A Sea of Seven Colors

Description

This ballet is the most ambitious of my fifty-plus chamber works. The composition is a result of an earlier collaboration between choreographer Joanna Friesen and myself. I composed a work titled Log Rhythms (published also by RBC Music) for six percussionists and six dancers, which was performed on a spring dance recital at the University of Houston in 1991.

The performance was met with enthusiasm, so afterwards Dr. Friesen suggested I write another composition of greater length. At the same time, I was reading about the Caribbean and the islands off the coast of Colombia (particularly the San Andreas Islands). Two years earlier, I had composed a work that I referred to as “island” music (The Incantations of Prospero), and had intended to write a trilogy. This seemed to be an opportunity to complete the second work of the three. The third work was completed in 2008 and is the Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Cello and 8 Percussionists.] My dear friend and colleague Marvin Sparks offered the University of Houston Percussion Ensemble (as he had so many times in the past), so everything fell into place.

Seven months later, on December 30, 1994, at 2:36 a.m., the work was completed. Although commissioned as a work for dancers, in many ways I consider this to be my third symphony. The score calls for Flute, English Horn, Horn in F, Tuba, Cello, Celesta, and eight Percussionists performing on a total of 44 instruments (including a wind machine). The titles of each movement are of my own creation except for that of No. Ill, which is the title of a play by Federico Garcia Lorca. Although I had no overall program in mind for the dancers, I did have a mood I wanted to depict with each title: thus, I feel the music stands quite well on its own.

I. Voices and Views
II. The Sea and Sand Dance
III. The Butterfly’s Evil Spell
IV. The Devil In the Wind

Instrumentation: Flute, English Horn, Horn in F, Tuba, Cello, Celesta, & 8 Percussion

Published by: RBC Publications