Marilyn Bliss
Blue Dawn
Year: 1998
Duration (in minutes): 4'40"
Difficulty: Medium (college/community)
Category: mixed instrument ensemble, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players
Instruments: cello, flute
Publisher: American Composers Alliance
Publisher website: https://www.composers.com
Video Links: https://youtu.be/ETi5yK0t0Vo
Purchase score URL: https://composers.com/composers/marilyn-bliss/blue-dawn
Description: Blue Dawn is a mellow, cheerful piece celebrating the fresh air and big sky of the High Plains region of the United States. Originally written for Native American flute, and thus based on the natural pentatonic scale of that instrument, the visual image for the listener can be of awaking before dawn and watching the sun rise from one’s dwelling in the wilderness, gradually illuminating the landscape and bringing out its natural colors and beauty. The challenging cello part can be heard as an ever-flowing stream, pausing only for the flute’s cadenza at the close of the piece.
Commissioned by James Pellerite for his on-going creation of literature for the Native American flute. May also be played by concert flute.