Program Note

I.     Cicadas (Las Cigarras) 0:55
II.    Howler Monkeys (Los Monos) 1:10
III.   Terns at Matapalo (Las Aves a la Playa) 1:00
IV.    Night [En La Noche) 2:40
V.      At the Mouth of the Rio Sierpe (Desembocadura del Rio) 0:45
VI.    In the Cloud Forest (Al Bosque Nebuloso) 1:30
VII.   Spiders (Las Arañas) 1:10
VIII.  Hummingbirds (Los Colibrís) 0:35

Today Costa Rica’s government struggles to preserve and protect its remaining natural areas through enlightened policies. Recently, I was lucky to visit several of the parks and preserves in the less traveled southern section of the country and discovered once again that nature has many gifts to bestow upon this composer. I have tried to capture some of the sounds of these places–rendering my conception of them as motives in several of these pieces. Commissioned by Israel Heller.