A quick scherzo concludes the sonata, spitting out sharp chords and fanfares in an explosive rendition of material from both previous movements.Īmazing Grace Variations was actually an undergraduate composition assignment to create stylistic variations on this famous hymn tune. In contrast, a hazy glow of chords and quiet melodies imbue the second movement with a hovering sensation, as though we are suspended in the tops of the trees. The first movement is a world unto itself with a meaty length (about 12 minutes) built around the idea of a rising arpeggio and trills. In fits and starts, it gropes towards several moments of power. Anyone who sees them is in awe of their massive root systems supporting trunks that taper into the heavens. I guess that is part of what I had in mind when trying to evoke the spirit of the massive redwood trees in Sequoia National Park. To these ears the floating, luminous music of the middle movement was also the heart of the piece.Ī reviewer for the Boston Globe remarked on the "musculature" of this sonata. Steinberg's Piano Sonata had some of the same musculature as the big Romantic concertos, but with nothing "neo" or meretricious about it.
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February 2023
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