Blue Like an Orange for large chamber ensemble | Michael Daugherty, composer

Blue Like an Orange
for large chamber ensemble (1987)

Instrumentation: Piccolo, oboe, Eb clarinet, bass clarinet; trumpet, horn, bass trombone, 3 percussion, synthesizer, strings(1/1/1/1/1 or small complements)

Publisher: Boosey and Hawkes, Hendon Music (BMI)

Duration: 10 minutes

Program Note:

Blue Like an Orange (1987) expresses many shades of the blues: melancholy, spiritual, satirical, brooding, humorous. The composition follows the traditional four-bar phrase structure of the blues and passes solos from bass clarinet to horn to cello to trombone to synthesizer to strings and finally to timpani, which also provides a reiterated bass line throughout the piece. The ensemble is enclosed by two chime players who create celestial counterpoint. While Blue Like an Orange is inspired by the innumerable blues in G minor, by the end of the composition it has metamorphosed into something quite different.

–Michael Daugherty

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