Sonata for English horn and piano

by Paavo Heininen

Englannintorvisonaatti

Description

The character of each of my sonatas is informed by the force fields created by classic solos and melodies in orchestral repertoire. The Sonata for English Horn will necessarily distance itself from The Swan of Tuonela and the melancholy of Tristan. But the Contrabassoon Sonata is a homage to the extreme situations that the deep sound of the instrument creates, for instance at the opening of Hartmann’s Sixth Symphony – never mind Ravel’s Concerto. I remember from the time of my opera Silkkirumpu [The Damask Drum] just how much a single contrabassoon note could achieve.

There is a certain encyclopaedic nature to this idea of a cycle of sonatas. A similar idea in miniature form emerged in the work Metamorphoses, which consists of two-minute solos for all wind instruments. Even the saxophone is included twice, as soprano and baritone. And brass, of course – after all, the sonata cycle made its first public appearance with the premiere of four sonatas for piano and brass instrument in Lieksa a decade ago.

– Paavo Heininen

Instrumentation

ehn, pno

Category

Chamber Works

Opus no.

op. 137

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