That Blue Repair, for cello and orchestra

"Inspired, well-devised touches throughout...Mr. Rogerson has a gift for transitions, for moving us from moment to moment, section to section, while maintaining the coherence of the work as a whole...and the ending is lovely." - The New York Times

That Blue Repair was commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony, and premiered by cellist Jay Campbell and the New York Youth Symphony with Ryan McAdams conducting on March 11, 2011 in Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. The title for this work comes from Joan Hutton Landis’ beautiful poem, “That Blue Repair,” which explores the healing process after losing a friend. Specifically, I was inspired by these lines:

The congregation of ecstatic birds —
blue jay, goldfinch, bunting, dove —
was something real and rare, breath-taking as sudden death, its wild despair.

I have no rituals of consolation
just these worked lines, their tearing out, their weaving up, that blue repair—
a labor which may bring in time,
if no return,
amending love; resignation.

(lines printed with the permission of the author)