Caracola (2015)
for soprano, flute and harp

 

 

Caracola was written as part of harpist Jasmine Hogan’s “Voces de Lorca” project.  Composers were charged with composing companion settings of the Lorca poems set in George Crumb’s “Federico’s Little Songs for Children”, and utilizing the same ensemble of soprano, flute, and harp. 
“Caracola” translates to seashell, and the text tells in first-person of the wonder of being brought a seashell and the way the sounds inside it brings forth the essence of the sea.  This evocative imagery gave way to both the sound-world and structure of the work: the music is organized tightly around the numerical pattern of the Golden Ratio (the numerical proportion long believed to have powerful aesthetic presence, and found in everything from the spirals inside of shells to the music of Mozart and Bartók).  Of particular note is the center section of Caracola, which is cast in a “mobile” form.  Here, performers choose the order of presentation of nine distinct musical gestures.  Feasibly the performers could present many unique “versions” of the work; in this way, the players have a hand in collaborating on the compositional choices pertaining to the dramatic unfolding of the musical events central to the work. 

Caracola was premiered within the “Voces de Lorca” set by Ensemble Encanto (soprano Lisa Perry, flautist Eric Maul, harpist Jasmine Hogan)
on 10 January 2016 at the New Music Gathering (Peabody Institute, Baltimore, MD).