instrumentation: Cello and Piano
ISMN: 9790801507501
cover: Marianna Sztyma
editor: Marcin Kowalczyk
number of pages: 12+3
Blue Note for cello and piano, written in 2007, was commissioned by Evva Mizerska and is dedicated to her. The title of the work, as Ratusińska herself says, "is related to the use of several fragments of the blues scale, with its distinctive altered chords. ‘Blue notes’ have their origins in black folk music and they’re a characteristic of jazz music". The work is inspired by the minimal music trend and native folk music, with the frequent use of the bare fifth. Blue Note, as the composer says, is a crossover, freely stepping beyond the borders between various styles. The recurrent musical narrative leads the listener into a meditative mood, which transforms into a dynamic and lively inter-instrumental dialogue reminiscent of jazz improvisation, only to retreat once again into tranquillity in the final moments. The work was first performed by Evva Mizerska on the cello and Emma Abbate on the piano at Blackheath Halls in London on 25th October 2007. The following year, it came out on DUX Recording Producers' "Young Composers in Tribute to Fryderyk Chopin" CD.
