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Sol de invierno - (2010)
António Machado
for medium voice and piano
Es mediodía. Un parque.
Invierno. Blancas sendas;
simétricos montículos
y ramas esqueléticas.
Bajo el invernadero,
naranjos en maceta,
y en su tonel, pintado
de verde, la palmera.
Un viejecillo dice,
para su capa vieja:
«¡El sol, esta hermosura
de sol!...» Los niños juegan.
El agua de la fuente
resbala, corre y sueña
lamiendo, casi muda,
la verdinosa piedra.[ 3 pages, circa 2' 40" ]
António Machado
Winter Sun
It is noon. A park.
Winter. White walkways;
symmetrical heaps
and barren branches.
In a greenhouse
potted orange trees,
and in its barrel, painted
green, the palm tree.
An old man says,
in an old man's voice:
"The sun, the beauty
Of the sun!" Children play.
The spring waters
burbling, running, dreaming,
lapping, nearly silent,
On the greenish stone.
gb
The portrait in words of the park in the winter sunshine sketches elements from the background first, then to the specifics of garden and greenhouse, arriving at the small cast of characters -- an old man who tells us of the sun, and children playing. The mood is set by the answering ornamentation in the top voices, as the shift between tonal regions moves through relationships of the minor third and an implied augmented second in the scales thereof.
The score for Sol de invierno is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.
