Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sonatas No. 20 and 21 in G Minor
No. 20
Started: 8-15-2008, 8:33 PM
Completed: 8-15-2008, 8:56 PM
Huntington Beach, CA
No. 21
Started: 8-16-2008, 10:11 PM
Completed: 8-16-2008, 10:46 PM
Huntington Beach, CA
I love this pair of sonatas. I love the key of g minor in general. If we assume that when I write a good sonata it's a matter of luck, it's safe to say that I tend to get lucky when I write them in g minor.
The first sonata is pirate music to me. It's all melody, fun to play, and can probably be played at sight even by many early students. Chords in both hands near the end of each section thicken for dynamic and dramatic effect. This is just an absolutely frivolous sonata with no other purpose at all than fun.
The second sonata in this pair is very much like the first in spirit. This was another sonata written to be enjoyed equally by the listener and the player. There's a strong emphasis on melody here again, but there is a much more active left hand part in this sonata than in the former. The ostinato in the bass and even the rhythmic figures in the right hand beginning the second half are a tribute to Soler, who built an entire sonata off this magnificent and sinister sounding figure. Despite the quick pace of this sonata and the high speed broken chords, I don't think that it's difficult to such a degree that it detracts from this sonata's fun factor.
Enjoy!
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Hi, I just ran across this by accident, and I figured it would be good to mention that I really like these two pieces of yours (I'll be checking out the others soon). Did you seriously write them in only twenty or thirty minutes each? If so, that's pretty seriously impressive. I like writing music too, but have never been able to achieve such quality work in such a short time. I'm also really happy to find someone else that writes music that is neither atonal nor pretentiously New Age-y.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pleasurable listen!