Sonata: Suonare Rapsodico
Armando Bayolo
About this work:
Sonata: Suonare Rapsódico was written for the pianist Ellen Elder in the spring and summer of 2001. Upon first receiving the request to write a sonata I spent a great deal of time pondering a contemporary approach to this oft-used old form. I arrived at the rather conservative solution of casting the first movement in a strict sonata form; this was not to be, however. As pieces often do as one writes them, the first movement’s structure took a marked turn away from sonata-allegro form when the material I’d intended to be a transition into a second theme turned out to be a transition into the second movement. As a result, the first movement becomes more concerned with the interruption of ideas and long range harmonic motion than with any traditional sense of harmonic and motivic development.
The second movement, which follows without pause, is a slow, reflective nocturne over a b-flat pedal tone. It was the first of the sonata’s three movements to be composed and is relatively simple in structure. It serves as both the structural and harmonic halfway mark in the piece, b-flat being treated as a dominant to the sonatas main tonic of e.
The third movement marks a return to the home key of e minor/major and is cast in a traditional four-part rondo structure. The melody is a horizontal realization of the vertical harmonies heard in the main part of the first movement. The jazz and blues influenced nature of the main theme is largely accidental, though purposefully exploited.
Year composed: 2001
Duration: 00:15:00
Ensemble type: Keyboard:Piano
Instrumentation: ,1 Piano soloist(s)