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Persistence of the Blues
for cello and piano Duration ca. 20 minutes Score Excerpt For perusal & purchase, please visit Bill Holab Music... |
Persistence of the Blues: Two Sense (Ashley Bathgate, Lisa Moore)
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Persistence of the Blues: Ashley Bathgate, Reinis Zarins
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Persistence of the Blues is part reaction and part return. I was deep in opera territory when I received a commission from the Barlow Foundation to write for TwoSense - the duo project of Bang on a Can all-stars Lisa Moore and Ashley Bathgate. The idea of getting back to chamber music for awhile was inspiring and I planned a no-holds-barred, virtuosic piece for these singular performers.
I wanted to combine dense, complex ideas with spare, simple ones, and to organize the piece by modulating energy and texture, as opposed to harmony and themes. Well, plans change. As I worked on the piece a sense of the blues, especially the fall from major to minor, persisted, grounding my more abstract concerns. |