By Billy Strayhorn/arr. David Sanford | For Four Cellos | 7′
Title: Blood Count
Composer: Billy Strayhorn
Arranger: David Sanford
Instrumentation: For Four Cellos
Duration: 7′
Format: Full Score + 4 Parts
Page Size: Letter
Catalog Number: OM0308
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From the arranger:
Blood Count (1967) was Billy Strayhorn’s final composition for the Duke Ellington Orchestra, written from Strayhorn’s hospital bed. It is introduced here by a quote from Gordon Getty’s 1986 setting of Emily Dickinson’s similarly funereal “There came a wind like a bugle” from his cycle White Election. The inflections of alto soloist Johnny Hodges in his profound later period are re-created as closely as possible in the solo cello part and consequently the arrangement is as much an homage to Hodges as it is to Strayhorn.
Commission/Dedication: To Matt Haimovitz and UCCELLO.
Premiere: First performed August 7, 2009 at Domaine Forget in Saint-Irénée, QC by Matt Haimovitz and UCCELLO.
Recording: This work is recorded on Oxingale Records’ and PENTATONE Oxingale Series‘ album Meeting of the Spirits, performed by Matt Haimovitz and UCCELLO. Click here for the listening options.
OXINGALE MUSIC 