Blue/s Forms for solo violin; Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004), named for the black Romantic-era composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, had wide-ranging musical interests. He composed classical works, but also worked as a jazz pianist and wrote film scores as well as pop arrangements for the likes of Marvin Gaye and Harry Belafonte. His classical concert music fuses Baroque sensibility and lyrical expression with elements of the blues, jazz, and spirituals in a strikingly contemporary sound.
Perkinson's ''Blue/s Forms'' (1972) for solo violin is dedicated to Sanford Allen, the first African-American violinist to play in the New York Philharmonic. The work takes cues from solo violin masterpieces by Bach and Paganini while playing in blues forms and progressions. It has a swinging, double-stopped first movement 'Plain Blue/s', a lyrical second movement 'Just Blue/s', and a rollicking, fiddling finale 'Jettin' Blue/s'. His later solo violin piece ''Louisiana Blues Strut'' (2000) is a companion piece to ''Blue/s Forms''. Master level, Grade 6.
CONTENTS:
- I. Plain Blue/s
- II. Just Blue/s
- III. Jettin' Blue/s
