Elisenda Fábregas

Caminos del duende

Year: 2012

Duration (in minutes): 15

Difficulty: High (professional)

Category: percussion ensemble

Publisher: Hidden Oaks Music Co.

Description: Commissioned by the Seoul percussion ensemble 4Plus with Jae Hyun Yoon at the marimba. Premiered at the Seoul Arts Center Recital Hall, Korea, on July 21, 2012.
Performance at the International Percussion Music Festival of Seoul at KNUA (Korean National University for the Arts) on July 25, 2012
Caminos del 'duende' (The ways of 'duende')* for marimba, vibraphone and percussion explores aspects of the harmonic and expressionist worlds of Spanish and Catalonian music from a contemporary perspective. Consists of three movements:
I. Alma escorchada (Burning soul) - a dramatic dialogue between the marimba and the percussion.
II. Canco de desig (Song of desire) - a yearning vocal-type piece that evokes the lyricism of Catalan folk music.
III. Fiesta - a 'light character' piece with thicker texture and exciting rhythms.
*In Andalucia (Southern Spain) people say of certain toreros and flamenco artists that they have duende: "an inexplicable power of attraction, the ability, on rare occasions, to send waves of emotion through those watching and listening to them." Poet Garcia Lorca wrote extensively about duende extending its meaning to artists whose inspiration went beyond the concept of 'muse'. Lorca's duende is irrational, close to nature, has an acute awareness of death, and is a bit diabolical. Lorca's duende has also elements of the religious and a deep sense of internal struggle and pain.