Madureira, J :: Francisco

Joao Maduereira presents Francisco: On excerpts from the 'Memories of Sister Lucia' for flute alone (doubling piccolo and alto flute).

'An old idea for a piece for solo flute inspired by the life and spirituality of Francisco, one of the little shepherds of Fatima, who entertained himself up in the hills by playing the fife while he looked after the flocks with Jacinta and Lucia; an idea which took shape as a series of 'pictures' of the life of Francisco, based on texts from the Memoirs of Sister Lucia; what was lacking however, was the main thing: the musical illustration - a birthday present with which the eminent composer Joao Maduereira was entrusted. And thus Francisco came about, 'a sweet sacred reed', with melodies 'divested of the world', which now is shared with everyone.

- Joao Pereira Coutinho

Francisco consists of a series of 5 small images, vivid in color, between which the player changes their instrument to take advantage of the most possible colors. The scenes: I. On the top of the rock (piccolo); II. One light towards heaven (flute); III. 'Hidden Jesus' (alto flute); IV. Beelzebu (flute); and V. 'Till we meet in Heaven, goodbye!...' Extracts from the text are included before each scene and can be optionally read or narrated, as desired.