Rise Up, Singing
Erin Rogers
About this work:
Rise Up Singing (2009), for clarinet and violoncello, was motivated by the 1958 Verve recording of Summertime (from George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess) sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. To me, the most
striking quality of this recording is the way the vocalists skillfully allow the natural qualities and inclinations of their voices to merge with the accompaniment in thick harmony while never losing their individual edge and, all the while, creating 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 a new layer of interplay.
Year composed: 2009
Duration: 00:08:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 2-5 players
Instrumentation: 1 Clarinet, 1 Cello