Winds of Nagual is based on the writings of Carlos Castaneda about his fourteen-year apprenticeship with Don Juan Matis, a Yaqui Indian sorcerer from Northwestern Mexico. Castaneda met Don Juan while researching hallucinogenic plants for his master’s thesis in anthropology at UCLA. Juan became Castaneda's mentor and trained him in pre-Colombian techniques of sorcery, the overall purpose of which is to find the creative self — what Juan calls the nagual.

Each of the characters has a musical theme: Juan’s is dark and ominous, yet gentle and kind; Carlos’s is open, direct and naïve. We hear Carlos’s theme throughout the piece from constantly changing perspectives, as Juan submits him to long desert marches, encounters with terrifying powers and altered states of reality. A comic aspect is added to the piece by Don Genaro, a sorcerer friend of Juan’s, who frightens Carlos with fantastic tricks like disappearing and reappearing at will. The score is laced with programmatic indications such as “Juan entrances Carlos with a stare,” “a horrible creature leaps at Carlos,” “He feels a deep calm and joy,” etc.

The listener need not have read Casteneda’s books to enjoy the work, and I don’t expect anyone to follow any exact scenario. My object is to capture the mood and atmosphere created by the books and to convey a feeling of the relationship that develops as a man of ancient wisdom tries to cultivate heart in an analytical young man of a technological age.

In a 1991 interview, Colgrass described his approach to Winds of Nagual stating, “Important to me in this piece is the sudden change of styles and feelings and moods and tempos. These characteristics are indigenous to the books, where a humorous situation will be followed instantly by a terrifying one. I tried to capture these changes and moods in the music.”

Winds of Nagual was commissioned by the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble and is respectfully dedicated to its director, Frank Battisti.

– Michael Colgrass