Rise Up, Singing
duration: 8:00
instrumentation: Bb Clarinet, Cello
premiere: April 25, 2009 // University of the Streets, NYC
premiere performer: Lost Dog Ensemble (Tom Piercy, clarinet; Emily Brausa, cello)
publisher: A-Town Publications (ASCAP) © 2009
Rise Up, Singing was funded (in part) by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Queens Council on the Arts Community Fund.
For Eb Alto Saxophone/Cello version, click HERE
audio excerpt
Performance Note:
Rise Up Singing (2009), for clarinet and cello, was motivated by the 1958 Verve recording of “Summertime” (from Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess) sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. The most striking quality of this recording is the way the vocalists so skillfully pit the natural qualities and inclinations of their voices against the harmony to create moments of incredible beauty. I attempted to achieve a similar result here, by placing the clarinet and cello in moments of rhythmic and dynamic flux with the moving harmonic line, all the while relying on the different timbral qualities of the instruments to create another layer of interplay.
—Erin Rogers (2009)