For the first time, the freshly finished, final Finale 2010 version of my sonata... phew. (I WAS going to call it a "fiolin sonata", just for alliterative porpoises)
I made such massive changes to this work over the last six months that it is, for all intents and purposes, a completely new work.
I really love the Strad, and hope that at some point, the orchestral strings for Garritan libraries will have the same expressive capabilities.
I've divided the piece into 6 chunks, much easier to DL, and easier to skip over parts if you so wish. So each "movement" is around 3-4 minutes in length, which is an easier swallow than the 24 minutes the entire thing takes.
Technically, each movement "flows" into the next. There are even places where there is a held note from one movement into the next, but these "musical links" are missing from the "chopped up" version I'm posting here.
1st movement: Préludepresents the main themes of the sonata, in an improvisatory manner.
2nd movement: Scherzoclassic scherzo structure, with a VERY contrasting Trio section (which alternates slow and VERY rapid sections)
3rd movement: Nocturnea slow movement, with lots of "violinistic" fireworks.. here the Strad REALLY shines, in my opinion. Chords, appogiaturas, and rapid arpeggiated passages delicately flying across the strings... being able to write this AND hear it has been a real pleasure.
4th movement: Tiento (fugal March)basically a fugue... with a march. title says it all!
5th movement: Ariosoa slow movement, which REALLY lets the Strad shine. it was fun making judicious use of the Strad's ability to vary the depth of the portamento (achieved in Finale with a set of articulations which set the velocities of notes to various settings... big velocity difference = big portamento)
6th movement: Rondea backwards restatement of the material of the sonata, starting with an up-tempo version of the preceding slow movement! More fireworks as the movement concludes, with lots of multiple stops (chords) in the solo part. I had to rewrite the ending completely for it to be more suitable to the violin (originally for clarinet).
I'm very proud of this work. I know some of you may have heard it in its "previous life" as a clarinet sonata. I think there are enough major structural changes to it to warrant a new hearing, and consideration as an actual independent piece of music from that earlier work.
Next, I finish that darned pesky viola sonata I started. (now that I can transpose the Strad down a 5th and make a "Strad viola")
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