031-Lake

Crystalline kaleidoscope.

Work
- 031
Name
- Lake
City and date
- Besalú, August 1990
Duration
- 4'
Instrumentation
- cobla and mixed choir
Texts
- J. N. Santaeulàlia
Text language
- Catalan
Premiere
- Banyoles, Sta. Maria January 20, 1991 Cobla: Els Montgrins Choir: La polifonica de Puig-Reig Direction: Paco Viciana

First work of my catalog for the two groups involved in it: cobla (traditional Catalan ensemble for 13 musicians) and mixed choir.

Awarded work in the sixth musical composition prize for cobla of the villas of Ceret and Banyoles with a second prize. Within the framework of the Cultural Olympiad of 1990.

When the work was awarded, one of the advantages it offered was its premiere, which I conducted with great nerves at the Church of Santa Maria from Banyoles

In 2024 I made a new version of the work for piano and choir.

Premiere of the work in the Church of Santa Maria from Banyoles

The basis of the competition proposed to create the work based on a poem of the same name supplied by the organization, a poem inspired by Banyoles Lake by the poet from Banyoles J. N. Santaulàlia:

Estany (Original in Catalan):

Cada color del món se t’encomana,

estany, calidoscopi cristal.lí:

blau cel del cel en pau i blau marí

quan et xarbota un grop de tramuntana;

tens, segons com, foscors de serralada

o bé t’impregnes del gris blanquinós

dels núvols i tot d’una et fas verdós

si presagies la tamborinada;

t’envermelleix la sang del vell monarca

diürn i prens un caire de metall

lluent d’ombra i de llum com un mirall

on ondulés l’estela d’una barca;

i sota el gran silenci de la nit

imites el color de l’infinit.

Lake (English translation)

Every color in the world is contagious,
lake, crystalline kaleidoscope:
sky blue of sky in peace and dark blue
when you get a group of tramontana;

you have, according to how, mountain ranges
or it impregnates you with whitish gray
of the clouds and suddenly you become greenish
if they foreshadow the storm;

the old monarch's blood turns red
diurnal and you take a metal border
shimmering with shadow and light like a mirror
where the wake of a boat ripples;

and under the great silence of the night
You imitate the color of infinity.

Lake (mix premiere):