Sonata No. 4 in F Minor

Started: 4-15-2002, 6:24 PM
Completed: 4-15-2002, 8:11 PM
Huntington Beach, CA

The original manuscript copy of this sonata is framed and hanging on the wall outside my friend Jonathan's bedroom. I gave it to him as a birthday gift several years ago.

There are certain Scarlatti and Soler sonatas in particular that I have a blast playing because they're over-the-top showy. K.120 in Scarlatti's catalogue and R.10 in Soler's come to mind. They're the kind of sonatas you want people to see, not just hear, because there's a huge visual impact to their execution that people miss out on when listening to recordings or even live performances from far away in the audience. I know that I didn't set out to outdo Scarlatti 120 or Soler 10 when I wrote this sonata, but I think that what resulted is something that actually trumps both those sonatas in terms of calorie burning.

This sonata features some big hand crossings, first left over right and then right over left. I call for something similar to K.27, where for no good reason, really, the right and left hands switch places to maintain the same little counter-melody. It's a bit more drastic in my sonata, and this is certainly one of the most technically demanding sonatas I've written, but it's still very playable. This is a fun sonata to play for people standing close enough to see your hands, as you're likely to give them a good laugh with it!

And it's great cardio.

Enjoy!