Persistence of the Blues – J a c k P e r l a

Cello and Piano (2013)

One movement

Duration: 22″

Commissioned by The Barlow Endowment for New Music

Premiere: October 10, 2013, Southern Exposure, University of South Carolina

TwoSense: Ashley Bathgate, cello; Lisa Moore, Piano

Persistence of the Blues is part reaction, part return. When offered the commission, Perla has been composing opera for the last few years, and the chance to write a no-holds-barred instrumental piece was inspiring. He was eager to hone some new harmonic approaches and to create forms that unfold through the modulation of energy and texture. But as far as Jack ventured, a sense of the blues – not the twelve bar form, but that longing sound of blues lines falling major to minor – kept returning, saturating the piece.