Thom Ritter George

SONATA NO. 4 (for Piano), CN 359 (2008)

PROGRAM NOTES

Thom Ritter George composed his SONATA NO. 4 for piano during Spring 2008.  It is a four movement work which is outgoing and generally optimistic in tone.  George's penchant for classical forms can be heard throughout the score.

In the first movement (Andante con moto), the music of the languid first theme contrasts with a more upright and jovial second theme.  Ranging through a variety of tonal centers, the development is principally based on the first theme music.  During the classical and Romantic periods, composers commonly put the greatest weight and playing time on the first movement of their multi-movement pieces.  This often created a problem in making a satisfactory finale; that is, the finale seemed too light to balance the massive first movement of the piece.  Thom Ritter George discovered that this situation could be improved by writing a somewhat lighter first movement and shifting the main weight of the whole composition to the final movement or movements.  That plan was used in SONATA NO. 4, and the first movement is a relaxed introduction to the musical actions to come.

The second movement (Vivace) is a driving scherzo in 3/8 meter.  This extroverted music often plays with the harmonic device of placing major and minor intervals (e.g., A - C sharp / A - C natural) closely together, both rhythmically and harmonically.  But it is the dynamic first theme that dominates the Vivace and propels the music forward to its brilliant conclusion.

"Elegy" is the title of the third movement (Grave ma cantabile), and here the sonata reaches its most expressive moment.  The music is built on three themes - a modal song-like idea, often presented as an unaccompanied musical line; a somber slow march; and a delicate 6/8 pastorale, which comprises the middle portion of the Elegy.

The sonata is brought to a close in the fourth movement (Allegro grazioso), a rondo form which calls on the performer's virtuoso skills.  The piano voicing is often open, allowing the musical lines to be clearly heard in their own registers.  While composers are concerned with both harmony and musical lines, George has long given preference to the sovereignty musical lines, the melodies which comprise the piece.  In this sense, the music of this finale was conceived in a way favoring to contrapuntal interaction over harmonic progression.  A capricious coda (Animato) based on staccato versions of the major themes appears near the end.  The suggestions of a quiet ending are put aside in the final two measures, a fortissimo close built on a motive from the main theme.

(TRGcm:2008.07.10)