Deep Blue Diaspora for Violoncello and Piano
Nathan lincoln-decusatis piano score
Engraved @ Laboratorio De Cusa4s | June, 2017 Dura4on: ca. 9’30” Commissioned by: Greg Beaulieu ABOUT THIS PIECE Many of the greatest musical breakthroughs in America in the 20th century have been the result of mixing and synthesizing different musical cultures. The most produc4ve of these musical collisions was, of course, that of Europe and Africa which produced jazz, blues, rock, and so many others. As a jazz pianist I spend a lot of 4me thinking about how to capture the rough-‐edges of these styles in the wriVen forms of classical music. This piece takes as its star4ng point the idea of mixing major and minor thirds, which is the very soul of the blues harmony. It is also built on a narra4ve of musical exchange where each instrument “shares” its style with the other. We begin in the cello’s world with lush harmonies and sliding pitches, but the piano slowly “teaches” the cello its style which culminates in a hard-‐ driving groove based around the idea of the “blue note.” In this sec4on I invent several other “blue notes” beyond the tradi4onal minor/major third duality by searching for notes that are harmonically “out” but s4ll somehow clash in just the right way. These two worlds go back and forth un4l the end when the sliding cello pitches merge with the piano’s bluesy groove to create a kind of “third stream” sound, and we have thus recreated that same effect that gave birth to so much great music: two musical styles that have journeyed far from their homelands to come together to create something new and exci4ng.