Un Establo de Oro | for flute, cello & two guitars by Frank A. Wallace

For Federico

Un Establo de Oro was written in a frenzy over musical ideas I have been entranced with for the past year since writing Epitafio a un Pájaro. I used a system of deriving pitches from the names of Federico García Lorca and the dedicatee, Linda Marsella. Both diatonic and chromatic versions of their names were created, as well as harmonic and melodic versions. The result has given me inspiration for five pieces now: Epitafio a un Pájaro; Sombra para mis Gritos; La Perla del Pico; De la Muerte Oscura, and finally Un Establo de Oro.

While writing another work based on the same motivic material, I listened to a CD of the Ourkouzounov Ensemble, whom I have long admired. The sounds of this particular instrumentation (flute, cell and two guitars) grabbed me and I knew another new piece had to be written for my “For Federico” set of music. The title (A Stable of Gold) comes from the poem De la Muerte Oscura (Gacela #7) by García Lorca and is one of the more enigmatic images of that work. Is that the core fascination of Lorca — his stream of conscious connection of one image to another that we relate to, but don’t know why?!