Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

This work is the third in a series of five single-movement piano sonatas that can be performed as a set in a recital lasting approximately two hours (including a twenty-minute interval). In this case the first three would be performed in the first half of the concert, while the final two would be performed in the second half. This aside, it should be noted that they can, of course, function as standalone works. The single-movement structure was inspired by the example of Scriabin's last five sonatas, although each approaches this in completely different ways.

The third sonata is the most traditionally structured of all of the sonatas, being in an expanded sonata form with three thematic groups. Following the fragmentation of the first two sonatas, here the emphasis is on balance, integration and 'sanity' (hence the subtitle "Divine Symmetry"), and is based on a symmetrical tone row (although its treatment is very free). The work also requires the pianist to produce harmonics directly on the strings, pluck these, and create other non-standard percussive effects. It is dedicated to the memory of the composer's paternal grandmother Annie Lillian Spiers, who was his first piano teacher.

Work Details

Year: 1994

Instrumentation: Piano.

Duration: 14 min.

Difficulty: Advanced — AMEB A.Mus.A. - L.Mus.A.

Dedication note: To the memory of my grandmother, Annie Lillian Spiers [1901-1982]

First performance: by Colin Spiers — 1995. Newcastle Conservatorium, NSW