extraordinary bailaora/choreographer Omayra Amaya. Specific words by Lorca are used to build each movement’s character and atmosphere. Impresiones y Paisajes is divided into six impressions or landscapes, each representing a specific moment in Lorca’s text.
I. Ruinas (Ruins) uses fragments that are further developed in later movements. These fragments are paired alongside whispers, wind, words, and echoes, all poetically described in Lorca’s subchapter by the same name.
II. Una ciudad que pasa ( A City Passing By) is characterized by “estallidos metalicos,” metallic outbursts by the brass that interrupt the calmness of the landscape.
III. Procesión (Procession) combines the sacred and the secular. Crowds are gathered in the streets and Lorca’s poetic image is one of dragging feet and distant humming. The ensemble joins in as congregation.
IV. Mediodía de Agosto ( Noon in August) depicts an arid and hot noon in August. Different calls and laments are heard. Insects buzz. At the end, everything is still.
V. Pausa (Pause) of silence and death. The music stops.
VI. Crepúsculo (Dusk), the magical moment between light and darkness where shadows emerge and submerge and stars scintillate in the sky above.
The work is dedicated to Omayra Amaya and maestro David Alan Miller. I would like to express my gratitude to the Heirs of Federico García Lorca and the Federico García Lorca Foundation in Madrid, Spain.