The Color Festivals (2016)
Music by Nicolás Lell Benavides (www.nicolasbenavides.com)
Performance by Derek Tam, harpsichord, with Elevate Ensemble, Chad Goodman, artistic director. (www.elevateensemble.com)
Additional performance by Derek Tam and MUSA
I. The Enchanted Tree 0:00
II. Discontented Dewdrop 3:21
III. The Grumpies 4:48
IV. Towser 7:09
V. The Land of "I Forgot" 10:05
VI. The Magic Gloves 13:16
The Color Festivals, as explained by Nick:
When I was young, my dad loved to find out-of-print story books and read them to me, as if they were lost treasures. This set is based on the book Told by the Sandman written by Abbie Phillips Walker in 1916. This is the 100 year anniversary of these stories. Of all of the books my dad read to me, this one stood out the most.
Notably, many of the stories lack princes and empower women. Witches often help protagonists by offering a little magical guidance, and even when patriarchs make sexist decrees it is often a woman or girl who comes to the rescue. (See “The Enchanted Tree.”)
I’m no historian, but one gets the feeling that there was a great shift after World War II that in many ways made popular art and storytelling formulaic for the sake of profit. This book was not chained to a profit margin, and though it has its flaws, it really is an enchanting and genuine book.
Inspired by Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, I wanted to create a work of art that young people understand, but adults can enjoy as well. It’s childish, playful, and hopefully beautiful. As it is written for the harpsichord, I take many cues from its repertoire. Harpsichordists have amazing capacities for improvisation since it is how they control their volume, and I incorporate figured bass, unmeasured preludes, and even arpeggiation requests to allow the player to customize the piece.
This work is written for Elevate Ensemble with Chad Goodman conducting and Derek Tam playing harpsichord. They are incredible collaborators and I couldn’t have finished this without them.
Program notes editor: Grant Goodman
Performed at SOMArts in February, 2016