Pessoa - for Bass Flute and Electronics [Excerpt]

(Excerpt starts at 3:30)

Phrase: Follow the flutist’s musical phrases, listening for when they start and end in-between breaths!

Woodwind Instruments: This piece is written for Bass Flute and Electronics. Watch the performer, Claire Chase, talk about five different kinds of flutes here!

Program Note: "The piece draws inspiration from the poem 'Solene passa sobre a fértil terra' by the Portuguese poet, writer, and philosopher Fernando Pessoa, reprinted here with translation by the composer" - Marcos Balter

Solene passa sobre a fértil terra
A branca, inútil nuvem fugidia,
Que um negro instante de entre os campos ergue
Um sopro arrefecido.
Tal me alta na alma a lenta ideia voa
E me enegrece a mente, mas já torno,
Como a si mesmo o mesmo campo, ao dia
Da imperfeita vida.

Solemnly passes above the fertile land
The white, useless elusive cloud,
That a dark moment from the fields elevate
A shivery blow.
It flights high within my soul this slow idea
And it darkens my mind, but I quickly return,
Like the same field returning to itself, to a day
Of the imperfect life.