He had long wanted to do a blues piece.
Next comes a dark-hued blues piece, then a meditative slow movement, and a rhythmically dense finale.
Reviewer Steve Leggett that the album has a nice balance between "hard rocking party numbers, straight out blues pieces, and strong political statement."
Some 200 new blues pieces have been composed for this project including pieces from about 50 different countries around the world.
Barber continues, throughout this movement with the added "blue" notes that create the harmonic tension characteristic of a blues piece.
I reacted quickly, and Morning Limbé, a blues piece composed in 1982, became the soundtrack.
For an encore, Mr. Abrams led a florid, not quite old-fashioned blues piece.
The blues pieces are a little less dire.
And as a songwriter, he has written more than a handful of classic blues pieces.
Launching into a conventional blues piece, he made the previous hour of music seem carefully premeditated.