Variously Blue

trio for clarinet, violin, and piano (2009)

Score and Parts

by Gerald Cohen

$25.00

SKU: GC-CM004 Category: Tags: , , ,

Description

Perusal Score

Video



Duration

14 min

Premiere

February 2010: Verdehr Trio, Kosciuszko Foundation, New York, NY

Commissioner

Verdehr Trio (Vasko Dukovski, Jennifer Choi, and Alexandra Joan).

Instrumentation

clarinet, violin, piano

Program Notes

In terms of the piece’s origins: When I began sketching the piece, I happened to improvise a lively, angular theme based on a 12-bar blues progression, and thought it would be a fun and interesting challenge to write a set of variations based on that progression, thinking about the many colors available for these three instruments. I have always been interested in exploring the idea that the variation form, in essence, is often used in jazz and blues; and that I might be able to explore the connections between jazz and concert music through such a set of variations. While some of the sections sound specifically “bluesy”, in general, the piece uses the theme and its underlying harmonic pattern as a taking-off point for a varied range of moods and textures: playful, lyrical, mysterious, boisterous. – Gerald Cohen