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"'A dead man in Spain is more dead there than anywhere else' said García Lorca, explaining that Spanish poets define rather than allude. Lúa Descolorida, a poem by Lorca's beloved Rosalía de Castro written in Gallego (the language of the Galicia region in Spain) defines despair in a way that is simultaneously tender and tragic. The musical setting is a constellation of clearly defined symbols that affirm contradictory things at the same time, becoming in the end a suspended question mark. The song is at once a slow motion ride in a cosmic horse, an homage to Couperin's melismas in his Lessons of Tenebrae, and velvet bells coming from three different churches. But the strongest inspiration for Lúa Descolorida was Dawn Upshaw's rainbow of a voice, and I wanted to give her music so quietly radiant that it would bring an echo of the single tear that Schubert brings without warning in his voicing of a C major chord. The original version of this song was commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition and premiered by Dawn Upshaw and Gilbert Kalish in April 1999." |
| CATEGORIES | Soloist & Orchestra; Chamber [with voice] |
| INSTRUMENTATION | Soprano and Orchestra 2/2/2/2-2/0/0-harp/cel-2 perc-strings
Two chamber versions also available:
–Version I: Soprano and Piano
–Version II: Soprano and String Quartet
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| DURATION | 6'00" |
| WORLD PREMIERE | Minneapolis, MN; March 2002 (voice and orchestra version) |
| WORLD PREMIERE PERFORMERS | Orchestra version: Dawn Upshaw and Minnesota Orchestra, Alan Gilbert, conductor.
Chamber Version I: Dawn Upshaw and Gilbert Kalish
Chamber Version II: Dawn Upshaw and Kronos Quartet
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| OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES | NY Premiere: Dawn Upshaw and Orpheus, Carnegie Hall; December 12, 2002 |
| COMMISSION | Song comissioned by Barlow Endowment for Music Composition. Orchestrations commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra for its 100th anniversary |
| RECORDING | Recorded by Dawn Upshaw, soprano and Gilbert Kalish, piano.
Appears on album "Voices of Light" [album details]
Also appears on DVD "Voices of our Time – Dawn Upshaw" [DVD details] |
| SCORE AVAILABILITY | Score available for sale. Parts available for rental. [more info] |
| TEXTS | Rosalía de Castro |
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