Bliokh, Sonata No. 3, Galway

Konstantin Bliokh, Sonata No. 3, Galway

For solo guitar.

Sonata No. 3 was composed during 2009-2011when I was living at the Western edge of Europe, in the fabulous Irish city of Galway. This was a fruitful and inspiring time.

I first composed a rather energetic piece which later transformed into the third movement of this sonata. It was joined later by the second movement, a meditative piece with some jazz flavour. I struggled for quite a while to complete the sonata with a first movement. Several attempts were discarded, before I finally found a peculiar musical form which completed the puzzle.

The first, principal subject of the first movement (Allegretto agitato) is based on an impetuous triplet motion of quartal chords. It emerges gradually, phrase by phrase, in bars 5-6, 20-21, and 30-32 from the surrounding “protoplasm” of contrasting motifs and themes “communicating” with each other. After the climax in bars 44-46, the principal subject appears at full power in bars 47-53. After that, the second subject (Largo rubato) appears in the form of an intimate flageolet melody in bars 55-66.

The second movement is based on a sequence of jazz-like chords. These resemble the quartal chords from the principal subject of the first movement, but somewhat shifted towards D-major rather than D-minor. Together with a separate bass line and percussive effects, this resembles a “jazz trio” with piano, double bass, and drums. The movement has a meditative lyrical character.

The third movement starts with an energetic theme (Allegretto con fuoco) involving dramatic chords, passages, and dance-like quintuple-meter rhythms. The middle section (bars18-41) recalls the principal subject of the first movement in the form of a slow waltz. There follows is a recapitulation of the main theme (Allegretto con fuoco). After that, the second subject of the first movement arises in the form of a slow, lyrical yet expressive waltz which concludes the whole sonata

K. Bliokh 2020

• Product: PDF or Print on Demand
• Pages: 20
• Level: Advanced
• Order Number: BE-200305
  
• ISMN 979-0-706813-91-2
  

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