This is a piece for wind quintet, about 10 minutes long, inspired by a mythological bird from Romanian folklore: "Pasarea Maiastra".
"Pasarea Maiastra" is a magic bird famed for its radiant plumage and marvelous song, who often guided and protected Prince Charming in his quests and during his search for his Princess - similar in some ways to the Phoenix or the Firebird. It also reminds me of the forest bird from Siegfried.
Seeing some of the bird sculptures by Brancusi, (and those in the "Maiastra" series) reminded me of the fairy tales I read as a child with "Pasarea Maiastra". I re-read one of them and it surprised me now how dark some of them are! As grim as some of those fairy tales on which some of the symphonic poems by Dvorak are based. Or the "Cunning little vixen"! Many of these fairy tales (with "Pasarea Maiastra") contain some shocking event that I guess serves as a moralistic lesson. "Don't do that - or this terrible thing will happen!"
In one of the Maiastra stories, for example, among other things, the 2 older brothers cut the younger brother's legs, after he saves them from an evil spell! They steal the magic bird from him, and leave him for dead! Later they meet again (his legs magically restored) and in a sort of final judgement (by God), the 2 older brothers get killed by their own sling stones.
"Pasarea Maiastra" usually represents the best qualities in humans, wisdom, etc. It can cross between worlds. (Maiastra comes from another world, etc)
I had bird calls, and "noises" and bird song in mind. Real, mythological or prehistoric birds. Or a sort of archetypal bird. But I equally had in mind "Doina", a Romanian type of musical improvisation and free singing that is (in my opinion) unlike anything else! (Bartok knew it as "Hora lunga")
Here is a link to the soundcloud file:
And here's a link to the general score too, if you wish to see it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8rrf7pm1xbnkiib/Pasarea%20Maiastra%201%20-%20FS.pdf?dl=
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