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- John McCabe
February Sonatina (1990)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
Commissioned by the Mananana Festival Trust with the aid of funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain
Programme Note
Commissioned by the Mananan Festival Trust with the aid of funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain, as the Test Piece for the 1991 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and Workshop.
February Sonatina is the second in a series of short pieces for solo instruments, the first of which (January Sonatina) was for clarinet. It has three sections, a vigorous opening one which returns somewhat modified to form the third, and a central slow part. The melodic material is dominated by intervals of a fifth (both perfect and diminished) and a seventh, the latter used largely to initiate the lyrical material of the central slow section. The idea of repeated notes is also a unifying factor, from the vigorous repetitions of the opening and closing music to the gentle repeated single notes or two-note patterns in the slow section.
The title was chosen simply because it is the second in this series of "Calendar" Sonatinas. However, the opening music, with its aggressive repeated notes and the dissipation of the energy through the phrase, was inspired both by the strength of tone of the viola and by the pounding of waves breaking on a rocky sea-shore, and the dispersal of their energy among the rocks. The work is dedicated to John Bethell.
© John McCabe
February Sonatina is the second in a series of short pieces for solo instruments, the first of which (January Sonatina) was for clarinet. It has three sections, a vigorous opening one which returns somewhat modified to form the third, and a central slow part. The melodic material is dominated by intervals of a fifth (both perfect and diminished) and a seventh, the latter used largely to initiate the lyrical material of the central slow section. The idea of repeated notes is also a unifying factor, from the vigorous repetitions of the opening and closing music to the gentle repeated single notes or two-note patterns in the slow section.
The title was chosen simply because it is the second in this series of "Calendar" Sonatinas. However, the opening music, with its aggressive repeated notes and the dissipation of the energy through the phrase, was inspired both by the strength of tone of the viola and by the pounding of waves breaking on a rocky sea-shore, and the dispersal of their energy among the rocks. The work is dedicated to John Bethell.
© John McCabe